Week two: 16th August on

I will be meeting my mentor the beginning of September. We have set the dates for the second weekend of each month. My studio plan is due Aug 30th. This exercise provides needed discipline. I am earnest to define the scope of my work. My interests include questions as the exercise of observing. I want to do some video, but I want to continue the 8x10 portraits and audio interviews of Moosehead Folk. I need to learn the software for audio editing. I also starting shooting with the holga again as I walk. It is a journey I carry as a pause to reflect during my day. This began in Vermont. The elusive image and experiences of place connect. Thinking about my ambitions and working out what is a challenge and what is doable in five months. I am walking the nature trail at the camps reflecting on all the going, being and actions of my day. How busy the mind is connecting the roles, duties, activities and passions of the day. I started reading about and looking at Roni Horn's works. The personal and abstract blend and pop. Close intense observations present us with our role in observing and perceiving the works. The encyclopedia of identity is a brillant set of works—very inspiring! Rereading Everyday-everydayness everyday to set it seep and be distilled in my unconscious.

Week One- 9th Aug Return/Reflect/Reach forward

The first week back is an adjustment back into my routines, a catch up, reflections on the residency and all the matters of daily life. The mannequines needed some repair from the bumpy travels in the trailor. I installed the installation's backdrop and the working forest mannequin in the storefront to engage the public for the remainder of summer. I typed my residency evaluation. It was a jumble of notes and comments which made sense to only me. I assembled the materials for the visual culture term. I like to review the selected texts and set a plan of attack from the intentions I left the residency with and any insights I get from their indexes. I have begun reading Rebecca Solnit's Getting Lost and I take Avis on morning walks to ponder my studio plan this term. I sent my studio advisor, Meggan Gould, my visual culture plan. I am thinking through ideas for the book on the Zoning is Sexy installation. The book will document the installation, its reactions and experiences. Busy.

Second Residency-July 30-Aug 8

Vermont College welcomed us back for another marvelous residency of research discussions, lectures, critiques and fellowship. Great to see familar faces and meet new artists beginning their program. My new advisor is David Deitcher of the International Center for Photography in New York City. I will be mentored in my studio by Meggan Gould of Bowdoin College, here in Maine.