Curated by Larry Thacker

i am pleased to announce that the cat has landed.

the past few months has been a huge transition for our family. we packed up and left a great town in south carolina to head north – back to our home state of virginia.

to fill my time i’ve juggled the job titles of mr. mom and adjunct professor. i started channeling my creative energies just a few feet from our backdoor in a space i dubbed the Shudio: part shed / part studio. just a few weeks ago i was lucky to find an indoor studio space for the winter and spring on mayo island.

i have to say thank you to thomas j. condon for introducing me to great group of artist here in richmond called the Mayo Island Studio Collective. using my chainsaw carpentry skills from my time in naknek — i’ve put together a few shelves and a desk with a 5 gallon bucket as my new office chair.

the space has allowed me to unpack boxes and artwork that had been stored in closets, attics, and under beds. a collection of work that once unpacked gave great insight to this artistic journey that started well over a decade ago. once again i have a surfboard hanging over my shoulder — making sure i keep the stoke alive. the island allows for water access to the james and i’m looking forward to new river adventures in the spring.

i’m planning on putting together a collection of work from the stack of sketchbooks on the shelves for 2012, a slated redesign for this site and there is a collaborative project in the works — one that will bring together a conversation with a fellow friend and artist that i’m pretty excited to share more about at the turn of the year.

that is all i have for now.
come back for more in the near future ///

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today i came into the studio a few minutes early.
i felt the need to type.
the subject or word i focused on was creativity.
the image above is a cropped scan of what i typed.
when nate and laura arrived in the studio this morning — i asked them to retype a copy for themselves.

i knew this morning that it was my time to let laura and nate go.
go be the great people//designers they are destined to be.
i also knew it was my time to go — time to go home to the north of the south — virginia.
my journey has come full circle.

i held on and shared with them what i could with the time we were allowed to spend together. i am a few weeks away from leaving the town of columbia. our family will be moving back to richmond virginia. over the next two weeks i hope to say proper goodbyes to good friends and people i’ve met, worked and lived with here in columbia. i will also use the time to clean up my desk here at george fulton’s studio — to leave a clean slate for the next occupant of the space.

i am happy though that i did leave nate and laura with a direction and end point. they will be projecting their ideas on a wall at the columbia museum of art during the August 5 Arts&Draughts. i encourage all of you to share your reaction with them at the event. i guess this is the final project for theUNSCHOOL of the summer. there will be no grade. instead an opportunity for them to share an idea to start a conversation with the people in their community. i told them — if they didn’t get a reaction :: they didn’t go far enough.

i also told them — in these times of doing more with less :: the real decision is how much they put into the more to measure the mark of less.

that is all i have for now.