Excerpts: The Package

You never walk the same path twice.

 It is an enormous privilege to spend extended periods of time with middle school students who are growing almost as fast as an infant's brain.  I can literally see them growing, both in height and intellect. I care so deeply about these students, it physically pulls at my heart. While I was on a run the other day, one of the eerily warm 60 degree January days, I felt light opening out of what some people call my heart chakra. It was an orange light. I painted a quick sketch of it (below.) I think the weather and a hardy run helped, but I attribute it to thinking about the enormous responsibility of being someone's teacher. I was not on drugs, everyone, just warm weather endorphins and sensing a real connection with my students! After the awful obligatory task of reducing a student's learning in art class to a letter grade, I set to reading my mini-surveys they filled out at the end of the semester. I realize more deeply how the smallest and biggest choices I make in the classroom can impact a student. No letter grade or scoring rubric will show that. I love these young people and I'm learning how to show that.

Another part of teaching art to middle school students is emphasizing the importance of respecting your space and the materials you use. Sometimes the emotional maturity needed to perform these tasks (i.e., participate in clean-up time) can only be described through theatrical interpretation by Paul Rudd:

Woman in the Wind Who Has Lost Her Nose

My yoga teacher said today, "Peel away the things that no longer serve you." That immediately meant to me that I should be peeling away the tension in my right hip, and all of the muscles around it. Blasted runner's hips!

 "Car Ride from Bird's Point of View" Graphite on Paper, c. 1989.

I did this while also thinking about all the things I've been purging this past month since I've gotten back from Mexico. This included old clothes, pointless grudges, obsolete grad school binders, and dust collecting on the top edge of hanging picture frames. I also thought about my digital clutter that is still peeling away: useless photos, documents, doubles of almost everything, incorrect formats, mystery articles and forms that I downloaded (in my sleep, maybe?) 

One of the nice things about peeling away what you don't need is unearthing what it is that does serve you...namely, an envelope (analog, not digital) of your childhood drawings that your mother kept.

"Woman in the Wind Who Has Lost Her Nose" Ink on Paper, c. 1990.

Here is this week's picks from years 7 and 8 of my childhood. These are clearly the years when one has an acute sense of ladies' shoulder pads and a fascination with things in flight.

Awareness of the placement of shoulder seams? Check.
Understanding of knees and elbows? In Artistic development.

You can see through to the other side of the paper a little bit where my mom had dutifully written  "Jean Age 8" and "Jean Age 7".  For the piece I am titling, "Woman in the Wind Who Has Lost Her Nose," I am willing to believe I was onto the next drawing and had forgotten to add the suggestion of a nose. I am also willing to believe that I did not worry myself with things that did not serve me. In this case, it was a nose. The image is better without it. I will take this as a lesson from my 7 year old artist-self: Don't bother with things you don't need, move on to the next project, and just keep drawing out what you see around you.

My July River that I Skated Away On

Question: What's beyond graduate school? Answer: Things you've been wanting to do for a long time. I began "post-grad school" by running for the 3rd time on the Jungle Rot team in the Great Lakes Relay. I had some extra beautiful blisters this year which was one way of keeping me from trying to do everything as usual. I HAD to relax. I did just that in Traverse City immediately after running almost 30 miles across the state of Michigan with 9 other fabulous relay team members. I spent a couple days with one of my favorite gals in the world, Chelsea Bay Wills, by throwing a bridal shower for her and getting to know other great people in her gorgeous Northern Michigan world at Left Foot Charley Winery.  The yellow paper drawing pictured here was our attempt to figure out how we all know each other. All lines point to Chelsea! It was great to visit the ever-growing artsy corners of Traverse City, including a gallery where a special dress was being made and some jewelry was being custom made for a special occasion...

 I soon traveled down to suburban Detroit to try out motherhood for 10 seconds. Elliot looks uncertain in his shopping cart seat. Stacie and Greg graced me with their Royal Oak hospitality and a trip to Hamtramck for meat (oops!) and Polish beer... and later a Gillian Welch concert randomly enough in Royal Oak, Michigan.

The best additions to metro Detroit this year.

The grand staircase with cheese being made below.

 Then, I drove on the hottest day of the year yet to Pittsburgh to see an old college friend Becky and her husband Jon. I was told that if I got into Pittsburgh fast enough, I could ride in Jon's cheese delivery truck. That's right, I sweated through 110 degrees in a car with no A/C to see sweaty cheese balls. All the while, I had a wine bottle exploding in the back seat -It was so hot that when I presented a bottle of wine to my hosts, I had discovered that the heat in the backseat of my car had uncorked the bottle-I did end up getting to witness local cheese, Arsenal Cheese to be exact, get delivered to bars around town after all. It was worth it!
 

The street where Arsenal Cheese is made and Becky and Jon live. The white truck is the delivery truck! I should also note their was no hipstomatic filter used to create this photo. This part of Pittsburgh is naturally hip.

Jon, the cheesemaker, samples his cheese at a local bar.

Arsenal Cheese is a prominent item on this bar's menu!

My great great great great uncle Franz?!

We escaped to air conditioning for a large part of my time in Pittsburgh. I had a personal tour by the great art educator, Ms. Becky Utech Gaugler at the Carnegie Museum, giving special attention to the decorative arts collection and to a special Dutch painter Franz Hals. Who needs Vermeer when you've got Franz Hals?! I took note of the peculiar similarities of Vermeer paintings and Pittsburgh backyards.

The cheesemaker and art educator in their backyard.

Little Street by Vermeer. (Not in Pittsburgh)

It was such a treat to stay with friends who make their own sinks in a house from the 1890s. Becky and Jon rock! Eat local cheese!