Hi Everyone:
Well, it's been a month (to the day) since my last post - so I thought it was time for me to pop in and say hello. Blogging music today is Bloc Party - their new album called "Intimacy". Good stuff - better than their last album, but not quite as good as their first one.
Now, before you start yelling at me, I have a few reasons for the delay. I won't take up the whole post with them - but the two main reasons are:
1. My company joined the ranks of the other major media companies and laid-off over 10% of their staff - including the Managing Art Director (who ran the dept), a very talented Senior Designer and myself. In other words, they are now operating without a true department head or a photo editor and have to put out their entire book list with 5 designers. In a way, I may have been one of the lucky ones (I had been looking to leave anyway). But, if anyone has inside knowledge of an open full-time Photo Director/Editor, Photo Producer, Art Buyer, or Image Rights and Licensing gig - let me know! Links to jobs on Mediabistro and HotJobs are nice and all, but I've been job-searching full-time the past few weeks and have probably seen everything from the "usual suspects."
2. I had knee surgery a week ago and have been hooped-up on all kinds of goofinthal. Granted, a blog post in that state would have been fun - but I wanted to tone it down a little so I didn't have a narcoleptic episode in the middle of a sentence. I've also had a steady flow of out-of-town family in to help- so it's been a bit chaotic.
See, told you I had good excuses. My time has been occupied with job-searching and hardcore narcotics (not to mention some extended child duties). But, it's time to get back to art...
Apparently, I'm going to be in a show opening next Saturday. It's at the gallery I mentioned in my previous post - out here in Easton, PA. I figured, why not? Also, the submission process was unlike anything I had ever heard before. The gallery has a short list of folks they call when they have a big, un-themed group show. Anyone who wants to then drops off their most recent work at the gallery - all in one night. The work is then curated from there, and whatever fits is kept for the show. If you don't get a call, your work is in and if you do, you pick up your work.
At first, I was a bit stymied by this methodology - every other gallery I have ever worked with who does open calls asks for JPEG's or slides and then if you're selected, you deliver the work a few weeks before the show. The whole thing seemed strange to me - and everyone I mentioned it to also thought it was weird.
But, on the night I dropped off the work, I realized why the gallery does it this way. It brings lots of artists together to look at each others work - BEFORE the show is actually curated and finished. The artists get to meet each other, get a preview of each other's work - and even view pieces that might be edited-out before the show is actually hung. And for a gallery that prides itself on being an anchor for a particular community, this model makes a lot of sense. It was actually a very enjoyable evening - I could have stayed 5 minutes if I wanted to, but actually was there almost 2 hours looking at work and meeting people. Good times!
I'm also supposed to be in a show at the end of February at Flatfile in Chicago. But, I have no idea which work they want - I know the show is called SEPIA - so all the work is...yep, you guessed it - sepia-toned, or sepia-looking! I should probably check in with them though.
I know I really need to make a couple new pieces. You'd think unemployment would allow me some free-time, but lately, I've actually been as busy, if not busier than I was when I was working. Also, now that my knee is all jacked-up, it's gonna be even harder, since the process I use requires a lot of standing, leaning, etc. But, I'll make this promise - I will have at least 1 new piece before the holidays. Well, let's call it goal rather than a promise, but it's one that I think is certainly achievable.
I hope everyone enjoyed their Turkey, Turkducken, Tofurky, etc. I'm on the mend now, so more to come soon...
-Marc
