elated

the opening friday night was wonderful. and insane! it was so packed with people the gallery got hot! :D and that's 3000 square feet of tremendously high ceiling space we're talking about! it was amazing! the art-going public in san francisco rarely disappoints. they come out in droves and love to laugh and smile and join in the fashion parade too. it's impossible for a people-watcher to be bored here. if you're bored in san francisco you might have sadly been born without a capacity for joy.

i've been lost in my elation even since. :)

and i finally got to meet the sweet and talented and absolutely adorable artist Amanda Smith. if you don't know her work you are missing out! it is fantastic! gorgeous! and with a splash of darger on it that is unexpected and beautiful and just so intriguing! it was so wonderful getting to speak with her and we totally had one of those cute and awesome moments when you meet an artist who's work you love and you both say "I LOVE YOUR WORK!" at the exact say time! hahaha! :D i am so happy to have work on the same wall as her.

and this morning, dark and early, i took the first steps toward a few new year's resolutions and enrolled in spring classes. german and ceramics. i'm probably one of the extreme few art-nerds who, in high school, did not take 2 years of ceramics. i think i had one semester and then focused on drawing and poetry as my electives. anyway, i've been wanting to learn how to make crazy plates to hang on the walls for a couple years now so i figured why not now? especially after getting up close and personal with Amanda's work and seeing how beautiful ceramic art truly is. and the same goes for learning german. so many of my favorite artists and writers are from germany and austria. i'd love to be able to read the work of elfriede jelinik and herta muller in the original. though the translations are absolutely beautiful, it is apparent that some soul has been lost. and so here we go! i'm a bit nervous but also very excited! it's been a goal of mine for a very long time.

the month that stands between now and my first day of class is going to fly by in a crazy, wonderful blur of work and art. in the middle of the reception, Freya and i were already working out a plan for the january exhibition. :)

i am stunned by all that has happened and is happening.

glowing and motivated

things are busy and wonderful and i'm just rolling along with it, feeling so satisfied and happy and encouraged. more than i've felt in a long time. i really can't stress enough how absolutely wonderful it feels to work with people who trust the ins and outs of my practice, who want me to do what feels right and just be myself. it's amazing and i am absolutely grateful for this experience. and we've been reviewed twice more! DANG! and DOUBLE DANG! ha! Artbusiness.com covered it the other day. scroll down til you find Slingshot. and Content at Fecal Face too! beautiful photographs! and tons of them! and i'm in one of them! see if you can spot me. i'm wearing a black shirt that says THE END in big white letters but the END is blocked by someones arm so it just says THE. :) but YAY!!!!! i'm blown away the opening got so much attention! it's so exciting! and we're already working working working on the december show which could prove to be our last exhibition in the space (we're only guaranteed our spot until january).

i'll be sitting the gallery again today. please do come down and say hi. 890 valencia @ 20th. i'll be there from noon - 5pm. maybe even a bit later today. people seemed to be really streaming in around 4:30 last week so i might keep the space open a bit later today if it ends up being the same.

in other news, i've finished the admissions paperwork for my local JC so that i can learn a new language in the new year. :) it's been on my TO-DO list for a very long time and, as i thought about new year's resolutions, i decided it was time to take a run at it. i can't enroll until the middle of next month but the first step has been taken and i am looking forward to wandering around on a college campus again. i love college. i always have. i highly recommend it. :) and also, if i take a second class (which i definitely will. probably something like screen printing or ceramics. fun classes!), it defers my student loan which is awesome. two birds, one stone. survival at its finest. :)