I am so happy the way this turnout and I wonder what my class will think about it.  I wasn’t aware of how alcohol and drugs plagued this side of the river. Growing up in Louisville this was the norm to see the neighborhood drunk stumble up the street after an evening in the bar. I’m sure that each of us has had or seen the effect that this has had on family members, friend, and neighborhood. I have had members of my own family, fallen victim to the plague of alcoholism. But this is not a white only or black only issue this is a multicultural issue, that was my reasoning for painting it this way. I wanted to show how this addiction affects our brain with the explosion effect. But to be honest I thought it was going to look like a crown. The black side of the jug looks more like green color instead of black like the top. I think that the color of the tongue turns out the perfect shade of red to emphasize the white drug (Altoids). Along with the very colorful array of colorful alcohol bottles (Gatorade) to bring this full circle. So, it is very important to continue to push our lawmakers for more facilities to battle against these additions.

This ceramic summer session class has went by so quickly. I have enjoy this class and kind of sad that it will be ending soon. I final got a handle on me verb project which falls right into my family tree project. I think that I am the third generation and I often think about the steps that was paved before me. Time is going by fast and babies are growing up fast into preschooler and soon into adult. So, I wanted to show you the Walking Generation of Footprints of females of my family. I was under the impression that this was be a fun project where I could included my two granddaughter. Charlie who is the oldest was very happy to help Nana with her school project. But, Oh this youngest one was not having it…she wanted to play in it with her hands NOT her feet.

Unfortunately, I’m not able to turn the picture around to show the footprints. But, as you can see the little one first set of footprints are very clear and the ones after gets lighter and lighter. But we as an individual are all walking this path from childhood to young adult to elderly. But what impression will you be leaving on this world? I want to make sure that these two ladies know that Nana loves them to the moon and back. I want to make sure you have what you need to make sure that your lives would be successful.

This past week I have almost completed my work for the duality/mix media project. I have a few more items to add to it in order to call it complete. This is one project that has got me to think about the addiction problem that has plagued our country. I was born and raised in Louisville Ky, in the Smoketown area, where I have seen my share of crime and drugs. We move to Jeffersonville, Indiana six year ago to get away from this type of problems. My impression was that this was a small county that didn’t have the type of crime that I grew up with. Unbeknownst to me, the Clark, New Albany, and Jeffersonville had the same issue that Louisville has with drugs and crime. But I feel that Indiana has just as big of a problem with DRUGS as Louisville. So, I wanted to reflect this issue in my duality project to emphasize the opiate, cocaine, alcohol, and marijuana. I want to show how these things that we put in our bodies continue to affect and deaden our brain cell.

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Moving forward to the next project has been a struggle….well, to be honest, I have struggled to come up with ideals with all of the projects. But I have come up with one project, “growing footprints”. This, I will show the growth showing natural development.

My original project started out with me creating a bunch of squares with the social media apps icon on them. I was planning to have a bowl filled with different ones like Facebook, Snapchat, Tweeter, Instagram, YouTube, etc. I was going to get an empty box of cereal leaning up against the bowl with these cereal icons falling out of the box. But when it came down to paint the app icon my old hand was not steady enough not to make it look like a first grader painted. So, this ideal had to be trashed and a new one started. So, I was still wanting to stay on the same line of the addiction to social media but continue it with the addiction to alcohol and opiated (I hope that spell right) problem. So, my new design starts with the profile of a head with the alcohol bottle setting at the top of the head. Next, there will be a tongue coming out of the mouth with pills stuck to the tongue. I feel that this is a major problem that I wasn’t aware it has gotten so bad in the Indiana area. With this duality project, I really don’t want to create an individual face, I just want to reflect a silhouette of a face. When you think about this problem, we don’t know who is battling this demon of alcoholism and drugs. I’m wanting this project just to make you think. So, I’m hoping that this will be a better productive week than last week was. I only found one ceramaic art work that would describe my thought about the epidemic of drugs and alcohol. I also fell to take a picture of my current project, I should some in a few days.

I have completed the last part of my Fantasy Function project, but I’m not sure it is what my teacher is asking for. I can see that the other students are a lot further along in their creative than I am which can be intimidating. So to get my creative juices going I visit my favor art gallery (E & S Gallery, Inc) this weekend to see if there were any new items. They didn’t have anything new, but I had to revisit these African statues from Woodrow Nash. There are several sculptures but this is one that I like the most since we discuss in class about the raccoon process. This reminded me of this technique on the face of these sculptures. Another of the interesting part of this sculpture is the detail in the hair that looks so lifelike. The next one of Mr. Nash sculptures is Orisa (Angelic One) is so beautiful hand finishing in the paint details. Again I so fascinated about the detail of the hair, Nash’s sculptures transmit human delicacies and inner harmony. Well back to my project, I wanted to do something different with the coils for my tray and cup. I wanted to keep the roundness of the coils on the outside and inside of my tray and cup. The plan, to be able to carry the cup and cookies on the tray. As I stated the last time that I enjoy my milk and cookies, as for the other creation I wanted to create and cup and cookies holder in one. I feel that this dish would work as long as the cookies are gone and you would be able to drink the remaining milk without making a mess.

I am in unfamiliar waters with this blog, so I hope I am doing this blog correctly. Since my return back to school I wanted to take a class that would pull my DIY creativity out of me. Walking though Knobview Hall seeing all of the creative drawing, painting, photos and ceramics work, this was something that I wanted to check out. Last semester, I was registered to take the ceramics for non-major but end up in the ceramics I class, which I TOTALLY TOTALLY ENJOYED. My first shock in this class was that you can get really dirty, with the raw clay under your nails. But, after a few weeks, I had gotten total over that. I was so proud of the first pinch project that I made after it was fired and glazed….it reminded me of the dish my son made in the first grade for me for Mother Day, that I still have. This class allows me to challenge my thinking about my interpretation of art, which totally different from DIY projects. Also coming aware of the different material used to create these wonderful ceramics art pieces. So after another class was canceled the Ceramics II class was available and I’m so excited to get started. My ideas for my Fantasy Function project I have two different design that I want to do but we have such a short semester I not sure if I can get it done. So, how many of you like cookies with a glass of milk to dump your cookies in. One hand to hold the cup and the other hand to hold the cookies but you out of hands to dump your cookies. How about a cup with an attached holder for your cookies? BRILLIANT RIGHT! Look for my next blog to see what I have come up with. I already see this is going to be a great summer.

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Finally figured out how to upload my picture to my blog, thanks to my friends in my ceramics class. Center picture is my milk and cookie dump cup!!!!! Top right is my milk cup and its tray will follow later. The next two picture is the completed work that I have done last semester in Ceramics I. I’m very proud of how everything turns out better than what I originally thought.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton