and my obsession with books continues...

Greenspace: Worcester County

Coffee shops, scarf weather, red lipstick, and girl talk until 4am.

The last few days have been spent in Providence, with my beautiful friend Aly. That's her in the photo above, standing in front of her new apartment and looking as charming as always.


Tomorrow I'm taking the train home for the day, then its off to visit extended family at my grandmothers house in the Poconos.

blank slates

new years resolutions. I never really make them since I never really keep them. but this year I will at least make an attempt.

do more yoga.
capture more memorable moments, and write them down.

send more postcards.

Bachelorette party for my best friend in the world. Her wedding isn't until the spring, but since most people were home on break we decided to do a little partying in a limo during the first few days of twenty ten. I love this girl so much, and I can't wait to stand up with her as she marries the man she loves.

happy new year

My beloved blondie sister Kelsie flew back to Ireland today, but not before we rang in the new year with some cocktails, a dance party in our basement, and running out in the snow at midnight.

This photo is out of focus but I still love what it conveys.

Happiness in freezing temperatures.

Two choice pieces from my review.

"BIRCH"


"EXILE"

Done AND Done

One semester at the SMFA, completed. As a good friend texted me today, "Let the wild rumpus start!"

Photos of my review board setup coming soon, right now I am at home and just want to chill with the family. Even though I only live and hour away I've only been able to come home twice over the last 3 months, and I really miss everybody.

Starbucks, again.

Only two more days left in the semester. Its absolutely incredible how time seems to go by so fast. My review board is on the 16th of December, and at that point I have to prove how much work I've done in that last 3 months. While I have worked by butt off pretty much non stop since classes began in September, I still have a lot to do before my review board. I don't feel as if I have made the art I want to make, but I think I am on my way. I am almost settled at school, I have amazing teachers and people I can talk to who really care about creating art and discussing motives and inspiration.

I have the most amazing mentor at school, and I know that without her invaluable help, I would be lost here. The week before thanksgiving, I was able to successfully avoid an artistic and academic crisis by sitting down with her and discussing some issues I was having with my classmates and the school in general. In addition to being an amazing person to talk to, she is a great artist -the kind I aspire to be one day. I was able to visit her studio in Southie a few weeks ago, and was completely blown away. I had seen images of her work, but of course there is nothing like being in the presence of the real thing. Seriously, check her out: http://www.joycemcdanielart.com.


I've been sitting in this chair at starbucks for 2 hours already, trying to write a presentation on ancient Peruvian pilgrimage rituals for my art history class. It's really not going where I want it to right now, so i think its time for another refill.

juuust breathe.

soo much reading/work to do before tomorrow morning... bleeeh.

gave blood today at Boston Children's Hospital. i'm glad i did but going there brought up some feelings from this past spring that i am not sure I have fully worked through. so i have restarted some projects from last semester that were never completed, and have begun a new series (mostly collage work) that i hope to show glimpses of soon.

for now, im going to go back to fighting with my paintbrush and listening to the latest album from BrandNew.

sooooo, boston.

its been exactly a month since i started classes here at the museum school. so far, i absolutely love it here. the greatest thing about this school is the freedom we as students have in that we each plan out our own individual course of study.it was a bit confusing and frustrating to sign up for courses at first, but after a week or so i had my schedule set.... and by set i mean jam packed. i am taking the maximum amount of courses i can, which makes me incredibly busy, but why did i transfer here if i'm not going to take advantage of everything i can?

so for the past month i've been spending all day everyday drawing, welding, transferring, mixing, sawing, sewing, taping, gluing and painting, not to mention making tons of handmade paper.

one of my favorite classes so far is "Material A Week". each monday my teacher (who also happens to be my faculty mentor and an amazing steel artist) gives us a new, non traditional material to experiment with. basically we've got 7 days to create a 3-d sculpture with a material we may have never even thought of in a sculptural way. its a challenge but a very good one. so far we've worked with cardboard, bubble gum, and steel wool...

"Nest"
(cardboard, feathers)

"Pop Princess"
(bubble gum, gum wrappers, pearls)

skirt detail:

haven't titled this one yet.. (steel wool, thumbtacks, thread)


and currently i have 140 pieces of white drawing chalk on my desk waiting to be transformed into some sort of sculpture by monday morning...