Hey, look at that! Only 2 weeks between posts this time! That's a 50% improvement! Seriously though, I am trying to be more consistent with my blog. It certainly doesn't have to be a daily journal, but I think weekly updates seem pretty doable.
School started on 1-20, so this is the third week of classes. Unfortunately, the ice storm we had that weekend resulted in campus closure through all of the second week. I had the first class meeting for my darkroom course before the storm, and just yesterday had my second meeting with the class. For the other students, yesterday was their first time exposing and developing paper, so we made photograms. I brought a few negatives with me just in case, but class time was limited so I didn't really have the chance to print much.
The assignment was to bring some objects to use for the photograms, so I brought an assortment of things to try, including a completely exposed sheet of 4x5 film (to provide ‘negative space’, get it?), a chainmaille necklace, a tuning fork, and the hand-carved lute roses given to me by Mel Wong on my trip to San Francisco in 2017. I also tried a few other objects, like Gamut varnished gut strings and a 120 takeup spool, but I am happiest with this print:
I've never made a photogram before, so it was an interesting experience! I might spend a little time playing with the idea as an exercise in figure/ground relationships and composition in general. I particularly enjoy the way that the cylindrical metal objects have some amount of exposure due to reflections. The chainmaille necklace reminds me of a fossil or something:
The Leadership class in Arts Management is ok, but I am really looking forward to the Fundraising Course that starts after spring break.
I have been a little too busy with other things, so I decided not to apply to one of the artist residencies I was considering this year. The deadline was on Sunday, and I just didn't really have enough time to do everything I would have liked. I probably could have just applied with the materials I already had, but I decided it was better to wait for next year and focus on the other applications I have been working on.
The last day of January I got to photograph the Hamilton de Holanda Trio at Windmills. Hamilton is a 5x Latin Grammy winner, with 16 nominations, so I was a little surprised he was playing in my hometown! I first heard Hamilton's music almost 15 years ago, and it was an honor to meet him, Salomão Soares, and Thiago “Big” Rabello. The performance was incredible!
For now, I think I've covered everything. I will try to be more consistent with about one blog post per week, with updates about school, the darkroom, and my progress with ‘Songs Without Words’. See you again soon!