December 2008 Archives
In the past, New Year's resolutions never resonated with me. However, a couple years in the real world have not only made me appreciate The Office a lot more, they have given me an understanding of the importance of long- and short-term goal-setting. When I begin a project at work, I create a work plan and a timeline to see it through to success. As the new year begins, why not set some Words + Images goals for 2009? Here are some things I'd like to accomplish:
Boost Words + Images interaction. There are many blogs out there – I'm thinking of photo blogs like Strobist – with a very active core of commenting readers. Now that I've spent a year working on Words + Images, I'd like to establish an interactive conversation in the coming year.
Promote! Self-promotion is key, and I have all the necessary pieces.
Get into some more galleries, grants, and contests. I've been taking enough pictures that there is really no excuse not to do this. My January goal is to print and frame 3-5 images, and I'm putting several more upcoming deadlines on my calendar.
Utilize and mobilize a Words + Images mailing list. In the fall I began a small email mailing list. Expect to hear more about it in 2009.
Get to know the Baltimore art scene. B'more is a social town, and everyone knows everyone somehow. Since moving in I've been a bit reclusive when it comes to art and artists around town. I plan to get out more and get to know a new group of connections after the New Year's festivities die down.
What are you aiming for this year?
The recipe that inspired all these cookies? I found it in the Baltimore Sun. Since old articles are impossible to find on their site most of the time, I'm going to preserve and share it in its original form. Enjoy, have a wonderful holiday, and let me know if you try the cookies!
(12/3/2008)
Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
Cara Tana found this recipe years ago in an issue of Martha Stewart Living, and it's been one of her most requested cookies ever since. "They smell wonderful when baking and they have never failed me," she wrote to us. "The best results come from really chopping up the chocolate. Not pulverizing it, per se, but really chopping it up while still retaining some bigger pieces." This makes a very chocolaty, gingery cookie, full of strong flavors.
(Makes 2 dozen)
7 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate(I used Ghirardelli semi-sweet baking bars)
1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup molasses
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup granulated sugar (I used Sugar in the Raw, and I'd highly recommend it)
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Chop chocolate into 1/4-inch chunks; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cocoa.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and grated ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined.
In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining flour mixture.
Mix in chocolate; turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Pat dough out to about 1 inch thick; seal with wrap; refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or more.
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Refrigerate 20 minutes (I skipped this last fridge step, but I did split the dough up into smaller quantities and keep them in the refrigerator until I needed them so they'd stay firm). Roll in granulated sugar.
Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- It seems like these amateur photographs of Barack Obama during his college years are getting a lot of attention. The idea of a woman digging negatives out of her basement from a bygone college photo class is pretty cool, but I was disappointed by the images themselves. Maybe this is missing the point, but I found the compositions uninspiring and the feel of the photos to be rather posed/acted.
- I haven't been seeing enough art lately, but I'm making a resolution to see the traveling exhibit of Dawoud Bey's "Class Pictures" at the Contemporary Museum. The prints themselves are big (30 x 40 inch color prints) and I cannot wait to see them. I'm also eager to read the one-page pieces the subjects wrote, which are displayed with the photos.
Back in the day when camera phones were first becoming popular, I just had to have one. I'll admit up front to being a gadget person, but it was more than that. The opportunity to capture pictures anywhere I carried my cell phone really impressed me. In fact, I justified the cost (a whopping $70) with all the times I had wished for a camera when confronted with particularly humorous or memorable situations.
Ironically, those early camera phones lacked a lot in terms of their ability to produce “usable” photos – images I could take to the one-hour photo or even print out on my home computer.
The real revolution came when my Lumix replaced the bigger, clunkier digital camera I had been carrying. The Lumix fit in my pocket or purse no matter what the occasion, freeing me to take high-quality pictures whenever (and wherever) I deemed it necessary.
Well, on Saturday, as we were celebrating many birthdays over butternut squash soup and Portal cake, tragedy struck. After years of flawless performance, the LCD backlight on the Lumix – which has no viewfinder – quit mid-event. Now you see it, now you don't. I switched the camera on again after leaving it on a side table and...nothing. The most painful irony struck when I realized I could still take pictures, I just couldn't see them.
So, after an eventful two years, that camera and I are calling it quits. Luckily this has all transpired very close to Christmas, so certain nervous, idea-less husbands in this house are less than traumatized (more on that in a couple weeks, I suspect).
Meanwhile, I'm camera-less for the next week and a half. Granted, I still have the D80, but it's more valuable, less pocketable, and sometimes just overkill for the situation. I am amazed at how quickly I built an expectation of images at the ready. My hard drive is densely populated with images of funny scenes in the office, ludicrous and/or striking sights along my (walking) commute, and delicious meals I have made. The thought of losing that capability for over a week drives me more than a little batty.
Luckily, I still have my camera phone, whose technology has come a long way since the bulky, low-res model I owned years ago.
As often happens in this town, I found myself enjoying some delicious food with a friend the other day. Also not uncommon, we got to discussing our respective careers, shifting landscapes at our offices, and our plans for the future.
The conversation made me wonder: where am I going? Does it matter? A successful career can be defined as continually working to find the best “fit.” I see a problem immediately: I don't necessarily know what that best fit is. Last night I hosted an event for our VISTA team called “Life After VISTA,” where some of our VISTA alumni returned to talk about how they prepared for the end of their year and transitioned into a professional career. One woman said “don't feel bad if you still don't know what you want to do.”
During my meal with my friend I hinted at something I haven't considered for a few years: working for myself, doing freelance jobs, and pursuing my art as a (but not the only) primary career. I talked about applying for a few grants for my own work (imagine that) so I could spend more time on my photography.
One of the college professors I learned the most from tried to give us realistic expectations: it's very difficult and very lucky to be able to forgo a “day job.” With that in mind, though...where do I fit? It's a question I've been asking for years now.
Most likely I'll choose to pursue a career somehow connected to national service. However, it's a good exercise for everyone to give some serious thought to their career from time to time. Answering the questions “where do I fit?” “what am I truly passionate about?” and “am I really happy when I wake up in the morning?” is helps us to define where we are, where we're going, and how we can direct our efforts to get the most out of our precious hours, days, and years.
Luckily for me, I have a contract that lasts until August 2009, so my career reflections aren't too rushed at this point. But come May, I can imagine I'll be thinking a lot more about how I want to proceed with my career as it relates to grant-writing, visual arts, and national service.
Many thanks to GBCA Executive Director Nancy Harrigan for inviting me to participate in the press conference, and to the folks at Fastspot for making a great site (and providing an embed link!).
- 1000 Words Photography, an online contemporary photo magazine, came out with a new "issue" this week and it's got some interesting work.
- I've been saying I'm going to get out more, and I think I'll really have to visit the Contemporary Museum to check out Dawoud Bey's portraits of teenagers. The portraits are big (30 x 40 inch) and accompanied by autobiographical writing by the subjects. How can I pass that up?
- The National Portrait Gallery has an online exhibition up. The current showing didn't strike me immediately, but it's well-presented and seems to be welcoming me back for a second and third look to digest the work.
- When I first arrived in Baltimore, a coworker told me I'd probably enjoy the quirky art and culture scene in our little city. In the Station North Arts District, the Charles Theatre is apparently dedicating a big wall to a regular display of employees' art work, which I think is pretty cool.
Over the holidays I happened to meet an old friend of a friend, described and introduced to me as “also into photography.” I feel like an expectation comes with meeting another artist that we will automatically forge a connection based on our shared occupation. This woman happened to live in New York, drawing and taking photos and working behind the scenes for the popular ARTstor digital image database.
As I stood in the front foyer at my in-laws' house, somewhat enamored and thinking how much this new person reminded me of a friend in Baltimore, I thought for a minute about my path thus far. I always wonder what impression I make on people who are much more cut and dry Artists than I am. Do I look like I've copped out by shunning the New York art universe and making my own way in a much smaller city? Should I be applying for a job at the BMA next year, visiting DC more often, looking for residencies, considering my current day job a step along the way or even a stall point in the process?
Much of my motivation to join AmeriCorps stemmed from a disconnect I felt, the lack of desire to move to New York, keep up with the gallery scene there, try to “make it” in the capital of the art world. Art students (or this one, at least) feel a lot of pressure to focus on New York, on the big biennials and the new superstar artists. After college,, I'm sure there was a mass migration northward to test all the skills we'd learned not just at making art, but also shamelessly marketing and selling ourselves to galleries in Chelsea. And then there was me, following my husband to a career in the Baltimore/DC area and looking for a day job I could fall in love with.
Sure, working at a museum or gallery would be great, in theory. But just because it's an “art job” doesn't mean it's going to be ultimately fulfilling. I'm sure that was on my mind when I wrote the following in my AmeriCorps*VISTA motivational statement: “My career should be something that makes me proud, something I can't stop smiling about, when I'm doing it or when I'm telling others about it.” After years of working in retail, I knew a day job was never just a day job.
Right now I'm involved in a career path I'm willing to petition the President about. Honestly, no matter what some of my art professors may think of my progress, I feel extremely lucky to say that. I'm still taking pictures, still entering juried contests, still looking for grant money, still thinking and writing about my art. I'm also serving my country and extremely proud to do so. When my term runs up next August, regardless of what I choose to do post-VISTA, I will be a lifelong advocate for national service. My experience over the last year and a half has impacted and changed me tremendously, set me on a path I never would have expected in the months preceding my college commencement ceremony.
Again, I feel truly blessed to be here. My path as an artist may not be the stereotypical image of success, but that's okay with me. I feel great when I come home every evening, and that's what matters. Artists or not, it's what we're all looking for.
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Reclamation
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