I'm Downtown at Last

I have worked out of a home office since my oldest daughter, Jessica, was a baby  - and she's now 20 years old. Working at home, and in some cases having a home studio, was wonderful for a long time - it allowed the female tendency toward multi-tasking to really max out. I could load a batch of images onto the computer, start a load of laundry, sort the images, fix a pot of coffee, and even begin the final edits - all while in my pjs. Just writing this makes me ask "Why would anyone want to change this situation?" . However, for years I've craved being downtown more, running into friends and clients,  absorbing the energy of downtown Asheville, and yes, getting dressed and out the door in the morning. So, thanks to my friend Eli's offer to share a space that she found on Battery Park, I'm finally here.

It's a wonderful space with a wall full of windows that bring in beautiful light, particularly in the late afternoon, and we plan to not only use it as a working studio, but also as a place to offer workshops and classes. The idea is that when we're able to be here regularly enough, we will have open hours when we invite the public in to see what we have to offer - our art work.

It's a big undertaking but we're excited about it. Stay tuned for more info. For now, here is a photo of the space.

I'm Not Kidding

While I had my six week stint in the 5 Walnut Gallery, I spent a fair amount of time people watching, socializing with the many people who stopped by to see what I was up to, and meeting new people. Since I had so much fun creating the stop motion video for the Crash Test Dummies last year, I decided to start a new project focusing on the "scene" around me at 5 Walnut - the many Asheville "flavors" that populated both the bar and the block. I really had no idea what I was going to do, as my vision kept shifting. Finally I told myself to just start shooting and see where it lead, which is exactly how the last one began. So, I drove back downtown one evening, armed with my camera, and as soon as I stepped out of the Rankin parking deck, I came upon a costumed troup of butoh dancers that were corralling the crowd, albeit quite slowly, to the NC Stage Theater for their performance. These performers moved so gracefully and deliberately through the crowd, dressed up in costumes and masks that were magnificent, that it was quite a lucky moment to catch - so "Asheville". No sooner had I finished shooting the dancers than I rounded the corner only to run into a young woman holding a baby piglet. I stopped and asked "Could that little piggy walk down the sidewalk towards me?" and she replied "of course!". So, what you'll see in the opening of the video with the piglet and dancers happened just like that - I'm not kidding.

After that, I began posting messages on Facebook that said "Show up at 5 Walnut between 5-7pm tonight to be in my video", and so many friends and clients did just that. All I told them was that the window in the bar was their stage, and to "do something". While mild panic crept over the faces of a few, most people got to work with their ideas. And there were the many folks who simply wondered what the heck was going on and jumped in front of my camera for their cameo.

"I'm Not Kidding" is short hand in our household for "you won't believe it, but it really happened this way". The video would never have come together if I hadn't found the PERFECT song for it by Asheville's own Ol Hoopty - a song they wrote called Dance.

Here is a radio interview I did with Lesley Groetch on 880 the Revolution a few weeks ago where I talked about how this all came about.

Check it out here if you'd like to see it, and I hope you will.  As always, I appreciate your comments.