What's going on...

Here it is. I'm working as an artist and getting paid for it. Well, at this moment I'm employed as a Sign Maker at a local health-food store. To do my job, I have to write the signs found around the store. I get the impression that this will be a long-term job, because there are so many signs and I've been told to redo them all in my own style. The goal is consistency, so I need to practice. Also, I've been commissioned to do about 80 pieces of pottery in the next few weeks, so I'm working on that as well. The goal is to maintain $1200 a month so I don't have to work as a substitute teacher as often. Here's hoping!

Industrial Design program

If I were to develop my own industrial design program, here are some things I would require of it:

a program that fosters creativity by rewarding excellence and promoting experimentation

foundation studies--key to any art degree are the basics: drawing composition, color theory, printmaking, sculpture, drawing techniques, 3d design, figure drawing, etc.

research methods

facilitating creative thinking

public speaking

persuasive writing

marketing

model and prototype development: from 3d computer models to actual prototypes requiring professional standards of accuracy and finish

mass production considerations (materials and processes)

corporate problem solving scenarios--dealing with real-world clients

development of personal direction

collaboration

portfolio

a thesis project

Apathy in schoolkids

Just got through talking with a friend. He has a 13 year old and we both agreed that there is some apathy in the way middle school kids are approaching the world. I suggested it is at least a little cultural.

Earlier today, one of the 13 year old kids in my class asked, "How old are you?" When I said 36, she said "That's how old my mom is." I am in the parents generation. Are we the reason so many kids are apathetic? Have we (generation x) taught them this approach?

And is there something larger that the kids are tapping into? A general "blah", that comes from expecting the government to give us whatever we want, and comes from being so distant from the land, and comes from the ability to manifest our lives virtually yet without any physical effort.

Welcome to the 21st century.

Women's Myths of Yore

It occurs to me that, as the fight-or-flight research was done only using male test subjects, and that a tend-or-befriend model is more applicable to women, maybe Joseph Campbell's "The Hero's Journey" is based on mythologies rooted in a male dominated society.

In Mary Renault's The King Must Die the hero Theseus makes his way about the Greek back-country encountering matriarchal societies whose goddesses have been seduced by Zeus; these groups were pretty much overwhelmed by the Greeks, and their mythologies incorporated into Greek mythology to quell any resistance. What became of the matriarchal societies? And what came of their belief systems?

In the song "I hope you're happy" the two main characters from "Wicked" argue about the means by which each has chosen to achieve her ends. Their friendship wins out, however. In the book I'm currently reading, Hunger Games, a strong bond of friendship develops between two female characters. (In an effort not to spoil, I will say no more about the book.) There appears to be a current of compassion that runs through each of these stories, and I am curious to find if there are more metaphoric stories that speak to the buried mythology of women.

The Heroine's Journey by Maureen Murdock, a contemporary of Campbell, has parallels to Campbell's Hero's Journey but seems rooted in the same rationale. Any suggestions for further study?

Looking for a Career

Here's how you do it:

1. What big changes do you want to affect with your life?

These can be worldwide phenomenon that you want to do something about.

2. What sort of activities associated with #1 would you be able to do?

This has to do with your skills, personality, knowing your limits, and knowing what you won't let limit you.

3. What jobs match #2.

4. Where do you want to live?

5. What employment options are there (within commuting range)?

6. What job skills do you need for #5?

7. Go to college for the specific job skills...

or get on-the-job training

or build up to the job you want by working somewhere similar

Consider moving...where would you move?

Consider your needs...what will you be doing for yourself?

Consider ignoring all this and just living life as it comes to you.

Transcendental Space

In a dream last night I was traveling through the park in one of the little springy kid toys from the playground. Apparently I was flying.

Pottery

In elementary and high school we got to play with clay. Almost all my projects fell apart. On a lark, my first quarter of college I took a ceramics class to balance out the overly academic workload. The teacher was inspiring, energetic, and a taskmaster. I got a C. But more importantly, I realized why my projects had all fallen apart: it was the clay's fault. I learned to choose better clay, and by the end of that first quarter I was hooked. I took my second quarter of Clay sculpture a year later from another teacher.

The ceramics studio at Spokane Falls Community College became my retreat. I ended up there instead of in my regular classes, thrilling in the energy and community. I felt I had found my "safe haven" and worked hard to learn every aspect of the studio. I took more than 12 ceramics classes over the course of 8 years. I even met, in that ceramics studio, a beautiful girl who would become my wife. We spent many long hours together around the clay classroom, "working".

Two years ago my wife and I bought an electric kiln. I think we were both wanting a bit of that old studio in our lives again. This year we finally got around to setting up a working pottery studio: "Red Panda Pottery". Recently, a friend asked what my long term plan for the studio is. In answer, I would like to generate some of the same dynamic qualities that I adored from the ceramics studio. Here are a few things I would like to incorporate into our operation.

1. An attitude of constant improvement.

2. Fun and challenging assignments designed to pull from deep within the students' abilities.

3. Free use of clay, glaze, and kiln space (a creative way to do this could be to sell the best of student work to fund the studio) --thoughtfully, I know that student fees and government grants actually paid for the materials at SFCC. I don't have very many "students", and I would like to make money, so to break even, I'm making and selling stuff, too.