This academic year has been a very tough one for me. It feels as if it could have easily been 13 years long. Maybe that's because I'm getting old or maybe that's because I taught 17 different courses this year (true fact). Either way, it's important to go back through the actual events that made up the semester so that I'll be able to remember more than just the bad things. Right?
This will be an image heavy post. Get a hot tea and a comfortable seat and enjoy this little stroll through what I remember about the Spring 2022 semester...
This was my first day on campus. As I recall, we all just ended up crossing paths at the same time. These are good people and it was a nice way to get started.
The semester officially began with a nice little faculty exhibit in our gallery. Almost everything I had was in a solo show in Charleston but I got these guys back from another exhibit just a few days before the show began.
The solo show at Redux was still going on and I knew that a few of the drawings there had sold. I had another solo show coming up at the end of the semester, so I needed to complete at least 4 new drawings before May. I got started pretty early because I knew the semester would get crazy near the end.
Our new design colleague Maria had a cool idea for our full time faculty to work together to create the alpha-numeric alphabet using all of our various abilities. This was a good excuse to keep thinking creatively and to keep making new things. This was my first letter.
We got a decent snow in January. Just enough to play in and have a really good excuse to drink lots of hot cocoa.
And we played a lot. We hadn't had a good snow in a couple of years so we got out all the toys. We snowboarded with a boogie board and I even rustled up the old skis from the basement and we skied across the yard.
It was pretty. Then it melted and life moved on.
There was still a bit of ice hanging around on the roads when I drove to Charleston to get the artwork from my show at Redux. It was very, very cold.
But when you're minutes from the beach, you don't let a little cold air and strong wind keep you from hitting the beach. I grabbed a lunch at Poe's Tavern on Sullivan's Island...
and then braved the cold to make my sand sculpture 5. Seriously, it was 38 degrees with a stiff wind. My fingers were wet and frozen. Worth it.
Back on campus, the work had started in the sculpture studio. This is a cool non-traditional student I had this semester who was a joy to work with. She was auditing the class and had ideas of things she wanted to make and my job was simply to assist her. This is not how I teach but given the situation, I decided this was the best way to offer something to her. She made me smile every day she was there and I hope she will audit my class again. She hugged me on her last day. Very cool.
These two (inside the steel sculpture) were a hoot as well. They shared a class time with another section but they worked on their own and made cool things. The weirdness of the studio time allowed us to try things we wouldn't normally attempt. It's always fun when they try things that shouldn't work and succeed.
And these two. Both were BFA seniors and both had a plan for their show. They worked together and helped each other out. I mostly let the BFA students run wild (within some small barricades) and they did amazing work.
Violet wanted to go hiking on a cold day. We picked a good one to hike to Rainbow Falls. Lots of ice around that day. Zeke had a great time as well.
Speaking of Violet, she was in an angry mob. The angry mob was a part of her school's production of Beauty and the Beast.
Back at school, Kennedy started her semester-long project idea of carving torsos.
Molo, Katie and Molo's kid visited.
And on 2/22/22, someone decided we should all wear tutus so we did. And we made some photos before frolicking on the front lawn.
I think that brings us to Spring Break. I drew for a couple of days and then did a few workshops for high schools in the area. At Lexington High one of my workshop attendees just happened to be one of my former students from Winthrop ages ago. Allison was a cool student. She once told me I looked young. That's how you get your professor to remember you for 15 years!
And I always jump at a chance to see Stan. He invited me to do a workshop for his people at Walhalla High and I got to see him AND Jarecki! Then I got to see Robin and the new puppy whose name I just forgot. Sorry Stan.
And a moment that deserves it's own separate post, Cessquatch and I both set aside our introverted tendencies long enough to agree to meet for coffee. She and I got along great when she was a student and though it's been several years since we've seen each other, we picked up right where we left off. This photo was the most accurate depiction of our time together. We sipped our fancy teas and laughed hysterically for hours before Starbucks finally kicked us out. Good times.
Timmy got his weird lump removed from his chest. He was a little angry for a while but he's all better now.
The Sculpture 3 class took a field trip to Greenville and did a cool workshop with Katie Poterala, another former Winthrop student who's doing cool things at her business MakeMade.
I ran a half marathon in Greenville and got a huge PR. It was nice to run a race healthy for once.
Students started installing cool art on campus. We got new concrete pads for sculptures this year and these were the first to use them. That's Ana and her functional Chinese Lantern Lamp.
We did another cool field trip for Sculpture students to the Columbia Museum of Art. The Rodins were cool and all, but these light/shadow sculptures were the real hit. I took this photo. I'm an artist.
This was the whole group. Fun people. I also took this photo. Some ideas are better than others.
So apparently all this happened in about one week....I saw Old Crow Medicine Show at the Peace Center....
I got to take a real photo with Blue on Easter...
And I delivered a public sculpture to Charleston. My great friend Dan (in the burgundy shirt) agreed to help me unload and install my sculpture. Then we got to help Hana Jubran unload his red sculpture (above) and carry it across what had to be snake infested ground cover.
That's the kind of guy Dan is. You need something? All you need is a Dan. He's happy to help. And such a cool guy. He let me eat lunch with him after we carried a couple of sculptures. Dan is an amazing dad, musician, husband, friend and business owner. Also, sculpture carrier. Go find Dan and become his friend. It's one of the best decisions you'll make.
Then it was time to install the BFA exhibits. The students had their exhibits planned and I was the designated helper for the installation. I drove a lot of art around that day. Carried a lot too. It was fun.
I also got to help hang things from the ceiling of this really old federal building. That meant snooping through the attic, rafters, and abandoned rooms upstairs. I also got to climb out the top of the cupola.
The next day I had to drive to NC to uninstall a year long public sculpture exhibit. Do you know what it looks like to uninstall a public sculpture?
This. This is what it looks like.
So then there was the whole BFA Exhibit. Super great. Talent and skill everywhere. These people are awesome and they wowed the town.
Two days later, Victor's massive alien dinosaur decided to take a nap on the floor. Given the situation and the pressure to get it fixed within 24 hours, things went very well. The sculpture was back up by the end of the day.
I also got to teach the MFA students in the Intermedia class this semester. They really stretched and did some cool explorations and I'm really proud of the work they produced and especially of what they learned. This is Emily's blanket fort installation.
We like to celebrate students and have a little fun too. We had our spring party to honor our seniors and this year's theme was creative hats. The night ended with a crazy conga line that moved around the city block following Holloway with his rolling speaker. Very fun.
The Sculpture Deathmatch was next. Tons of fun. There's a whole post about it. Keep scrolling.
I had tickets to see Willie Nelson a few years back and the tour was canceled for health reasons. I saw he was touring again this year and coming really close to my house. Violet had no idea who Willie Nelson was but she wanted to go with me. I had been toying with the idea of getting a cowboy hat for a few weeks and this concert seemed like a great excuse. We drove to Tractor Supply, made some strong choices and then headed to the concert.
Turns out Violet did know Willie's music. I wouldn't call myself a "fan" really, but I love good music and Willie is a legendary songwriter and a dang good musician. It was great to see him perform.
Ok, we're almost done, I promise. Just hang in there a few more minutes. I forgot this one and now it's out of order by a month or so, but I also got to pour plaster for the freshmen again this year. I covered this one in a previous post as well but it's here for the historical record.
Then it was time for people to graduate. I had these three in classes for all 4 years. The "Fun Girls" was what I called them because they were always laughing and having a good time.
I had ECoop all 4 years too. We even had a Covid semester together where basically what we did was eat my mom's leftover Christmas candies until quarantine.
It's impossible to get all the graduates in the same photo on graduation day, but this was a lot of them.
And I was adopted by the Santos family. I also had Victor all 4 years and he is hilarious. His family is also great and they have treated me like royalty since their Open House tour. It was nice to be formally adopted, even if it was just for graduation day. Soon Victor will be gainfully employed and will have whole new group to entertain daily.
Last thing. That sculpture Dan was kind enough to help me carry? Right after graduation I found out it won an Honorable Mention in the exhibit. Sweet.
Oh, and sometime in there I was promoted to Full Professor. That was nice.
So it was a hard year and a long year. But it was a good year. I am grateful for having such wonderful experiences with students and so many great opportunities to show my work. Summer break starts now.
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