there is much more to write though I have several deadlines to meet.
I will say this for now: My trip to the city of Chicago was magnificent as I shot more than 2,000 photographs and have a new exhibition for 2011 in store. While I was away, a friend of mine from Europe had been reading my blog and that was a great surprise... upon my return, I found this photo in an e-mail with no words written, and that was an even greater surprise. It took me several days to figure out that it was in reference to my entry below and was very sweet really... THANK YOU!
I am also thankful for my many other great events (big and not so big, like daffodils in the spring outside the door) , and even more thankful for my many nice friends from around the world................ read the entry below
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It's January 2010
It snowed today and the cold white blanket covered everything in East Tennessee including my memory of the Lake Front near the loop, right out side the doors of the school of the art institute of Chicago in the winter. Sometimes it's so cold for so long that the lake front begins to look like frozen parts of Alaska where the ocean becomes a mile or more thick in ice caps. I used to walk outside the school during breaks from classes just to catch a glimpse of the magnificent Canadian Geese who crowd beautifully french influenced park scapes, and the geese flew in by the thousands. Digital photographs were not big then and terribly expensive, and would have been nice, as I had always wanted to shoot pictures of the gorgeous plentiful geese. I did have a great camera then, which I had owned for twenty or so years, though was stolen after I had shot some of my completed work at the school.
It was unfortunate that I never took those pictures of the geese, but soon, next week, I have a great digital camera and will be in the magnificent mile for a week for a fine arts conference at SAIC. I hope for plenty of snow and I'll be ready to shoot everything in sight.
When I moved to the Chicago area, I didn't know a soul, though I knew, that for some reason I was supposed to be in Chicago at that time for the arts scene and of course to attain my schooling at the age of 30.
I had left a whole career behind and just went for it.
Well, you know the old saying: "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times." / For me really, it was the best of times, as even driving into the loop everyday on Lakeshore Drive was amazing then, as my eye followed the skyline of the great city and I thought, "only a city of artist could have created this skyline, and of course created this city." I learned very early on that if there was something that you were interested in, that there was surely a large group of people somewhere in the city that converged to talk about / create / be active in / or celebrate, what ever the subject was you had interest in. It's a fantastic city in that regard, and in most regards really as the artist are: political, scientific, activists, organized, theatrical, musical, and even religious about what they (including me, myself, & I) do and who they are in relationship to the world.
Even if you don't know anyone and your sitting in just the right cafe', it isn't unusual to join into the group and become apart of life at that moment in time and make great friends. It wasn't long after I moved to the city that my phone machine was jammed with messages from just meeting people on the train as I met people with common interests nearly everyday and exchanged numbers. Once, when I was working for a brokerage firm, I was given tickets to the symphony and I didn't know anyone to ask to join me that evening, so, I treated myself to a good meal out near Symphony Center in a sort of medium range eatery, and there was a group of people that I met that invited me to there table that also were going to the symphony that evening.
My first few month in Chicago, I worked briefly for David Brenner the actor. He lived several blocks up the street from me and often I'd drive him to the airport as he was flying in and out of LA. He has wonderful children and an adorable wife. They took quite a bit of interest in your career I remember. I was class mates with a director at FOX News, as she was finishing up her degree after beginning at DePaul University. The Director was finishing up her degree with her last classes at Columbia College and I was just starting out in my first year in school. And there we were in the same class. In the arts, some of the finest teachers are creative people who have built their reputation in the area they teach by working at their skills, knowledge, and expertise within their careers outside of teaching, and they bring with that worlds of knowledge and applied experience. Within the city of Chicago, there are great things to learn....
