Springhill Suite 2013

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a show at the Springhill Suite Hotel in Draper Utah again for the second year in a row. This year was a lot of fun. This time I was able to recommend a friend, Andrew Bird, who is a brilliant ceramicist. We both teach at the same school. Our tables were side by side so we just ate food and socialized with the guests all night long. Hurray for art shows!

Classroom put Together

It's been a long first week on the job. Good, but long. I'm not used to waking up at 5:40am. But surprisingly, I'm finding it somewhat refreshing being up at that time. I finally got my room put in order. It feels good to walk into a nice clean classroom. The only thing I'm sad about this last week is that I missed posting. :( I may be a little spotty on updating the blog for the next few weeks or maybe months. I guess we'll have to see how the work load adds up. 

New Job, New Class, New Experience!

I started this week with meetings for my new teaching job. I also started unpacking my room. I lucked out because this summer they wrecked the old rooms and built a new art and home economics wing. The rooms are beautiful and clean. There is a ton of light, which I love. Our rooms are also decked out with some pretty sweet tech. I never experienced this kind of stuff when I was in high school! The only snag is that when I walked into the room the boxes were stacked to the ceiling. The whole room was in disarray. These pictures above are AFTER a full day of unpacking! As you can see I still have some ways to go. However, I'd rather do it this way. Now I'll know where everything is and I can organize the room from the beginning just how I like. I'm really excited about it. 

Last Day of Art Camp

Today was the last day of cartooning camp. It was a smaller group, which made life a lot easier actually. It's a bitter sweet moment because, where it's always nice to finish off a week of a bunch of wild and crazy kids, time I'm not able to go back and teach in the fall because of my new job. So...for now I say goodbye! :)

We did a pass along story. 

I had to bring my daughter with me this morning. I was a little worried, but she fit in pretty well. All the girls LOVED having her there. 

Some Good on a Sad Day

Today the shooting in Aurora, CO will most likely be remembered along side other tragic events like Columbine High School, and the Oklahoma City Bombing. As I've felt heart sick for the families and the community affected, I've also tried to remember the good in life. The past couple of weeks I've been privileged to be involved with art camps at the local art center. (the SCERA Art Studio) Art is so good for our world! It heals and builds bridges. We need so much more that is wonderful and beautiful in life. What is more uplifting than seeing children creating and having fun making art! I hope spreading some of that through teaching art will have a significant, if not small, impact. 

BFA Opening Night Pics

Just before things got started. This is my brother playing the piano. He and my wife insisted on organizing the room. I was just going to leave it how it was when I walked in. That would have been a mistake. They did a really good job in making it comfortable to sit and visit. If you attended you know what I'm talking about. :)

The night of the show was awesome! There was a great turn out, saw lots of friends I haven't seen for a long time, and received a good response. Such an great feeling having it done! :)

My New Sketchbook!

 Front

Back

So I'm putting in a plug for a super cool company that makes sketchbooks. If you haven't heard of them yet they're called Denik. Their mission is to show the world that art can make a difference so they use $1 from every sale to go to building schools around the world. They're building one in Mali right now. ALSO, 5% of the sale goes to the artist. SO if you're an artist...Submit! If your design sells a couple hundred copies, that'll give you a good chunk of change. They're super cool books, they're not expensive, and they support a good cause. Check them out! shopdenik.com

The Land of Make Believe

As part of the youth conference I was involved in last weekend, we reenacted scenes from the Book of Mormon. One of those reenactments was a Nephite vs. Lamanite battle. They gave us foam noodles with pvc pipe in the middle and let us hack at each other. 

Before I go on, it's important to know that played extensively with G.I. Joe's and Ninja Turtles until I was almost twelve. (Slightly embarrassing...yes. Would I change it...no.)  So of course being the mature grown adult that I am, I got completely sucked in. I was supposed to be a tribe leader and I wanted my tribe to do well in our mock battle. So, during the entire hour of lunch before the battle I threw question after question at my friend that is an expert in military strategy and swordplay. The second picture is my wife and I and two other guys in the formation recommended by my friend. The result...we dominated. It was enough to make me want to join the medieval club that fights down in pioneer park in provo on thursdays from 6-8. 

I am also happy to say I got a ton of awesome reference photos from the event, so I hope to post some sketches from said reference soon. :)

Art Night at Marriott SpringHil Suites

I had the opportunity to participate in the Draper Marriott SpringHil Suites grand opening. They invited local artists from around the Utah and Salt Lake valleys to come. It was a blast. This is me on their back patio. I was showing some paintings and doing a little painting. :) Behind me through the open door is the pool. It was a super cool event and the hotel itself is awesome. Very modern and artistic. I wish I had remembered to take more photos.

Colonial Days 2011

Each year the Freedom Festival in Provo, Ut does a thing called Colonial Days. They dress and act like people from the colonial era, have booths with all sorts of different displays, and applicable to me, artists that demonstrate. I wasn't as authentic this year as in years past. They gave me an option to dress up or not, and being busy I opted not to. However, it was still very enjoyable. This is my third year participating.

Art fair at Bonneville Elementary

Bonneville Elementary has started to do an annual art fair where they exhibit the students work and then they try to bring in artists from the community to come demonstrate for the kids. I am really passionate about empowering young kids to pursue their artistic talent and hopefully make a career out of it, so I jumped at the opportunity. It was a constant parade of kids for two straight hours. The most common questions were, "Did you do that?" and "Did you start that today?" One of my fellow classmates was throwing on the wheel next to me and I heard one 5th grader say in a disappointed voice, "Oh man! I thought she was making cotton candy!"

Medieval week or something!

So this week for scouts we decided to do the safest thing that teenage boys can do....We laid out eleven knives, a tomahawk, and a throwing star, went to my parents backyard and threw them at tree stumps. I gave them some targets to hit. I think we all had a good time. Especially when I hit the my illustrated man right in the eye with a knife. It was awesome!! I love being in scouts!!!