SHOCK & AWE: Senate actually passed legislation.

I have been absent from blogging for a while, but I have maintained a proverbial ear to the proverbial ground as far as what this Lame Duck Senate has been up to as of late. In the past few months I have grown increasingly disillusioned, disappointed, and disgusted with the obstructionist tactics the Republican Minority in Senate has taken to make sure nothing gets done. The idea that Congress is a "Law-making body" seems to cease as soon as anything arrives at Senate, while the House of Representatives has been moving through legislation at least more effectively, though far from perfectly. I had adapted to the idea that Senate was where legislation of any sort went to die, and Senators were not interested in any sort of governing, but rather looking out for their own best interests and those that would screw the populous for the sake of giving the prodigious middle digit to one Moderate Liberal President of a political party some people plain don't like. Imagine my surprise this morning when I read the news that the Repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Policy which keeps non-heterosexual individuals from serving openly, honestly, and with personal integrity (all values touted as paramount by the Armed Forces) out of the military. The Repeal of DADT is a piece of legislation which I keep near and dear to my heart because it affected me personally and made my deployment all that much more difficult to endure. I would have re-enlisted if it were not for DADT. Personal stories aside, In my jaded cynicism with the Senatorial section of the Legislative branch of government, the fact that ANYTHING got done was shocking. I'm happy the repeal got through, and is due to be signed into law. I am surprised that Senate did anything coherent in light of the established pattern of obstructing anything for the sake of political gain and getting nothing substantial accomplished. I think the later fact is far more surprising than the news that the repeal passed.

The wonders of snail-mail or the romanticism of a handwritten letter

I have a friend who recently shipped out for Marine Basic Training. I recently received a letter from him. I got immediately to reading in spite of all other "things-to-do" I had pending. He is doing well, and managing at staying out of the radar of bad things in training. He's a good Marine. I felt more connected and a greater sense of urgency and importance from that handwritten letter than I recall feeling from reading e-mails when I was over seas. A handwritten letter is far more substantial, literally, than a digital e-mail. He commented on how letters help "soothe the soul-burn" and to a degree being in the military does burn the soul. At least in Basic Training, it does. It makes you a harder person, and you are able to deal with more. I look forward to writing more letters to my friend. I am sure he will be happy to feel a little more connected to the world outside the garrison.

A Tall Order... and a cool idea

I have been working on focusing my students in learning a little bit about Veteran's Day instead of doing the tired turkey curriculum most elementary art teachers usually push for November. I will state I am not criticizing elementary school teachers for teaching Thanksgiving in November, it is the dominant holiday. My students learned about several different veterans, and my shortcomings fall in how much they learned about each veteran. The stars of the class are Paul Reickhoff, founder of IAVA; and Salvatore Giunta, the first living recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor since Vietnam War. Other veterans include Tammy Duckworth, Dustin Hunter, Matthew Bogdanos, Pat Tillman, and Bryan Anderson. The Assistant Principal at the school where I teach thought it would be a great idea if I were to get in touch with the living veterans, or family members of the deceased veterans to send them copies of the drawings the students are making. I was a little bit stunned when she made this recommendation. I think my students are progressing splendidly in in their drawings. It is a challenge to draw a portrait with little or no drawing experience. However, I do ask my students to try their best. I will push them, sometime to the point where they get angry at me, but the push is worthwhile. But I digress. The idea of getting in touch with all these people, and sending them a series of images to several veterans who have had some manner of media coverage at some point in their lives... makes me a little uncomfortable. It would not be the probable rejection that scares me, but the idea that one or more of them take interest and decide they want to visit my class. I find this prospect highly improbable, but regardless of the improbability, intimidatingly daunting. Art

Glenn Beck can have free reign on criticizing veterans groups when I see his DD214

I found out that just earlier today Glenn Beck made a certain criticism of Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America when a listener of his radio show stated they received funding from the political action group MoveOn.Org. Glenn Beck stated that IAVA a nonprofit, nonpartisan veterans group is secretly a front for a socialist agenda. While I do not believe that veterans groups are above reproach or criticism, I do believe in the criticism being founded on something more substantial than a phone call, or that the group receives funding from a political action group. I am certain that there are many veterans nonprofit organizations that receive funding from groups with opposing ideals. But that a IAVA is secretly a socialist/communist front group? SERIOUSLY? It is veterans who allow for Beck to make these cowardly, panic induced, deluded accusations. I suppose that Beck achieves his goal of getting more media attention by saying such baseless appalling and grotesque accusations that a veterans group basically started on the grounds of picking up the slack where the government was not doing what it could as a "socialist" front. When he completes a tour of duty with the marines or the army, gets deployed overseas for Operation New Dawn, or Operation Enduring Freedom, and has an honorable discharge... I might let him slide for saying something like that.
And like Rachel Maddow stated in her show this evening. the saddest part is now thousands of listeners will now believe that IAVA is a socialist group.

This is important

I have been following the story for a while now, and have made this a topic of discussion for my students. SSG Salvatore Giunta will be awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military award one can earn, ever. They had an interview with him and some of his platoon members on 60 Minutes. I think what SSG Giunta did is beyond admirable. It is beyond words. He charged through and into enemy fire to prevent a friend and fellow soldier from being taken by enemy forces. There is a moment near the end of the interview where he learns a little more about the details of the night where he gets emotional. At that point in time I got emotional. While I am by no means anything worthy of consideration for any medal, having served, gone overseas and come back, I too feel uncomfortable when people thank me for my service. I don't want to diminish their gratitude, and know that there are many people far more talented and worthy of gratitude than me (Like SSG Giunta). I am struck by his humility. I think it is a rare and often un-admired virtue. This will not stop me from treating him to lunch if I ever run into Sal somewhere/anywhere in the world.

A little bit of inspiration... back to the drawing board

A few weeks ago there was a particularly spectacular looking sunset on the way home from work. This prompted me to get home and paint almost immediately. Now because of my frenetic studio practices, actually making the painting took a little bit of time. Ultimately I ended up creating a fairly cool image on a 9" x 12" canvas. When I finished the painting, I took a step back and decided that I need a significantly bigger canvas, and should probably consider using stencil for some elements.

Gallery Opening & Show

This past Friday, I had a gallery opening in Crystal Lake at the Lakeside Legacy Arts Park. Veterans Views: Stories & Images, opened at the Dole Gallery at historic Dole Mansion. The opening went beyond any expectation I had fathomed.

I have lagged behind on posting my reaction to this event because I was a little tired, and also I had to take some time to just process. There is a span of artwork that spans technical skill and content. The older artists have more traditional representational, and far more skilled naturalistic artwork. The more contemporary works emerged from the artists who started working a little more recently. At least that is my observation. But it is all cool.

I would love the opportunity to possibly curate this show annually as a series. I think it definitely has some potential.

I also think that I really need to step up my studio production.

Ch-ch-changes and updates

Because nothing stays the same over time, I am pondering the changes in work pace, work, and art making. I am going to be even further involved with the Vet Art Project in Chicago. I'm both excited and a little apprehensive because I want to be nothing less than excellent for the project. I have only been involved with the project for 9 months, but they have been awesome! I'm looking to start up a blog for the Vet Art Project Chicago, but I am not sure what should it include.
My collage panel project is off to a decent start, but I have reached a mild impasse, and I am not sure if I want to have themes for each side of the panels, or if I should continue with the same, paste-as-I-go-work ethic/aesthetic.
Work has been a small logistic and paperwork fiasco. There have been so much paperwork which I am trying to make sure I have for every student enrolled in my after school art class. I am also trying to have a timely field trip to the National Museum of Mexican Art , but my class is growing by leaps an bounds, which places a crimp in the paperwork I have to submit for the school. I am excited though for the idea that there will be a while lot of "papel picado" to display at the school for the Day of the Dead Altar.
Lastly, I would like to have a painting in honor of SSG Bryan Anderson, an Iraq War Veteran who was injured, and whose story was widely followed by the media. He has been an emblem of courage and inspiration to many people, and I know this is not a role which he really sought so much as it was thrust on him. I would go so far as to say that he is a personal hero of mine. I would like to do more than a portrait... but at the same time I would be showering attention where none is really needed.

My Art Depository

I have been posting works in progress as well as finished work as I document and progress. More to follow in the future.

Art Depository

Emotional Outbursrsts and Productivity

I will begin first by expressing my unsurprised disappointment with Senate not passing the Defense Authorization Bill. As Rachel Maddow stated "Republicans, your culture war is showing." Because the Republican Party did not want to have to deal with anything which would deal with the repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell(DADT) Policy, the filibustered the whole bill. Politicians cited a whole multitude of reasons why they voted No on SB 3454, but I am a little bit more taken aback by Sen. McCain blatant denial in an interview after the session denying that DADT is not used to witch-hunt homosexual soldiers out of the military, despite that Air Force Major Mike Almy was discharged under DADT for that specific reason. I think I will cease that rant there.

Correlating with my disappointment has been, in my opinion, an alarming rate of art production. Yesterday I had primed several canvases for making something interesting, or maybe inane and un-pretty. I have now before me three recently finished artworks, two of which I intend on exhibiting in November.

This past weekend, I also purchased two particle board panels. It has been one of my artistic wants to have a kitschy collage board, which I intend on making into a 4.5'-5' tall room divider. I will eventually purchase the a third panel so that this project has the base and stability to stand on its own. In the mean time. I will begin adhering different images which I find fascinating and pretty to the panels. Hopefully, it will look like the inside of an old record store with hundreds of images that have been pasted up and taken down over years. It will not necessarily have that aged look, but hopefully a similar aesthetic.

Frenetic Art Making Patterns, or I suck at painting Orchids

My art making can best be described as a frenetic, jump start/stalling, hectic making. I will have the sudden irresistible urge to make something or just get an idea on paper or canvas. When I do, the process seems to flow so smoothly and almost issue and hassle free. With this in mind, I have a canvas panel I have been working on for a while. I was doing some experiments with layering, stenciling, and stamping. Besides the fact that I think I am in love with stamping, and stenciling, I was finally happy with the ground I established for the most part. It is a bad imitation of one of those faux prints you find at Bed Bath & Beyond. It is so tacky and cliche, and I can't really help but like how it looks. In my art making process, I determined that it needed something soft and organic to counter all the hard-edged lines. The prints and stamps have these lovely baroque style curves, but the edges are so clean. After looking through some images of flowers, I determined Phalenopsis Orchids were the way to go. I started setting down the forms for the petals and the under painting for all the lines, and I have come to the determination that I suck at painting orchids. I'm so out of practice at painting flowers, but I suppose that being out of practice implies that there has been practice prior to this attempt at painting orchids. I have never painted orchids before. i think I might have to go with a different approach with this endeavor tomorrow morning.

Pastor Terry Jones is a Coward

Pastor Jones from Gainsville Florida has sounded a rallying cry against Islam in his profound and lamentable ignorance. He plans on staging a Qoran buring rally on September 11, 2010. Jones believes that the now renamed Park 51 Place Muslim Community Center, formerly called Cordoba House is an affront to the September 11 Memorial which is under construction at Ground Zero.

Pastor Jones and his congregation burning one-thousand Qoran's on September 11, is not a defiant act against what he perceives to be a tyrant religion, but at best an act of cowardice, and no matter which way you look at it, an act of sacrilege. He and his church's actions will endanger the lives of US troops overseas. The troops will be the ones to suffer the worst of the consequences for Pastor Jones burning the Qoran. The fact that he thinks this is a defiant act is beyond me. There is nothing brave, or profound about this. It is disrespectful, bitter, hate-filled vitriol. Jones and his congregation will not face the worst of the consequences. They will not have to face the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, and pretty much all other Muslims. He will not have rocket-propelled Grenades launched at him. He will not be shot at, or have fire bombs hurled at his vehicle. Muslim people overseas will not understand Freedom of Speech that is written in the Constitution. They will see a hateful American man descrating a Muslim Holy Book, as representative of American Sentiment because he has the right to do so. He will not have to endure what will happen to the troops overseas if he goes through with this.



That terrifies and shakes me to my core in a way that words fail to truly express. The most concise and articulate thought I can state is "Pastor Terry Jones is a coward."

Inspiration Strikes

There is a cast relief sculpture which I have been working on for a while now. The piece emerged by accident and was spurred to fruition by sheer visual interest. It is a cast of my left arm up until the wrist. It is completely white, except for some off color pieces of plaster gauze which dried a different shade of white than the rest. It is a very cool looking piece. While I did not know what it needed to be finished except for maybe a coat of acrylic paint to even out the coloration, the artwork needed a context. I found one: The story of Sgt. Gary Yoakam. Sgt Yoakam from Ohio lost his left hand in a rocket propelled grenade attack while on patrol with Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. While I am certain that there are many other injuries where soldiers have lost a left hand, Sgt Yoakam's story is the one I know, and the context which brings work of art to life.

Private Art Lessons....

Recently a friend of the family had asked me to do a private lesson with his 9 year old daughter since she had shown some interest in the arts. I thought it would be an interesting idea so I went along with it. The little girl was really sweet and very smart. However the experience was a little marred by her dad. He had a preconceived notion of what his daughter should paint and strong-armed the lesson more than I think I should have allowed. However I did not want to sour the relationship my father has with him. He wanted maybe too much at once from an hour and a half of painting. He wanted a landscape painting to put up in his house painted by his daughter, which seemed to be the more pressing goal for him, then getting his daughter interested in the arts. I set out my paints and all the necessary materials ahead of time for the lesson, which included an image which I thought was complex enough and interesting enough to challenge the girl. An Arthur Carles painting "An Actress as Cleopatra". We ended up digging through a Vincent Van Gogh book of my father's finding something which both the girls and her father agreed upon. A Still Life with Sunflowers. The little girl matched up all the colors and I showed her how to mix different acrylic paints to get different tones. She was really smart and more focused than some of the students I teach through the after-school program. It was a pretty cool experience overall. Her painting looked pretty good as far as color matching and technique went. I'm sure that my pushing her to do just a little bit more and more certainly helped the painting look as good as it did. She told me she would certainly love to do more painting in the future. Ofcourse she is still at the age when she will try anything without the proverbial defeatist "but I'm no good at that" which plagues most youngn's.

Better late than never, or I am feeling really honored and really humbled

I needed to get a little bit more grounded and centered before I wrote on this....

Friday I had lunch with an old friend of mine from my Army days. He was one of the people I deployed with back in 2005/06. Back in November he had sent out a mass message via facebook requesting school supplies which his psychological operations teams would be passing out to struggling schools in Baghdad and the surrounding areas. Seeing an opportunity to help out, mainly because I could and I had the means to help, I forwarded the message to my friends. I asked permission to send out a similar bulletin at the elementary school where I was teaching an art class after school. The Principal gave me the green light, and asked for a message which would be published in the next school bulletin, going out to the parents. By December, I had a drop box in my classroom and little did I know that I was mobilizing a great deal of people to help out with this request. In mid-December I picked up all the supplies from everyone. I made three stops across the city, and basically filled up my car. Some of my friends who did not live near me asked for a mailing address where to send the supplies. Some people mailed me money to help cover shipping costs. When everything was collected and inventoried, I had way more school supplies than I could afford to ship all at once. I was floored. I also felt like I had maybe taken on something which was significantly bigger than myself. I figured out what I could send and slowly mailed off several boxes at a time until everything was in Baghdad.
Skip forward a few months, and we get to this past Friday. My friend wanted to take me out to eat as a "thank you" for sending so many school supplies. I told him that he did the bigger job, I would to eat with him if I could buy him a few beers. So at lunch, his girlfriend was there, and she was overseas as the Operations Sergeant for the company. At lunch as we caught up as to how much the Camp Liberty had changed and how much it hadn't. We caught up on what we were up to in our respective lives. They told me they had something else for me as a token of appreciation for having sent so many school supplies. They presented me with a certificate, and the American Flag that flew outside of the Psychological Operations Task Force-Iraq Command building. I immediately felt the corners of my eyes burn ever so slightly. I thanked them for their appreciation, for the appreciation of the 16th PSYOP Battalion. A frikkin' Battalion!!! I was fighting tooth and nail not cry all out right then and there. There is no feeling so humbling, so grand as knowing that a Battalion appreciates what you have done. I think back on it, I didn't do anything really grandiose... not on my own. I mailed needed school supplies which I stored in my workspace for months. School supplies that a large group of friends and strangers helped contribute. I didn't do it all on my own. They deserve my gratitude as well.

Arguably against my better judgment

A documentary recently caught my attention. "Restrepo" is a feature length documentary about a 15 man platoon located in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan. It chronicles the boredom and terror that is war in conditions which very few people in the United States have to deal with, lest imagine. It is brutal and honest, and does not include the opinions and thoughts of anyone not at Restrepo. My experiences with the military can be described as "blessed" as best. I did deploy, but did not have to deal with as much crap as other soldiers. In the proverbial, implied contest of "who had it worse" I will lose to nearly any other veteran. However, I know people who did have to deal with harsher realities of war. I know what it did to them, and as a result I can empathize and relate maybe a tad well. I may not know what they went through, but I can relate. I know the movie will be fascinating and well worth it, but... do I actively seek the heartache?

Update of sorts

It has been close to a full month since my last update.
My car has broken down several times and been fixed repeatedly. It has had a multitude of issues and i think I have sank far more money into it than I care to spend. But whatever keeps it running.
I will be leading a Vet Art Project session in a few weeks. I still have not gotten the materials completely ready yet. I should be staining construction paper this week. The seminar I will be leading deals with the paranoiac critical, subconscious exploration (to use a different term). I might have to ask for more oil pastels for people to work with since I only have so many materials at home.
I attended a tattoo expo and gleaned new ideas and new insights as far as what artwork I want to put on my body, as well as what artwork other people want me to design for them. I promised a friend of mine a design last year and I have yet to come through with a coherent plan. Ideas however do not blossom overnight.
In the realm of fitness, I am still struggling with what can best be described as involuntary exercise bulimia. I had mentioned before that my elected workout routine prompts weight loss which could be detrimental to my health in the long term. I'm generally healthy, but I would not necessarily label myself "fit" in spite of other people's assessments. I'm still trying to find a balance. In my efforts, I have determined almonds, sunflower seed nuts, and peanuts are crucial.
Lastly, my studio space has been reorganized. I am still struggling to find a balance between organized presentable storage and production, and usually when i reorganize everything, I teeter too far into either realm. I haven't had a productive binge as of late. However I have found that my culinary skills as a home maker are actually pretty good.

Fitness

Back in December I had started a fitness regimen which has provided admirable results as far as my general health, and stamina. I was working out regularly, six days a week and was pretty disciplined as far as keeping up with my workouts and what I ate. Apparently not well enough. Somehow in my efforts to help fill out my slender near insubstantial frame, I was disappearing in a sense. Somewhere in all the working out and lifting weights and whatnot, I lost a collective twelve pounds. I did not know that I could lose that much weight and not notice it. This realization prompted a 3 week hiatus on the fitness regimen. Now I am trying to start up again, but curtailing the vigorous zealotry of the 6 day a week workout. I have graciously gained most of the weight back, as I do not see myself being particularly healthy in the weight bracket which I previously was... or maybe I was healthy, but still the idea of not noticing where 12 pounds of mass go is mildly disconcerting.

Harsh week concluding... but snafu's continue

This week has been mildly to moderately stressful, compared to my normal weekly and monthly stress levels. I coordinated several art displays for the class I taught for the past thirty weeks. It has been one heck of an adventure, with highs and lows of the most extreme kind. I had several things which I wanted resolved before the end of the week. Mainly the displays, one of which will be at the National Museum of Mexican Art for the duration of the Summer. The second was a mural done on two panels by my students. Coordinating and installing the 84 inch by 84 inch monstrosity was such a pain in the but whatever. The last major thing which I have to address is mounting and installing a series of student work at the elementary school which I taught my after school class. I have no guidance from the Principal, and minimal materials which to use, but plenty of artwork which to sort through.

Potentially harsh week, coming right up

I have a show to set up for Tuesday, a Mural to finish and install Wednesday, and students to herd and showcase on Thursday. Friday I can collapse into a couch with a cocktail in hand. Hopefully. And somewhere in all this, I have to schedule a job interview.

This is going to be fun!

My Artsy List of things I want Checking something off

I am in the process of painting an 18" wide section of wall which will become my magnetic wall. That means I have one less time on my list of artistic decorative acquisitions.

Veteran Portrait

I have been doing some work with the Vet Art Project in Chicago. One of the artists, Jeanine Hill-Soldner who I had worked with before at a previous Vet Art Project Meeting, asked me as well as several other veterans if We would like to pose for a portrait series she has been working on. How could I say no. Seriously. We exchanged information, and she will be getting in touch with me about when I can drive up to Crystal Lake to pose and have my picture painted.

Student Achievements - Mural Project

My students are working on a 84" by 84" mural which they designed everything for, proposed to the principal for permission to install. I had given them a time line of two weeks, which at first, my students were protesting as "not enough time". They have been working on this for 3 days and may very well finish today. I really have no clue what I am going to do with my students next week if they finish the mural so quickly.

Working Dilema

So my current work arrangement will be concluding in three weeks. I am on the job hunt for something else at the moment, and some of the job offers have longer career potential. My supervisor has told me that both the school, and his supervisor like my work, and my work ethic. They would love to have me back next year. I would love to be back next year. In spite of the fact that sometimes the students drive me toward a certain special kind of relaxation techniques of questionable health implications for my liver, I am quite happy with myself at the end of the day. If I end up with a job at a place like Starbucks, going back to the After-school Program job, won't be a big issue. However if I land something with greater long term potential, I will have to part ways. I guess that is the choice, I don't want to have to make.

My Artsy List of things I want

I have already successfully converted the awkward space in my closet into an awesome bookshelf/workspace/desk area
As far as other things I want in my living space
-A room, or closet or something painted in the style of Keith Haring.
-A Magnetic wall I can use as a bulletin board to post all my post cards and pretty clippings without punching holes in the wall, and show off my snarky magnets
-A wall, or panel of collaged images of all the magazine clippings I have from pretty much everything.
-A wall which has a salon style display of copious artwork, mine or otherwise.

Thus far, the magnetic wall is the closest thing I have to achieving next on my list. I just need to de-clutter the wall I intent to paint.

Reconnecting with blogger

By virtue of google having their paws in almost everything internet, I have dug up and dusted off this old nag of a blog. I had started this back when I was in Baghdad Iraq, but generally -e-mail and my livejournal account became my most prolific, and now most well documented blogging.

In the past 5 years since I first started this blog, I have finished college with a BFA in Art Education, gotten out of the military, grown my hair and a beard, Donated said hair once and am growing another batch, and am teaching an after school art program because the the economy fellates and I can't get a regular teaching job because they are being cut cross country.