Dabbling in the Past

Today was my most productive day of Spring Break so far. It is my third day home, and while I caught up with friends beforehand I thought it was about time that I dive back into work. I did shoot some photographs Sunday night but those are on the backburner for now, as I am not sure if I feel like using any of them. One of them I like, but I'm still thinking about it a little bit. I was eager to get back to Milwaukee because of what is available for me. I work a lot with costumes, so I was able to have access to our stash of old clothes and dress-up clothes. I have worked with one of my mother's old bridesmaid dresses before, and am very interested in the way the fabric has worked aesthetically with my photos, and since it was such a windy day I thought it would be a great opportunity to work with that element of the fabric. I am loving most of what I shot, above are two examples. I loved working with the empty dress, to play with the idea of absence while there could still be a near-ghostly presence of a body. And since the dress is from a wedding in the past, I liked that aspect of the subject matter as well.

After my shoot, I ventured over to the highschool to observe the 8th hour drawing and design II class taught by one of my old highschool art teachers. While the kids were squirrely, I enjoyed observing their techniques and what their main struggles were and watching how Mrs. Martin helped them on an individual level as it was mostly a workday. After school let out, I got to know Mrs. Martin's grading process. "helping" her grade projects from Drawing and Design I. I plan on heading over there in the morning to observe Mrs. Spehert's classes, which are more directed at painting and advanced placement. My main reason for doing this is to find out if teaching art is really my thing or not. It has always been an idea of mine, but I have always been turned off by people who teach only because they couldn't find another job with their specialty. After today I am thinking that it might be my thing, as I walked around the classroom I wanted to help...so I guess I have that drive in me.

Until tomorrow, I'll just drink shamrock shakes.