How y'all doin?

Hi blog-o-sphere! I didn’t forget about you, just taking a break during which I became hypnotized by our national political life and simultaneously mired in the cadmium-yellow-medium/dioxyzene-purple poo-brown muck of my studio. I’ve been kind of bogged down in there, so I haven’t felt like I had much to say with words, either.

So, I organized a crit group! I invited some of my fellow museum educators (who are also artists, but more importantly are extremely good at talking about art) over to have a look-see. Turns out things aren’t as dire as I thought. They helped me figure out why little things that start out with promise turn to crap, and they gave me a couple of insights into things I am doing that are starting to get somewhere. So now I feel like I can see a few more steps in front of me down the dark hallway of art making. I hope I also gave them some similarly useful feedback; I know we talked for a couple of hours, so with luck something smart came out of my mouth at some point.

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I have been thinking more and more that I seriously lack in the personal connections department. Even though I have lived in LA for over two years now, I barely know any other artists (and if I do know any, I don’t know them “as artists,” if that makes sense, but in other contexts). It’s so dicey getting to know people here…it seems like everyone is afraid to make friendly advances, because they might be interpreted as concealing ulterior motives (like, can this person introduce me to that hot curator over there?). Maybe it’s just because of where I’m from, but I am used to sharing what meager art resources or knowledge I have, quite openly and with the intention of being generous. There was so little attention paid to art in my hometown by the general population (how 'bout them Hogs?...not that I don't love them too, but) that us artists had to really cling to each other for support. So I guess I am flailing around, trying to find some other people to grab onto. I hope I have found a few.