The Year that Was 2022

 

The year 2022 was kind of a strange year.  Not as bad as last year, but I've had better ones, too.  This one included another hospital stay, this time for a fever and some delusional behavior.  They never figured out what caused it, but they hit me with some general antibiotics, and that knocked it out and allowed me to escape.  I also had my first encounter with Covid, despite many injections and wearing masks often.  This was a few positive tests, but the disease itself never developed, just a bad winter cold, and that eventually passed.  The world is still recovering from Covid, so there aren't many places to teach or exhibit, so in these areas I just do what I can.

Prints- Better than last year.  I sold two older prints out of a show I had at my Studio building, a tenants show they organized.  This required me to print and color two new copies, as I didn't want to sell the one I had shown, and the purchaser wanted unframed prints anyway.  More exciting, I made 4 new prints.  Three were for the Robert Johnson project, organized by a former student and fellow printmaker, Tom Huck, and last I heard, would be exhibited at the Country Music Hall of Fame, would involve Hatch Show Print, a Nashville based letterpress shop and gallery, and some big names were attached to the project.  I don't know how things will end up, but I found three Robert Johnson lyrics that I felt I could develop into a visual form, so I created the woodcuts, sent photos to Tom, who seemed to like what I sent.  Perhaps I'll know more by next December.  I also did another holiday card, printed and now colored with watercolors I used to color those prints I sold.  

Shows- As I said, a lot is still closed down, but we did have a tenants show in the building that houses my Studio.  I had three framed prints in that show, two older ones, and one new one completed in the previous year, and being exhibited for the first time.

Firsts- That Robert Johnson project could be a first, if it happens this year.  It would be my first time exhibiting in Tennessee, and since Tom's work tends to get exhibited and collected, my piece could end up in some other places as well.

Teaching- This past year I ended up teaching four classes in my Studio building, all forms of drawing.  I've taught it before many times, in colleges, and there in the building, so not new for me.  The big issue I had to deal with is that most of my props are still in storage, so I had to find things in the basement, but I know how to find suitable props.  One new thing was a color class, making use of color pencils.  I have done color before, but always with paints.  

Studio- Still a place I enjoy being.  The table I have there is much better for cutting than anything I have where I live, and probably much better for printing, though I haven't tried that at home.   Molly tends to work odd hours, so I probably only saw her a few times the whole year.