Saturday, September 27, 2008

Rivendell and More

What a great day!
After eating breakfast at Amy's, I went out to S. Wales to Rivendell for my final ride of the season. It was great. Schopper (my horse) and I were getting along well, doing some balance work, feeling good. It is sad that it was the last ride, but I think I realized something today. When I was driving home, I was thinking about riding this summer, and it seems to me that it's finally less like 'therapeutic horse back riding for the disabled' , and more like 'riding lessons for a delicate person'. Makes me feel empowered. After my disability level was lowered by a half point last Thursday at the clinic, after a plateau that lasted 7+ years, empowerment may be the word of the week...
Kevin and I then went to Niagara Falls so that I could shoot an 'assignment' for the Film Photographers of Greater Buffalo. Of course, I can't post any yet, as I shot them with FILM. It was great- I never really investigated Goat (or the sister) Islands before. Hope I got some unique shots.
Next, we headed to the outlet mall. Now, those that know me understand that I'm NOT a fan of any mall, but we really did need a few things. I ended up with a sweater, a couple of B-day presents for Kevin, and the first new pair of winter boots I've gotten in a few years.
When we got home, we took Walker out for his night time jaunt, and we got to listen to the B-52s, who were playing in front of the Albright Knox. Sure, its about 2 miles from our house, but I could actually hear "Own Private Idaho" pretty clearly.
To end our day, we're now watching the Wisconsin/Michigan game that we DVR'd this afternoon. We just hit halftime, and , so far, it's been going just as well as the rest of the day.....

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Sunday, September 21, 2008

MARK: Buffalo, 2008

Over the past year, I've written a lot about the NYFA program, MARK, that I was selected to be a part of. From that, I learned a lot about promoting myself as an artist, talking about my work, the importance of networks, and have made a lot of friends. I encourage the artists among you to go to the informational meeting for MARK 2009. You'll learn what the program is about, meet some people that will be involved, and hear stories from some of us who have participated. The meeting is tomorrow night, September 22, at 6 PM. NYFA has done a lot for artists accross the state, but I think the MARK program is the most hands on thing that we WNYers have the chance to experence. Check it out for yourselves, tomorrow night!

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Sunday, September 14, 2008

Ryan Miller, Drew Stafford with Robby and Klear @ Music is Art '08

So, it was raining. People were having a ton of fun (as you can see in this video), and stuck around until the very end. Now, Robby told us last weekend in our Buffaloroots interview that he would be playing with Ryan Miller and Drew Stafford, along with the band Klear. Carla kept watch of my tent while we went to the mainstage to see it. I had my camera out in the pouring rain (I'll be posting some pictures soon), and Jim Grimaldi took a great video, which is posted here.
More on this fantastic day later. Enjoy!

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Saturday, September 13, 2008

Mark Freeland at the Albright Knox Collectors Gallery

Robby and Carla did a fantastic job of curating Mark's work for the Albright Knox Collectors Gallery. Spoke with Robby at the opening last night (he was running around getting ready for Music is Art). He said at first he was overwhelmed at the amount of work Mark had done over the years, but started looking at his later work (the last 3 years). That choice made for a light, "happy" kind of show. Those who knew Mark know that the earlier years sometimes tended to have "darker" themes. He used a darker color palette, and a lot of collage, and the subject matter could sometimes be grim.
The later work utilized more of pastel color choices. A lot were works on canvas, and along with the 12x12" works on wood, have a great sense of humor. The subject was given room to breathe in the space it is in (the above painting is a fine example of this). Again, for those of us who knew him, it is a but reassuring to see that his work had a joyful feeling in the last years of his life.
Well, have a long day ahead- off to Music is Art. Hope to see you there!

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Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Interview with Robby Takac


Lots to do today, mostly political. Please don't forget to go out and vote, any NYStaters reading this....
Before I get moving, though, I'd like to tell you about a story that Kevin wrote and I posted on Buffaloroots last night. It was our sort of annual interview with Robby Takac of the Goo Goo Dolls about his excellent event, Music is Art. I know I've been mentioning MiA, because I'll have a tent there, full of photography goodness, but the interview holds some surprises that I wasn't aware of until yesterday. Put it this way, Buffalo hockey fans have a good reason to go down, if you weren't planning to already. Read the article, you'll see. I know I'm psyched. Just have to find someone to watch my tent during this part of the day. I need to get some pictures to share with all of you....

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Saturday, September 06, 2008

End of Summer in the Air

Photo by Cheryl Gorski

Was out at Rivendell riding yesterday. I can tell the summer is coming to an end- there were about 6 volunteers doing the work of a dozen getting the barn ready for the fall. The horses are moving to different stalls, poop is being cleaned out (well, that always happens), the ring is being cleared. Sorry to see it end. I was getting used to riding my new mount, Schopper. The horse in the picture above is Moe, who is also an awesome horse. But, I kind of "graduated" to Schopper, who is more disciplined than Moe; reacts to voice commands a lot better. Moe was like having manual steering in an old car, where Schopp is like the first car with power steering. At first, it almost too easy. Then the riding exercises get more difficult... But, I can't say anything bad about Moe. He is like my first car, a '68 Chevy Nova. Just loved that car.
Now, I have no problem asking for help when it comes to Rivendell. They are a great bunch of people and beasties out there, all going above and beyond. But the price of hay has doubled, and I did mention that the volunteers are doing a huge amount of work. I set up an internet donation site through Facebook- here's the link.
Maybe a week or two left of riding. It's been pretty damn good.

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Monday, September 01, 2008

Getting Ready!

Wow. It seems like this is coming up so fast now!
This year I'm taking the plunge. I'm going to have a tent at MIA 2008. I haven't done an outdoor show in over a decade, and I'm planning to have a lot of very affordable work there. And some big, framed stuff. This may be the first outdoor thing I've done in years, but it's actually the very first I'll be doing in te City of Buffalo. Closest I've been was the Canal Fest in Tonawanda, which, as I remember, was actually HELL. The organizers were great- Carnagie Art Center, but if one more mother or father came into my tent and told their teenage kid, "Hey, you could do THAT", I'd even join the NRA.
So, health, money, job and sanity have kept me from the art fests, but I know MIA's gonna be different. I just love Robby and the group that puts this all together (Special thanks to Eric Jenson and Conn Keogh), and I know a lot of the artists that will be showing, so it will be a great time!

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