Kwadrilaterals

From May 8th to June 3rd I will be a resident at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont. I am one of approximately 60 artists here, painters, sculptors, ceramicists, photographers, and writers. I have already met some fantastic and amazing people from all over the world.

This is the Corner House, these are my living quarters. The two windows all the way left on the second floor are my bedroom windows. There's a kitchen, bathroom, and a living room. My floor mates, Justin and Dan, are from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Boise, Idaho respectively.

These are the front and side views of the Wolf Kahn Building. It is diagonally across the street from the Corner House and this is the building my painting studio is in. I already love this building.

This is my studio, it's spacious with high ceilings, and great natural lighting. I've been painting every day, for hours on end, breaking for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The black and yellow painting on the left is going to be Number XXXVI.

Turquoise hues of shapes in linear perspective. I am in love with these colors right now. I sit in the studio and the hours just fly by. What would take me weeks to accomplish at home takes half a day here, the Vermont Studio Center allows you to nurture your discipline with care and respect for you as an artist and a human being. For me this place is paradise.

We had a bonfire on the second chilly night. Warm and gorgeous. There were 15 to 20 of us around the fire. We're all still getting to know each other, remembering names, artistic disciplines and places of origin. It's been really great to meet poets and writers.

The cuisine here has been absolutely fantastic. I've been eating salads like these during lunch and dinner. The chef is amazing and you can taste love for his culinary arts in the food every day.

I've been taking the time to visit the other artists and writers at their studios. The other residents here are talented, beautiful, individuals doing truly incredible things. I realize how lucky I am to be here and I'm extremely grateful to be among them. It's great to meet writers, I've been inviting them to my studio in return for printed excerpts of their short stories or poetry.

This is the Johnson Elementary School which is a quick walk from my living quarters. I am volunteering there weekly as an assistant in the art classes for the second graders. I miss my Adae Fine Art Academy students a great deal, so being in the classroom is helping me fill the void a little bit.

I also volunteered for gardening and groundskeeping duty on the grounds of the Vermont Studio Center. I uprooted dandelions and weeds on one of the sunniest mornings here for three hours. Hands in the earth, finding earthworms, spiders, grubs of all kinds and simply enjoying the biodiversity. A short walk away from the studios reveals some rolling green landscapes, it's really beautiful here.