get it together
I have a bad habit of avoiding and putting off things that are unpleasant to think about/deal with such as almost everything concerning money and the making of it. I really dislike thinking about money, but I guess I like spending to too much. Pretty much I need to start digging myself out of a $25,000 student loan debt. Job stuff has been such a bummer and I feel like I have a bunch of skills and can't figure out how that would fit into a job someone would select me to get paid for. All I can do is keep on keeping on with the hunting and applying. The whole wait and see game sucks. I know it's not just me, but somehow I feel like personality-wise I'm not the sort of person that is capable of just being super vigilant and determined about finding work, whereas I'll throw myself eagerly into whatever I am passionate and interested in as of late.
In relation to that, my volunteering experience at Hamilton Artists Inc. has been really interesting. They are in the midst of a building project that would provide art space anchoring James St. North.
This is the basic drawing of what it will look like, except you have to image it on the end of an urban block and without the end building. However, it will be a really nice artist-run centre space with a members gallery, main gallery, and courtyard. Apparently the building on the corner that we are renovating used to be a clothing shop or something like that. As well, during the prohibition years there was a speakeasy in the basement, and after that it was some kind of show/jam space where Robbie Robertson and the Band actually performed once. The centre also apparently lost its parking spaces in a gambling game. How Hamilton is that!
The current exhibition is one of the best I've seen locally in terms of painting. Teri Donovan's Still-Life, and it's getting a mention in the Globe and Mail arts review apparently, which is a huge bit of press for the gallery. It's kind of unsettling and leaves me with a ghostly feeling of glimpsing into another space and time because of how she mixes figures and background layers of color with old wallpaper patterns bleeding through.
Today, one of the staff members told me how happy she was to have me there helping out and just have some new energy there. It was very sweet and made me feel like I am actually doing something worthwhile. In the time I've been there I've learned kind of how fractious the arts community is there, more so than I had thought. It seems like everybody wants to cultivate creative industry in the city but people always have conflicting personalities and agendas, which can create barriers as to how things get done. I feel like an outsider, but not an extreme one since I do know some of the people who are pretty involved at least musically within the arts scene and because of the people I've met through my involvement with the music series. It feels good getting involved, but it seems like it can be really frustrating to make some positive changes without facing some criticism. I guess that's how it works. I am just so glad that Hamilton finally has an accessible local arts scene that is visible and alive.
I feel like I am on the verge of something big. I just can't see what it is yet.
In relation to that, my volunteering experience at Hamilton Artists Inc. has been really interesting. They are in the midst of a building project that would provide art space anchoring James St. North.
This is the basic drawing of what it will look like, except you have to image it on the end of an urban block and without the end building. However, it will be a really nice artist-run centre space with a members gallery, main gallery, and courtyard. Apparently the building on the corner that we are renovating used to be a clothing shop or something like that. As well, during the prohibition years there was a speakeasy in the basement, and after that it was some kind of show/jam space where Robbie Robertson and the Band actually performed once. The centre also apparently lost its parking spaces in a gambling game. How Hamilton is that!
The current exhibition is one of the best I've seen locally in terms of painting. Teri Donovan's Still-Life, and it's getting a mention in the Globe and Mail arts review apparently, which is a huge bit of press for the gallery. It's kind of unsettling and leaves me with a ghostly feeling of glimpsing into another space and time because of how she mixes figures and background layers of color with old wallpaper patterns bleeding through.
Today, one of the staff members told me how happy she was to have me there helping out and just have some new energy there. It was very sweet and made me feel like I am actually doing something worthwhile. In the time I've been there I've learned kind of how fractious the arts community is there, more so than I had thought. It seems like everybody wants to cultivate creative industry in the city but people always have conflicting personalities and agendas, which can create barriers as to how things get done. I feel like an outsider, but not an extreme one since I do know some of the people who are pretty involved at least musically within the arts scene and because of the people I've met through my involvement with the music series. It feels good getting involved, but it seems like it can be really frustrating to make some positive changes without facing some criticism. I guess that's how it works. I am just so glad that Hamilton finally has an accessible local arts scene that is visible and alive.
I feel like I am on the verge of something big. I just can't see what it is yet.