So in the end, I am no better than my students

It wasn't that I was not taking my work seriously, it was just that my schoolwork, the trip to London and illness got in the way. So, tomorrow when I show up in the studio I will humbly explain myself. I will also share my work that I completed in London, or more correctly, the work that is in progress that is a culmination of my 7 days with the HS Choir. More later.

William Burroughs Christmas thoughts

I post this because of its Art Historical and literary value. The Beatnicks, such as Wlliam Burroughs, revolutionized modern art in such a dramatic way that I feel its important that today's young artists learn about these authors.
This particular writing was completed about 1959 and the claymation feature in 1993. The old man in the movie is William Burroughs himself. This work is both controversial and timeless. It was banned by the State of MA, and it took a Supreme Court ruling in 1966 to decide that it was not obscene.

I AM staring at you, but remember, you asked me to create a portrait

These are today's preliminary sketches.

I never thought it would be so awkward to observe my students. It is hard to look at them these days without blushing as I am getting caught in the act of creating observational drawings. Today I finally resorted to asking for a photo, just so I could complete my work without the self consciousness of staring. The problem with this is that I am not comfortable rendering from a photo, I cannot get the sense of depth that I can capture with observation.

preliminary sketches

So I promised you images and as I observed the class today I realized 2 things:

1. my skills from observation are so much better than from photo- so if you see me staring at you its because I am making a visual note

2. I am not ready to say that my idea is set in stone, though I did cut my materials for my first thoughts. This will not be a waste, just need to rethink idea in that material format.

Off and Running

For the past few days I have been trying to figure out what I will be doing to accomplish the task assigned to me. I have come up with several ideas, finally settling on one that I think will satisfy the challenge. I am finding that this challenge has deep in thought about the personalities of my students. I think I am being asked to listen and observe a great deal more than I have already.

How to proceed in the studio has been an interesting dilemma. The question of starting with the hardest or the easiest or somewhere in between has been plaguing me. The decision was to just start. I will have some of my imagery posted soon, as one portrait is almost completed.

I'm crying MAMA

I realized this morning that regardless of how often I am in the studio working on my work, and how often I give advice to students about technique, there are still things that I would say I am at a loss at. Working in graphite leaves me crying MAMA

Not to fear ASA students I will meet this challenge (this is teacher vs. art afterall)

Depicting13 personalities (Schizophrenia?) No...

Due: January 4th

• 13 portraits- 8"x 11" portraits (of the ASA students) -7 of which have to be done by Dec 18th
• any media is fine but they must best represent the student's form of media (ex. the portrait of E might be a painting/collage/sewn)
• also must feature how you view the student
• each student will grade the completed portrait of them