Our Art Loft

While I was out of the country last week, Ro found time to buy a new potter's wheel. Our patio now has a weaving loom, a potter's wheel and a drafting table with Jackson's stuff on it. If we add underwater basket weaving, we can open up a mental health unit right here on the 14th floor.

Ro sure seems happy with the new addition. I think he'll be able to survive the next few years here now. The Graded art teacher gave him the name of a place where he can fire his work.

Jackson got accepted to the College for Creative Studies this week. He was pretty pumped that all three of his choices said yes. Now he has to make a decision.

Hannah is doing well. She is in the midst of picking classes for her junior and senior year. She is trying to work in another language (Spanish) but I don't know if her schedule will be able to handle it. They sure push the kids here.

This is my latest weaving project. The silk/cashmere yarn is so soft but I wish the water lilies pattern popped a little more. Maybe it will be more prominent after I wash it. I always stink at picking the right colors. (Makes me miss my Saturday weaving friends!) I am trying to get this off the loom so I can put my Weaving Olympics project on before the Olympics end this weekend. I am the international entry after all. My CCS friends and I are all doing the same piece with different yarns and then dipping them in indigo dye. Should be interesting. Luckily, I'm not back in the US again until April 5 so I get to count the Special Olympics too!

Jackson's New Home??

I am finally back in Sao Paulo after two wild weeks in the States. The first order of business was five exhausting days at the National Automobile Dealers Association conference in Orlando for work. Once I finished up with that, Jackson met me in Orlando and we ventured North to Savannah to check out Savannah College of Art & Design.

He's already been accepted there but since Jackson had never seen it, we thought it best to take the "official" tour, see the dorms and get some questions answered. What an amazing place! SCAD has engulfed many historic buildings in the city and turned them into incredible examples of historic preservation by adapting the structures to the school's needs. Seventy-two buildings sprinkled throughout the town make up the campus. There are classes in old train stations, churches, synagogues, even a former coffin factory. There was a whole building devoted to fibers/weaving. (I made Jackson go look at it.) Once you get past marveling at the architecture, you really start to appreciate the sophistication and high levels of technology that SCAD has incorporated into every curriculum. In short, we were impressed.

The city has all these beautiful squares and trees and funky restaurants. Very cool.

Jackson has submitted his portfolio for scholarship consideration. We should hear back in a few weeks. SCAD is a very expensive school so we have our fingers crossed that they come up with some money.

It was nice to spend some time with Jackson. We got his eyes checked, glasses made, hair cut and did some serious shopping during this whirlwind trip. He was looking for these certain bats so I think we visited every baseball store between Orlando and Savannah with no luck. (We are going to order them online and have our neighbors Sean and Amber bring them when they visit in March.) One of my bestest high school buddies, Tracey Strachan, lives in Jacksonville so we had a great dinner with her husband, David and her son, Camden. All in all, it was a fun and productive trip.

A Five Foot Fish

Ro went fishing with his work friends yesterday near Sao Sebastio's Ilha Bela Island and caught this freaky fish. It is called an espada, which translates to blade. The fish weighed about seven pounds and they grilled it up and ate it on the boat.

Man in Motion

Jackson has his mock IB art exam today so yesterday was a flurry of tweaking his models and drawings for the show. This piece came out very cool. In its final state, it will be hung in the school gallery but we set it up in the apartment last night to get it just right. It is hung from fish line and tied to a board that we suspended from the ceiling. Jackson made casts of his hands and legs to make the player. He filled my car with a dozen or so 3-D objects and portfolio cases which I took to school this morning. Hope his show goes well.

Jackson and I are going to visit Savannah College of Art and Design February 17-19. He is going to fly to Orlando (alone!) and meet me after I finish with the National Automobile Dealers Association convention there for work. We'll make the four-hour trek to Savannah, Georgia from there. Everybody tells me that Savannah is gorgeous. He knows Wayne State and CCS well already so it is critical that he sees SCAD to help him make his college decision.