Impeachment is everywhere. TV, Radio, random conversations overheard at Starbucks and the grocery store. I can't escape it and I can't stomach anymore of it! So much of it is political posturing, whining, complaining and bullshit. This last three years has only solidified in me just how much I hate politics. Keeping in mind that I only got involved in the whole process when Trump was running for President the first time. I only got involved so that I could make sure that I did everything I could to keep him out of the office. Little good that did. It was the first time that it seemed that who the president was, who was controlling the government had any impact on me or things that I believed in. What a time to dive into the world of politics! It was a shit show of a circus from the beginning of course and has only gotten worse as we have gone on. At this point I can only hope that enough people come to their senses and vote to make sure that he doesn't get a second term. Anything would be better than another four years of him. I can't even enjoy the jokes anymore because it is all to painful. Nothing is funny because even though comedians have tried to hide it in humor, it's still rings too true. They don't have to work for their material anymore. It's pumped out of the white house like smoke is pumped out of a coal factory!

In an attempt to hide away from the shit, I have spent a good chunk of every day for the last week and a half playing with clay. It has been a blissful glorious escape with a bonus of time spent practicing skills and developing new ones. I have focused so far on wheel throwing, trying out new shapes and sizes and working in two different clay bodies. I have had to do a lot of laundry because of it, but I see that as a great trade!

The next phase is to glaze the work I have made and then dive into some more sculptural work that will hopefully connect to my Endangered Species series. I also have a few Zoo and Aquarium trips coming up in the next couple of months so that I can do some research with people who actually do the conservation work and work with endangered animals. I am excited to see what I can learn!

Sabbatical has been interesting so far. It's been weird not to be teaching and I feel a bit lost when I think about what I might be missing, but at the same time I love the freedom I have to sleep in when I want, stay up late working on art when I want and not have to deal with the less than awesome parts of the job. (meetings! I don't have to go to any meetings!!! YAY!!!!)

Tomorrow I am going to sleep in a bit, then get some lunch and go back to the clay.... happiness is found in MUD!!!

Maybe I will have something more interesting to talk about next time.... or maybe it will just be more mud!

​me

It has been a long time since I did a blog entry. There are a billion reasons, but the most relevant is that I simply became busy with the process of becoming a better Professor, Artist, Mentor and Professional. I have developed as a Professor moving from Associate Professor to Full Professor with a few interim positions in Department Chair, Gallery Director and LASC Coordinator. The past few years have been full of course content development, major development and new major creation, advising and mentorship, thesis guidance and professional development... I also taught my courses, you know, the whole reason I got into teaching in the first place. I have found after all these years that the teaching part of my job is only about 10 percent of what I do. They don't tell you that when you get your first adult teaching job, or if they do, you are just so happy that you got a job that you don't really hear or understand them. But even given that, I wouldn't want to do anything else in the world. I truly like teaching Art and Interdisciplinary Studies. Next to making art, it is what I was meant to do with my life. I was made for this.

My art has continued during the past 4 years or so as well with many shows, new works, new investigations developing into new bodies of work, commissions, grants, awards and new associations with other artists and organizations. Developing as an Artist is multifaceted and is part of every day of my life. Some I can do without much effort but some I need to focus on, consciously putting in effort and often putting myself into a situation that is out of my comfort zone (like talking to people at gallery openings... people... especially a lot of people... yikes!) But, knowing that things like that will help me move forward as an artist, I have done my best to at least try. I still have a lot of work to do in some of those areas. 

Now here in the beginning of 2020 I find my self on sabbatical from my teaching until next September. As I proposed when I decided to take a sabbatical, I am taking the time to do a few specific things. Firstly, I plan to continue to research and develop a body of work started a few years ago that focuses on Endangered Species. I hope to spend some time visiting zoos, aquariums and other organizations that are certified for their conservation efforts and programs. If it is at all possible, I hope to actually speak with those who work in conservation and work with the animals and hopefully get behind the scenes with the animals and document them close up. Then I will take the research and documentation back to the studio and use it as source info for my artistic works. Some you can see here ENDANGERED SPECIES SERIES

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