a collection of thoughts

lately i...

... have been trying to cook actual meals for myself, instead of residing on cereal and take out. there have only been a few casualties in these endeavors, namely an oven mitt that started on fire, and a measuring cup that is now half melted. my sweet potato recipe also needs a lot of work. the asparagus was good, though! my mom also got me an awesome spice rack filled with spices, including some spices i have never heard of. looking forward to experimenting with those...

...went to the baltimore aquarium on a school field trip, which was really fun. aquariums are always fun. except for the dc aquarium. that one sucks.

...got to visit the freer gallery with my class. we actually went down into the vault, and each person was allowed to pick one thing from their huge collection to be brought out, held, passed around, talked about, etc. that's my professor bob devers on the left, and you can see an example of their humidity-controlled chambers behind them. that's continuing ed student betty foster with her choice in front of her, and mine in the foreground. i picked a mid-18th century incense holder in the shape of a bird with really intricate feather carvings on the outside. it also has bronze-cast feet. the interior is painted with gold! it was really cool being able to intimately look at these pieces of history.

another small incense holder from japan, from the edo period. definitely a favorite of everyone's. i can't believe it made it this far through history without breaking once!

me holding my choice.

our class! and some of our choices. i look very happy and awake to be there. ;)
my friend and classmate jeff luckily took a few pictures with his actual camera, so you can properly see the feather detailing.
he also took some pictures of the vaults, so you can see how the pieces were separated by region.
another image of my class. i forget what the story behind what i'm holding in my hands is.
this was jeff's choice, a so-called egyptian "new year's flask" from 694bce. pretty amazing! see the little baboon handles?

jeff pretending to steal the said new year's flask. :)

i'm really enjoying my ceramics studio class. it's given me a newfound appreciation for ceramics, and it's been a lot easier to experiment with it this time around. here's an example of what i'm working on right now! a flock of birds inspired by the one i saw at the freer gallery:

i've been told they look like a set of molded poo, but they're still widely unfinished, so don't judge them yet!

i'm finally going back to new york this weekend, and i'm really excited to check out the whitney biennial, art fairs, and see some friends! probably will give another update soon about that!