The Arts Company: A Summer of Serendipity

In the middle of Nashville stands a 6,000 square foot art venue; housed in a historic downtown building, The Arts Company has offered a wide variety of art mediums a since 1996. One look at The Arts Company's website and it is obvious that this is an energetic and modern gallery:

Our gallery mission is to maintain a presence of distinctively fresh, original, and contemporary artwork for individuals and businesses, offering an eclectic mix beyond the typical gallery model at unusually affordable prices.

The Arts Company's current exhibition is amazing. Following is the description from their website:

A SUMMER OF SERENDIPITY

Eclectic Adventures in Artwork, Décor, Books, Artifacts, Music & More

Featuring:

-The Shapes and Colors of Brother Mel
-The Intimate World of Leonard Piha
- 65th Anniversary of Ed Clark’s Grand Ole Opry Photographs: July 20, 1946
- Thornton Dial Original Drawings Jim Hubbman Watercolors

Each of these art groupings are absolutely amazing. One artist, in particular, will appeal to art lovers who enjoy bright colors, interesting shapes, and a quirky vibe: Brother Mel.

(Self portrait, at right.)

Brother Mel is an American Marianist Monk and creates art to support his monastic order. At age 82, he has been creating and selling art for 60 years.

Versitile in a number of mediums, Brother Mel's exhibit at The Arts Company is primarily metal sculptures and paintings. He also creates stained glass pieces, hand-made paper, and frescos.

This photo of a corner of the exhibition shows a sample of the energy and joy that radiates from so many of Brother Mel's works. The bright colors of the painted metal are from all over the color spectrum, yet a majority are of the same saturation level, which brings the pieces together. An occasional duller color, such as the lighter blues in the spiral in the bottom left corner, give the eye a place to rest as it moves around the piece.

Photos from the Brother Mel exhibition at The Arts Company can be seen here.

The exhibition A Summer of Serendipity will run at The Arts Company through August 20, 2011.

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Read more about Brother Mel in this 2007 blog entry.

Brother Mel's homepage is here.

Zeitgeist Gallery's "Sub Urban Legends"

Zeitgeist Gallery houses a contemporary art gallery as well as an architectural design studio. Established in 1995, it is located in Nashville's Hillsboro Village (a trendy little spot close to both Belmont and Vanderbilt Universities.)

Zeitgeist Gallery is currently showing an exhibit titled "Sub Urban Legends." The introduction from the gallery's website is as follows:

Zeitgeist is pleased to present two artists new to the area: Justin Plakas and Jessica Wohl. In keeping with Zeitgeist’s tradition of summer exhibitions reaching into the area studio community, these two artists kick off the first of two “project space” shows.

Jessica Wohl's contributions to the exhibit are on the topic of "suburbia." Zeitgeist Gallery's Facebook page has some previews to Jessica's work, which is very interesting. The previews represent two mediums. In the first medium, Jessica uses embroidery to alter "found" photographs. The second medium is ink on paper drawings. Both mediums start with something traditional and expected yet have a twist that represents the flaws and secrets that suburbia holds.

In contrast with the altered photos, which are very obviously sinister and symbolic, the ink on paper drawings seem at first to be simply visually interesting drawings: a closer look reveals symbolic commentary.

The piece shown at right, for example, seems at first to be an image of a family swimming in a nice pool outside their home. Further inspection, however, reveals a young boy on the right peeing into the pool as though he were at a urinal. Underneath the water, and barely noticeable, is a shadow that seems to be two people under the surface and using straws to get air. In addition, there is a person under the tree on the left, peering at the family from the outside of the fence (while a security camera bears down on the scene from the right of the house.) The subtle details are open for interpretation and allow the viewer to infer possible meanings for themselves.

The show runs from July 7 through July 30, 2011.

Andy Warhol exhibit at the Frist

Nashville's Frist Center for the Visual Arts is hosting an iconic exhibit this summer: the works of pop art legend Andy Warhol. The exhibit is in Nashville through September 11th.

The almost 300-piece collection is notable for including not only Warhol's major and most famous pieces (such as Campbell's Soup Cans or the visually loud portraits of Marilyn Monroe), but in addition including personal items and lesser-known works, with audio and visual recordings rounding out the experience.

Warhol is best known for his high-contrast, brightly-colored pop art prints. Pop art was an experimental form that artists were using in the 1960s in response to increased commercialism in American culture; Warhol made the art form his own by focusing on every-day objects and celebrities. Sometmes his art pieces were serious, and sometimes they were meant to be humorous; Warhol was often described as having a deadpan style - both in his art, and in his public personality.

The Mailyn Monroe series was a group of mass-produced silk-screen prints based on photographs. The prints are in a wide assortment of bright, deeply saturated and contrasting colors, the combinations of which create images which range from oddly beautiful to frigteningly cartoonish. These images have been reproduced, cropped, regrouped, and even spoofed over and over again in American culture.

Andy Warhol's career as an artist spanned nearly 40 years. From magazine illustrations in 1949 to pop art of the 1960s to dozens of collaborative paintings with Jean-Michel Basquiat in the 80s, Warhol was a highly influential figure in 20th century American art. For this reason alone, the exhibit is worth the visit.

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The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is located on Broadway in downtown Nashville. Housed in a beautiful 1933 building that originally served as the main Nashville post office , the Frists' 24,000 square feet of gallery space houses several concurrat exhibitions which rotate on a regular basis.

Metro Nashville Public Art: bike racks

As a department of Metro Nashville Government, the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission (MNAC) uses public money to fund public art. The artist-designed bike racks series combine form and function by providing a visually interesting alternative to an object of necessity.

The Metro Arts website currently shows there are seven of these bike racks around Nashville. Many cities and urban areas are making an effort to encourage walking, biking, and the use of mass transit as a way to save energy and protect the environment, and Nashville is no different. For this project, MNAC partnered with Metro Public Works and the Mayor's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. This is a very concrete example of art interacting with and responding to public policy and social movements.

The bike rack sculpture I like the most is Microphone Rack. It was created by Franne Lee, Keith Harmon, and Mac Hill, and is installed at the northeast corner of Demonbruen Street and Music Row. The microphone looks almost alive, with the pedestal for its feet and the head of the microphone as a bowed head - the machine as living object reminds me of the jumping and squeaking lamps used in Pixar shorts. Humans are hard-wired to see eyes, faces, and other human-like features in shadows and objects; by making the microphone anthropomorphic, the designers added an additional layer of interest to the piece.

This to me is a perfect kind of public art - if we have to look at objects anyway, they might as well be visually pleasing; extra points are awarded in my book for quirky.

Photography Studio Field Trip

1. How does the process of platinum printing affect the way that Guider's photos look?

The platinum prints look metallic and shiny (but not reflective), with very vivid shades of gray. They show much more detail than traditional black and white prints. Because platinum is a very stable element, the metal is immune to chemical reactions that damage silver prints; the platinum will not break down or fade in the way that traditional prints do.

2. Explain the values (scale from white to black) in Guider's photos.

According to Guider, film negatives record 1,000 values of gray between solid black and solid white. The human eye can see 15,000. Traditional black and white film development using silver prints has a range of only 10 grays. Platinum printing has 100 gray values - still not as varied as the negatives are capable of, but ten times the values that silver prints offer.

3. How have Stacey Irvin's travels affected her work?

When I Googled Stacey to read more about her, I found an article on Vanderbilt's website where she is quoted as saying: “Photographers can be peacemakers. People learn about each other through photographs. I want people to take away a sense of our shared humanity.”

Stacey's sees an innate dignity in all people, and it's obvious in her photos. The more she travels, the more she finds ways to connect with people, even despite language barriers. Through her camera lens, she seems to find a shared humanity in people all over the world. Her photos show that the basics of the human experience is the same no matter where you are.

4. Choose a photo by Guider or Irvin and do an analysis of its values/colors/form/content. Describe your response to this work.

I noticed this picture of Stacey's website, and she had it hanging in her studio, also. I was initially drawn to the purple the girl is wearing, simply because purple is my favorite color.

Then I noticed how she framed the shot and where the girl is lined up - many photographers (as well as painters and other visual artists) use the "rule of thirds" in composition. The image is divided into nine imaginary parts with both the horizontal field and the vertical field divided with two lines, to create equal-sized thirds. Placing a subject along these lines or at their intersection creates visual interest. The vertical line of the girl's nose is almost exactly where the left vertical line would be on the photo.

Additionally I like how she uses a shallow focus depth of field - so the girl is in sharp focus, while the background is a bit out of focus. This way the girl is the most important part of the picture, while her surroundings are more implied. Stacey obviously used a fast shutter speed since the dandilion seeds are caught mid-air as the girl blows the flower.

The main colors in this picture are purple, green, and shades of black/white/brown. Because of this the subject of the picture is more noticable, since she doesn't have to compete for our visual attention. The colors are all on the cool side of the color wheel, so they are calming

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Both Stacey and John were extremely interestng, and I'm glad we had the chance to meet them and hear about their work!

This is my idea of a good sculpture!

I don't even have words for how awesome this is. The artist's name is Anchalee Saengtai. Wired Magazine did a story on her last month:

Thai Sculptor Transforms Scrap Parts Into Jumbo Autobots.

Honestly, seeing one of these things in person would be every little boy's dream. (As well as many grown men.)

There's an interesting debate in the comments to the Wired story, as to whether this work constitutes "art" - or "Art" with a capital A?

Even if Anchalee didn't come up with the character or concept of the actual Transformer, to make a 19 foot sculpture that represents ANYTHING is an artistic endeavor to me!

Messy art

I've been thinking a lot about the write-ups I need to do for the photography studio we visited, as well as what I'm going to do for the assignment for the final. I've also been thinking about how Jake and I have incorporated art into our lives the past few years, particularly the messes that my love of art supplies has allowed. And THAT is more interesting to write about, so here I am. :)

Jake figured out pretty quickly that I couldn't say no to him when it comes to buying books, art supplies, and educational items. (Does this make me a good mom, or a push-over? Talk amongst yourselves.)

He also figured out that if I turned my back or got involved with folding laundry he could use his art supplies the way HE wanted to.

::

So once upon a time (he was 3, I think), I bought Jake some foam Christmas trees at Michael's, along with cute little decorations for them. I turned my back one day and he scattered ALL the little foam pieces all over the floor. I was in shock when I saw it - there's that moment when you go . . . OMG, did that REALLY happen? Usually these kinds of messes, I walk away from until I feel like cleaning them. Those foamies probably stayed on the floor for hours LOL.

Another thing I do when I'm shocked is take pictures - because I know I'm going to think it's funny later. So this image is what I posted on my blog about it that night.

And these pictures . . . holy cow these make me giggle. Jake had a little desk and chairs next to my computer desk in our dining room when he was 2, and I gave him free reign with crayons and stickers. I was CONSTANTLY finding him coloring on the walls and even the side of the counters. It was kind of hilarious. I particularly like the look on his face in these pictures - like what? why are you looking at me like that? He was being very deliberate and working hard!

The writing on the left side of the page (this is a scrapbook page) says "Jake showed an interest in art at an early age. Or something. Jan. 2005." heh.

Paint Paint Paint Paint

So I've mentioned before that I believe kids learn through movement and sensory experience - and what's more of a sensory experience than painting? Jake actually had sensory problems when he was in preschool, so much so that we worked with an Occupational Therapist for two years. Among other things, Jake was tactile defensive - and that's where painting came in.

It took so much just for him to be able to TOUCH anything wet or slippery or slimy. So finger-painting? The hallmark of the preschool-age experience? He was having none of it. He was happy to use a brush, but wouldn't use his fingers for the longest time. Sometimes if he was painting for quite a while, he would loosen up and start painting on himself and enjoyed it until he realized he had paint on him - and then all activities would come to a halt. It was a long process, but he seems to have gotten past the defensiveness. Painting in all its forms was very much a part of our lives during those years.




Now that he's going into 3rd grade, he's much more interested in playing computer games than painting - and when he does want to be artistic, it's usually with my scrapbooking supplies. But I look back on our painting days fondly.

Belmont's Tan Stucco Building

Oh yes, I meant to post about my building at work.

This house used to be one of about a dozen similar buildings, but it's the only one left on campus - we recently had a graduate from 1944 stop by for a visit and she was telling us that when you came to Belmont you were divided into social houses, and these buildings were used for chaperoned dates. (TOO CUTE.)

Anyway, the building's exterior used to be pretty boring - with no cool landscaping and no cool statues. In 2003 the bear statue arrived on campus and it was put in front of our building. Back then we hadn't really landscaped around it, so it looked kind of plain. Still, though, it's a statue that catches people's attention. And that's all well and good.

But the view from my desk? When the window shades weren't closed?

Not so much fun.
(It's ok, the landscaping fixed it.)

Once we realized that the entire area around the bear needed landscaping, the area looks so much better - totally lush in the spring and summer. I particularly like how the azaleas bloom first, and then the hydrangeas take over the design as the seasons progress.


The bear statue is a popular place for visitors to campus to have their picture taken, as can be seen from this picture of my son and his friends, who were on campus last year for bug camp.

The campus bookstore has even taken to using the statue as part of their advertising campaign. Good times.

In the past year, we've also gotten a new marble statue on our north side, and I think she's just lovely. She is a great tie-in to the north part of campus with all the similar statues around circle drive and in the mansion:



And that's it! The building I've been in non-stop for almost 10 years. :) The statues and landscaping really add to the aesthetic and totally make me smile.

Impressionism Exhibit at the Frist

This past December my sister was in town visiting, and my best friend convinced us all to go to the Frist. I'm so glad we went; the exhibit was amazing. (The pictures all enlarge if you click on them.)
This would be Jake and I at the back entrance. He is thrilled, as you can see.

The kids really liked the headphone sets that allowed them to punch in numbers next to paintings and hear their own personal tour-guide. This entertained the kids enough that it bought Kathy and Priscilla and I some time to actually enjoy the paintings. After we all went through, we decided to split up, and Kathy and I took Aowyn back through for a second look. Monet and Degas were our favorites, as we kind of already knew. :)

In addition to the Impressionism exhibit, there was also a Chihuly glass exhibit. It was amazing, and I would have enjoyed it more, were I not trying to corral a very hyper 8 year-old boy. :)


The best part of the Frist, honestly, was the children's art exploration area upstairs.

The kids probably won't remember this trip, but I think it was worth the hassle! (Hassle of parking, in particular!) We had a lot of fun, and it was amazing to see famous paintings up close.

Le Quire Gallery Visit

On June 21st, the Le Quire Gallery on Charlotte Ave. in Nashville opened a new show:

"The Stable - Select Paintings and Sculptures From Each of Our Distinguished Artists"

Probably the most impressive sculpture is the 48 square foot American flag created by artist Ben Caldwell. One of the gallery workers on the opening night was telling me that while artists usually use a kiln when working with enameled copper, Ben Caldwell created this enormous sculpture with the help of a hand-made blow-torch. (So. much. win.)

I had a lot of favorite sculptures. My two favorites were (1) Reclining Figure by Scott Wise, made of limestone, and (2) I guess this is unnamed? Created by Somers Randolph, made of Italian white alabaster.

For the first, I like the use of negative space (or would we call it here implied space?); three separate pieces of limestone come together to create the visual illusion of a single object.



The spiraling alabaster, on the other hand, is notable for having so much shape and so many interesting curves, but created from a single piece of stone.



My favorite painting was Evening Sky in Ovando by Ashley Wiltshire. The painting medium is oil on panel. (Only $3,800, if you are so inclined!) I love the colors - the blues and the clouds remind me of a calm and quiet evening. I like how the right third of the canvas is anchored with a dark tree, which works together with the dark ground (and much smaller-sized trees) to give a feeling of depth. A lighter tree (which is hard to see in this picture) seems to be very close to the viewer, creating another layer of depth. The horizontal lines of light between the clouds - as can be seen on moonlit nights - are just wavy enough to keep one's eye moving around the painting before settling on the area where the moon is surely hiding behind the clouds in the almost center.

Assignment questions:

1. Does it change your perspective to discuss a work of art with the artist himself? N/A as I wasn't able to visit when the class did.

2. How do the Greg Decker paintings make you feel? Greg Decker's paintings have a dreamy feel to them - the soft brush strokes remind me of Impressionistic works, especially the lack of strong lines. Harp and Kitten, in particular, is especially beautiful.

3. How does the way in which the exhibit is installed effect the way you experience it? Well, I was a little afraid I was going to step on some of the sculptures that were installed on the floor. I liked how the sculptures and paintings were all together in the same rooms - I think the combination of 2D and 3D art makes the viewer slow down and really take everything in.

4. Discuss one work of sculpture and one painting from LeQuire. Try to start with an objective description, then describe you personal response to the work. See above.

Collage project

Summary:

My collage is an outdoor scene, with a sun shining in the upper right, and the sun’s rays extending toward a bookshelf that houses a representation of who I am – my family, my interests, my insecurities, and my experience with art. Within the sun’s rays are pictures of my past (including parents and grandparents), the place I am from (Colstrip, Montana) and the place I now consider home (Belmont), my present, and a representation of art that is meaningful to me as history.

Assignment specs and responses:

On a standard sheet of poster board create a collage that says something about you, your world, and your view of art. This project should incorporate all of the following ideas:

Decisions: see everything below

Color: You must include
complementary colors: Complementary colors can be found with the purple flower on the bookshelf surrounded by yellow ribbon and two yellow circles.
analogous colors: The representation of the sun is made of 3 shades: yellow / yellow-orange / orange.
saturated colors & dull colors: The flower in the bottom right corner consists of a bright orange and a dull orange.
warm colors: Warm colors (mainly oranges and yellows) are found with the sun, the sun’s rays, and circle accents throughout
cool colors: Cool colors are found in the purple cut-outs on the bookshelf.

Light: You must have both light and dark areas on your collage—these elements must represent thoughtful choices.

Texture and Pattern: The stem of the flower at the bottom right is 3D, wrapped with fiber, and the flower center has faux-gems. The center of the sun is 3D as well. The photos in the sun’s rays are in a linear grid pattern.

Volume: I used darker green of the grass versus the lighter blue of the sky to create grounding of the image, as well as a sense of depth. The layers of grass and hill-shaped cutting also contribute to this.

Line: The yellow circles in this collage move the eye around in a triangular line, starting with the sun, then to the yellow accented purple flower on the left, and then to the circle at the bottom right, also accented with yellow. The solid lines that form the representation of the sun’s rays also serve to move the eye from the sun to the purple flower.

Space and Scale: The most obvious object with scale is the very large image of my son. As a mother, you not only care more about your children than anything else, but they take up the most time and mental energy in your life. The pictures in the sun’s rays are small and close together in no specific order because that’s how I see ancestry and culture and experience coming together to influence a person (in combination with the personal choices they make.) The grass is the foreground and houses the bookshelf and the picture of Jake, while the sky is the background and houses the sun. The sun’s rays visually connect the sun in the background to the bookshelf in the foreground.

Symbolism: The bookshelf’s middle shelf with all the purple objects represent 5 of the major things in my life I’m insecure about. The room with the piano that seems to be off all by itself at the bottom right represents my questioning where music fits into my life right now.

Subject Matter:
Your collage should incorporate the elements that make you who you are. It must include the following themes:

You: The most important things to me are my son, books (and learning and teaching), art and design in its various forms, spirituality, scrapbooking, and my friends.

Friends and Family: This collage has pictures of my parents and grandparents, my son, and my best friend and her family. There are also pictures of my two sisters and I; my older sister is faded from the picture of the three of us in the bookshelf, because she died last year.

Your town, community, school: There are two pictures from my hometown in Montana, and three pictures of Belmont. I have been at Belmont in some capacity since fall 1997, and consider it my home – the places around middle Tennessee where I’ve lived are just incidental.

Your country: When I started thinking about it, art plays a big part in my understanding of our country’s history. The paintings and photos in my history books always grabbed my attention much more than any text could. Symbolic art objects like the Statue of Liberty (pictured) and Mount Rushmore (not pictured, but visited often) and war memorials are touch points for national sentiment.

The world today: In order to understand the world today, we need to have a historical knowledge of how we got here. Art is a way to bring that knowledge to life – as I said, looking at art from another era or country can grab a person’s attention much stronger than just text can. Additionally, the human impulse to create art exists through all cultures and all of recorded history and gives us common ground.

Art: I view art in several ways.
- First, as a parent and aspiring (already part-time) educator, I see how children learn primarily through movement, experience, and sensory input. Creating an art project involves all of these things – art is beneficial to a child’s motor and planning skills and creative thinking, and it builds confidence.
- Second, I see art as a way to learn about our past and our world – the phrase “ars longa, vita brevis” is below the pictures of our visit to the Frist. If you think about it, all that really remains after time passes are the different forms of recorded art – both visual and written. (A subset of this is my personal hobby of scrapbooking – recording memories through images and words in a way that is much more interesting than just a photo album or journal.)
- Third, I like to look at interesting things. I love Belmont’s campus because of all the statues and landscaping around them. I loved the public art in Seattle. I deliberately designed my main living room wall to be aesthetically pleasing and visually balanced. We have opportunities every day to make our surroundings not just functional, but beautiful, and visual art, design, and crafts all come together to make that possible.

History: How has history made you who you are? How has it shaped the world today? How does art relate to history?

I don't see history as necessarily shaping anything; I see history as a shape we observe looking back.

However. Through art we get a glimpse into the minds of others. Art can teach us about history - sometimes as observation, sometimes as opinion or propaganda. Art can spur on political or social movements by encapsulating and representing ideas. Art can also represent beliefs and understandings of different cultures across different time periods.

Art, history, science, literature, religion, politics . . . none of these things can really be understood apart from the others. They're all tributaries of the same body of water, always moving forward and always changing.

Nashville's Parthenon

Assignment questions for Parthenon visit:

1. What was the function of the Parthenon?

Architecturally, the Parthenon is a Greek Temple. A Greek Temple didn’t serve the same kind of purpose as our understanding of a temple (i.e. a place of worship.) Greek Temples served to house statues or votive offerings; worship took place outdoors, and worshippers didn’t enter the temple – they only looked in from the outside. The Parthenon in Athens famously housed an enormous statue of the Goddess Athena. The Parthenon was also used as a treasury.

2. What stories do the Parthenon metopes and pediments tell?

The ninety-two metopes depicted mythical battles, as well as other myths and early Athenian history. Panels that were poorly preserved are thought to depict the destruction of Troy during the Trojan War.

There are two pediments: one depicts the mythical birth of Athena (springing forth from Zeuss’ head, covered in battle armor), the other depicts the competition between Athena and Poseidon to be the city’s patron. (I guess that had Poseidon won, the city would be called Poseides?)

Sidenote: To right was my attempt to take a picture of me in front of the Parthenon on my own. Total win.

3. What style columns are on the Parthenon exterior?

There were three types of columns used in the architecture of Ancient Greece: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. The columns at the Parthenon are Doric, which have no base and are of a 7:1 base diameter to height ratio.

4. Why is there a Parthenon in Nashville?

The Parthenon was built in 1895 to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Tennessee becoming a state. It originally wasn’t built to be permanent, but rather was one of 36 buildings built for the Grand Centennial Exposition. Apparently the people of Nashville loved the Parthenon so much, they rallied for it to become a permanent fixture rather than be torn down like the other buildings. The original Parthenon lasted 23 years, and in 1920 building efforts began to replace it with a structure that would last.

5. What is your experience being outdoors at the Parthenon? Think about the height of the building, the play of light, etc.

Standing next to the Parthenon is awe-inspiring. It’s one of those structures that you know is big in theory, but when you actually stand in front of it, you’re a bit shocked. After the shock wore off the first time I saw the Parthenon, I was complete amazed that a group of people over 2,000 years ago had the resources and the capability of building such an enormous and intricate structure.

6. Does this monument feel relevant to you as a Nashville resident?

I think the Parthenon is awesome; it was one of the first things I visited when I moved to Nashville, and I’ve been there several times. I prefer to think of Nashville as its older nickname, “The Athens of the South,” rather than the newer and more common nickname of “Music City.” “Athens of the South” puts more focus on Nashville’s many educational institutions, publishing houses, architecture, and culture rather than just the country music scene, and the Parthenon is a great representation of that. The Parthenon is something truly unique to Nashville, and to me speaks to aspirations that rise above the blandness of everyday life.

Art around Belmont

When I visited Belmont's campus for the first time, I was a 17-year-old entering my senior year of high school. It was 1996, and I was in Nashville visiting friends; around 10 at night they decided I should see Belmont's campus. We drove through central campus on Circle Drive, which goes past the mansion, the fountain surrounded by marble statues, the rose garden, and on around - passing more statues, as well as gazebos. I think the appropriate phrase for how I felt that night was "love at first sight."

Aside from the 8 months between my undergrad graduation and my employment at Belmont, I've pretty much been on campus every week since fall of 1997. The sense of wonder I felt the first time I saw the campus never went away completely, and I still love walking slowly through campus and taking in the combination of buildings and landscaping and art.

In fact, these three pictures were taken in the past year - sometimes while walking across campus on a work errand, I can't help but stop and take a picture! A separate entry is needed for pictures of the building I work in. I'll do that next. :)

The below pictures, I mostly took during my first few years of employment. They make me happy. Four of them are printed at 11x17 and on display above my desk, making the office a little more fun.