This website is in serious need of updating; I can't remember when the last time I put something new on it was. Still, things continue to happen. At some point soon I hope to add a bunch of new images, but in the meantime here's a bit of news:

In The Near Future . . .

is another fine Vespine show of all manner of artwork from the graduate students of the Book and Paper Center, curated by Kelly Parsell and running from March 6 to March 28, 2009. I will have some indigo pieces in this one. Vespine is a fantastic gallery, run by previous graduates of Book & Paper; you should come out to the opening Reception on Friday, March 13 7-10 PM. Or if you're a procrastinator like me, try for the Closing reception on Saturday, March 28 12-5 PM. Otherwise the gallery is open Fridays 5-8 and Saturdays 12-5, and by appointment.

Every Summer Day was a great success. I can't thank Joseph Riley and Ken Gerleve enough for their participation and their commitment to seeing the piece through. Also big thank-yous to Erin Barnard (who took the photos that are now up on this site) and Laura Heather Hobson, who shot video of the performance.

I would love to perform this piece again; if anyone thinks of a venue in which a two-hour (or more, or less, I suppose) masked durational performance would be appropriate, please let me know.

On May 16, Columbia College Chicago is holding Manifest, its annual celebration of the arts wherein students take over the South Loop and have performances and art exhibits and parades and such. TICTOC is the performance-art arm of Manifest, and I am taking part with a performance called Every Summer Day, visible through the front window and in the lobby of 623 S. Wabash. It's what they call a "durational" piece - meaning it lasts a long time but isn't necessarily meant to be viewed start to finish, although you can if you are of a zen-like bent. There will be masks and clouds and accumulation. Joseph Riley and Ken Gerleve will be assisting me and appearing in the performance, bless their souls. Every Summer Day runs between 4:30 and 6:30 PM; parade to follow.

That will conclude this semester of graduate school; the following day is my birthday and I intend to celebrate by sleeping and being gloriously unproductive.

On Saturday evening, 6-9 PM, there will be a closing party at the Finch Gallery for Enter Into Circulation: An Alternative Library, just before we all pack up our stuff and run off with it. There was a little article in New City Chicago about the Finch and their new space, that gave us a brief (very) mention that was nonetheless positive - "no fluff"! Go us!

I just learned today that I've received a merit scholarship to attend Ox-Bow this summer. Hooray, free education for me! I haven't decided which course I'm signing up for but I am really looking forward to making art outside of the city (and with facilities, natch!)

Vespine, a terrific gallery in the Pilsen neighborhood which presents artists that tend toward the Book Arts / Paper Arts, will be hosting a show of work from the current crowd of CCCC Book & Paper MFA students. The show will be up from Friday March 7 until some point in early April (sorry, I'm a little fuzzy on the details), with an opening reception on Friday, March 14 from 7 PM - 10 PM (yes, that is a week after it actually opens). I'm actually putting older photography work in, from "Collection", that is neither book nor handmade paper; this will be the first time any of my photo-based work has been shown in Chicago. Please come to the opening and see the curious and lovely things that my colleagues dream up.

The show at the Finch Gallery is indeed up, but I had a change of plans . . . not knowing what the space looked like and fearing that I was setting myself up for disaster, I decided to put in a much smaller piece, called In July. It is a very new piece, so new that it was trotted over to the gallery as soon as the paste was dry. Nothing like a little last-minute stress to make life exciting!

I have been sick and didn't make it to the opening myself, but I trust that everyone's work looked even more fabulous than it did when I saw it pre-show.

I'm participating in a group show at The Finch Gallery opening on Friday, February 15, along with several of my colleagues from the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book & Paper Arts. Enter Into Circulation: An Alternative Library will be the very first show to go up in the Finch's new space. My offering is a large sculptural book piece that had its beginnings in a Kafka quote and has since taken off from there. Check out their website and come to the opening!