Well...lets see. I’ve spent the last week trying to get organized; looking back and taking stock and looking ahead to see what’s next. Time to think out loud...feel free to join me.

I’ve spent most of the last bunch of months making work for my show with Rhonda Pelley at The Leyton Gallery. I think the show looks great. Hats off to Bonnie for the putting us together. Its been nice to have contact with someone whose work seems to come from a similar place as my own (thanks to Rhonda for loaning me an awesome book).

Last month I was also able to finish up my funding proposal for a new project that I’m hoping to start in the early in the new year (fingers crossed). I don’t want to say too much about it at this point (though some of you may have heard me blabbing already...hard to keep my mouth shut when I’m excited). It’s not that it’s a big secret, it’s just that I’m not altogether sure where it’s going to lead me. Practice wise, it will likely mean a pretty big departure from what I’ve been doing lately, and many more trips to the surplus store. It everything works out, I’ll post my first successful “experiment” on the site. Lets hope that’ll keep everyone glued...

What else is new? I’m on the board of VANL-CARFAC now...that’s been interesting. I haven’t been around long enough to figure it all out yet, but it’s been nice to have some input on things that effect all visual artists in the province, while having more contact with some people who share some of the same art-related concerns as myself. One of the other board members and I had brief a discussion about “career building” as a visual artist (not necessarily in a commercial sense). This really started me thinking about how active, or inactive, I am in growing my “career” as an artist, and what steps might be involved in the process. I’ve often said that my biggest successes or surprises have come when I’ve kept my head down and just made art. I realize that this only goes so far; at some point you to have to disseminate the work that you’re making, and exhibitions don’t always fall right in your lap. This is hard work for me...not the process, as such, and not necessarily the act of putting your work out there for judgement (which one gets accustomed to as an artist). I think it’s a fear of getting tangled in the “not-making-art” part of art, and letting this effect the art-making part. I don’t mean in a time sense, but more in a psychological sense. It sometimes seems that insecurities bleed from one side to the other and paralyze both. This will likely have to be my first “career building” hurtle.

Anyhow...having said all this...I’d better get back to the real reason I sat at the computer to begin with. Exhibition Proposals.