Mummer’s Parade 2012

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And Done

So I survived the weekend from hell. But how did I do?

Friday:

Meeting at the Seaport Museum went great, I’m very excited about all my projects and about the fact that we were asked to come up with a budget for one of the shows we’ll be designing

Surveying at the PMA Again, went great. So many people come up to ask me about bathrooms and food that I feel like a midwestern mom who happens to live in a huge palace: I lean in close and gesture and always smile too much and give too much info.

Saturday:
Visit Wyck house  Because it was the day of their Honey Festival, I was the only one on my team that observed visitors to the site.
Shoot wedding I got to leave the city, do something that I love and at one point I was standing on a bar stool and directing people with a wireless mic. This wedding was so much fun.

Sunday:
Photograph Bike Philly Though I got home at 1 from shooting the wedding, I was up at 6 to photograph this event. Shot the kick-off and was home before 9am!
Complete Vectorworks quiz and survey Ugh.
Finish Audience paper Ugh.
Work on thesis paper and presentation Ugh.

Monday:

Work on Thesis paper and presentation Was at the coffee shop by 9:30 to work until 3 on it. Then moved back to my apartment to work until 10pm. Had to pass on yoga.
Print book and handouts by the night This got moved to tuesday because of the number of typos I found.
Practice presentation This got moved to Tuesday, kinda, because of printing and editing issues.

Tuesday:
Give Presentation Rocked it!

Tonight, I’m headed home and taking the night off to watch a movie, drink beer and read for fun!

Lists

When I face a stressful or hectic time, I break things down into smaller hurdles that I need to overcome.

For example, when I fly back from Ethiopia. The act of traveling from Africa to the US with a months worth of clothes, equipment and souvineers almost always causes some kind of problem. There is always the possibility I will need to convince some official to let me do something: carry a painting in the plane’s cockpit, let my overweight camera bag through as a carry-on instead of being checked all the way to Ethiopia.

So I break it up:
I get to the airport.
I get through security screening #1.
I get my ticket.
I get through Customs.
I get through security screening #2.
I’m on the plane and my bags are (kinda) stowed near me.
I land in D.C.
I get through customs.
I get through security.
I get myself and all my carry on stuff onto the plane.
I land in Cleveland.
I have all my luggage.
I sleep.

I do this in grad school too. It is just extended over a longer period of time. I’m doing this this weekend. Keep in mind this past week was my first full week of classes. But it is also the beginning of thesis work. I give a half-hour presentation on my summer research Tuesday at 1pm. I need to have a bound book, and a summary to hand out. I have a 5-page paper due in by 4pm the same day for my Audience class this paper also requires me spending time at a historic house this weekend. I’m also shooting a wedding this weekend, fortunately it’s only a half-day event. Also, I’m shooting and observing  Bike Philly Sunday morning for my exhibition. If I can survive til Tuesday night, I’ll be in better shape (I tell myself now.)

So I’ve broken the weekend up:

Friday:
Meeting at the Seaport Museum
Surveying at the PMA

Saturday:
Visit Wyck house
Shoot wedding

Sunday:
Photograph Bike Philly
Complete Vectorworks quiz and survey
Finish Audience paper
Work on thesis paper and presentation

Monday:
Work on Thesis paper and presentation
Print book and handouts by the night
Practice presentation

Tuesday:
Give Presentation

I hope I can survive this weekend…

Visual Culture

This semester, one of my classes was on visual culture. Overall it was an interesting class, especially the parts about architecture: I learned another way to communicate with my boyfriend.

Unfortunately this class was the only class that wasn’t directly related to our big semester-long group project so I didn’t put in the effort that I could have if I wasn’t already working about 14 hours 7 days a week to get everything else done at a level that I was happy with.

We had to produce a 7-10 page paper. I compared photojournalism to first-person-shooter games like Modern Warfare and Six Days in Falluja. They were posted on a blog for our class. You can check it out here.

Swedish Textiles

Part of our requirement in our program is to participate in an assistantship. We earn money toward school and we get on-the-job experience from the beginning of our program. This process starts with a Museum Match Night. Where Museums and other Non-Profits in and around Philadelphia set up displays and describe the kind of assistantship and experience they offer to prospective students. The institutions score because they get free labor and us students score because we get hands-on experience.

Carrie, the curator at the American Swedish Historical Museum, was the first person I approached and the person and opportunity the left the most impact on me. The way she talked about her most recent exhibition showed that she is very passionate about her work. And the way she described the graphic treatment of that exhibition showed that she could be on page with my photographic suggestions. Also, I would be helping CREATE an exhibition, an exhibition on textiles, that would be up for 4 years. My crafty and ambitious selves were very excited.

My friend and classmate, Isabelle, was also interested in the assistantship and we agreed to try to get Carrie to bring both of us on. Right away, there would be a broad range of expertise. Isabelle and her experience as a graphic designer for museums in San Diego and my background in photography plus my love for sewing and knitting. This approach turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

So early October, I begin taking the Broad Street line with high school students and people who clearly worked at Urban Outfitter’s Headquarters, down to south, south Philly. Then walk along FDR park before arriving at the tiny mansion that houses the museum, all alone in the park. It always felt like I was leaving the city for the day because its so quiet down there.

We would start by researching Swedish textiles then move to creating an outline that would drive our exhibition narrative. At first I constantly felt overwhelmed and that I didn’t know what I was doing. But by the time Carrie had us sit down and write out our outline. We were ready to break it up into manageable pieces: Mission and big Idea. From there, we had a better idea what we should be including in our outline. That was around December, and we took off for a month to go home during break.

When we came back, we started working on the narrative that would eventually be incorporated in panels and labels. Also, Isabelle and I sat down and started figuring out the graphic treatment of the exhibition. Closer to the opening, April 30, we uninstalled the old exhibition and started installing our exhibition. I was asked to produce images of details of different techniques which I’m excited to say are on the panels and look really good.

We ran into problems with the quality of the printing from the original printer and wound up going with an even better place. But those problems pushed back when the graphic panels would be produced and they wound up being installed the day before the opening.

The opening was held the same day as Valbourg. Were they have a chorus sing, then beer and hot dogs and the even ends with a bonfire.

New York City

Immediately after classes wrapped up, after handing in our revised group project book, and after receiving our homework for the summer, I caught a ride with a classmate and her boyfriend to NYC. I made plans to visit Bernard while in the midst of the madness of school. He made arrangements to get a zip car and he, our friends Steph, her boyfriend Nick and I took a drive out to Blue Hill at Stone Barn. It was a relaxing trip with amazingly fresh food.

The farm pretty much opens its doors and allows visitors to walk in greenhouses and through pastures.

A view of the patio and restaurant

Chickens kept for their eggs.

We saw a lamb that was just born. Here it is being watched over by the sheepdog.

Though happy to be finished with the semester, I couldn’t help but notice the signage used for wayfinding and interpretation used throughout the farm.

There was also a farmers market where we picked up fresh produce, meat and eggs for a brunch Bernard was hosting the next day.

Sunday after our brunch, we rode up to Ace Hotel to drink (really good!) coffee and check out the lobby. I fell in love with the space.

It is a requirement that you can only work on Mac’s while at a work station in the lobby.

The space is dark and luxurious. I may just hang out there and work my next trip to NYC.

There was a clever use of a hallway between a store and the lobby: a show curated by photographer Chase Jarvis where people can submit polaroids and other polaroid-like images of themselves and it touches on our shared experience. Because I quickly walked through the space. I didn’t read the whole explanation on the ceiling so I can’t really explain much more.

I got to start to unwind and not worry about what I need to be doing next…(the bike is not mine)

And Bernard and I made it to Momofuku where I got to enjoy my favorite food ever, pork buns!

I’m back!

Actually, classes officially ended almost 2 weeks ago. But I took some time to unwind after the semester and really didn’t feel like writing.

I have a feeling that all my posts will happen between semesters. This semester was particularly busy. It was hard work, frustrating yet very rewarding. I’ll be posting on my various project in my upcoming posts. But now that I have had about a week off since class ended, I feel like I’ve finally caught my breath and caught up on sleep.

The biggest impression I’m left with from this semester is that no one understands the amount of work this program is. I generally was going from 8AM to 12 or 1AM. Going from my assitantship at the Swedish Museum, developing one exhibition, to school where we were developing and designing our fictional exhibition. On weekends, my time was spent in studio for most of the day. Every other Sunday I’d come into studio later. Saving my morning to walk down to the laundromat. Eventually grocery shopping, cleaning, and cooking fell aside. When I finally had a break the last thing I wanted to do was more work.

That said, my classmates who are suffering with me through this are amazing. Frustrating, infurating at times, but adventurous, open-minded and challenge me to try new things. (I had my first pedicure.) I wouldn’t have survived this far relatively sane without them.

(And thank god I live in a city like Philly that is kind of trashy that I can walk down the street after a failed presentation, thanks to a teammate, dropping f-bombs left and right and no one bats an eye.)

I leave for my 2 month summer internship at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore this Sunday. And will (hopefully) be posting about my adventures this summer. Until then, I’ll be posting on my adventures this past semester.

One-pot meals

This semester I’ve made a point to cook at least once a week. I’ve realized that making something on Sunday that carries me to Friday is good for my sanity and pocket book. I try to make dishes that are pretty easy, like throw everything in a pot and let it cook for an hour or so and done! Food for a week! My dutch oven has been pulled out more often, which makes me happy. And I feel better knowing that I’m not just running down to the food truck for a breakfast sandwich. And it makes my studio-mates jealous when they ask “What is that amazing smell?” and I reply “roast chicken.”

Since being back I’ve made chili, roasted 2 chickens on two separate weekends, and I made tuna noodle casserole. This dish made me the most excited. It was alway one of my favorites growing up, and now that I’m older and more experienced cooking, I totally love this dish for it’s simplicity: cook some noodles, mix a bunch of canned ingredients in a saucepan then mix it all together in a casserole dish and cook it!

Noodles, Yum

Canned stuff, Yum!

I decided to substitute the canned mushrooms for fresh ones, however still opted for the cheese wiz.

I decided to boil some broccoli as a side dish!

Yum, broccoli!

Paired with a glass of wine, and some bad Sunday night TV, it’s an hour where I don’t feel like a stressed-out grad student.

My Desk

The week before spring break was crazy and the state of my desk (and apartment) showed how crazy things were:

 

Emily and Nathan