I had a colleague who used to say that the two best things about teaching were Summer and Christmas. I just wrapped up my 10th year in the profession and I’ve learned that he isn’t far from being wrong. Summers allow for rest and new endeavors. I’ve written before on the importance of rest, and after this past year some productive rest was desperately needed but so was some exploration.
Exploring can be more than visiting new places. You can explore all sorts of new things from foods and hobbies to relationships and the inner recesses of your own soul. This summer I did all of that. I spent time with amazing friends, visited 3 National Parks (Badlands, Wind Cave, and Theodore Roosevelt), visited 2 National Monuments (Mt. Rushmore, Devil’s Tower), rafted rivers, hiked mountains, swam in clear (and cold) lakes, I loved, I laughed, and I drank myself silly. I hadn’t had this much fun since college.
You can’t expect every day or moment of your life to be fun, but you can try to make those days and moments help you to achieve some fun. I’m going to be honest, much of my time to date has been spent trying to be great or trying to prove others wrong. I’ve been told by an art teacher that I couldn’t draw and that I should give up. I’ve had teachers think that I shouldn’t graduate high school (long story). I had to battle a narcissist for my MFA. I’ve been told to not have hopes and dreams, and to quit giving them to others. I’ve been called a feather ruffler, a firebrand, and a naïve idealist. And I won’t even go into what some of my students have said about me.
With all of that striving and fighting it can be hard to remember what fun is and its importance. Fun is paramount to desire and desire is the key to purpose. My summer of fun has helped to refuel many of my fights, but it has also given me the perspective to see which fights don’t serve my purpose.
Along with exploring the country I’ve also been exploring my academic research and creative endeavors. If you’ve visited this site recently you may have noticed a significant amount of work added to the studio work and design work pages. As mentioned in the previous post I have begun to expand my freelance work and have completed quite a few projects this summer. Along with the addition that professional work I’ve also uploaded a few of my “10 Minute Exercises” to better illustrate my design skills.
In regard to my studio work I have completed 2 new pieces in my portrait series Highs, Lows, and Everything In Between and posted those to the site. I’ve also begun the fifth piece in this series that I hope to complete before the start of the fall semester and work continues on pieces from my series Lost and Rise.
