Back up and running...

So for those who may be paying any attention at all, you will have noticed (as did I today, and much to my chagrin) that the last time I posted anything to this blog was at the end of January 2013. This lapse in attention has been due to the steady accumulation of numerous real world events. To be brief, I was so busy this past spring there was no time to generate any new content for "Drawings Are Ideas...", much less clear the mental space for attending to blog posting. It was kind of a crazy time.

And the reasons for this are many: I relocated my studio and my home, shifted away from my last teaching job, and generally upended most of the day to day normalities that one may call a life.

But now I am back in the swing of things (art-wise and life-wise), on board with a fantastic new studio set up and a reinvigorated studio practice. And there's lots of new art work to show.

To start, let me share my utterly awesome new studio space. At the beginning of April 2013 I started a year long residency at the McColl Center for Visual Art in Charlotte, North Carolina. The McColl Center is an urban artist residency program, located right on the edge of busy uptown Charlotte in a refurbished 1920's, neo-Gothic church. The church was heavily damaged by fire in 1984, and renovated in 1995. For the full story about the building, just follow this link:

http://www.mccollcenter.org/about/history

And to get more information about the McColl Center, how the residency program works and all the other artists-in-residence, programs, and exhibitions that are a part of this fantastic cultural institution, check out their website:

http://www.mccollcenter.org/

So with that said, I am happily inhabiting Studio 219 on the second floor of the McColl Center until the end of March 2014. Here is a snapshot tour of the space:

As you walk into the studio, I have two large walls for displaying completed work on the immediate left and a long working wall for works-in-progress on the right.

I have lots of flat file space and two large working tables, both on wheels, so I can move them around, or out of the way as needed.

The studio is an L-shaped floor plan, and as you round the corner I have a smaller space set up with a couch and an old wooden cupboard I use to store all the found objects I use in my work (I like to think of this as a personal "Cabinet of Curiosities").

And finally, here is a look at some of the finished work I have hanging at the moment. The McColl Center has excellent gallery space throughout the hallways of their rather labyrinthine building, and I always have completed work on display there, along with all the other current artists-in-residence. I am also using a couple of walls in my studio to show completed work. This is a great way to get a feeling for how larger pieces and larger series look installed and under gallery lighting. I've decided to change up the display in my studio every month or so of my residency, to coincide with other McColl Center main gallery openings and events.