Sub tropical storm Beryl has arrived !

It happens in the best moments just eating cheese on toast with my good friend Dean, watching the girl next door performing her nightly hoola hooping exercises when the wind started to blow warmly and Dean decided to leave. The house started  shaking and rumbling  to the wind  and the rain and I hoped it would translate on my silly camera, but no you can only imagine ! stair rods of rain  moving slightly sideways, warm air and winds,  sirens and possibilities of power cuts and advising to stay put.
I am rapidly approaching my last day of teaching and my first year  here! I have survived.......
A year of steep learning curves, new language and the best quote from one of my most intelligent funny students who sadly  left before finishing.
Question :  What is a brayer ? (English term a roller)
Answer: A person whose vocal volume exceeds their control over said volume !
I awarded extra points...................

Inspiring Ilustrations from Bull Street Book Sale

 Rain Drop Splash -  Leonard Weisgard 1946

 While Susie Sleeps -  Dagmar Wilson 1953

 While Susie Sleep -  Dagmar Wilson 1953

I was so happy to come home with a box of children's books from the local church book sale. They are updating their library and were selling off some true little gems. Many of the books were from the late 1930's and 1940's, illustrations which feel contemporary with much being seen from Illustrators today looking for a retro feel. What is extraordinary is the limited color palette that works so cleverly to move a story from night to morning using grey, yellow, black and white. I have been trying to get my students to use this limitation in a recent fanzine project and am very excited next week to see what they will deliver.

Farewell Doug we will miss you

 Jacqui Mair, Mohamed Danawi and Marcy Vargo

 Kurt Vargo and the fiddlers

Doug Chayka far right shares a joke with Ryan Sanchez 

A heartfelt round of applause and a standing ovation  went out when Doug Chayka our fabulous colleague entered the restaurant on friday evening  . Sadly he has decided to leave the gang at Morris Hall for another venture in New Jersey with his wife and  baby son. We will all miss his inspiration .  Ever the professional, he arrived just a little late after completing a commission for the New York Times with only ten hours notice. Laughter, cocktails, good food,  and music ........... we really should do this together more often.

Stand off at the Olde Pink House our favourite restaurant.

Stand off at the Olde Pink House our favourite restaurant.

Robot one and robot two at the  Olde Pink House

Imagine the surprise and the commotion  on Tuesday,  we are awoken by at least three phones ringing in sucession with a mechanised voice telling us to remain indoors as there was a gunman on the loose in the downtown area. We are truly in America! The School security alert system kept us updated every half hour until the incident was resolved. A father and his 11-year-old son were held overnight by two gunmen. This morning, one of them took the father in his Jaguar with the father driving. As they were heading east on Broughton, the victim noticed a police officer outside Starbucks. and  yelled at the officer then jumped out of the car. The man, believed to be armed with machine gun, barricaded himself at the Olde Pink House restaurant on Abercorn Street. The intent was money and after three hours of mobile support , robots and dogs,  life resumed its normal pace  with the hostages safe, the two gunmen captured behind bars,  so much more exciting than Morse.

Mike Cross is a clever man to capture this

Mike has bought an automatic  shutter release for his camera and has managed to capture some of the delightful little beauties we have been feeding on our back porch. I feel like my parents now, who suddenly after the age of fifty started gardening and staring  at bird life outside their kitchen window. This little fellow is a common garden finch , there are lots of them, they cost a fortune to feed but I am enchanted by them. We have bought binoculars and may have to look further afield, what has happened to us?! I am using the excuse that they are featuring in my sketchbook and new pieces of work. I have just read over my new resolutions for 2012 and realise I have broken  nearly all of them. One or two I have managed a bit late! walk more : I have taken up a two mile walk three times a week round my park. Be more efficient : hard but trying hard ! smile more: Emily said wear your frown upside down !  I am smiling ! Or am I frowning .............

Everything I notice is in red and white ..........................................

Curtesy of www.emilymaude.com bird in a matchbox

A frozen charlotte doll dug up in Savannah

My  cardboard suitcase from Sri- Lanka

Mike's auction ticket

My favourite shop in Savannah.

 

A grey and rainy Sunday much like Portsmouth I like it ! mooching around the house and not forced out to go and do. Radio Four has been my salvation catching up as I mark work and Mike rushes to the auction in the hope of acquiring a tin toy as a present , sadly we  were outbid. There is an air of end of term blowing in, students are ill and overcome with just the last assignments to make the best they can, I feel it too. I am staring at red and white and I wonder what a bedroom would be like,  just for five minutes.

Quote of the month : "Sorry Professor but photoshop ran out of black". 

Our faces tell all.

Collage in class one

Colllage in class two

I have been staring at these two small collages on my studio wall,  on a daily basis for some few weeks. I made them alongside  my students at the start of the Spring term and noticed how small things  said can affect work, color, cut, mood and facial expression! I realised just how perplexed I had felt in the second collage on a throw away comment, the eyes say it all, the quizzical left eye which does not quite understand, extraordinary how it all reveals itself. I know when I look at this I feel the frustration .

JOLLY GOOD JOLLY GOOD ...................lets escape to the country

I had orders from my lovely husband to take time  away from work, so we decided to  do some research and take off  to the country.We found ourselves at the door of an old rice plantation some 60 miles south of Savannah. There is something magical about the low country,  genteel society  and the ability to drive up to a house and park the transport, not that we did, but we imagined what it must have been like, back in the day. The Hofwyl- Broadfield Plantation near Brunswick  has been there since the 1800's and survived to the last heir Ophelia Dent, who saved it through hard work farming  diary until 1973 when she died at 87 and left it to the nation.  It seemed modest yet majestic, it held everythingvery English and we could have been walking round a National Trust abode in Surrey. The first photo  

Miss Ophelia's Magnolia tree

is the room where Ophelia died in the chair, I feel there is an orb present ! but is that just because I have been listening to too many ghost stories in Savannah?

The kitchen circa 1973  very now ...........

Two months in two minutes.......where has it gone ?

Memories of two months past

Memories of two months past

Memories of two months past I wake every morning with the dreaded feeling that I have yet again forgotten the blog, I feel so sorry that weeks have gone by, in fact months now have gone by, our Paris visit in five minutes, the vernissage has come and gone in Lacoste, I have been to Glasgow as external examiner and now we are ensconsed back in Savannah realising we are half way through the term and where have those days,weeks and months gone? Friends have sadly died, babies have been born and somehow the world moves on taking us all on its merry go round of time. I am trying to relish moments more carefully, I sit and watch it as an onlooker from a distance, it immediately becomes a memory yet how do I hold on to it ?  We wait so long for these experiences , we build them up, we have such excitement in the contemplation ,  what we will do?  how we will celebrate  ? the expectation is everything. When it arrives it's gone in a blink of an eye. Is this why we love films so much, we can just re run them and hold on to that precious fix of time. Its why I love my sketch books , my visual reminders which transcend the camera.

french delights

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French delights around Provence to share with you.............

Snow snow and more blooming snow ........

February 5th 2012
I realize I have turned the page on my calendar and I have been here a month! And I realize we are nearly half way through in a blink of an eye!

The time has shot past important British artists, Paul Cox and Chris Brown have visited imparting knowledge and time to all the students, we have traveled ten hours in a bus to Angouleme for the 39th festival of comic novels, 250,000 people from the age of 4 to 84 all enjoying Spiegleman and Maus. Telling us the story of the holocaust, it spans the life of two generations, a piece of brilliant pictorial story telling. I am listening to him, speaking about the story telling on Radio 4 today on book club with James Naughtie.

What an extraordinary experience for all of us it is difficult to describe the pleasure of the cobblestones, the delights of the cafeteria, the pleasure of the locals and the bar and the need every once in a while to escape down the mountain to find the real world. My French has improved somewhat; the accent fits in with the South!
We have had snow for the past week, it was a romantic morning last week, blanketed in white and is slowly disappearing, luckily no bones broken for any of us just many people suffering from la Grippe or excessive sneezing.

We have had to improvise for our travel portfolio classes, which in fact produced some exquisite results; they became small theatrical backdrops for plays written in our heads around Angouleme, I was so excited at the scenes students managed to create.
Chris Brown went beyond the call of duty in his week with us; he instigated a great lino project Twelve Snow Scenes in Lacoste. My print class has produced an editioned set of twelve abstract snow scenes in black and white, Chris is printing the cover and sending us each a signed print. Both Chris and Paul have been fabulous to be around, I have felt like a student myself sucking up so much knowledge! Students have appreciated their feedback enthusiasm and intelligence.
Thoughts for the month:
We are in a dream and we will wake up back in Portsmouth
The Queen will have been on the throne for sixty years tomorrow
We have great students with great ideas.
I let the stray cat into my book class he fell asleep on the life model’s bed.
I love Aix en Provence more in winter.
There is not enough time to do anything for me.
I am still looking for more depot ventes!

Epiphany in Lacoste

Our next adventure has commenced we are off for eight weeks to Provence to teach at SCAD Lacoste France for the Illustration department. I have three classes and am excited as to how the the term will unravel. We have trips around the countryside sketching, travelling to Paris and Angouleme and having an ideal opportunity to speak French and be in love with just being here. Epiphany the celebration of the three kings was acknowledged with arriving at Lacoste, in the Luberon valley, previous abode of the Marquis de Sade. We eventually made it in spite of cancelled ferry crossings, high winds and Mike’s fear that he would not get to Megeve for his skiing trip on Saturday morning! Eleanor Twiford the Director of SCAD Lacoste and her husband greeted us into Apartment no 2 a simple apartment with a farrow and ball touch. We love it !

After unloading and putting the little objects brought from St Ursula it starts to feel like home. Why can’t I stop myself buying toys? A little BP delivery van probably made in China, there were twenty different lorries all painted in green BP colours which needed a home, twenty would be fabulous but one was enough for Mike to raise an eyebrow over! It sits proudly on the mantelpiece with a handmade house by Victor Stuart Graham commencing its journey along with mine. We toasted the achievement of actually getting here and for the next stage of this incredibly exciting adventure!
It is bright cold and breathtaking, the view from our window can only be described as a child's perfect rendition of what should be in the landscape: a house, trees, a bonfire, animals, mountains and a horizon that goes on beyond the for ever. It cannot be captured photographically as a geometric framework, we all see it differently and our associations give each aspect a personal importance and size. I wave Mike goodbye and wander around the village and realise there are very few people here, where is anyone ? is it because its winter or has Pierre Cardin after buying the chateau pushed them all out? SCAD must help boost the numbers.
The church bell rings every half hour next to my house it is my dream come true

Pictures I love .........

Scarf from exhibition Beauty as Duty MFA Boston

Rice package in our local indian store

Christmas wrapped building Boston

Professor Drummond awards Malina Omut MFA at West Duffy !!



More beautiful type in Charleston it looks fresh out of my mum's 1950's Good Housekeeping

Marcus Kenney Sculpture I took my undergraduate class to the 1704 Gallery Savannah such inspirational work for all of us

Home for Christmas !

We did it ! what were we thinking of ! we drove 2010 miles for thanksgiving, through rain storms and the three largest cities in the USA to spend a wonderful few days in Boston Mass. with our old friend Lynn and her extended family of fourteen. My what an epic trip to get there and have turkey! It was so enormous Mike found inventive ways to cook the left overs shepherds pie with turkey, turkey curry and rice ............. We are hoping that christmas in St Ursula will not be turkey ! We are not sure we would do that drive again highway 95 is not pretty enough and speed limits really curtail time, but we did enjoy the sense of a place travelled by road and are planning a road trip to Nashville when we come back in the spring.
Christmas spirit has struck, jingle bells , the salvation army jangling outside every shop , Savannah wreaths are everywhere it feels strange to see when temperatures are still in the high 60's. Our house is packed up, days of cleaning and clearing for rentals while we are away, home for Christmas to see friends and getting ready for the next adventure. I am very excited about working back at the University for a couple of days on an installation of sorts in the Eldon Gallery, a collaboration with Sarah Turner about being here and over there and back again. We have fun in mind. Soooooo Christmas Greetings to everyone and Happy New Year and reporting out until news from Lacoste in January 2012.

Rough and Ready

I have had such great students this quarter, my graduate class set up an exchange project "rough and ready" via Face book with Bucharest School of Art, Romania, nine students from each school worked around a theme of the Mysterious Stranger we swapped sketches and completed each others vision, it was interesting to see personal work being developed by someone else and visa versa. I loved the outcome! I swapped with the Professor from Bucharest . I spent a very happy five hours cutting and collaging and made a piece I really connected with . Scissors are my pencil. We are hoping to make a small publication when the dust settles from the end of term. Collaboration is always a positive way to connect with the world. Much good work has been completed , work that makes your heart sing and some so moving it makes you cry, comments which make you feel you have done something a little right and teaching is worth it. I am just looking forward to a little more me time , reading and drawing without having to worry that assignments are to be written and the deadlines are only mine.

Where did the weeks go?

SCAD Museum of Art re-opened with a new multi million dollar rebuild and opened its door for a preview night for students and staff , it had a real WOW factor once home to the Savannh railway it has been redesigned and houses some incredible pieces.have a peek on http://www.scadmoa.org/. Students were in love with the largest touch screen I have ever seen.
I am astounded that the ten weeks has passed so quickly and I am assessing work and submitting final grades to finish the autumn quarter. Where did all those weeks go? The school is quiet , I have packed all the sketchbooks up filed them on to my desk for collection and realise a little sadly I will not be back here until Spring 2012 as I leave for Lacoste France to teach there for a term. I have an exhibition in Morris Hall where I teach, twenty pieces made over the last ten years I hope to get to see it before we pack and leave for home. As my students here say “Hey Professor we are done !” Yes end of my second quarter I am getting there slowly !

Spooky Savannah

I have been woken by the gentleman across the road mowing his patch of grass outside his house and the passing of time is marked by his change of attire. When we first moved in to Duffy Street in August, he was happily running up and down in shorts sporting a bare chest , now fleecy layers and long trousers abound , the winter chill has arrived in the mornings and I love it .
Halloween came and went Savannah is the place to experience ghostliness and goulies, haunted houses dressed to death, plus the oddest collection of stuffed dummies decapitated brides and robots floating around the town. You can be anything on Halloween! Pumkins galore which are still hanging decorating doorsteps and gardens for Thanksgiving.

Everything in America is bigger !

Halloween is STILL coming its been here forever , women dashing round shops brandishing sprayed ghosts for decorating the porch, its mind blowingly serious........... I have followed ladies round the store collecting pieces to ensure the spirit of Halloween does not fade here in Georgia! I spied this big beast in City Market in the historic District . This pumpkin is a whopper ! I have succumbed , I bought a real one as I would every year at home and am taking delight in trying to carve something strangely creative.

Pompey grey skies for a day

I have made all my students appreciate the beautiful type that litters the wall in Savannah I LOVE it ! Much of it makes me think of the hand painted signs we saw in Liberia when working with Save the Children, there are a lot of talented sign writers out there. Savannah has their fare share and it needs to be recognised.

Its half way through the Winter quarter and I have been wading through paper, portfolios , sketchbooks, ideas and mid term grades, what pressure for everyone, students and staff alike to make the grade. I set my calendar a day early as I was not going to be subjected to the last day dash for grades to be submitted, I felt in my first quarter here teaching. I still feel very much the new girl and yet the old one ! years of experience yet trying to make it all fit in to the jigsaw here in Savannah.
Days seem to roll in to one long week, there is a ritual for the days and by Thursday its celebration night with a cocktail! The weather has shifted from blue skies to full rain clouds, monsoon downfalls and thunderstorms, I welcome the Pompey grey skies a little it suits my autumnal mood and I only wish I was in my studio painting. The one thing that is missing is a good read of the Sunday magazines in bed with a cup of tea!
Mike is always busy ! though I am uncertain what he does do for the six hours I am away at the office! I have seen sneaky packs of fudge being bought and demolished without a bite! the bat smell is subsiding slightly and comes and goes with the change of the wind.

Cats can't keep away .........

Some people say that cats follow me wherever I go, I started to believe it wasn't true when I moved to Savannah, little or none to be seen in my garden despite the large vagrant population around the town, one lady has forty out on an island nearby.
However this morning a lucky white cat was found sunning itself by the grapefruit tree, I tried to not get too excited as I have started to miss my cats in Southsea after listening to them purring on the telephone! The grapefruit are ripening and we are not getting too excited every peach we have had purchased in the county of peaches has been a dry old disgrace.
I am getting notes ready for Monday and realise that preparation has become the name of the game, such a different timetable to
Portsmouth, where ideas were paramount , will this be the way of courses in UK when fees increase, skills are on demand, a balance of the two would be a wonderful place to be in!