After adding 1000s of miles onto the Prius touring academic art facilities, I opted to stick closer to home to paint at UC Davis.
I am excited about my choice, but was attached to the other fictional futures as well. I am adjusting to their loss, filling their void with green hill, countryside, clean white walls, and a sea of bicycles.
It's hard to be objective about the decision. Each school was wonderful. Lots of strangers were generous with their opinions and their time. I peeked into studios, galleries, offices, and classrooms. I tried to come up with some matrix to compare studios vs. teachers vs. surrounding city vs. price.
In the end, it all seems a game of chance. A good game, since each school offers an improvement over my current tiny studio and semi-isolated work environment. So, here's to a couple years of prioritizing painting, and a victorious return to the metropolis with a trunk full of artworks to share. If all goes well, I may regain my bicycling legs as well.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
MFA Decision 2007 - UC Davis-bound
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
the reason to always zip up
Thinking that all my MFA apps had to make it in the mail today, I hustled up to Kinkos/Fedex to drop off paperwork well before the West Coast cut off. My normal impulse is to walk, but I recently discovered that places that I think of as "3 minutes away" are 15.
So, if Kinko's is 5 minutes away by foot in my mind, that would equal about 40 minutes round trip in the real world. Stress and driving don't mix, so I opt for my trusty folding bike.
A feature of this tiny bike is that the bag hooks on the front stem, and its easy to tote paperwork, personal stuff, and bike locks. It's is so convenient, that I stopped zipping up all the compartments for easy access.
Unfortunately, my slick system doesn't fare so well on unmaintained city streets. Faced with an impressive pothole impact,my Zire 71 (dubbed "beedu" for its pleasant melodic alarm) launched into the air, just enough to fall under my rear tire. Farewell passwords and contacts and FedEx account info. Back to the house for hardcopy.
Lesson of the day - always zip the bike bag.
