long week, long post

An interesting and helpful piece of information about the exhibiting artist life is that exhibition calendars run 1-2 years ahead.  Shows that are planned today may not actually take place for many, many months in the future.  I work as a full time professor and I work as a full time artist.  My life stays so busy that if I find myself just sitting still, I immediately begin to feel like I’m forgetting something.  

Once scheduled, these art events exist in my head as very abstract objects.  I register the dates and I can visualize what that will mean for me in terms of activity, but these are future activities.  They’re not real.  They are entered into my phone calendar, but more than a month away, they’re really just mysterious shadows of things to come.  

There’s an upcoming solo exhibition that’s been abstractly existing in my phone and my mind for more than a year.  I can see it vaguely sitting over in that corner of the calendar.  More recently and in a less ordinary manner, another solo exhibition opportunity came knocking and I gladly accepted.  I knew the dates were close, but May and June are definitely two different months so I knew that if there was any overlap in the installation and un-installation dates, I could work it out.  That would be a problem for future me.  I’m also fairly prolific and I have made a lot of new work in the last couple of years, so really, even if there was a conflict, I could work it out.  Or, at least, future me could work it out.  I did realize both were near the end of the very busy spring semester.  That would be ok, right?

Oh, but what about that trip?  I think I’m supposed to travel sometime during that time.  And Blue will be graduating around that time.  And you agreed to lead a sand sculpture workshop out of town.  Wasn’t there a family vacation someone told you about?  What about the MFA hooding and the Lander graduation?  There’s definitely a couple of public sculpture installations during that same time.  Surely it will be fine.  Oh, and I'm officiating a wedding, right?  Future me will work it out.

Future me is pissed.

No, not really.  Future me, which is now, kinda, present me, is very happy to have all of the opportunities he has.  If I'm honest, I'm glad to have reason to be so busy making and showing art and, equally as fun, showing up for my people.  I haven't had an appropriate chance to process all of the recent activity in my sketchbook yet, so, as a means of not forgetting some important things, I'm going to recap some of them here.  

As classes officially ended, I was working during every available moment at home curating artwork for the two overlapping solo exhibits.  I was correct, May and June are two different months, but artwork delivery/installation and pickup/uninstallation for those months overlap quite a bit.  This meant I had to make sure I had enough work for two solo shows.  No big deal.  The tougher deal was figuring out what work I wanted to go where.  It took some time, during which, I realized that I had not attached proper backs and hanging hardware on several of the new works.  I took care of that, got myself organized on the computer and turned in inventory lists.  I packed my mural box, because this first exhibit was going to allow me the freedom to draw all over the gallery walls.  Then, I turned my attention back to school.  

My students were finishing some amazing sculptures, which I hope to share here soon.  We had our final critiques on Thursday and Friday.  I raced home Friday to have a professional photo taken, which is a whole different story for a different time.  Then I drove to Fine Arts night to hear Violet sing.

She did great, of course.  When that was over, we grabbed a late pizza on the drive home and before bed, I loaded the mural box and a few primed wood panels into my truck for the next day's events.

One of those abstract events I had signed up for was a community art event in a city about an hour and a half away from me.  I was invited to do some live drawing.  I found my tent and got set up.

For 3 hours, I interacted with the public and worked to complete this 4' x 4' drawing...

I also worked on a couple of smaller ones but didn't finish those.  Since I had focused most of my time since January making 12 new sculptures, it was nice to remember the feel of the paint marker in my hand and get my steadiness back, even if it was in front of people.  I knew I was going to need that skill again very soon.

I arrived back home around dinner time and I started loading up an entire solo show in my truck while dinner was cooking.  26 drawings and 12 steel sculptures, all heading out the next morning to Rock Hill.  After I ate, I took a shower and sat on my butt for a while to rest.  While my butt was relaxing, my mind was racing.  All of the abstractions were become realities really fast.  I like being at home, or at least having a home base of operations and I have daily habits and rituals that keep me balanced, even in crazy times.  We were entering a time when all of those comforts were going to be up in the air.

The next morning I got up and ran.  Then I drove to Rock Hill to begin day 1 of the installation at The Arts Council of York County.  I haven't been to Rock Hill but a couple of times since I took the full time job at Lander 14 years ago.  Each time I drive there now, I get bombarded by memories of my time there in undergrad and grad school.  Even after grad school, I taught adjunct and commuted another 7 years.  Downtown looks like a totally different place but I didn't have the mental space to think about that.  I parked and unloaded with the help of Devann, the coolest gallery manager on the planet.  I quickly placed the 2D work and hung them.  Then I got a sense of where the sculptures would go.  Then it was time to begin the long work of drawing on the walls.  This process can take a week, depending on how much access I have to the space and the square footage.  I knew I had a busy week ahead so without any hesitation, I got right to work.  That first mark happened so fast, I didn't have time to get nervous about it.  

At the end of Sunday, this is what it looked like.  The giraffe was the first thing I drew.  Devann let me stay until 8:00 pm or so before we headed out to get me moved in to my apartment for the week.  Gale and Henry, a retired couple who are big supporters of the Arts Council, were kind enough to offer me their over the garage apartment in the neighborhood adjacent to Winthrop.  This was the same neighborhood Stan and I used to run through to get to Winthrop Lake back in our 5 mile per day running days.  We used to run through there in the spring and smell the honeysuckle and see the dogwood blooms and dream about living in those houses.  

Monday morning, I was up before the sun, partially because of the anxiety of all the things happening, but also because of the loud birds outside my window.  I would have sworn I heard a hawk and mockingbirds.  When I went out for my run, I did see the hawk and also this nice sunrise over Winthrop Lake.

I was bombarded by memories as I ran around the lake and I couldn't be so close to campus without stopping by to check on my chairs.  I installed these guys in the spring of 2000 which means they turned 24 in April.  

They still look pretty good and even they were not immune to the ridiculous cicada invasion of 2024.  

When I do week-long installs like this, I find a good coffee shop and make it my place.  I had heard about Amelie's for years but never had a chance to go until now.  It was just down the street from the gallery, so I got my first coffee there on the way in.  It was great.

But the food.  Oh my goodness the food.  The breakfast biscuit sandwich was my daily meal but I also made a habit of eating their sweets on the gallery floor almost every day.  I think this photo is actually from Tuesday, but everything I had there was delicious.  No, they're not sponsoring me, it's just really good and I get excited about good coffee and good food, especially sweets.  Anyway, back to the story...

Monday was a whole day.  I spent 11 hours working on those walls.  One thing that doesn't really show up in photos or even when you see the exhibit in person, is the physicality of this type of work.  I used an 8' and a 12' ladder to reach the higher areas and worked on my knees to reach the lower areas.  I was up and down all day and my 52 year old self was really glad I was in shape or I wouldn't have made it 11 hours.  This was WORK.  This is what the space looked like at the end of the day on Monday.

Tuesday started just as early.  My body knows when I have a lot to do and it makes sure I'm up in plenty of time to get started.  That early morning run helps to burn off some of the energy and anxiety before I meet my day.  The lake sunrises did not disappoint.  I'll also say that "lake" is not my word.  It's the official name.  This is clearly a glorified pond, but it's enough to be a warm weather feature for students.  We spent many afternoons here in the spring and probably most of a whole summer before our senior year of undergrad.  You're not supposed to be in the water but we did get to participate in one of those "build your own recycled boat" situations back in the day and we sank our boat about halfway across. 

By 9:00 every morning, I had a couple of coffees and a breakfast and I was at the gallery ready to go.  On Tuesday, I worked until 3:00 pm and then jumped in my truck to drive home.  

The graduate hooding ceremony was at 7:00 and I made it to school in time to get in costume and get on stage.  Katherine has been in at least one of my classes each semester since her 2nd semester of undergrad.  We ran a marathon and a half marathon together.  I made her cry a lot.  It was important for me to be a part of her MFA hooding.  It was also a surprise to her since she knew I was working out of town, so that was nice.  That's the "Girl Gang" minus Brinana in the photo.  We'll see Emily a couple more times.  

Graduation was Wednesday morning in Greenwood.  I got to sleep at home, run at home and have my own coffee before heading out to school.  Kennedy also commuted to graduate.  

Katherine became officially official and Emily was there to support as well.  Emily was our 1st 3D MFA grad.  Katherine was in the program with Emily.

MG was also there to support, so I grabbed a quick selfie with her before putting my holy garments away and hustling to my truck again.

Three hours later I was back in the gallery, eating an eclair and drinking a cappuccino on the floor.  Thanks again Amelie's.

My goal was to get almost all of the mural done by the end of the day on Wednesday.  I was able to stay late again thanks to Melanie, the coolest director, and while I was very tired, I was also happy to basically meet my goal.  With work like this, I could work on it for a month and keep touching things up and adding more things, but at some point you just have to stop and go home.  I had set some work checkpoints in my head for the week and I did my best to stay on task.  I knew that I still had one secret task to complete on Thursday.

I was cleared to stay through Friday if needed, but my plan was to be finished by Thursday afternoon.  With that in mind, I got up early on Thursday and decided to turn my run toward campus instead of the lake.  

As I ran around campus, I was reminded of my solo runs here as a freshman.  These were the first runs I ever did for "fun".  I remember the awkwardness of walking out of the crappy freshman dorm and feeling like people were going to judge me for trying to run.  I wasn't a runner.  I wasn't an athlete.  But I ran.  Just a few times during that freshman year, but it made me feel good enough that I wanted to run more.  34 years later, here I was, running on campus again.

My roommate Chad and I ditched the crappy dorm as soon as possible and we lucked into a cool apartment here.  We spent 3 years here and added Stan as a roommate when we upgraded to a bigger apartment.  We had so much fun here.  RIP Matilda the paper maché cow!

Good old Rutledge, the art building.  It was closed for renovations during my freshman year and I had my studio classes in the basement of Roddey, where I would end up living for the next 3 years.  

Knowing it was probably my last leisurely day in town for a while, I walked around the corner and looked at the Shepard Fairey mural (and the Obey stickers on the electrical box).  Remember that photographer I mentioned earlier?  He took Shepard's photo in Los Angeles a few weeks ago as a part of the same project. 

I did have my Amelie's coffee and breakfast, but after my little walking detour, I decided I had to be fair and try Rock Hill Coffee before I left town.  It was really good.  No sweet treats, though.  

Once I was all hopped up on caffeine, it was time for that secret project.  I'll have to tell you about that one later.  I spent an hour working on adding a few last minute thoughts to the main gallery and then did the side project.  

Devann and I did a little video interview/artist talk in the space after that and then I did a few more small details, took some photos and then it was time to move on.  I packed up my mural box, cleaned up my temporary apartment and headed out.

I had remembered that I left this sculpture in the hallways of McLaurin when I graduated.  I wondered if it was still there.  I decided to hop in a visitor parking space and walk inside to see.  Still there.  My work has changed a good bit since grad school, I guess.  

So I arrived back home on Thursday afternoon to one dog that was happy to see me and another who was angry because I left him for the week.  I slept, I got up and ran, I cut some grass and then it was time to go to Emily's wedding rehearsal.  

Then, on Saturday, it was time to officiate Emily's wedding.  So many things checked off the to-do list this week.  I am grateful that everything went according to plan or even better than planned.  I am grateful for all the people who helped make my ridiculous plans work out.  I'm also grateful that I didn't fall off that 12' ladder.  

It is now Sunday morning and I think I have earned a nap.  I don't really know what I'm doing this week because at this moment, this week's coming events are all still abstractly hanging in the future.  Sometime today I'll look at my phone calendar and figure out how to make all of those things more real.  I'll also probably remember that I haven't yet drawn the butt for tomorrow and hopefully I'll find the time to do that. 

One thing I do know, the opening reception for my exhibit "Chain Reactions of Light" is this Thursday, May 9 at 5:30 pm at 121 East Main Street, Rock Hill, SC.  I would love to see you there.