i'mmm baaaaaaaaack!
wowza! what a two and a half weeks! i enjoyed it immensely but cannot begin to tell you how wonderful it is to be back.
there's so much i can tell you about the experience this year, but i guess i'll start with the instructor, Shelley Horten-Tripp. in my last update i said she was eccentric. well, i wrote that during the first week so i didn't know then that she was absolutely one of the flakiest people i have ever met. some of you will understand the phrase "Santa Fe Painter" enough to know what she must have been like in person. for those of you who don't, think of the worst local arts and crafts gallery near you, then multiply it by a hundred, then give all those people an annoying and over-inflated sense of self importance. fun, no? basically, i think she just lost sight of the fact that this was an opportunity for the kids not for her to shill her crappy paintings. i think that was the biggest letdown, actually: watching both the quality of her work and my opinion of it head steadily in the toilet over a two week period. sheesh...
anyway, i don't want to give the impression that it was a total wash. i had a blast. i got to see some people that i hadn't seen in a year. i made some fantastic connections. i certainly drummed up business for the shirts. finally, i think i might have parlayed my artistic knowledge into (at least for now) a steady, year-long paying gig with the institute. o, world of salaried arts administration, don't corrupt me before i have a chance to escape!!! at the very least, it will allow me the oportunity to definitely work again next summer. $1700 for two and a half weeks of work? ummmm...yes please.
the best part was when my folks brought Syd up to visit on my day off. here's a couple of photos of us playing Magellan on the Mountain...
here's one with the institute in the background...
we also went to place that i urge you to visit if ever in SW OK: Hamburger Inn in Mangum, OK. best hamburger in the world, hands down. trust me on this one, guys. it's the shit.
so, i hope everything is going well for you guys. from all the updates i've read, everyone's got crazy shir going on right now, so that's...well...interesting, if not exactly good. it's good to be back, kids! ciao
wowza! what a two and a half weeks! i enjoyed it immensely but cannot begin to tell you how wonderful it is to be back.
there's so much i can tell you about the experience this year, but i guess i'll start with the instructor, Shelley Horten-Tripp. in my last update i said she was eccentric. well, i wrote that during the first week so i didn't know then that she was absolutely one of the flakiest people i have ever met. some of you will understand the phrase "Santa Fe Painter" enough to know what she must have been like in person. for those of you who don't, think of the worst local arts and crafts gallery near you, then multiply it by a hundred, then give all those people an annoying and over-inflated sense of self importance. fun, no? basically, i think she just lost sight of the fact that this was an opportunity for the kids not for her to shill her crappy paintings. i think that was the biggest letdown, actually: watching both the quality of her work and my opinion of it head steadily in the toilet over a two week period. sheesh...
anyway, i don't want to give the impression that it was a total wash. i had a blast. i got to see some people that i hadn't seen in a year. i made some fantastic connections. i certainly drummed up business for the shirts. finally, i think i might have parlayed my artistic knowledge into (at least for now) a steady, year-long paying gig with the institute. o, world of salaried arts administration, don't corrupt me before i have a chance to escape!!! at the very least, it will allow me the oportunity to definitely work again next summer. $1700 for two and a half weeks of work? ummmm...yes please.
the best part was when my folks brought Syd up to visit on my day off. here's a couple of photos of us playing Magellan on the Mountain...
here's one with the institute in the background...
we also went to place that i urge you to visit if ever in SW OK: Hamburger Inn in Mangum, OK. best hamburger in the world, hands down. trust me on this one, guys. it's the shit.
so, i hope everything is going well for you guys. from all the updates i've read, everyone's got crazy shir going on right now, so that's...well...interesting, if not exactly good. it's good to be back, kids! ciao
VIEW 9 of 9 COMMENTS
Congrats on the future work.
True story, out of the two times that I drove through OK, I stayed in a very small town (can't recall the name) in a motel for $20 cash, and there was a sign on the mirror in the room that said, I shit you not:
Please, No Livestock in Room
Ok, I did get to spend an entire day in Oklahoma City, which was picturesque.