Episode 4 is Finally Here!

I know I said Episode 4/Part 2 of the interview with The Fold Productions would be up soon two months ago but it took a little while to be edited and stuff. I'm not the editor and the editor edits many shows. I'm trying to learn how to do it myself and our show can be more self-reliant so that may happen some time this year. Don't hold your breath for that. But you can hold your breath for Episode 4 because you can play it right now!! We review Umbrellas of Cherbourg.



We've also set up a Movie Q channel so you can subscribe to it and see all of our episodes, (we're having some technical difficulties in getting them loaded- never use Mega.com) stand alone interviews and the panel discussions we'll have from QFEST, which is coming up at the end of February. Holy crap, it's already been a year since I first took over the festival. Yeesh!!

I'm All Up in Media!

Hey, heeeeeey!! Here's episode 3, y'all! I get to catch up and interview my friends from my previous Cali post, Barbara and Becca. Part 2 of the interview will be soon!



Aren't my friends awesome!?

And, here's my blog at the Times Union, Albany's newspaper. Read it. It's some pretty moving shit.

Hells Yeah! Vacay!

Oh my gosh, you guys!! I went to Los Angeles earlier this week!

"But Katherine, what were you doing in LA?"

Well cats and kittens, I was visiting my friends Barbara and Becca. And while there, I hung out with my friend Billy too. And had a drink with Beebe! (I know most of you don't know who these people are, but I'll get to that.) It was the SHIT. It was awesome in so many ways. Let me count them for you.

1. I went to Los Angeles. That's in California. It's warm there. I live in Schenectady. That's in New York. It's cold here.

2. I read two, that's 2, books! And started a third. In four days. (2, 3, 4- see what happened there??) I LOVE IT.

3. I didn't work. (Except that 30 minute window where I checked my work email and went a little bonkers…) I took a real vacation!!

4. I got to reconnect with people who knew a different Katherine. Barbara, Beebe and Becca are friends of mine from college. I wasn't doing so hot in college- my parents got divorced, I gained at least fifty pounds and struggled with my self esteem (I say struggle but really it was like trying to wrestle a bear with my feet tied together.) But things are actually pretty awesome right now. And we all got to share in the Happy. It was so excellent to see them. Thank you, ladies!

Me, Becca and Barbara in Malibu

5. I went to a beach. BEACH.

6. We went to the Getty Museum. Holy smokes you guys. This place is more than a museum- it's a religious experience. There was this exhibit by the photographer Abelardo Morell and his work is breathtaking. I now have a legit favorite photographer. 

7. I got to see my friend Billy. He's a friend from high school which makes him one of four people from that time in my life that I have regular contact with. He makes me laugh a lot so it's always a complete pleasure to see him. He took me to the Griffith Observatory where he kindly took a photo essay of me.

I'm having such a good hair day that you probably didn't even notice the HOLLYWOOD sign back there. Did you?

8. I got drunk each night save the first because I wanted to stay awake despite the jet lag (and I did!) I was so drunk that when I got home and went to bed something felt off. I realized it was because I was sober.

9. Becca and Barbara take an acting class and I was in town on one of their class nights. I was able to audit the class and had such a great time warming up with them and watching the class. There is so much I miss about performing and watching them go through the process and work on their scenes was just amazing. It refreshed my soul.

10. There was this one time I was in the same room, at the same time, as a couple celebrities you might know. My friends are members of the Screen Actors Guild and get invitations to screenings and talk backs. When I was in town, a screening of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY was happening with a talk back with- are you ready- George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Juliet Lewis, Chris Cooper and others. Awesome RIGHT??

Not only did I get out of town, had a great time and saw some famous people but I came back feeling clear headed about some things that had been hanging over me. I can't wait to travel some more. I am deeply grateful to my friends for letting me stay with them and making this dream a reality.

Making It Up As We Go Along

I'm three weeks into a four week long improv class and I am loving it. This sounds hokey but I really think it's helping me in my every day life. The most important principle in improvisation is the concept of "yes, and?" It means you acknowledge what your partner is setting up, accepting it and going along for the ride. There's a lot of power in saying yes. In saying yes in scene work and other improv exercises I've starting doing it in my day to day life. Simple things like saying yes to blind dates or yes to bacon on my sandwich! It's pretty awesome.

I'm not going to get too philosophical here. But yeah, man. YES TO LIFE!!!

The first class had about fourteen of us but the numbers have dwindled down to half of that. I'm okay with the shrinking class as long as my favorite classmate Susan is there. I realized I fell in love with this woman when we were trying to figure out who hadn't arrived to class yet last week and I kept saying "Sue, Susan. Susan isn't here. Susan" This woman makes me lol like very few people can. She thinks she doesn't understand the concept of our exercises and then she makes the funniest skits. And she doesn't even mean to!! Her honesty is what makes her funny. I can't do her justice in writing this. All I know is I got to do scene work with her three times tonight and it was awesome!!

This class is a real treat. I didn't realize how much I missed improv. I didn't do it much in college and very little of it in high school. Maybe because I'm more confident and comfortable in myself (and have more theatre training under my belt) I can approach improv in a totally different and whole way. If that makes sense. Whatever, man. I'm saying yes. YES I SAY!!! And if Susan wants to be my friend, I say hell yes.

Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me on Camera

Part of my job is to promote tourism to the county in which I live and work. On Wednesday, the first day I came back to work from a long weekend visiting my mother and sister in Atlanta, I was asked to kill two to three minutes on one of our public access shows. This wouldn't have been a problem if my hair wasn't all akimbo in a bad ponytail and if I wasn't in my casual jeans and a sweater comfort outfit. But I said I'd do it because no one else was around to talk about it and someone had to do it. So on camera I went.

Luckily it wasn't a live recording because two things happened. One- I totally blanked in the middle of a question. I just stood there blinking with my mouth agape like a cave-man saying, "uhhhh, uhhhhh, uhhhh, um." All that was missing was some drool. But I was told that's okay- they could edit around it. So take two. During take number two, a fly thought my face was the only place to be while I was able to choke out something coherent. It landed on my glasses. Then it landed on my cheek. It was just all over my moneymaker. I just kept talking because that's what you do- trying not to blink too much or swat at the fly.

I have no video to share with you all so you could see the trainwreck. Otherwise I would be happy to. I haven't even seen it myself. I doubt there's very much of my face because of the fly. And I bet my clip is only a minute thanks to my difficulty using the English language. Oh well. Just another day at the office.

Pretty Things

Aside from reading, watching teevee and eating my only other hobby is collage. I like to make mixed CDs as presents and collage the front cover. It's the perfect collage size- not too big, not too small. I'd like to do more but it takes so much diligence (and magazine buying) to collect things to collage with. I always make copies of the covers for posterity. Posterity of myself. But I ended up scanning a few. And I'm going to share them with you this post.

This one might be my favorite of the bunch.

These are my girliest covers. I don't have any scans of the one I've made my brother or dad. But those have cowboys, Batman and other manly things. I hope you like them. This hobby brings me great joy.

Redemption Averted

Back in college I took a summer acting intensive that took a trip to New York to see a handful of plays on Broadway and one of those shows was a revival of The Crucible. Laura Linney and Liam Neeson played the lead roles and let me tell you- there will never be another pairing like that again. They had complete command of the subject matter and they were connected to each other in a totally organic way. I don't know if I will ever experience that amazing of a show for decades- if ever again. The whole production was just sublime. So when we found out that there was a question and answer session after the show my fellow acting students and I hung around to see what would be discussed.

Like my last experience, people asked the dumbest questions. Someone asked the main antagonist if the cast disliked her because her character was so evil. Her answer was pretty priceless, "No. They know I'm acting." Most of the cast came out- including Laura Linney. I almost crapped myself. I thought for sure she wouldn't come out but she did!! And she PARTICIPATED!!! Her contribution? "Basically the lesson of this play is don't fuck the nanny." At that point I crapped myself. Not only is she a brilliant actor, she's dark and funny!

After the shitstorm that was the question/answer session ended my friends and I decided to try to get some autographs. I'm not big on autographs. I find them so silly. I'd rather a conversation or a drink. But why not? The cast was pretty cool. They hung around and happily spoke to people who were still there. I hung out in the back until Laura Linney came out. My friend Barbara spoke to her first. Totally cool and calm. Laura Linney and Barbara chatted briefly about how the play is such a wonderful piece of work and whatnot. When the conversation ended Laura Linney turned to me. I coolly handed her my program and told her I admire her and her body of work. We laughed at the idiots from the session and after she graciously signed all the other programs we had martinis at the bar across the street. It was a magical, magical evening.

Okay, that didn't happen. What really happened was she looked me in the eye with a sincere smile while I blurted, "I love everything that you do!!" Keep in mind I really hadn't seen her in much at all. I knew her from few projects. "You were AMAZING!!!" She continued to smile widely at me and said, "Thank you. Thank you so much." She signed my more couth friend's program and said one last thank you before she got into her car and drove off. She was wonderfully gracious to a total ass. I was madly in love with her.

A few months ago I signed up with Manhattan Theatre Club's 30 under 30 program where if you are under 30 you sign up for email alerts to get $30 tickets for preview dates of some performances. I got an email alert for Donald Margulies' Time Stands Still featuring eric Bogosian, Alicia Silverstone, Brian d'Arcy James and Laura Linney. I immediately sent it to Mike and said, "Let's go." I had no idea what the play was about and I couldn't care less. Neither did he. We didn't even bother to find out what the play was about before we went. Donald Margulies' work is solid and Laura Linney for $30? NO QUESTION.

Needless to say the play was wonderful. Just excellent. Everyone was pitch perfect and it was another fantastic theatre experience. I recommend it to anyone. We left the theatre and decided to hang around to see if Laura Linney came out to greet the few people who hung around. I decided I needed to tell her how wonderful I think her work is without being a total jack-ass. I needed to do it for myself- to redeem my blathering 20 year old self. Well? She never came out. I was bummed but totally okay with it because I would've just embarrassed myself again. I couldn't even tell the Brian d'Arcy James, who did come out, how wonderful I thought his work was. How was I going to react to Laura Linney? Probably by drooling. And that would be no good.

Looking Back Doesn't Take You Forward

Today at work we had what is called "First Hour" where the director, designers and artistic director sit up on stage and talk about the next play we are going to mount. The whole company gets to meet everyone else (there's a lot of turnover in theatre) and the administrative side gets to meet the creative side and visa verse. This time we discussed our next production- Harold Pinter's Betrayal, a play about, well, betrayal. There are three people involved- a married couple and the husband's best man. There are affairs had by many but the affairs aren't really the point. The point of the play is really different forms of betrayal and how we as people react to them.

Towards the end of the discussion, the director made a point that really resonated with me. He said, and I'm paraphrasing here, once you betray yourself, it becomes easier to betray others. One of the characters feels he betrayed himself by not being creatively satisfied like he thought he would be, and that character is the one who sets off the chain reaction. The director's statement started me thinking about my goals and compromises I've made. I started to panic a little. (Is panic something on a scale or is it one of those all or nothing things?) The characters in the play weren't that old when the whole thing started. It's not like they were in their 70s looking back at their perceived failures. These characters are in their 30s feeling like they bamboozled themselves. I'm 28 and starting to feel the same way.

I truly, legitimately fear few things. I may have my moments of "omg I have cancer again" but I never really mean it. I don't fear zombies- why fear an imminent reality? What rightly frightens me is exactly what this play is about- betraying oneself. I support my friends and family in their dreams and aspirations because I don't want them to look back on their lives and think woulda, shoulda, coulda. I want my loved ones to think they stayed true to what they wanted. That is incredibly important to me. But most importantly I want that for myself. If I look back on my life with regret, that regret will reach beyond the confines of my own world. My mother's regret hangs around me in an ever present fog. I can't stand that happening to my children, my husband, my friends. That's when I begin to betray them. And that's unacceptable.

Giving up the comfort of the known for the unknown is a terrifying thing. But we wouldn't be where we are as a society if people weren't true to themselves and their dreams. I struggle with the choices I've made possibly limiting the choices I have left. I'm making the best of things, but that's not the best I can do. I owe it not only to myself to strive for my dream, I owe it to everyone around me.

This is What I Do

Mike and I treated each other to a play in New York for our Christmas gift to each other. The show is called After Miss Julie by Patrick Marber, the playwright of Closer and the movie Notes on a Scandal. I like his work very much and I love the play After Miss Julie is based on -Miss Julie, a Swedish play from 1888. So I was really really excited to see the story about class struggles, politics and sexuality taken out of the original context and put in the context of 1945 England. To put the cherry on top of my cake, Jonny Lee Miller was playing the only male role in the show. I have had a boner for him since I was thirteen when I saw him in Hackers. Needless to say, I was excited to see this show.

Our seats were in the second to last row of the mezzanine but it was a small space for a Broadway show and we could see everything. The set was fantastic- it was an English estate kitchen with a real slate floor and beautiful set decoration. The show started off quiely and that's okay. I appreciate a good slow burn. But then Sienna Miller showed up on stage as the titular Miss Julie. I was a little skeptical of her before the show. Her experience is almost totally in film and not a lot of film actors can make the shift to stage acting very well. It's a totally different acting skill than film. An actor can be brilliant in film but suck on the stage. I wouldn't say Sienna Miller is brilliant in film but she proved my point today. There was absolutely no subtlety to her role. She was at the same level of eleven the whole time. And it really upset me. That left very little for her two costars to work with. Jonny Lee Miller was working so hard to connect with her and it looked like he was trying to act with a cardboard cutout. She was just terrible. No motivation anywhere. I wanted to hit her with a rock to get her to convey anything other than hautiness. It left a lot of frustrating questions to be answered.

Luckily there was a question and answer session after the show and we got to stay for it!! Whenever we get a q and a session I always wait too long to ask my question. This time I wasn't going to let that happen to me. So, as soon as the opportunity came, I shot my hand in the air like a jack-ass. Sienna Miller and the other actor, Marin Ireland, came out at first. So I addressed my question to them, "What about this play do you find relevant to today's audience?" You thought I was going to ask Ms. Miller if she knows what it means to act, didn't you? Well, I'm not that mean. I wanted to see what message the actors and directors wanted to convey to the people of 2009 America. Give the play a frame. Unfortunately, I got a non-answer. Both women stuttered around and mentioned the fact that the play took place during tremendous political upheaval, an upheaval some would say we're going through now. Then they wanted to know what I thought. I was offered the microphone to respond and I was like, "I didn't know if you were going for a political angle or a sexual angle." In the middle of my sentence out came JLM and he listened attentively to the last of my statement (sigh) and then listened to the moderator's better answer about how class is still an issue today and simply said, "Cruelty is timeless." He made me wish I waited for him to ask my question.

I kicked myself for the terrible exchange but Mike assured me I asked a good question just simply got a bad answer. Then we were subjected to terrible questions from old women like, "I don't know what happened- did you kill yourself at the end?" Miss Julie walked off stage holding a razor to her neck. What do you think? And that woman wasn't even the only one who didn't understand that. I think that's a testament to Ms. Miller's unfocused performance. Anyway, it was painful and I wished I thought of something better to ask.

I'm critical. I'm sure plenty of people liked the show but I looked up the Times review of the play while writing this post and the critic pretty much said everything I said here but better written. Seeing shows like that make me want to direct or act again. If I watch plays so critically I should be able to perform them with the same specificity. That's what is missing from shows that I don't like. Specificity. So get on it Sienna Miller!

Bright Lights, Big City

After people found out I was a theatre major the next question would be, "so when are you moving to New York?" At the time this conversation happened the most I was planning to go to Chicago, a city with a rich non-profit theatre community. I would always have to explain why I never really felt New York was the place for me and why Chicago was a better fit. It's not that New York doesn't have a massive non-profit theatre community but it's not the same as a city that relies on non-profit groups for their theatre. I also really liked the idea of moving to Chicago- a place I've never been with few people I knew. It really would've been an awesome, probably difficult, adventure.

Needless to say, I never made it to The Windy City. And that's okay. I really do love Albany. Sometimes I wonder what-if, but it's never more than a what-else-would've-happened kind of way. But I'm surprising myself lately and kind of wishing I lived in New York. I don't know why. This is a totally new development. I don't know if it's that I would've made more tangible progress in my career or if it's something else. The culture, the weird sense of community, the accessibility of it? I don't know. But it's glittering lights are looking mighty purty.

Realistically speaking I'm sure I wouldn't like the reality of it. Yeah, we'd make more money but our cost of living would skyrocket and negate the increase. Whenever I'm there I get a little claustrophobic (granted I spend the most time in Manhattan. Brooklyn wasn't so bad.) There are so many people everywhere! I feel like I wouldn't be able to stop and smell the roses. Figuratively or literally. Yeah, my career would actually have a projection in NYC and I definitely envy that imaginary life. But I feel like even the most impatient New Yorker is more patient than Mike and I are. Maybe I should just go visit a friend for a long weekend. Let them show me around. Perhaps that's all I need to kill this wanderlust.

A Great Experience

The grants meeting was productive. It had to be, we were only meeting for one day. It was so long, though. Eight and a half hours of grant overview. Sheesh. I can't be specific but I will say I wish we had more money to give away. It was really hard deciding how much money, if any, a project could get. And even after all that, we had to cut almost every amount given because there just wasn't enough money to go around. We had to get pretty pragmatic (our administrator said we were getting heartless but what were we supposed to do?) in the end.

Next year I am going to have a totally different approach to the grants approval process. My group approached our grant appropriation with the idea that we were going to fight each amount grant by grant but the committee didn't do that until the end. Other groups had more of a solid number to give and a more solid recommendation. Now that I know how to break it down I think next year will be even better and perhaps go smoother. I think we had a lot of newbies like me this year.

When it all comes down to it, on a personal level, I had a great time. It was so much fun talking about various arts projects and groups in the area. I now have a bunch of groups and activities that I would like to check out. I wish we could've talked more to each other about non grant stuff. There was a musician, some dance people, a lot of visual artists and some community members who know grant writing. It was really refreshing! I'm looking forward to auditing these events next year. I think it will be so great!

I Know You All Wanted Updates

The costume went over super well! I bought a wig from the same shop where I got last year's Tina wig and all I had to do was trim the bangs a little. It wasn't so much a pageboy as it was a short bob but it did have purple in it so it looked pretty accurate. People kept looking at me strangely all night because I looked so different. (It was starting to bum me out until the next day Mike said it was great to have his curly-haired fiance back. That was really good to hear.) Someone didn't even recognize me- he started to introduce himself when he realized it was me. So yay costume!

The grants meeting was also a success! There was some great discussion and it was really awesome to get to talk to people about their art. One member was able to show me her work space because it was only two doors down from where we met. I got to see a bunch of original works by her and other, mixed media, artists. My other comrade works in textiles. She uses one of the purses she made as her own bag so we were able to see what she does. I didn't have anything to share. I don't really carry my collages with me and I wasn't about to burst out into song so they took my word for it. I can't wait for the full meeting in a week and a half! I'm sure I'll freak out about it a little because there appears to be some strong personalities but my colleagues said it all works out no matter how heated it gets. I just wish there was more variety in the submissions.

Finally! I am so freaking glad the Yankees won the World Series. I can go back to watching my stories. Someone has been hogging the television with the DVR. And it's not Fluffy. Also, my friends can fully participate in parties and events without baseball on in the background. Now on to the Giants. Sheesh. It's never ending is it?

Just Can't Hide It!

A few weeks ago I was asked to be a member on a community arts grant panel. The panel is the second step in the approval process for groups to receive state funding for the following year's projects or events. This panel serves three counties in my area- Schenectady, Albany and Rensselaer. Readers of this blog (people who already know me, really) know that I care deeply about the arts. All of the arts. I love dance, print, mixed media, theatre, music- all of it. I want to make supporting and promoting the arts my career. So when I was asked to be on this panel I was elated and honored to become more of a direct proponent for arts in my community.

I'm really looking forward to this process for many reasons- I'll meet more artists who work in different fields; I'll find out about all the area groups that flew under my radar; I'm required to check in on events that get funding so I become more of a participant; I'll learn about a crucial step in the grants process; and overall I'll meet many interesting people who also care deeply about our artistic community. I couldn't believe I was asked. I'm so lucky that I can participate! This is just so thrilling for me I can't express it enough.

I meet with my committee tomorrow and I really hope I don't sound like a jack-ass. I'm the only newbie in the group so I'm going to try to be very prepared when I get there tomorrow. The first step to being prepared- eating something so I'm not preoccupied. The second step to being prepared- take copious notes on our assigned proposals. The third step to being prepared- remaining calm. The fourth, and most important, step to being prepared- being confident in my opinions and criticisms. I can do this and I can do this well. So excited!!

We Work Hard for Our Money

In Obama's stimulus bill there is $50 million portion going to the National Endowment for the Arts. Gov. Bobby Jindal says that's wasteful spending, that the $50 million needs to go to the private sector to create jobs. I don't know what he means by the private sector and I don't understand why he fails to recognize why the arts are a viable employer. His statement is ignorant and judgemental.

When my parents asked me what I thought I wanted to study in college I unabashedly said theatre. I didn't say acting, I said theatre. Even when I was in high school I understood the numerous professions that were available to me in the arts. My best friend at the time was an incredibly talented graphic artist, still is, so I knew of the possibilities in graphic art. I was also a choir geek so I knew of the possibilities in music. In college I learned about dance troupes, the culinary arts, photography and writing. There are endless ways people can make a working living in the arts. But when I told my parents "theatre" my father's whole body sagged as he sighed in futility. They just assumed I was going to live in a cardboard box and never be able to provide for myself. Over the years my mother pushed me to get a teaching degree so I "would have something to fall back on." I told her over and over again that I wasn't called to be a teacher and that wouldn't be fair to my students. She and my father finally gave up and let me pursue my aspirations.

While in college I found I wanted to work in not-for-profit theatre (something that exists almost completely thanks to NEA grants back in the 1960s.) When I met Mike's dad he asked me how I would get paid in non-profit work. It's an explanation I've made many times over- non-profit means that any proceeds go right back into the operation budget and not into the pockets of investors. Broadway is for profit- that's why it costs so much to see a play on the Great White Way. I find non-profit work much, much more interesting. It's smaller and can be more intimate for the actors and audience members. I feel like non-profit theatres are more of a community unifier. They offer community outreach and education. And I'm all about arts outreach and education. So I'm pursuing a career in non-profit arts.

The fact that so many people fail to realize that the arts is a viable career is frustrating. I feel I should be angry but I'm not. People just don't think about it. All the ads you see on television- the music, graphics, acting, the words they say, costumes, make-up- are all created by people with careers based in the arts. These people may not walk around saying, I make movies, or I make drawings or I play make-believe. But they are walking around trying to provide for their families in work they find fulfilling and rewarding. Isn't that something everyone wants? So don't be critical when funding is made available for these people to find work and take care of themselves. Just because they don't put on a suit everyday and have a B.S. in b-s doesn't mean their line of work is worth less than yours. So Jindal, and your fellow party members, get your head out of your ass.

Just Not Meant to Be I Guess

This past summer Aimee Mann had a free concert at the park one block from my apartment. As I am a huge fan of hers I went to see it and sang along with everything. As I am a truly ginormous fan of hers Mike and I stayed behind to meet her. After much waiting and almost leaving she finally came out of her bus to meet the hand full of devoted followers. Everyone had something to sign, I just wanted a picture. Since I don't handle celebrity well ("Oh my God! I love everything that you do!") I simply told her that she was robbed of her Oscar and asked for a photo. Our digital camera decided it wanted to be a shit and not work in the dark. This is what I got:

You can tell it's me and you can tell it's Aimee Mann but it's still a bummer. At least she was really nice and took two pictures with me and my busted camera.

Last night Mike and I went to see my favorite columnist Dan Savage. It was at the SUNY Albany campus and we were able to sit very close to him. He was funny and answered tons of questions. He was fabulous. Naturally I wanted him to sign my book and get a photo with him. He was very nice and answered a quick question of mine and then it was time for my picture! Mike wanted to stay back and avoid the bottleneck crowd so I asked the person behind me if she wouldn't mind taking my picture with my cell phone since my camera shit the bed. This is what I got:

I suppose I'm just never going to have any real evidence of meeting famous people I admire. Le sigh. At least I have the stories!

Save Handmade! Save My Mom!

I have this awesome wooden game that I got when I was eight. It has three posts and a few disks of various sizes. The trick is to move the entire stack of disks to another post without putting a bigger disk on top of a smaller disk. It's awesome and I love it. But there is a new law on the table that would make the person who made my game a criminal. This law would make it illegal to sell handmade goods to children that aren't tested or approved by the government. That would mean people like my mother, who makes beautiful things with her hands and sells them at craft shows like thousands of other well meaning Americans, could be prosecuted for selling goods that are given to children unless she pays a third party thousands of dollars to test her goods and prove that they are free of lead and other harmful things. Not only will this law kill so many people's livelihoods- mostly women who work from home and provide their families with a second income- but think of all those cute skirts and stuffed animals you find on indie craft sites or in indie craft fairs that you will never see again. Those fairs would probably disappear all together if this legislation passes.

Oh yeah, and this law covers children's bikes and children's books as well. So there go independent bike shops and small publishing houses. I mean, this stuff is crazy.

Please go to this website and learn how you can help Save Handmade. It takes no time at all. I signed a petition and sent an email to my congressman all in five minutes. Please! It is so important.

White Wine for the Soul

My friend Karen and I went on a fantastic day trip last Sunday to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA. It's not too far from Albany and the scenery and weather was so lovely that I didn't notice the drive much at all. I'd never been to the Clark and I hadn't been to MASSMoCA in a long time but the Clark was free and MASSMoCA was not. I felt a little bad that Karen had already been to the Clark but she reassured me that the collection is amazing and it is comforting that you can return to pieces that you enjoy over and over again. MASS MoCA has much more of a transient art collection.

The Clark is really just a collection of pieces aquired in the first half of the 20th century by the heir to the Singer sewing machine empire, Sterling Clark and his wife Francine. If you know anything about Singers then you know just how much money this guy had to throw around. (Ahem, a crapload.) I was shocked at the pieces in their collection, well more like incredibly pleasantly surprised. He and his wife seemed to love the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists like Degas, Manet, Homer and Renoir. They also collected art from my favorite portrait artist John Singer Sargent. I was most surprised by his presence. I shouldn't have been since the rest of the collection was heading that way, but I was. That's how I live my life, oblivious to patterns until they smack me in the face.

Anyway, I am so glad Karen had the idea to go. I'd be happy to go over and over again. The collection hit the spot. There were artists whose work touches my heart and reaffirms the beauty in nature at the Clark. I want to share with you some of my favorites that I am so blessed to have seen in reality.

Little Dancer Aged Fourteen by Degas. This was cast in bronze in 1919-1921 after his death in 1917.

I commented to Karen that Degas must've been obsessed with dancers and slept with tons of them. This disturbed her greatly since so many of his subjects seem so young. I'm not saying I disagree that it was creepy but not all of his subjects were children. We found some other bronze statues that were obviously women of age (come to think of it, those statues were of curvy women so either dancers weren't so skinny back then or Degas hired prostitutes to stand naked in ballet poses. Of course, I'm speculating since I know NOTHING about Degas the man. He really could've just loved drawing dancers because they were pretty, interesting, and challenging to draw.)

The Fumée d'Ambre Gris (Smoke of Ambergris) by John Singer Sargent. 1880.

Karen told me that the members of the museum voted this their favorite. She didn't tell me which was the favorite until we turned the corner and I saw this. I was so excited! This was the first Sargent we saw. There is something about the way he put the paint on the canvas that makes the portraits so sensual and, for lack of a better word, succulent. They are all like butter. I could look at them all day.

West Point, Prout's Neck by Winslow Homer. 1900.

Mike and I both enjoy Homer. I always liked the idea of retiring on the coast of Maine. The coast of the Northeast is unlike the rest of the Eastern seaboard- the sea seems more alive up there than anywhere else. Homer's work only reaffirms that idea.

The Women of Amphissaby Lawrence Alma-Tadema. 1887.

I'd never seen this piece before. This image doesn't do it justice because the canvas is so large but the composition of the women is so theatrical I was drawn to it.

I don't get to go to many straight-up art museums as much as I would like. Mike and I naturally gravitate to museums of a more historical nature. Not to say we don't both love a good art collection it's just we see art in more of a historical context and not in an artistic context. No matter, I'll take it any way I can get it.

Get a Hobby

Before technology left cassette tapes in the dust I would make friends mixed tapes as a hobby. I would buy the 120 minute play and spend hours going through my collection to blend songs together. To top off the fun for myself I would collage the covers of the tapes with the playlists on the back side. I wish I could say I came up with the collage idea myself but I got that from a brilliant artist friend of mine. No matter, people really seemed to enjoy the collages and I was able to apply my hobby to my costume design class projects with great academic success.

I moved on to mixing and collaging CDs instead of tapes once people were no longer listening to tapes in their cars or on Walkmans (Walkmen?) for that matter. Collaging CD covers were much easier but mixing a CD wasn't as much fun. It was harder to get a sense of what songs would be good where. While recording a tape I could listen to a song and pick what would come after. It gave me so much more time and continuity to the mix- if a song didn't blend well into the other I could just record over it with a new song. When mixing a CD all I can really do is pick a song, see how it moves from the other song and hope for the best. My CDs are still pretty popular (as popular as it can be with my brother, sister, and dad) but they just don't satisfy me musically like my tapes did.

Now I only make them for the occasional gift or a Christmas mix every year and even then it's not that exciting. Everyone has a digital music player and if I make them a mix it just goes on the player and gets lost amongst the rest of the music. It's almost pointless to try to make it a continuous mood or feeling- it gets lost in the end.

I'm okay with not making the mixes anymore but I really miss having the outlet collage gave me. Like real collage artists I would hoard magazines or other print materials if I thought I could use them for my designs later. It's the only pack ratty thing about me. (FYI- Harper's Bazaar is great for images to collect and get ideas from, teen magazines have fun colors, and Target ads have great art to steal.) I just don't feel inspired much anymore. I don't have the room to really spread out and look at my pieces and sometimes my ideas are a little too abstract for the three people who want/get the CDs. My favorite collage is just a bunch of eyeballs that look to be drawn with colored pencils that I cut and pasted over a grey background- you have to see it- but my brother, who received it, likes it the least. I would even say he cringed. You can't please everyone.

So I'm trying to figure out how to fit collage into my life without the context of mixed CD making. I've thought about collage gift cards and putting them up for sale on Etsy but I would need to get a scanner and printer and Photoshop for my computer. Otherwise each card would be its own collage and that would be insanely time consuming. But it's something. Until then I need a new hobby that fulfills me like collage did.

Pictures, Pictures

I submitted a photograph to a website called www.ten15am.com. It's a website that posts pictures taken all over the world at 10:15am their time. It's really cool. Anyone can do it. In honor of October 15th (10.15) the site challenged people all over the world to submit a picture taken at 10:15am GMT. That meant 6:15am for us East Coasters. I thought the idea of people around the world taking pictures at the same time in one day was just awesome. So I got up at 6:15, took a picture, and submitted it to the site as soon as got home from work. Please check out my pic at here and check out the site itself! You should submit something, too.

In the meantime, enjoy this photo of a rose from the bush in front of our building. I love flowers.

I'm Tryin' Here

Last Thursday I went to a symposium hosted by Emerging Upstate Arts Professionals with my box office manager and the marketing assistant at my theatre. We're all looking to network and meet more people like us- people who want to be a part of the arts community in the area in many capacities. As you know in my previous posts I'm really frustrated at the seeming lack of arts employment opportunities here. The symposium covered all kinds of topics including employment. I wish I could say I left feeling better about job prospects but I can't. I can, however, say that I feel like I've started something that is great for me in a way that's bigger than just getting a job. I've found a community.

I'm really lucky to have the boss I do at the theatre. We're closer in age than the other people who work in the box office and we both want to stick to management. Many of the other people there are younger and want to be actors. That's fine- we all love the theatre and I love talking shop with everyone there. This part time job has been really great for me. I don't make much extra cash but it's flexible, it's still extra money, and I'm with people who know what I'm talking about when I pick plays apart. (My co-worker last week said I would be a great theatre critic because I really pay attention to detail. Finally! Someone who doesn't stare at me blankly when I talk about the show we just saw.) Anyway, my boss and I don't work many shifts together but it's really great to be able to talk about the future of theatre, ways to market theatre, and audience development. She's really supportive of me trying to get into the community here. I wouldn't have found the EUAP without her and she let me hitch a ride to the symposium.

At the sympo I met a few other people. There weren't that many people there to begin with but it was better that way. We were able to meet everyone there and everyone I spoke to was really open to conversation be it about jobs or arts in the Capital District. I even ran into someone whose job I interviewed for when she was leaving the New York Arts Educator's Association. She remembered me and my resume! That was a boost. She even took my resume to pass on! It was a great first meeting and I can't wait for the one in December.

I plan on becoming an active participant with the EUAP. I even joined Americans for the Arts today to bolster my sense of community- even if it is a bigger, national group. But I don't care. I'm starting to feel connected. I even made friends with someone who is trying to get an arts job in the area and if I can get my act together we're going to reconnect through the interwebs.

All in all, the trip to the meeting was a success. I can't wait for the group to get bigger and include more performance people. Most people there were visual arts. I don't care. We're all working towards the same goal, something pretty amazing. This is very exciting for me.