I have been home one month now. I never imagined how the change would feel going from winter in Tasmania or summer in New York City. One thing for sure, I was very happy to be back in the neighborhood and have my dog. I almost felt like a newbie in the hood despite having lived there 15 years. The horns honking, the bikes with boom boxes, the kids skating up and down the sidewalks were a welcome sight and sound. I liked that no matter what time I was outdoors I would see people.
But it was not so easy as I expected. I had a really hard time leaving my apartment. I wanted to stay home indoors. I did not want to go to museums, my studio, or restaurants I just wanted to stay inside. I even had some anxiety about meeting my running team, but that was more about fitness, as I did not want to see that I might have slowed down or lost fitness. Luckily that was just anxiety.
While I feel like nothing has happened a lot of things have. I booked an exhibition and lecture in Wisconsin at Lawrence University; I am in a group show at NurtureArt Gallery in NYC. I am on two grants panels and I am applying for a new printmaking residency. I began teaching, founded a press with my friend John Shorb – we are still in the mission and market building phase – and hung a small exhibition at the gallery of my studio building. I ran two races, have run over 200 miles and enrolled in a Sport Science/Exercise Physiology M.S. for fun. I am also on the board and deep into planning of the Gowanus Studio Tours. But the odd thing is I feel like I have not virtually nothing. Strange how that happens.
This morning I spoke on Skype with my Australian friend and artist Susan Purdy. It was a wonderful surprise to get her call. Her exhibition ‘The Lost Forest’ opened to great success. We share parallel struggles on art careers and teaching, those things that feed us energy and those things that zap it away. We have begun a collaboration project that will culminate in an exhibition in 2010.
That is the update for now. I have completed the book “Made in Tasmania’ and it is available for sale, $75, the edition is almost sold out there are only 13 left which I will have at open studio. I will also post a photo of them here. If you are in NYC in October, open studio is October 18 and 19. 94 9th street studio 43, Brooklyn.
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