I'm in West Palm Beach! (an update)

This Fall of 2016 I began my new life as an Artist-In-Resident at the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Its an 8-month residency. 

Its been a bit of a blur around the country. After Interlochen Summer Camp (a whirl in itself), in Northern Michigan,  I drove back to my studio in Greenville, NC and took down my solo show at Emerge Gallery. In about a week's time, I bought a trailer and loaded it up with sculpture and drove it down to South Florida. 

As an Artist-in-resident, I'm supposed to spend half my time working on my artwork and half the time teaching classes for the Armory and doing general maintenance and outreach. It's been a blast so far. Here are some photos from my phone, just to give you an idea of what its like here.

Jaded Lovers

 I brought Jaded Lovers on the trailer and was able to install it in front of the Armory, which is neat because it matches the white star design. Its a very new piece. I made it right before leaving for Michigan last Spring. This is the first time it's been on display and people seem to like it. 

Here is a view of a sunset on the street I live on. That's my trusty Dodge Truck on the lower left. I was super lucky and found (through connections at Interlochen, MI) a small "carriage house" to live in a short walk away from the Armory Campus. Its like furnished guest house and very small. My bed is a few feet away from the kitchen! It is perfect for me. I come home, cook dinner, and read Game of Thrones.

Tree frog that surprised me in my mailbox!

My first class is Intro to Welding. The class learns the basics of Oxyacetylene Welding, Stick, MIG, and plasma cutting. I picked the Cube Project because they learn how to construct a simple shape. I like teaching here. There's no grades, no attitudes, just learning. The people are so nice. The students sign up eager to learn welding. It seems there hasn't been a welding sculpture teacher here for a while, so people are eager to get in here and learn the equipment. 

Student's 6in Cube. A+

Here I am repairing a 30-year sculpture that was outside the Armory.

Students MIG welding

Student lighting her torch.

Student MIG welding

Another class I'm teaching is Shadowboxes: the Art of Joseph Cornell. This class was very small at the beginning of the session, but we had fun re-using students' collections of found objects into presentable wall hanging artwork. 

I've been working on a few new sculptures and face-mugs, but a show opportunity popped up real quick. All my sculptures were tied up in other shows here, in NC, or still in progress. So I took stock of the work I had and came up with this sculpture. The show was a last Saturday at Studio 1608 in West Palm Beach. It was a group show and I talked and met many people from Palm Beach. 

Heads of States of Existing 

I've got some real awesome projects in the hopper, but don't want to spoil it by posting too many Progress shots. Just follow me on Facebook or Instagram to see more. 

I'll try to post more often here. I'm not sure if the Blog is still a good format for me. There are so many these days. I think sometimes I am "oversharing". The blog is kind of a throwback to Myspace, where I'd share my thoughts and what's going on in my life, before Facebook. 

Anyway. There's the update on my life so far. Hope ya'll are doing well and living the dream, too.