Don't be mad at me... or whatever, this is MY list.

This was going to be my reply to this gallery in Sarnia, Ontario that was asking who I would recommend for some shows... These are all Metro Detroiters btw. (48 of them!!!)


For some reason it was easy to come up with names when I paired them into categories in threes.



Favorite romantic artists (for the love of making, not knowing what we're doing):
Ben Teague
Dylan Spaysky
Nate Morgan

Favorite younger sculptors:
Ed Brown
Daniel Sperry
Vanessa Merrill

Favorite Abstract female painters:
Kathy Leisen
Lauren Rice
Amy Sacksteder

Favorite Artists that describe their personal connection to culture through their work:
Chido Johnson
Shiva Ahmadi
Olayami Dabls

Favorite Figurative Realists:
Richard Lewis
Kristin Beaver
Taurus Burns

Favorite Characters:
Vaughn Taormina
Jef Bourgeau
Leon Johnson

Favorite small works makers:
Gream Whyte
Laith Karmo
Sarah Berger

Favorite installation artists:
Andrew Thompson
Megan Heeres
Matt Shlian

Favorite large sculpture fiber artists:
Abigail Newbold
Rod Klingelhofer
Kate Silvio

Favorite tinkerers:
Ian Swanson
Bethany Shorb
Andy Malone

Favorite LGBTQ artists:
Isaac Richard
Ed Fraga
Gary Eleinko

Favorite artists due to their tight execution of their materials:
Corrie Baldauf
Ben Kiehl
Sharon Que

Favorite Curators (and they make great art):
Jack Summers
Mitch Cope and Gina Reichert of Design 99
Bryant Tillman

They're in a league of their own because of how awesome they are:
Nicola Kuperus
Tyree Guyton
Mike Smith

Women in East Lansing that kick ass too
Jae Won Lee
Michelle Word
Janel Schultz

I don't really know them very well, but I like how I can always tell what work is theirs:
Scott Hocking
Emily Duke
George Rahme

Over time, I'll try to populate this post with pictures and links, so if you have any favorite works by these artists, reply with the image so the rest of everyone else can see what I mean by, I love these  people's art. And everyone else just sucks, just kidding, but seriously if you think that if someone's not on this list it's because i'm a jerk, it may be, but in my defense, a lot of the people on this list I know personally which taints my view of their work being my favorite. actually I take that back, I don't know many of these people very well, but in my imaginary world, they're my best friends. ALL OF YOU LOVE ME BACK!!! YOU'RE MY BEST FRIENDS!!!!!!! see? I'm crazy, so why would you take this list seriously?

On the brink of something really exciting (finally)

I really believe that being upset is an extremely important part of life. Yesterday was very frustrating, and last night Rach and I seemed to resolve almost all of it to think about what we can do together to make things happen. So... she's decided now that she's quit small plates, she's going to help me in my studio as well and even do promotions like I do to make monees! This about to be one insane awesome team.

My goals still:

1. Work towards finding the right grad school fit: surprising myself that I'm fearlessly heading towards 'pie in the sky' dream schools and knowing that I'll be just fine with whatever happens.

2. Work on artist talk: I finally have the basic outline done, but I'm still missing one critical component, I want to have it end with a really interesting discussion, taking the pedestal away from me and back to the audience so that something much more substantial can be gained...

3. Find a really good studio assistant so that I can do even more of what I wish I was doing, more research and development for work, more higher quality products, helping me forward in general. BAM, just destroyed this goal, besides all the people who are gearing up to revitalize the database of thedetroiter.com, Rachel my best friend, is going to test the waters of being a studio assistant. (Makes me wonder how Tyree Guyton and his wife make things happen, they seem pretty 'on' independently to get sh*t done.)

This is such a memorable moment right now. For the first time in a long time I'm really excited about the fact that I'm really working towards the goals I set for myself, the big goals that I normally avoid.

And more excitement to come today!!!

- baked crispy zucchini patties for breakfast
- studio visit
- treat Andy T to dinner
- imagining Rachel and I biking to the studio early in the morning.

Wow, I just realized Monday is going to be busy... cooool.

I'm only waiting for like 1,700 dollars...

Everytime I worry about money, I'm surprised when there's a check waiting for me.
It's hard to remember what payments are late and which ones are just on the way when you're running around hustling this hard. My heart goes out to all the people in Detroit that also have to work 3 jobs to make ends meet. I don't know if I'd want it any other way though. Today was pretty great. I ate for free, so it must've been a good time.

But really I think my life breaks down into 4 fairly equal chunks:

1/4 pure art making time
1/4 Rachel time
1/4 working as an educator whether it's DIA, MOCAD or 'other' and otherwise working for Vitamin Water
1/4 of the rest of my time, freaking out and finding new revenue streams / volunteer for whatever I can find to do that week / total loser time.

which looks pretty similar to this other list I have...

would do - time with gf
should do - art
could do - make money
reward - more freedom

Look a new piece!