Acknowledgement List

It's Thanksgiving, and I'm in the middle of thesis paper research, so naturally I'm thinking a lot about who has been helpful and needs thanking.

Almost everyone I've contacted about varying topics has been both intrigued by my thesis and generous with their time and energy. I'm especially thankful to:

Robert Wildman, my faculty adviser, who has the extremely difficult job of both keeping my passion in check but encouraging my quest when I'm tired of it. He's playing the Sancho Panza to my Don Quixote.
Robert Long, who I emailed out of the blue, but has given me several puzzle pieces and introductions and continues to check in on my work.
All of the people who have agreed to be my "sounding board", reading drafts and commenting on what works or doesn't (Byron, Liz, and Bob).
All of the folks I've worked with at Americans for the Arts: Clayton Lord, Hannah Jacobson, and, by extension, Professor Roland Kushner. They care about our field and want to support those working in it.
Chris Miller, of the International Association of Venue Managers, who wasn't exasperated by my rudimentary understanding of his world.
It almost goes without saying, but shouldn't, that my gratitude towards Greg Lucas and Ramona Baker is immeasurable. Even when we butt heads, they still have my back.
My long-suffering, increasingly impatient husband, who is getting the short end of the stick at the moment, and my sweet sweet daughter, who doesn't like it that mommy "has more homework", but will understand one day (I hope!).

An admittedly short list, because really this journey started six and a half years ago, and there are more people to thank than room. I am taking the attitude of "paying it forward" since there's no way I could ever appropriately repay these folks for their generosity. My only hope is that I will be able to someday be as generous as they are today.

Comments

New Year, New You Vision Board

VISION BOARDS! Let's get a couple of things clear, right at the start. THERE IS NO WRONG WAY TO MAKE A VISION BOARD. THIS IS NOT SCIENCE. You believe that putting pieces of pretty paper on another piece of paper calls into your life your deepest hopes and dreams, then you believe it with all your heart and soul. These are inspirational devices, not architectural blueprints. Ok, now that we have some caveats taken care of, the briefest of background before we get to the supplies and instructions (OH MY GOD THIS IS WHY THE ONLINE RECIPE BLOGS ARE LIKE THIS) I've been making vision boards consistently every year for my birthday (ish, usually on the new moon closest to my actual natal day) for a decade and before that on and off since college. I've always considered paper art as my chosen visual artistic medium, so vision boards were right up my manifestation alley. At one point in my life I wanted to work in magazine publishing (scratch that, I still do) so buying and keeping...

High Art vs Low Art

“The masses seek distraction whereas art demands concentration from the spectator.” - -The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Walter Benjamin, 1936 Is there any more contentious question in the art world than the concept of “high” versus “low” I like venn diagrams. And shouldn't art really be in the middle? art? Who gets to judge? What are the parameters in which to judge? There is no standard definition for either concept and personal explanations range from simple to incredibly complex. One common theory about how to explain the difference is high art is “popular” and low art is “unpopular”, that is, appealing (or not) to many people. This also links to another version of the difference: that high art fosters the widest connection between people while a smaller subsection enjoys low art. This is in direct contradiction, though, to the idea of low art being part of mass culture (raising yet another question of “is art culture” or merely a com...

Doing Your Best Work With Others When You Feel Alone

I love any piece of writing that covers "creatives" and "artists." Even more, I love it when business magazines like Fast Company, Inc, and Harvard Business Review write articles about us arts folks. In one of the latest at Fast Co, author Jeff Goins tackles the idea of why you'll never do your best work alone . I want to riff on his three takeaways for the small theater and performing arts communities. Find a "Master" Goins uses the idea of Renaissance artists but this idea is also one used by Austin Kleon in his book Steal Like An Artist . However, this task may feel impossible for those of us living in smaller communities that may not have an established performing arts scene. Where are we to locate these masters? This may mean turning to online communities, diving into Youtube, or doing a lot of interlibrary loan exchanges to read what's been written by or about your chosen artists. Emulate your mentor's work. As most of my readers...

Perpetually Curious

Search This Blog