Recap October 2, 2008

I would love to post a bunch of the photos we did for West Nottingham Academy and Boys’ Latin but since they are intended for publication I want the schools to have first dibs on releasing them – so, I’m scrapping that post. Both schools are AMAZING and we had such a blast visiting and photographing the students at each school.

Here are some photos from Dan’s show at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts and also the little write up about it in the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts. Dan Watson, a Michigander who lives in Knoxville, Tenn., and travels a lot, is the latest winner of a DCCA solo exhibit in a continuing series seeking proposals for exhibits from artists nationwide.

Watson’s archival digital inkjet photos, “In a Different Light,” portray mundane industrial and commercial building sites outside major cities in America, and he pictures them in color at night.

Watson offers the viewer a direct confrontation with the corrosive and threatening nature of industrial might. Works such as “Earthrise” and “Factory” are almost sinister in character. At the same time, their sensuous colors and night-lit, no-nonsense construction make some of them conventionally beautiful.

Dan’s brother, who is also an artist said, ” ‘the corrosive and threatening nature of industrial might!’ That’s a great review!”

A round of applause after his artist talk..

West Nottingham brought two bus loads of students to the show and Dan had a great time talking to some of his former students about his work.

Like a proud momma I had to take a pic of his name on the sign

As far as the rest of the trip, basically I got to spend one day in NYC with my BFFE Lindsay Oaks. Dan chauffeured us around all day and we had soo much fun! This one iPhone pic at Central Park is all we have to remember it by   (It’s small because I think I look bad.)

Register to Vote! September 18, 2008

The deadline to register to vote for the Presidential Election is Oct. 6. Yikes – that’s right around the corner! I just did it myself and so I’m taking the opportunity to remind people here on my little blog. AND you have to mail something in so you’d better get going if you haven’t done it already. Just click on this link, and Rock the Vote will make a form for you. Then, print out the form, SIGN IT, and mail it in. They will give you the address for your state. If you are registered but have moved in the last year you will need to change your address and mail in the same form. AND for all my recently married ladies, you need to do the same thing if you’ve changed your name. 

The link is:
http://www.rockthevote.com

Dan’s solo show! August 27, 2008

 I just wanted to brag a little bit on my super talented, super sweet husband. Over two years ago Dan applied for a solo show at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art – just on a whim, not expecting anything and he got it! It was scheduled for Sept. 2008 which seemed like FOREVER away but it’s here now and we’re so excited!

See, Dan started studying photography (as an art form) and making photographs (strictly as art, not commercially) about 10 years ago. Dan has never wanted to be anything but an artist – he has never wanted to do anything (for a profession) outside the realm of art, which is sometimes tricky because artists still have to pay bills. There’s a reason for the term ’starving artist’ – it’s just hard to do. Dan has been very lucky to study where he wanted – Clark, Ireland, SCAD and he’s been in a lot of group shows but aside from his thesis show, this is his first solo show at a really good place.

The show is titled In Different Light will be up at the DCCA through Sept. 21. The artist’s reception is on Sept. 5 so if anyone is in the area please stop by, we’d love to see you! (I know there won’t be people from Knoxville there but hopefully some of our friends in Maryland will be reading this!) There are 20 pieces in the exhibition. The images are 12×13 and framed to 20×24. Dan has been working on this project for about five years. He started this work in Savannah – some are from that time, some from since then.

I always tell people who aren’t familiar with contemporary photography that it’s an acquired taste I wasn’t that interested in it until I went to SCAD. I just thought it was weird – now I love it. I think it helps to have a lot of background knowledge on art and photography and it’s history to truly appreciate but here’s a hint. Look at these as Landscapes instead of pictures of yucky industry. They are all taken at night – sometimes the exposure time is an hour. Can you imagine it taking one hour to take one picture? Dan is attracted to these areas at night because he likes how the glow of artificial and ambient light transform the ordinary spaces into extraordinary, almost sublime, landscapes. That’s the best way I can explain it. Do you see it?

If not, that’s ok….:) Just remember that the person does this also gets you this at your reception, which I think is pretty cool.

Anyways, this is my favorite new one. I like the grass in the foreground on the left.

…an oldie but goodie from Savannah…

this one is new…

This is new too – taken right on Middlebrook Pike!

This is from Savannah – another oldie but goodie. 

There are many more. I’m sure I’ll post some from the reception. Congrats Dan!!

Michigan, Lil Kim July 17, 2008

So we got back from our trip to the U.P. (Upper Pennsuila of Michigan) where we had a really fun time visiting Dan’s relatives. Both of Dan’s parents grew up in there and I never even knew about the U.P. until I meet him. Dan was born up there but moved when he was a baby so his accent is NOTHING like some of his family members  Think Fargo accent but a little different. It’s really funny they say OOh-A  and Eh all the time and eat funny things called ‘Pasties’ and ‘pigs in a blanket’ (which is nothing like the sausage and roll thing we eat down here. Theirs has something to do with cabbage, ground beef and rice.) And some of them think 75 degrees is burning up hot. Crazy right?? 

Here is a map …. and that is the U.P. It’s in between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.

Speaking of Lake Superior, here is a picture of us in front of it. It’s beautiful and looks like the ocean! All of our pics together consist of one of us holding out the camera. Today it’s Dan…

…and here I’m sticking my feet in – FREEZING!!! And there were some crazy kids swimming right beside us!

We flew into Minneapolis and went to the Mall of America.  It is the largest mall in the country, I think.  It has an amusement park in the middle of it and we went on a roller coaster!! This pic is from my phone. They have some pretty scary rides in there…

From Minneapolis we drove up to the U.P. and seemed to go all over the place. We visited with Dan’s sweet, sweet grandma who gave us these two amazing pictures. Dan and I collect old photos so we are especially thrilled to have these. 

They are Dan’s great grandparents’ wedding photos taken around 1913. In real life they are huge prints (well 11×14 was for back then). Notice how the men have unlit cigarettes in their hands. The ladies also have both a corsage and a bouquet. And what’s up with that accordion? So back then you got married and then went to the photographer’s studio to have your picture made. 

Dan’s great grandmother was really short, like 4 1/2 ft tall. This picture is probably right after she came to America from Croatia. Her aunt (the one standing next to her I’m guessing her maid of honor) already lived here and sent her money to come over on a boat that landed on Ellis Island. 

And then she let me raid some more pictures – one more I’m so thrilled to have. Dan’s grandma (the bride above’s daughter) with Dan’s grandpa, who is straight up Italian. I love this picture. I like the way they look so relaxed and in love….and I like that you can see snow on the ground and the sled.

 

 

That’s it.  Back to real life. Thanks so much to all of Dan’s relatives for making the trip so  much fun!!

Oh, PS I almost forgot. We had a layover in Charlotte and guess who we ran into – Lil Kim. That’s right. I probably wouldn’t even really recognize her but a girl in the ladies room gave me the heads up. She and her entourage of like 6 people and a body guard were sitting at the table right next to us at a restaurant in the airport. I felt sorry for her because she had to wear a hat and sunglasses at it was like 9 at night and everyone was staring at her the entire time. Apparently her flight was delayed. 

Dan’s B-day June 28, 2008

Yesterday was Dan’s b-day (29 woo-hoo!) so I rented him a sweet wake board boat from Norris Wake.   Dan’s BFFE Mike just happened to be in town for a few days for business so it was the perfect opportunity for us to take a day off and do something fun.  Our super fun friends Potter and Stephanie met up with us too and aside from a looming thunderstorm it was a really fun day.

A few pics of Dan and Mike “tearing it up”… They are really hilarious together… 

 

Girls Night June 27, 2008

Monday night I spent the night in Sweetwater with my BFFE Lindsay.  We went to our favorite girls spot Table 15 in Turkey Creek and then headed over to Boarders next door to read the first chapter of Breaking Dawn, by Stephanie Meyer, the fourth and final book in the Twilight series. This fourth book, Breaking Dawn, won’t be released until Aug 2 but we were able to get a sneak peek and read the first chapter which was recently published in the third book, Eclipse (and our old copies of Eclipse don’t have it).

Obviously we are both huge fans of the Twilight series if that’s what we’re doing on our big night out… So let me just say that if you want to make your summer even better you should start reading. I don’t even want to say what it’s about…. you don’t want anything to be ruined. Ok, one thing but it’s not a secret. It’s a book for young adults but almost every one of my twenty-something, ok early (very early) 30 something friends has read it. It’s super addictive… AND there is going to be a movie… the first of probably four and it comes out Dec.12 this year. It is Harry Potter(ish) in a way b/c it’s young adult and fantasy, and people are CRAZY about the series. Here is the movie trailer…but GET THE BOOK. I wouldn’t have wanted to read it after seeing this b/c it’s not my type but trust me. And, you can call me if you are having a heart attack after chapter 3 of the second book, which you will…

Twilight Movie Trailer

 
Back to my fun night… a pic from the next morning – Lindsay’s Abram, Eli, Emori and Noah.

 Emori and i had a little morning rejuvenation mask.

If you want to buy a house… March 30, 2008

…you can’t buy one from me!! Yay! We sold our house – only one day on the market!!!! Ok, not entirely true but almost. We had two open houses and then listed it on MLS with our awesome Realtor, Marty McGuiness, who just happens to be my mom. She listed it on a Wednesday and we had an offer Thursday morning!! And now it’s a done deal! Yay, we are sooo excited! Just had to share the good news….and HOPE for everyone out there trying to sell in this market – it can be done!!

Check out these pictures – this is crazy….. I think we’ve seen too many episodes of Flip this House. Big, big huge thanks to Dan and Potter who did everything!!!

Before…

During…We took out the ceiling and replaced it. Did some work on the fireplace and that wall. Added can lights above the fireplace, ran electrical for a ceiling fan. Removed the paneling, stripped about 10 layers of wallpaper, patched the plaster, painted, took out the carpet, sanded and polyurathaned the floors…. I think that’s it for this room.

After….

Here is a link to more pictures if you want to see http://1947emoriland.wordpress.com/

Finally, we’re finished! March 4, 2008

I’m so excited because we finally finished the restorations/renovations on our house that we bought in August. We bought the house to live in but never did because half-way though the renovations the barn apt opened up and we decided to finish the house and put it up for sale. And after 7 long months of stripping layers and layers or wallpaper, knocking down walls, putting in a new bathroom, tiling, landscaping and more, we are finally finished! Yay! We had an Open House on Sunday and had around 60 people in there! It was crazy. A lot were neighbors stopping in but we also had a bunch of serious lookers. I think we are going to have another Open House this weekend. Dan and I are optimistic that we’ll sell the house this week – ok, maybe that’s a little too optimistic! Here is a link to a little site where we put up some photos. http://1947emoriland.wordpress.com/

Something to blog about… February 28, 2008

I know it’s the cool thing to do and everyone is doing it but let’s face it – I’m a bad blogger. I can never think of anything to write about and it takes me a long time to do it. But this morning I woke up to a great surprise – SNOW IN KNOXVILLE (yes!) It was great. So I woke up and looked out the window and saw nothing so I hit snooze for another 15 mins – ok really it was like 45 minutes. When I woke up again, the ground was covered and huge flakes were coming down so fast – it was great! So I immediately called my sister Rachael, who is a kindergarten teacher at A.L. Lots, expecting for Knox County to be out today – envisioning lunch together – and no answer. Nope, Rachael is in school with the rest of Knox County. So sad. Come on – it never snows here anymore! So I decided to take some pics at the farm for my mom, for posterity, in case it never snows again.

Here is a sleepy-eyed JR – one of two of the sweetest barn cats ever. The other is of the barn in the snow and Pony, who my mom thinks looks just ’so cute’ in his blanket.

Great weekend in BE! February 28, 2008

Last weekend I had blast in Banner Elk, NC with some of my favorite girls – (L to R) Tyler, Lindsey, me, Michelle, Emily, Erin, Ashley, Jenna and my new friend Meg – love you guys!! We spent the whole weekend talking about one of our favorite topics – pregnancy. No, I am not pregnant but Emily and Ashley are (YAY!) – and Erin, our resident expert on the subject, informed the girls (and the rest of us) exactly (in detail) everything they need to know. These girls are hilarious! We also took turns reading aloud from a book by Jenny McCarthy called Belly Laughs: The Naked Truth about Pregnancy and Childbirth. So funny. But that’s not all we did…. We also had a shower for our friend Jenna who is getting married this spring! I am so excited about photographing this wedding b/c Jenna is a beautiful person inside and out and I can’t wait to tell the story of their wedding day. The story of his proposal – soo sweet. And the venue looks absolutely gorgeous! Check out their website – this place is not too far away for Knoxville brides who are looking to get out of town a bit. It’s called The Farm in Candler, NC. – Great girls, great weekend -