tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-364195572012-01-22T11:39:35.352-08:00Life after the MFA, for a mature and sort-of-emerging artist.E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.comBlogger741100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-5297893331461922312012-01-22T09:22:00.000-08:002012-01-22T11:38:43.310-08:00

I've been thinking more about my encaustic process lately, which you'll no doubt remember if you're one of the 3.3 (woot!) regular readers of this blog, and I've been spending a lot of time looking at the work of other artists I admire. Just in the year I've been working in this medium, there seems to have been a tremendous increase in the number of artists producing extraordinary fine art in

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-37898031078731158462012-01-17T20:09:00.000-08:002012-01-17T20:09:17.400-08:00

Some things that have been bugging me lately: If you're one of the 2.3 regular readers of this blog, you already have read my rant on POV. Some people seemed to think this was a cry for help, or some kind of problem I was having. It wasn't; and it's not. Thank you to my dear friend Judy Shintani for serendipitously reminding me that it's actually my process, and that makes it just fine. I need a

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-21711570502060892011-11-29T20:52:00.000-08:002011-11-29T20:52:00.791-08:00

"The Last Time I Went Fishing" SOLD I've sold another encaustic piece, and it's bugging me. If you're one of the 2.3 regular readers of this blog, you'll know that this is not normal behavior. Usually when I sell anything, I'm thrilled. And of the encaustic pieces I've had up at Local Color over the past year, the ones that have sold are the three that I think are the best. Sure, it's been

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-36096815845126016392011-05-20T20:34:00.000-07:002011-05-20T20:34:30.830-07:00

If you're one of the 2.3 regular readers of this blog, you'll already be possibly nauseatingly familiar with my ongoing narrative of being jobless. Well, I'm pleased to announce that the narrative has changed. Not only do I have a job, I have a great full-time job that pays real money and has fantastic benefits, at an organization that isn't going anywhere anytime soon. My sincere apologies to my

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-17867552952606754892011-04-08T17:31:00.000-07:002011-04-08T17:31:57.483-07:00

If you're one of the regular 2.3 readers of this blog, you'll be aware that I am sadly unemployed at the moment (in terms of a job that pays money). I finally followed up on one of the organizations that caught my interest shortly after moving here: the Triangle Land Conservancy. Being a nonprofit, I figured they might not have very much in the way of money or staff, and checking out their

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-70528994672210241632011-04-02T21:26:00.000-07:002011-04-02T21:50:08.864-07:00

If you're one of my 2.3 regular readers, you'll know that I am kind of hard to impress when it comes to art instruction, and encaustic instruction in particular seems to be a challenging arena. Nothing has been more painful than reviewing the encaustic "instructional" videos on the generally-hapless Expert Village channel on YouTube. The class I actually paid for in encaustic was good for seeing

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-25186807962193793272011-03-26T22:10:00.000-07:002011-03-27T07:55:51.105-07:00

So it's been sort of a shitty-ish day. That means this post probably is not going to meet the expectations of you, my loyal 2.3 readers, in terms of creative brilliance. It's going to be a little bit more like a rant. Contributing to the overall tone of the day is a little problem I had with an art piece earlier. I decided to make one very last final tweak to an encaustic piece I was very very

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-2142952656431088312011-03-12T17:41:00.000-08:002011-03-12T21:25:29.436-08:00

Fly encaustic, paper, wire and stamped image on encausticbord and framed 3x5 inches 2011 I'm putting a lot of time into my encaustic pieces lately. I recently was accepted into a small local gallery co-op, so there's a tiny piece of wall space in downtown Raleigh with my name on it. Right now I have a couple of black and white photographs up, but they just kind of get lost in the space. I think

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-7738999605388384492011-03-05T10:00:00.000-08:002011-03-05T10:00:33.506-08:00

The Box, packed full of fabric. Plus ribbon. Some of you may know that I have a fabric jones. I don't sew (too fiddly), I don't do fabric collage (too crafty), I don't seem to use it in any way whatsoever, but I love a gorgeous piece of fabric and I have an extensive fabric collection: end pieces, remnants, quilters' quarters ... you name it. I have never had any idea what I wanted to do with

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-46627522842581702902011-02-25T12:54:00.000-08:002011-02-25T16:57:45.959-08:00

When was the last time you made art without the contraints of expectations? Without an idea of "where it would go," without any reference to the "right" techniques and approaches, without a "goal" in mind? Do you remember the high of unanticipated success? The way you were able to appreciate things purely, without picking apart tiny flaws or disappointing results here and there? The energy and

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-15204873725108294662011-02-21T17:27:00.000-08:002011-02-21T17:27:21.426-08:00

I've been out of graduate school for almost five years now, and have thought a lot about what "success" should look like for me. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be pounding the pavement looking for gallery representation in New York or LA, although I intend to pursue some options locally. I'm guessing I won't be on the "short list" for the handlers of the rich and famous, although I hope to

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-80784087021217679402011-02-17T21:23:00.000-08:002011-02-17T21:32:57.034-08:00

I've had a lot of ideas over the last few days, despite being sick (or maybe because I'm sick and I'm not actually leaving the house for anything other than feeding the horse), and I've gotten several new pieces into production. I am working on probably six different things right now; they're in various stages and represent a huge range of techniques, approaches, concepts, and goals. Encaustic is

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-26460327718720825862011-02-11T10:54:00.000-08:002011-02-14T16:00:50.954-08:00

In tandem with my last post, I thought I should offer myself and the 2.3 regular readers of my blog a little roundup of the encaustic practices and processes I'm gravitating towards. This is, obviously, not going to be an all-inclusive list, and in reality it's just a little reminder to myself of the techniques I've tried that seemed to "work" for me very quickly. There are plenty of others that

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-25235845489524264362011-02-06T22:14:00.000-08:002011-02-14T16:01:33.042-08:00

I'm one of those people who just can't stand next to their own work at a show. And if it's a solo show, I'll kind of slink around trying to look like I'm paying attention to what people are saying without really paying attention to what people are saying. I think this is fairly common; it's not that I don't like to talk about my work or that I can't talk about my work, I just don't like listening

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-90233838036172644162011-02-02T13:04:00.000-08:002011-02-02T13:07:00.044-08:00

I've been out of hand the last few weeks. I'm experimenting now with blending photography and encaustic, trying a lot of different things and looking at a lot of artists. My encaustic world is getting bigger very fast, and it's at once confusing and exciting. The one very clear thing I've learned is, there are as many different processes for encaustic as there are artists who use it, and almost

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-33861682190913958952011-01-23T14:39:00.000-08:002011-01-24T09:29:34.499-08:00

This happens to me occasionally; I get tangled up in what things mean. Specifically, I get tangled up in what the artwork I'm making means, and instead of listening to the materials, I start listening to that other side of my brain--the part of me that wants to plan and strategize and analyze and understand everything before I even start. This is a pretty useful thing in the business world, and

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-39815286571021191542011-01-05T07:26:00.000-08:002011-01-05T07:38:47.653-08:00

I haven't been doing much encaustic over the last couple of weeks; I was pretty deep into my Holiday slugfest and the last project I started was not working out as conceived and that always throws me off track a bit. (Yes, yes, I have pictures, but I'll post them later after I fiddle more with the piece.) I have been looking at a lot of encaustic, though, and thinking about where it seems to

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-13735300540882416452010-12-06T22:50:00.000-08:002010-12-07T21:32:17.339-08:00

So I think I've finished the encaustic piece I introduced you loyal 2.3 readers to a couple of posts ago, although I may not have ... I'm not sure. There's a lot of conceptual heaviness and confusion that go with this work, although being so used to conceptual heaviness and confusion at this point, I'm not terribly stressed about it. In art, as with other things in my life, if I don't understand

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-418913743401310602010-12-03T23:15:00.000-08:002010-12-03T23:15:14.353-08:00

" ... I might turn into a unicorn!"--Martha M., Art 3536 student So the semester has come to a close, and I not only lived through it, I loved it. I'm talking, of course, about my first semester teaching at the Very Nice College, which you will already know about if you're one of the 2.3 regular readers of this blog. As it turns out, it may be my last semester teaching at the Very Nice College,

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-57730938545027519882010-11-24T14:22:00.000-08:002010-11-24T14:27:01.010-08:00

If you're one of the loyal 2.3 readers of this blog, you'll know that I recently tried my hand at encaustic. I've been interested in encaustic ever since I saw what the Starn Twins were doing with black and white silver gelatin prints and beeswax, and a few more encounters with very creative and intensively fine-art uses of the medium really piqued my interest. Simultaneously, I was a bit

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-91613470163212014152010-11-15T22:05:00.000-08:002010-11-15T22:10:10.205-08:00

If you are one of the 2.3 regular followers of this blog, you already know that I have spent the past semester teaching art at a Very Nice College. This has been a terrific experience for me, and I just can't say enough good things about the creativity and bravery of my students, and the real overall Niceness of this Very Nice College. We are coming to the end of the semester, and I'm thinking

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-24396235251790686182010-10-04T11:41:00.000-07:002010-10-04T11:44:51.998-07:00

Thanks to a basically nonexistant budget for supplies and a few other unfortunate factors, my students and I have been footing the cost of art supplies for my more hands-on Creativity class. That means we've been doing art on the cheap: using crayons and sharpies and recycled materials, rubber stamps and old magazines and glue and paint and glitter. They're great students, though, and they

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-15330829175267408002010-09-05T18:41:00.000-07:002010-09-05T20:50:46.265-07:00

I mowed my lawn yesterday. Well, sort of. I didn't do the whole yard (which is 4.5 acres), just the part in front of the house, which is big enough. And I didn't so much mow it as kind of sculpt it. My problem--and the reason (excuse?) my lawn is usually so extensively unmowed--is that I'm really deeply aware of my yard as habitat. I'm pretty sure my neighbors look at my big expanse of

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-16831192612333497962010-08-15T05:46:00.000-07:002010-08-16T04:06:45.880-07:00

I think we (meaning human beings) are all on a lifelong quest to understand ourselves, even the most unenlightened among us. Like gravity, the drive for self-comprehension is a force that does not really require our conscious and active participation. It influences us daily whether we seek it out or not, whether we are aware of what we are doing or not. Everything we do has contained within it an

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-43563908091667043492010-08-13T09:18:00.000-07:002010-08-13T09:22:26.315-07:00

I think all of us who went into art degree programs did so with the knowledge that this path would make us perhaps spiritually richer but would not do anything to enhance the state of our bank accounts. Those of us interested in teaching figured our MFAs would get us positions as adjuncts and that we would maybe struggle for awhile, eventually move into full-time positions, make enough money to

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-60944648456075516742010-08-07T22:13:00.000-07:002010-08-07T22:13:43.079-07:00

Today I'm going to blog about an artform that might seem a little out in left field to some of you ... but maybe not. If you're one of the 2.3 regular readers of this blog, you know that I'm a photographer and videographer, as well as maintaining a keen interest in new media (whatever that is. Or, are. Whatever.). A few things you might not know about me is that I am a bonafide stamp nerd (own

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-66679004977244464122010-07-20T20:21:00.000-07:002010-12-03T23:23:24.123-08:00

Well, it looks like I'll be joining the ranks of adjunct faculty across the land. That's right, I am taking on a teaching gig at Appalachian State in the Fall. Barring some unforseen catastrophe, I Are a Educator. As both a perpetual student and an employee on the staff side of not one but two Universities in the past, I've had a lot of exposure to faculty. Attending the College Art Association

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-40205911466811502692010-06-12T00:06:00.000-07:002010-06-12T07:52:00.059-07:00

You may be sick of reading about iPhone apps at this stage, but I just can't get enough. I've got five more to report on, and once again they run the gamut from fabulous to just so-so. I was pondering earlier the performance of the iPhone camera in low light--it's not, as you might imagine, very easy to adapt to low-light conditions. Of course, I guessed that someone must have an app for that,

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-56059712950738615152010-06-01T22:29:00.000-07:002010-06-02T17:31:30.391-07:00

I admit it. I've made a few shots with my Big Girl camera over the last couple of weeks, but for the most part, I'm lost in Appland. That's right, Apple had made more money off of me on photographic apps. I've downloaded a few new ones, and I've continued to play with the ones I wrote about in my last blog post on the subject, becoming more conversant with them. I've started to combine and layer

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-86994622542511727362010-05-21T21:35:00.000-07:002010-05-21T21:38:37.616-07:00

It's time for another installment of Social Studies on BlogTalkRadio, hosted by me! This time we'll look at Digital Media for promoting art and artists. Special guests for this episode are Mark Lindsay of Mark Lindsay Art and Washington DC-based artist Dana Ellyn. Both of these folks are working the social networks hard to get their work and their names out into the public eye. We'll hear all

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-44342660872685811942010-05-18T21:13:00.000-07:002010-05-20T23:03:33.166-07:00

Many fine art photographers have had the cringe-inducing experience of being approached in the field by a stranger and told with great enthusiasm, "Oh, I'm a photographer too!" This exclamation was often followed by the stranger producing a digital point-and-shoot or SLR never taken off "auto" and showing a string of pedestrian snapshots in an attempt to demonstrate their point. This began

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-10520157901708247362010-05-10T11:14:00.000-07:002010-05-10T11:23:11.017-07:00

My most recent installment of Social Studies, my BlogTalkRadio show, was quite interesting. If you are one of its 3.9 regular listeners, you'll know that the topic was the role of brick and mortar galleries in the current climate. I obtained comments from a range of folks, including gallerists, artists, collectors and art patrons ... I also drew from my own experience with galleries and

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-27954018356354869752010-04-21T21:22:00.000-07:002010-04-21T21:34:26.454-07:00

We're going down on the farm for the second installment of Social Studies, my BlogTalkRadio show. Join me on April 24 at 7:30 pm EST to hear the live wrap-up and commentary on my day's adventures, along with pre-recorded interviews, sound clips, and miscellaneous craziness. I'll also be posting to Facebook in real time, and you should check back here for photos, video, recipes, and more! Just

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-58370668704484611082010-04-03T08:34:00.000-07:002010-04-03T08:34:27.954-07:00

I've started a BlogTalkRadio show! SOCIAL STUDIES debuts today at 6:30 pm EST. Our topic for this first show is (duh) Art Life Balance, where I hope to discuss the measures we take to keep the art flowing while also managing our family lives, paying the bills and so forth. It's a live show, so listeners can call in and offer their own perspectives and comments. Details below: When: Saturday,

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-22596489966911242362010-03-04T19:16:00.000-08:002010-03-04T19:43:14.375-08:00

I got dissed today by an organization I really respected, and it's made me feel really, really small.And for once, it was not about my art. It was, of all things, about a non-art job. But it was a job I was, I'm sure, supremely qualified for, with an organization I have a long-standing respect for. I had lots of great ideas and was very excited about the prospect of contributing to the success of

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-58561907044116104352010-02-07T21:21:00.000-08:002010-02-07T22:22:11.966-08:00

North Carolina has a sort of "Twilight Zone" quality to it. I mean that in the nicest imaginable way; things just sort of come out of left field here, and what you expect is almost never what you get. Strange, given that this seems to be a state that likes literality in its place names--in the course of a 40 minute drive today, I crossed the Deep River, the Rocky River and the Big River, and

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-33781095734579516372009-12-11T17:51:00.000-08:002009-12-11T18:01:56.988-08:00

My headline is a riff off of the name of a project by my dear friends (and very talented artists), Lauren Usher and Lisa Rasmussen, which you can check out here. Their premise is broad and inclusive and compelling ... mine in this post is blogger-centric and specific, yet I hope not so self-referential that the 2.3 regular readers of my blog fail to find some relevance in it. Anyway, I'm going on

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-83083121182174232292009-03-02T11:39:00.001-08:002009-03-02T11:59:45.493-08:00

I've been avoiding saying it, but I think now I can say it ... "@" was a success, and has miles to go before it sleeps (er, sorry, Robert Frost).If you're one of the 2.3 regular readers of this blog, you'll know that I spent the last few days at the College Art Association Conference in Los Angeles, and you'll further know that I was one of the curators for @, a show sponsored by the New Media

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-84125553316878546922009-02-27T13:54:00.000-08:002009-02-27T14:20:49.408-08:00

There is something about conference presentations that brings out the curmudgeon in me. Really, nothing gets me going worse than some over-degreed sufferer of OFS (Omnipotent Faculty Syndrome) honking vociferously about the "dangers" and "fallacies" of something I happen to be immersed in, and with which he has, in all probability, no actual experience whatsoever.Today's winner of the "Not This

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-80302264375749046422009-02-26T16:33:00.000-08:002009-02-26T16:44:21.971-08:00

It's my second day at CAA, and all I can think is "beige."The sessions I've been to have not been so good, leaving me thinking that either 1) this is a way of considering things that is so completely foreign to me that I cannot understand it or 2) academics can suck the life out of anything. So far, out of three sessions that made even the briefest mention of Second Life, I have seen the same

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-63341011306005368542009-02-25T21:55:00.000-08:002009-02-25T22:47:22.747-08:00

Well I made it to L.A. The drive from the airport to the hotel was longer than the flight from Oakland to Los Angeles, and as the hotel is a fair distance from the convention center, it looks like a lot of time is going to be spent standing around waiting for shuttle busses. I was torn tonight between heading off the the Gala and just going to bed at 8 pm, but I wound up not doing either ... I

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-78700443611286503892009-02-23T12:21:00.000-08:002009-02-25T22:37:25.755-08:00

It's almost time for another meeting with my tribe, aka the College Art Association conference. I'll spend four days surrounded by artists, academics, and artist-academics, plus the usual scary collection of freshly-minted art degree holders looking for work. (I am not freshly minted, but will, in fact, be looking for work.)However, the most important aspect of CAA for me this year will be New

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-39204135665080428382009-01-13T15:39:00.000-08:002009-01-13T16:21:22.734-08:00

Welcome to all 2.3 readers of this blog! It's so nice to see you again!You may remember that I attempted to get folks to STROLL n the the spirit of the Hausmann-era flaneur awhile back, to limited results. I've recast the project somewhat and want to issue that invitation again. This time there is a specific date for your participation, although the otherwise general absence of rules remains the

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-16305208982010990812008-07-01T09:22:00.000-07:002008-07-03T14:08:23.789-07:00

If you're one of the 2.3 regular readers of this blog, you'll recall that I went to the College Art Association conference in Dallas in February, where I attended a number of sessions on New Media, as I have it in my head that I am keenly interested in New Media, although no one seems to be terribly sure what "New Media" actually is. (Or are. Whatever.) One of the people I encountered there was a

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-84910025636944199362008-06-12T10:30:00.000-07:002008-06-12T13:46:15.054-07:00

This Second Life thing just gets more interesting all the time.As I continue to plan out my (our) collaborative art project exploring the views and expectations of partnered avatars on SL and mixing it with the expectations of partnered people in RL, the universe is seeing fit to provide me with more and more data.First, I came across an article on a study out of Stanford that seems to confirm

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-55479065934261098222008-06-05T15:29:00.000-07:002008-07-03T14:19:30.525-07:00

So in the last post I asked the musical question, "How big a bang will Berkeley Big Bang be?" For me, it was more like a *boink* than a bang.Not to say it wasn't interesting ... it was. I especially enjoyed Bert Dreyfus, a professor emeritus from UC Berkeley's Philosophy department ... it never ocurred to me to wonder what Heidegger or Descartes would have thought of Second Life. He's been on

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-37284816206083014722008-05-29T10:59:00.001-07:002008-05-29T13:50:47.655-07:00

It's almost here: Berkeley Big Bang '08. For me, that means two solid days of immersion in New Media art, in which (as the 2.3 regular readers of this blog will remember) I believe myself to be keenly interested. This may turn out to be the ultimate test, however; I'll either come out of this energized and motivated from two full days with "my tribe," or depressed and anxious about whether or not

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-33388647770552483522008-05-26T11:01:00.000-07:002008-05-27T15:34:45.451-07:00

I've spent more time hanging out in Second Life by this point, maybe more time than I should have, and I'm learning a lot. Namely, just like in real life, some people are just plain great to know, some people are jerks or weirdos, and sometimes a weirdo can turn out to be just plain great to know. (For example, the person with the best, most formal manners we've met so far also turns out to be a

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-26835504223672560692008-05-06T09:52:00.000-07:002008-05-06T19:21:40.912-07:00

Whoo-freakin'-hoo. Finally, an entire evening with a viable internet connection on the "new computer," which for the moment is fondly named "Hog."Of course, I spent a lot of time "in-world" last night, picking up tons of free stuff and meeting people. I still don't have hair that perfectly suits me, but I do have a recommendation for a hair shop from someone whose hair I admired. I made a friend

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-37054245927777007622008-05-02T11:01:00.000-07:002008-05-02T13:05:03.970-07:00

Last night, I could have spent more fruitless hours wrestling with the Operating System that is Trapdoor Panorama. Instead, I did something different: I drove out to the barn and rode my horse.This is not to say that I have mastered Trapdoor Panorama; although it has features I really like, I am actively considering "rolling back" to its predecessor, which we'll just call "YQ". This would not be

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-66885843629956965082008-04-30T16:25:00.000-07:002008-05-02T13:01:20.383-07:00

Well, I thought I had done it.I began this post with a heady sense of optimism, full of myself because of some significant victories in computing over the last few days. It didn't happen without a lot of work and a lot of smarts and a lot of yelling at my husband (which seems to help me, although it doesn't usually help the computer problems very much). But after a full 24 hours in the land of

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-39696114063931582992008-04-28T15:06:00.000-07:002008-04-30T16:28:33.474-07:00

It's been a rough couple of weeks, here, as you'll know if you're one of the 2.3 regular readers of this blog.It began with a dead monitor and some unceremonious lack of cooperation by my "old" CPU, just before my new computer was scheduled to arrive. Or so I thought. The dead monitor turned out to be a dead power source, and $25 and a couple of days later, I have a new one and the old monitor is

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-38209287668102926552008-04-21T11:04:00.000-07:002008-04-23T16:35:08.421-07:00

Well, thank Goddess it's MONDAY. I'll bet you haven't heard that in awhile, if ever. It's just that I had one of those weekends that makes my 9-to-5 job seem simple and easy-to-manage.First, we'll talk about my adventures in technology. My new computer arrived Saturday afternoon. The good news: I'm sure you'll all be relieved to know that I've been able to repair my Second Life avatar's hair and

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-33283592738401266232008-04-12T16:15:00.000-07:002008-04-14T13:43:58.761-07:00

... and kids, I mean BROKE. As in, "where did the money go?" It's my own fault. I never get interested in anything cheap that you can do with, say, a pencil and a napkin. My noble experiment in drawing failed not because I cannot draw (and let me be the first to say I cannot draw, when it comes to drawing I really put the "not" in cannot), but because I couldn't make myself be interested enough

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-47515603929651472352008-03-31T10:05:00.000-07:002008-03-31T22:11:15.854-07:00

This originally began as a post about the San Francisco Art Institute's decision to shut down Adel Abdessemed's exhibition "Don't Trust Me." However, the furor around this exhibition has created a kind of a perfect storm for me, as it touches on almost everything I find abhorrent: inhumane treatment of animals, censorship, knee-jerk alarmist reactions by those who don't appear to know (or don't

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-26211534354221257892008-03-20T09:38:00.000-07:002008-03-20T10:13:38.516-07:00

HAPPY SPRING!I'm glad that spring is officially here. However, my Vernal Equinox did not go as I had planned. I envisioned getting my web site completed, doing a brief blessing ceremony for it within the context of a more formal Equinox ritual, launching it with the pride of a gardener planting the first seeds of the season (notice appropriate metaphor), and going to bed happy and fulfilled and

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-80404637094406042932008-03-17T09:55:00.001-07:002008-03-31T15:17:59.948-07:00

I found out recently that a collaborative project I'm part of didn't land the show slot we'd applied for with a local gallery. I have to admit that I wasn't all that disappointed; although the space was nice, it wasn't exactly a locale known for hosting cutting-edge work. And the more I've been thinking about my part of the project, the more interested I've become in taking everything to the next

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-90810341676249844502008-03-13T10:06:00.000-07:002008-03-13T21:37:54.512-07:00

I seem to be highly motivated these days, and since coming back from the College Art Association conference I have been immersed in a flurry of art- and art academia-oriented activities. I'm beginning a couple of new projects and reinvigorating an existing one. I'm redeveloping my web site (and seeing as this is what I currently do all day for money, it's extremely challenging to make myself

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-32142011748742438312008-03-04T13:33:00.000-08:002008-03-13T14:10:57.471-07:00

Ask five people about "New Genres," and you'll get ... five different blank stares.Oh. Wait.OK, now ask five artists about "new genres," and there's no telling what you'll get. If you ask Google, you'll get 6.6 million responses, one of which is a "working paper" by a researcher at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and one of which is a very fine 13-year-old book about public art by

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-67517514727959960432008-03-03T20:49:00.000-08:002008-03-13T14:11:28.643-07:00

I just got back from the College Art Association Conference in Dallas, as I think you may have figured out if you're one of the 2.3 actual readers of this blog, and I spent a lot of time there attending sessions on New Media. This is in part because I am a member of the New Media Caucus, and also because I have it in my head that I am keenly interested in New Media. But in truth there was another

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-1601052149631583042008-02-25T20:45:00.000-08:002008-02-25T21:50:15.353-08:00

Now back in Berkeley, fully caffeinated with an appropriate number of cats "assisting" me, I want to step back a couple of days and revisit Friday, Day 3 of the College Art Association in Dallas. In particular, I want to try to describe the experience of seeing Yoko Ono.I'll start by saying I've always loved Ono's artwork. The sense of outreach, of inclusion, was a huge hook for me; her works

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-53999705935343241862008-02-23T12:02:00.000-08:002008-02-25T14:28:34.569-08:00

I'm finishing up a hectic and full fourth day at the College Art Association Conference today, taking a break between extraordinarily good sessions to utilize the hotel's pathetic Wi-Fi to let everyone know what's coming up ...1. Reflections on the state of new media ... hell, on the definition of new media. 2. Veiled and mysterious reports on notable Clandestine Affairs that have been shared

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-79564536913535497372008-02-21T15:29:00.000-08:002008-03-13T14:12:18.080-07:00

Today has been a very interesting day; I've learned a lot. First the mundane things:1. Apparently, almost everyone has either lived in, knows someone who lived in, or wants to live in Berkeley.2. Dallas does not adhere to the same coffee standards as Northern California.Now. On to the more esoteric lessons.The day started off with an interesting conference session entitled "Photography After

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-83831036516434053102008-02-20T16:52:00.000-08:002008-03-13T14:13:08.283-07:00

This art life of mine, it's something of a puzzle. It reminds me of all those badly-behaved boyfriends I went through in my 20s; you know in your logical mind that life would be a lot simpler and a lot more straight-forward without them, but you miss them when they're not around, despite the complete and utter lack of any positive reinforcement for your patience and dedication. Art can be like

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-85534457815940696602007-11-18T18:42:00.000-08:002008-02-21T16:34:46.096-08:00

These days I am finding myself in ambiguous territory. It seems I have treadmill syndrome, running and running and yet not moving very far toward my goals in life. Working at my NotArt Job, I find I make just enough to not quite cover my expenses each month--this is in part because several months ago I cut back to 90% time so I would have more time to work on my art career. However, the art

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-25636719932279857992007-10-29T21:40:00.001-07:002008-02-21T16:33:43.368-08:00

I arrived at my studio this weekend to find some miscellaneous dumbass had found it necessary to scribble some kind of illegible tag-thing across its big white double doors. Apparently this person is an amateur and has not yet learned the tricks to stealing spray paint from the hardware store, because the marks appeared to have been made with a red crayon or china marker or something of that sort

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-33099594998789282892007-09-26T23:06:00.000-07:002007-09-26T23:08:28.571-07:00

Well, okay. I'm speaking in the editorial "we." Technically, I was robbed. And to get really specific, I wasn't actually robbed, I was burgled. That is to say, my art studio was burgled. Someone came into a large open fully-fenced back yard by coming through a large solid wood gate between two houses full of people, came to the back of the lot, went to the back of my studio, took the screen off

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-63112378113956948472007-07-08T20:07:00.000-07:002007-07-08T21:21:57.461-07:00

I have found myself over the last few months in "starting over" mode, as if some huge cycle was completing itself and I was rising from the bottom of the ocean to the crest of a wave, finally able to breathe, to feel the sun and see the sky.And of course, it all has to do with art.Last month, I went from 100%-time employment to 90%-time, which means I get two days off per month that I can devote

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-87713499675666326582007-05-26T21:46:00.000-07:002007-05-26T22:22:06.819-07:00

I have been working through a very long, dark period, that began about a year ago (or maybe longer). Last June I was involved in a horseback riding accident that resulted in a concussion, a fractured zygomatic arch, a collapsed lung, four fractured ribs (all in my back just below my shoulderblade), and a head injury that left a five-inch scar down the left side of my face--I'm alive because I was

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-85511210523422632142007-02-15T23:26:00.000-08:002007-02-15T23:49:05.578-08:00

A lot has happened to me over the last six or eight months, much of it not good.As a result, there are a lot of things I "should" be writing about.For example, I should be writing about the disparity between the "haves" and "have nots" of the art world. I should be writing about the different interpretations of the words success and failure. I should be writing about Bay Area arts organizations

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-1165966645823248282006-12-12T15:36:00.000-08:002006-12-12T23:53:07.740-08:00

Music has been following me around again; it does this from time to time.I've been telling it for several years now that I just don't have time for it any more, and that's true. And besides, there are so many other forms of expression that I'm so much better at creating ... despite having played the piano during my formative years and taking up guitar around age 13 and continuing to play on and

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-1165604499379259182006-12-08T10:53:00.000-08:002006-12-08T11:01:39.440-08:00

I am ostensibly at work right now, at my job, my paying gig, the thing I do because I have an MFA and the gianormous student loan debt that came with it and a chronically underemployed spouse and a mortgage. I am not interested in enlightening the world through web development right now; on the way to work I saw a wonderous thing, yellow leaves swirling down off a tree like blessings, falling

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-1165171985285349762006-12-03T10:31:00.000-08:002006-12-03T13:25:26.060-08:00

First, a little blog on blogging ...This is only my second entry to this blog in three months. OK, so maybe blogging is not my thing. I write a lot, but usually keep it to myself. Writing and discussion are how I hash things out--all things, whether personal or political or aesthetic (and let's be real, art is generally a combination of those three things)--but that means my writing is often not

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36419557.post-1161491137035082872006-10-21T21:08:00.000-07:002006-10-21T21:25:37.043-07:00

My MFA show came down on Thursday. I'm not a kid with no sense of self-definition; I have a life, I have lots of projects that are ongoing, lots of things to do. It should have been no big deal.It wasn't no big deal. I'm violently sad.I'm thinking about the potential reasons ... one person suggested it was "loss of community," but that doesn't seem to resonnate. I was basically isolated the last

E. Mariehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17884640890033154470noreply@blogger.com5