Crisis & Crush...
I hate the Winter Crush. And no, I'm not referring to a crush on a guy (although I probably ought to stop developing crushes on college students, even if they are impressed by my vocabulary). No, the Winter Crush is my nickname for the way my mood crashes along with snowy, cold, dreary, cold, did I mention snowy, weather. It's minimized when I'm enjoying myself but at the moment I seem to be on the fringes of a mid-life crisis. (A friend told me that I'm not old enough for one & I had to remind her of my real age, which is not the 27 years everyone seems to think it is).
I've been thinking a lot lately about the fact that, three years after finishing school, I'm still stuck in Erie & still not really doing what I want to be doing. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I'm not even sure what it is I want to do, other than get an MFA in Metals. That's fine for a short-term goal but I really ought to have some idea of what I want to do with it once I have it. I've discovered in the last 6 months that I'm not particularly fond of doing "production" metalsmithing. It's really kind of dull & tedious. I do, however, really like teaching. Of course, the ultimate job for most artists is to become a tenured college art professor- it pays well, has good benefits, etc, but those positions are becoming increasingly rare as schools cut staff & departments to cut back on costs. So... I started tossing around the idea in my head of starting some kind of open metals studio here in Erie where people could come & learn metalsmithing.
Other things prompted me to start thinking about the world in global terms- the unexpected death of a woman I greatly admired who along with being an amazingly talented woman was also a very successful doctor, the disaster in Haiti, the environmental activism I've been doing. Then I was invited to be a part of a discussion panel for an event hosted by the StARTup-- the art business incubator I joined last summer that sponsored the "business for artists" class I've been taking. They brought in a speaker- an Edinboro Alum who's now become a very successful entrepreneur by the name of Anthony David Adams. We all had lunch with him before the panel & while we were eating he got to talking about some friends of his who were doing socially responsible businesses & their successes, not just financially but in accomplishing their social goals as well-- building wells for towns in Africa without running water, providing shoes for needy children, etc. I found myself thinking, "How can I save the world through metalsmithing?" When I said this out loud to the group, he told me, "That's a very interesting question, if you're serious about it." I assured him that I was.
So I've been thinking. I'm thinking on one hand about going to third-world countries & teaching people- women in particular- how to make jewelry to bring in an income for themselves. MAybe focusing on communities that have been ravaged by the mining industry. On the other hand, I'm thinking about Erie. Erie has the worst unemployment rate in the state & one of the highest levels of people living below the poverty line-- you know it's bad when we're worse than Philly. We're starting to see a rise in violent crimes here. There's a *lot* of empty buildings & a lot of businesses have moved away or just closed. So I find myself thinking that maybe I should focus my efforts here.
It's hard to decide. Of course, I also don't have to decide right away, either. I've already applied to various grad schools for the fall, so the first step will be which school I end up at.
I still feel a bit lost & disconnected from everything though. I might be stuck with that until the snow melts. Or it may just be the sinus infection I've had all week.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the fact that, three years after finishing school, I'm still stuck in Erie & still not really doing what I want to be doing. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I'm not even sure what it is I want to do, other than get an MFA in Metals. That's fine for a short-term goal but I really ought to have some idea of what I want to do with it once I have it. I've discovered in the last 6 months that I'm not particularly fond of doing "production" metalsmithing. It's really kind of dull & tedious. I do, however, really like teaching. Of course, the ultimate job for most artists is to become a tenured college art professor- it pays well, has good benefits, etc, but those positions are becoming increasingly rare as schools cut staff & departments to cut back on costs. So... I started tossing around the idea in my head of starting some kind of open metals studio here in Erie where people could come & learn metalsmithing.
Other things prompted me to start thinking about the world in global terms- the unexpected death of a woman I greatly admired who along with being an amazingly talented woman was also a very successful doctor, the disaster in Haiti, the environmental activism I've been doing. Then I was invited to be a part of a discussion panel for an event hosted by the StARTup-- the art business incubator I joined last summer that sponsored the "business for artists" class I've been taking. They brought in a speaker- an Edinboro Alum who's now become a very successful entrepreneur by the name of Anthony David Adams. We all had lunch with him before the panel & while we were eating he got to talking about some friends of his who were doing socially responsible businesses & their successes, not just financially but in accomplishing their social goals as well-- building wells for towns in Africa without running water, providing shoes for needy children, etc. I found myself thinking, "How can I save the world through metalsmithing?" When I said this out loud to the group, he told me, "That's a very interesting question, if you're serious about it." I assured him that I was.
So I've been thinking. I'm thinking on one hand about going to third-world countries & teaching people- women in particular- how to make jewelry to bring in an income for themselves. MAybe focusing on communities that have been ravaged by the mining industry. On the other hand, I'm thinking about Erie. Erie has the worst unemployment rate in the state & one of the highest levels of people living below the poverty line-- you know it's bad when we're worse than Philly. We're starting to see a rise in violent crimes here. There's a *lot* of empty buildings & a lot of businesses have moved away or just closed. So I find myself thinking that maybe I should focus my efforts here.
It's hard to decide. Of course, I also don't have to decide right away, either. I've already applied to various grad schools for the fall, so the first step will be which school I end up at.
I still feel a bit lost & disconnected from everything though. I might be stuck with that until the snow melts. Or it may just be the sinus infection I've had all week.