During those years I didn’t think too much of it, because I wasn’t sure how I felt about the table to begin with. The angles and windows I added to the piece were a calculated although experimental adventure in furniture design back in college. It recently made the journey to our house and I reluctantly tried it out in the living room. It started to grow on my and now I feel at home with it’s modern and imperfect design. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I made it, but I like that it is finally being used.

I loved the chance to work in other mediums during college and have a more well rounded experience with art. Taking a break from the computer and using my hands in a more practical way was a welcome reprieve. It still is – while I don’t have a workshop to make more tables these days I gravitate to the kitchen and start cooking!

aww. it’s matt + jasper!

I’m so excited both to share this news with you guys and for the reality that I have my first intern. Yes, Hannah is going to be joining me to learn the ropes of what I do – both photography and running a business and I am super excited for her help. She is one of those well rounded art majors that is versed in many different disciplines and on top of that has great taste in music & food and is fun to spend time with. I promise we will be working though, and not just having fun. Well, maybe a little of both? Since she is my first intern I know it will be a learning experience for both of us so I’ll keep you updated on our adventures. Or maybe she’ll give you a behind the scenes look at working with me – yikes!

I would go back and do it again. I don’t miss the exams, papers and student loans, but I loved college. I spent many late nights in the art studio creating, practicing, and collaborating. Sometimes I would convince a friend to come visit me in the darkroom where I was blaring coldplay, feist, or ace of base (I really went through an ace of base phase) and printing my latest project. I rocked my chemical baths back and forth and watched my floating paper slowly come to life. The image would appear softly at first and creep over like a fog until it covered the whole page. I embraced collaboration and new ideas and soaked in the surrounding energy that was created from all of us creating art.

The day to day studio work built community, and within that community a place to explore artistic expression. As we graduated and began to move on, trying to incorporate art into our jobs and daily lives we were challenged to work outside of the structure we had known. In the real world, where making art is often a means to an end, it takes a real effort to create and explore with out strings attached. It still takes discipline, support, and probably a few late nights pursing an idea to it’s end. It takes effort to connect with a community that allows and encourages you to do so.

Last week I photographed a printmaking class at Houghton College for an article they will be including in their upcoming magazine. I sat down with Jillian Sokso – who authored the article and taught the class I was visiting – and she briefed me on her main points. She spoke about process, community and the act of creating as a form of worship. It pushed me to think about the very things that I wrote about above. It reminded me that community and art is created through the day to day tasks that make up life.

It’s unrealistic to think I’ll have the same experience as I did back in college, but it’s just as unrealistic to think that experience is limited to a specific time in life. I remembered that it was not just the art studio but the network of friends I built in college that allowed me to grow during that time. I still have that network of friends and even though we are many miles apart they are still there offering a needed opinion, encouragement, or observation. They have more stories to tell about me and art than I can begin to write down… and I don’t know where I would we be without them.

For the past few days, I’ve been lucky enough to spend some time in Pennsylvania with one of my best friends from college, Mary Claire. So far I’ve become addicted to Glee and will finish watching the whole first season by the end of my trip. We went to see The Young Victoria and left wanting to watch it one more time. The music from the movie was fabulous too and currently Mary Claire is thinking about having our afternoon run be to the music store so she can buy Schubert’s Swan Song and play it tonight. Yesterday we had a very early and adventurous day as I accompanied her to Philadelphia, where she teaches music each Wednesday. We didn’t do any of the typical philly things (I have before, don’t worry) but had fun catching up with another friend from college, Josh, over lunch. This morning we went out for a treat at La Maison Du Cheese in Doylestown and it was the cutest little shop. In addition to specializing in cheese they bake fresh croissants each day so we went over to enjoy one. Both of us had blueberry and we were lucky to have a taste of the croissant bread pudding – if you’re going to have bread pudding, it might as well be with croissants. Enjoy a few photos from our trip there and I will work on my story telling as I have already spent too long writing this post :)

After a trial run (literally) it was clear that snowshoes weren’t the best choice for our workout today. So, after reviewing a few other options Campy and I decided what needed to be done: shovel the track. We didn’t know how big the task ahead of us was, but grabbed our shovel (we only had one, but it didn’t matter) and got started. The plan was to shovel a loop all the way around for everyone to run on, and 10m in I realized this was going to take a while. It was actually good that we had one shovel, so that we could take breaks and trade off turns. After the crew finished 4 repeats, we were finally done with the whole loop and I even had a blister to prove it. Even though I’ve lived in snow, this was a first for me. I’ve never shoveled a lane on the track and believe me it was such hard work especially with the heavy wet snow we were working with. You’re probably thinking that we’re crazy for doing this… and while you might be right it was also totally worth it. Besides the fact that everyone had a good practice, it was also the kind of day you pass down in stories years later “there was one time that we had to shovel off the track to do a workout… and run uphill both ways”

I’m sure some of you are curious as to what I did while working there- I usually get the question “…so what do you design” (asked hesitantly – since there are so many types of design) so here are some answers:

A little compilation of projects I worked out… a lot of programs & brochures… not pictured are tshirts, postcards, posters, ads, booklets… you name it. Not exactly the kind of design that’s breaking down the doors to win awards, but I was able to have fun with some of the pieces (can you guess which is my fav above?) and that’s what it’s like as an in-house designer. I won’t be doing as much of this now, but I’m not leaving it behind completely. I’m looking forward to doing projects here and there and perhaps exploring some new things that I haven’t had time for. Oh, and there are a few wedding invitations I’m working on so maybe I’ll have to share those with you :]