oh shari - oh nashville

so... it's hard to describe meeting shari . if you read her blog you feel like you know her. when i have met other blog friends, they just seem more of what they are like online. with shari, she is as kind, sweet, thoughtful and quietly funny as you might think [anyone who can name bands the measles and the mumps is kosher in my book]. she thought she was too quiet for our meet-up - but honestly we were in a big group of folks. many of whom can hold a room full of attention no problem. her traveling companions joe and tom were quick witted and very fun... i felt as though our group - including kathleen and aurora had known each other for much longer than we actually had. it's the beauty and sadness of these types of meet-ups. thrown together for span of time w/ a common allegiance knowing that the grouping is temporary... which really only makes it sweeter, no? i feel super lucky as shari will soon be coming to calif. for a visit and we will then have some one on one time.

shari brought me the most AMAZING books. the one on heath that i have been eying for ages, and this amazing collection of cool indian stuff . and some chocolate. swoon. thank you friend!

despite the missing art, aurora and i DID get to see a little bit of nashville. i haven't been anywhere in awhile where everyone KNEW we were not from the area.... it seemed like we were exotic species coming from california and new york. ha!



one of the highlights of the trip was our visit to hatch show print . an amazing print studio. what i wouldn't do to work there.



the arcade - where sq ft lives - is this very neat old fashioned mall. i had fun looking at the old type, other galleries, and nooks and crannies there. [are you noticing how many of these photos are ending up as diptychs? couplets on the brain] BTW. there is a nice write up of our show by david maddox here













artists/designers are also using the shops as their work spaces. quite nice.

and a few shots of nashville:



i don't think this is the real location of sun records at least not anymore? but one they set up for the country music museum [my guess as it was close by]. just thinking about johnny cash and sun records made me happy



can't go to the south without eating BBQ. jacks bbq is what we sampled.





shari has a day shot of this place!



and there you have it.

started teaching last week [where did my break go?]. i'm excited to be teaching creative process again. it's a free for all class - 2D, 3D all media - and so it's really fun. plus it has a lot of non-art majors in it - always makes for lively discussions and approaches.

finally - i wrote our last post on amy hempel's book for ship of fools . if you are interested in joining in the book club next round we have to pick a new book. help us decide!

happy weekend!