Saturday, September 23, 2017

School Update

Hello All. I've been quite busy over the last week, but I'm caught up, for the moment. (It's Saturday morning now, and the homework for next week stretches out before me, alas.) Also, I fear my entire ceramics class is a week behind (which is the instructor's problem, not mine, at least until she changes the schedule and it bites us all, hard) and I know there are some killer assignments coming in the not too distant future. There's a short paper in Art History as well, and the painting instructor just added a new homework assignment that wasn't on the syllabus, so things are... complex.

But let's review, in course order:

In Ceramics (Tuesday mornings), I have a coil built pot ready to be covered in some combination of white & black slip:


It's nearly 12 inches tall, and while I'd planned on a smoother texture and originally intended a smooth (not fluted) top, I am happy with it. I have no idea if it will survive the kiln or not, of course.

In Art History (Wednesday mornings) I have two possible topics for the paper I have to write. One is this sculpture in Richmond:


It's a lovely stainless steel water droplet, or so says the artist. The other is a famous Monet I saw last weekend at the Vancouver Art Gallery. But with my interest in sculpture I prefer to write a formal description of the sculpture for the paper.

That said the paper comes in two parts, and the formal description is the easy part. The rest involves putting the artwork in context, somehow. The artist is Chinese and this is one of two sculptures installed in the west by him in 2009. They also appear to be the only things he's installed in the west so far, and he's young enough that I can't find anything written about him in particular except the documentation that goes with the Vancouver Bienalle 2009 - 2011. I will be talking with the instructor shortly about the task at hand, and see what she has to suggest. [Addendum: I talked with my instructor, and I have lots of options for how to write about the work for part two. She was even interested in the fact that I'd done research already and come up empty handed, and I could simply write that up. So I think I'll use the sculpture as the subject of my paper, and see how it goes.]

Painting class (Wednesday afternoons) seems to be going well. I am a bit hesitant to include photos of my work here, but what the heck. Overall we paint one or more quick things in class, and we have homework assignments as well. The first homework was a monochrome interior. Here's mine:


There are so many issues with that painting... argh.

Some of you probably know I do not consider myself a painter. In fact. two and a half years of painting classes some decades ago left me done with the medium. But at least one painting class is required by the program here at Langara, and there has been a lot of water under the bridge. It's a good idea that I try it again and keep an open mind.

Here's the other painting homework I am willing to share:


Yes, that is a self portrait, supposedly. We were told to paint them with just two or three colours and white, and I chose blue & yellow. It makes me look way too much like Steve Jobs, but whatever. We actually had to paint two self portraits. The other was to be something more fun, but I hate the results. I will gesso it over sooner rather than later, I think. We have turned in these paintings but I have no clue how things are being graded, so I might have an A for participation and effort, or I might have an F because I stink. I need to ask the instructor about that someday. Also, for the curious, we're painting with acrylics. Apparently there isn't enough ventilation in the painting room to let us use oils. Not sure how (or if) the advanced painting classes solve that. Maybe they only use acrylics too.

Design (Thursday mornings) is going well. I have nothing back with a grade yet but given my interactions with the instructor so far, I think all is fine. We've turned in two drawings: a set of orthogonal views of a particular object, and a paraline drawing of the same object. Now we're designing our own object that we will construct out of cardboard and hot glue (I think). I've got my design done, and we start construction next week.

And finally there is drawing on Friday mornings. In that class I have 2 assignments graded and have received perfect marks on both, though I honestly am not sure why. The first was a still life, and we had two versions of it. Here's the better (in my opinion) of the two:


Sorry about the lousy photo. Need to fix that. The second assignment was a series of contour drawings of a houseplant. I don't have that photographed yet, but my drawings of that weren't all that great either. And yet, as I say, I got a perfect score again. Today saw us start life drawing (with some excellent instruction on how to actually do that) and our next homework assignment is a diptych of a ginger root drawn in cross contour. That might allow for more visual interest than the fruit and cup still life above, though cross contour isn't a great thing for artistic expression, in my opinion, unless you're creating covers for science fiction novels.

This weekend I have the following homework to do:
  • Ceramics: none. I am as caught up as I can be at this point.
  • Art History: read chapter three of the book (on different media) and start writing the paper.
  • Painting: paint "something from life" using three mixed colours, white, and a chromatic black. This assignment is to get us to mix three interesting colours from the selection of paints we were given, rather that the subject matter itself.
  • Design: quickly recheck my object design so it is ready to turn in on Thursday.
  • Drawing: ginger root diptych. I've bought the ginger root, at least.
And in addition to that I have a few things I have to do on Monday that have nothing to do with school. And local friends want to get together. And the A/V receiver we have just died a horrible death, so it needs replacing. And if there is time I should mow, again. And there is always laundry to do. And the dogs need regular walking. And and and. Yeah. No shortage of things to keep me busy.

Final notes:
  • While writing this I forced Chrome to use a Canadian-English dictionary for spell check, rather than the US-English one. I need to get used to those spellings. For those following along from the states: sorry.
  • The weather here is lovely: cool with occasional light rain. Very nice. The late summer heat is one thing about the bay area that I don't miss.
  • I wish you all well. Feel free to email me with updates on your life. School has kept me off Facebook most days, so if there are interesting things going on with you that you've shared there, I've probably missed them. Again, my apologies.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

So many piercings...

Bonus post. If you find this, it wasn't announced in any of the usual places.

People watching is always fun, and I do it on occasion. There are the elderly Chinese gentlemen who think they can just cut into the line to get on the bus, and no one tells them they can't.

There are all the people with tattoos, most of which are totally forgettable to me.

There are the hair colors, which I am generally jealous of, and wish I had the guts to do myself. Bright pink hair on the Jeff, anyone?

There are so many smokers. What is it with people and smoking? Shudder.

But mostly, it's piercings. Lots and lots of piercings. Ears aren't really all that odd, even when there are lots of piercings in them. I get that, even if I don't want to do it myself. But lips, nose, eyebrows, and who knows where else? Really? Many of them look uncomfortable, unsanitary, or both. I really don't get it.

But life is full of things I don't get, and living in a city, and going to college with a particular cohort of people - roughly 31 to 33 years younger than I am - is showing me that for that generation, piercings are the thing.

OK.

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Art School: Week 1

Today is the Saturday after my first week at art school. I've promised to share what I can about this experience, so here goes:

My schedule is fairly busy by modern college standards, I guess. Three courses is called a full load in a given semester. I am taking five, and started out thinking I would take six. I worried a bit about the load initially, but now I think I'll be OK.

As announced at the various orientations (which I am discovering lots of students didn't attend), each class gave us a detailed syllabus, listing just about all the dates you could want. There is one exception: final exam dates aren't yet set, so I don't know when my Art History final will be. None of my other classes have exams, just projects of various kinds due throughout the semester.

Overall the classes seem good, though just one session of each isn't a lot to go on. Overall the students I've talked with seem to think these instructors are good (I agree) and I think all of my studio instructors have taught (or currently teach) at Emily Carr University (or some other major school) in addition to teaching at Langara College. Emily Carr is a big art & design school, with some prestige, so if they're associated with Emily Carr in some way, they have recognition, if I understand the world properly.

My schedule has no classes on Monday, which is nice. It gives me an extra day each weekend to do homework, and I am already pretty sure I will need that.

Thoughts on individual classes:
  • Ceramics: We have a substitute instructor here: Gailan Ngan. The usual instructor is off taking a class herself, so they've brought in Gailin. She's quite good, very nice, and interesting, with lots of relevant background. Her website is http://gailanngan.com/. Our first assignment is to create a coil built work of some kind. We're going to glaze the greenware, before it is fired. There are two other projects in this course: a work done in clay slabs, and a simple set of pots thrown on a wheel. And of course there is all kinds of other stuff to go along with all of that, the technical side of kiln loading, firing, glazing, etc. We haven't even started in on the first pot, though. That happens this coming Tuesday.

  • Visual Culture I (Art History): This is a thematic overview of art, rather than one organized chronologically. The instructor is Dr. Ivana Horacek, who has taught at quite a number of schools, including UBC, and most recently at the University of Minnesota. So far I think she will be an excellent instructor, and I have hope of learning a lot in her class. I don't delude myself into thinking I will be the best student there, but I hope to do well, and her teaching style seems suited to me. I'll know more with additional class time, but it seems good.

  • Painting: Taught be Steven Hubert (whose website I cannot be certain of; there are a few that might be his, but I am unable to confirm that given what I know, and they lack pictures of him, so... I can't give a link I know is right) who is an instructor at Langara, Emily Carr, Simon Fraser University (I think), and probably others. His approach is direct and to the point: paint a lot. He's got exercises for us, and is starting us off with a limited palette (monochromatic at first). We did some painting the first day, mostly to loosen up and get the idea, I think. Next week we start getting formal assignments to do during class and afterwards. All painting in this class is with acrylics, no oils or water colors. I'm OK with that. My oil experience is that they turn muddy brown when I look at them, and I know nothing about using water colors after about grade 3. Assuming I take more painting classes, I'm sure I'll learn more about those options. To be honest, this class probably worries more than any other, simply because my previous painting experiences gave me so much frustration. Time will tell how I react to the media, but this instructor seems like a good one to me, and I hope to enjoy it and learn a lot.

  • Design: This is an introductory Industrial Design class taught by Philip Robbins (yet another instructor who's taught in many places). Our first assignment involved drawing an orthographic projection of a simple object. Eventually we'll be creating ideas for things and figuring out how to draw or document them, and even some computer (CAD) work. Given my background I expect a lot of this to be pretty simple, but I have to work at it not to make stupid mistakes, and my technique will probably never be perfect. This is another class I think I'll enjoy, but I do wonder a bit about organization. I expect we'll be doing some group work, rather than all individual projects, and working in groups - despite being part of reality - is an odd thing in school. If everyone works hard and well, it can be fine. If not, things can go sideways in a hurry. In the real world you're always working in groups, but there isn't a grade coming, per se, and your manager should know what you've done and how much effort you put in. So even if a project tanks (and a lot do) it's not held against you personally unless you deserve it. That grade on a project in school is always kind of worrisome, and there may be nothing you can do about the level of effort on the part of another person in your group. We'll see how it goes, obviously, and I expect it won't be an issue, but I still worry about these things.

  • Drawing: Taught by Sarita Baker, who has also taught at a bunch of schools, played in a band, and written music for a cartoon TV show. Her class is an introduction to drawing, and gets us going with exercises and assignments. I don't have a sense of how well I will do at this - I get uptight about my own work pretty easily - but it seems she isn't worried about such things, and will help us succeed. Again I was unable to find a website specifically hers, so I have no good link to share.
Thus far I have no pictures to share of anything I have done. We did some drawings in the first drawing class, but I recycled them all. We did a couple of quick paintings on paper in the painting class, and those are still in the classroom, but are definitely not worth sharing. The first homework in the design class is done and sitting in a drawer at school waiting to be turned in. And (as stated above) no clay has been worked yet. So don't expect pictures for another week or two, I think.

There. Now you are as up to date as I am on my first week of school. Now I need to publish this and get started on some ceramics homework.

PS: It's cool and rainy today. Totally overcast. Absolutely lovely weather for me. I am happy with it!

Monday, September 4, 2017

Back to school

Today is Labour (Labor) Day, in celebration of which I do not labo(u)r.

Tomorrow is the first day of school. Tomorrow, I labo(u)r. Possibly a lot. Tomorrow, I begin a new chapter in life, and start to figure out what some of the decisions we made over the last six months really mean.

For the curious, I am taking five classes this semester:
  • Ceramics Studio
  • Design Studio
  • Drawing Studio
  • Painting Studio
  • Visual Culture I
The first four are art classes. Each meets once a week for four hours, and I am told to expect four hours of homework from each per week (which will have to be done in the studio rooms themselves in most cases) except for ceramics, where I should expect eight hours of homework per week, all in the studio.

The last class is from the Art History department. I chose it as this sequence (Visual Culture I & II) looks more interesting to me than the traditional, chronological art history presentation, but I could be wrong. Additionally, the class has a new instructor, just hired into Langara College. It will - no doubt - involve extensive reading and writing papers, and thus add to the homework commitment.

It is my goal to post about art here, as well as other aspects of life. As I have previously mentioned, though, I don't yet know how much time I will have for anything other than course work, so time will tell. Please be patient as I adjust to the new schedule and get my life in order, again.

Thanks all!

Mysteries Reprise

A while back I wrote a post about three mysteries, things I didn't know the answer to.

After a very brief period of time I had an answer to the first one. It turns out that these lines in the road:


in freeways, as seen here:


Are part of a kind of road repair called a "dowel bar retrofit". It's a way of tying one section of concrete to another so they don't move as cars cross from one to another. I'd seen these for years all over the country and had no clue.

The second mystery to be resolved was a problem with using my USB scanner under Ubuntu Linux. That was fixed with my own continued digging and a reader pointing out a final syntax issue in something I did. The scanner works again, which is the important thing.

And the final mystery is now resolved as well. A series of strange items out off the western coast of Richmond are now identified as "Beacon Piles," and are present to keep ships from running aground. They are unlit, round, orange signs visible from the north and south, looking like this from the back (on land):


(The front sides are painted orange for visibility to ships out in the channel.)

The only question I have remaining about these is why they are where they are. The actual channel is well beyond these beacons, and any ship of significance will run aground long before it gets to them. Still, the contributions of several readers helped definitively identify them, so I can stop pondering them now. (And I am sure they are not radar reflectors, despite many references to them by that name. They are simply visual markers for ships to see in the daylight.)

Much of the conversation about these things took place on Facebook, and while I have all kinds of problems with that platform, it helped in these cases. If you're friends with me there, you can find the back & forth on this in the comments to the post announcing that earlier blog entry.

Also, if you have a burning question needing an answer, consider sharing it with me. Apparently I have more than a few readers who love digging into things, and who know all kinds of stuff. Maybe we can get it answered for you.

More Canadaisms

A few more Canadaisms, just because.

Canadians call it a "buggy", not a shopping cart. I have no idea why.

Here are a few things about Canadian money. Some of these you may know, but they still interest me:
  • Canada has a $1 coin, colloquially called a "Loonie" because it has a loon (the bird) on the back. It is slightly larger than a quarter, and is gold in color making it relatively easy to distinguish in a handful of change (unless you're blind, I suspect). Why the US $1 coin has not caught on I don't know. Probably something to do with merchants not having space in their cash registers for them.
  • They also have a $2 coin, called a "toonie". It's larger than a loonie and has a gold center surrounded by a silver outer ring. Again, it's pretty easy to distinguish from other coins.
  • Oddly, as an American, the hardest thing about Canadian currency is telling quarters and nickels apart. They are similar in size, and since the art on them is not what I am used to, I actually have to look closely and think about it. Someday that should be easy, but a month of rarely using cash is not long enough to get me to that point.
  • Canadians don't use pennies. They are still legal tender, but you can only deposit them in bank accounts. Merchants round things to the nearest nickel when dealing with cash. The US should have done that a long time ago.
  • Another oddity is getting a large amount of change but no bills. Imagine you pay for something costing $1.21 with a $5 bill and getting $3.80 back in change: 1 toonie, 1 loonie, 3 quarters, and 1 nickel. No bills. (And note the rounding down to $1.20 on the cost.) That pile of change still doesn't feel right.
  • When paying with something inexpensive with cash I still look for $1 bills in my wallet. Every time. I might have 15 loonies in my pocket, but I don't think about them yet.
  • Canadian bills have lots of color and transparent plastic in them. They are much prettier than American bills, in my opinion.
And finally, the name of the last letter of the alphabet is pronounced "Zed" not "Zee", which makes the end of the alphabet song fail to rhyme, among other things. It doesn't come up often, but it clearly marks me as not Canadian when it does happen.

My wife is still employed

Some of you may recall that my wife (Anne) brought her job with her as we moved to Canada. Her employer - Oracle - was willing to do that, and it works for us in ways related to immigration and other things.

So you might understand that there was a bit of heartburn a week or so after we arrived when rumors of a massive layoff began circulating at work. These rumors were so significant that all work on hardware projects stopped. (My wife is a hardware diagnostics developer - she breaks microprocessors for a living, and she's very good at it.) Instead everyone was making connections on LinkedIn and revising resumes. This was serious stuff.

And the rumors were right. Friday, Sept 1, 2017 saw a large layoff; hundreds of people. This was reported in the press, so I am not telling tales out of school. Nearly all of Oracle's SPARC development staff was let go.

Nearly - but not quite - all. A few were kept on, and Anne is one of those who stays employed, at least for now. Exactly what that means entirely clear yet. Tomorrow some of that information should start to flow. I won't be able to write about most of what she learns, so there won't be a lot of closure on this. Time will tell how it all goes down, though.

Most importantly, we know a lot of people who are now looking for work. It was a very long weekend, with people checking on each other. We wish all those impacted only the best. May you find some place better to work, or something better to do, whatever that means for you.

Take care.