everyone’s irish on st.patricks day.

greetings!

i’ve been slacking on my blog duties, but right now is probably the busiest i’ll be all semester. only two weeks until my show goes up! i’m really working to create some new pieces that will be a surprise come time for my show. most of westby has seen the majority of my portfolio, so i want people to have a reason to attend! (other than the food assortment- which, after courtney’s mom set the bar, i now have to step it up)

today i bought some more frames for my work. with printmaking, it’s nice to have the option of not framing your work- you can still present it in a nice manner without the expense. however, i tend to be a messy worker and i get smudges on the edges of my paper :-/ i decided the most affordable route for good presentation is framing everything myself. thank goodness for AC Moore! and fortunately for me, there’s two within 15minutes from campus.

i finally sent out to get my showcards printed. this is the cover design:

i’m actually going to make a second design to print posters and plaster all over the internet. i am really excited about my show, despite my stress level increasing. if i’m going to put so much work into it, i want to be able to publicize it and share it with everyone. i ordered from printsmadeeasy.com as recommended from a friend. they should arrive on thursday and hopefully they’ll look great!

on march 2nd, i went on a trip to the philadelphia zoo. it was sponsored by the rowan student programmers, the student organization that sets up the extracurricular events on and off campus. i think they do a great job of coming up with a fun mix of activities. this trip in particular was such a deal- only $10 for like 5 hours of the zoo. if i went on my own, tickets are around $25 per person, not including transportation or parking! my favorite part was the monkey house (where oddly enough,we ran in to one of our professors there with her kid) and the petting zoo- i got some funny pictures of the goats (and their boogery snouts)

big jason’s favorite part was riding the wild boar, since the hippos weren’t out.

that week, i ended up heading to landmark with my roomies and friends.

Briana is the girl on the left- she lives on the third floor with me. She’s a graphic design major who i’m sure i mentioned before- she graciously set up my website for me and as i also mentioned, she’s the head of the student publication The Gallery. Right now is crunch time for her- the graphic design group exhibition is approaching fast, as well as the printer deadlines for the Gallery.

Angela is the girl on the right- she lives on the floor below me. She’s an art education major who’s active with the education groups on campus. In a couple of weeks, she will be attending the NAEA conference in New Orleans along with Lauren, the fourth member of our townhouse. Also, she is a student ambassador for rowan- she wears the tan sweatshirt, knows an absurd trivia about rowan, and gives campus tours.

on friday, march 7th i headed up to philly with liz and big jason to support our friend jay snyder. he had a solo show at first friday upstairs at the khyber. it was the first time the khyber participated in the first friday festivities. his work looked SO nice hanging on the exposed brick walls! he set up a polaroid area to take photos of many of the friends and family who came out. unfortunately, the weather was kind of icky that night- but we used it to our advantage:

when jay asked us to go around the area and promote him, we did just that. adam soaked the posters in a puddle and we stuck them on Lineage’s (RIP) empty storefront.

we also went to the FUEL gallery and strategically placed his cards. (cool factoid: the FUEL space was previously the house for Real World Philadelphia!)

afterwards, we went back to the khyber to enjoy the unofficial westby reunion. it was so nice how many friends from past and present came out to support jay’s endeavor. that’s one thing i like a lot about rowan and westby in particular- it’s a small community of good friends who really come through and support you. this photo is one of my favorites from the night- it’s big bryan demonstrating a squegee to adam

after the khyber, we came back to rowan to hit up a diner. i’m not going to lie- the diners in south jersey really are a shame. it was after midnight on a friday night- at home in pa, i know of at least three 24hour diners within 10 miles from my house. however, glassboro is a different story. first we went to Liberty Diner in Clayton. CLOSED. then, we trekked to Geets on Black Horse Pike. CLOSED. instead of trekking up to Runnemeade to the Phily Diner (yes, with one “L”) we ended up at the local Denny’s. i think we were the only sober people in the place. although this picture of liz would lead you to believe otherwise:

and, as we discovered- the lumberjack special comes complete with plaid.

anyhow, other good diners to check out (but not at 2am):
-the Harley Dawn in Hammonton.
- Angelo’s in Glassboro.
- Harrison House in Mullica Hill

This past Monday, i ditched my life and headed up to philly to see Justice at the Electric Factory
with Angela. That’s one thing I love about Philadelphia- the variety of music venues. The Electric Factory is pretty large and ended up being the perfect location for a crazy dance party!

Wednesday the 12th was Courtney’s opening reception.

It was a huge relief for her- she’s been literally a zombie living at westby for two weeks straight trying to finish and get everything together. she barely finished by 6pm, the time people started arriving. in the end, it all came together and looks great! she included some polaroid transfers, serigraphy, an installation involving marbles fashioned to look like acorns, and my personal favorite- her abstract photo compositions:

another highlight: after weeks of living in sleep pants and sweatshirts, she showered and wore a dress!

anyhow, i’ve already written a novel. i’ll leave you with some more pics from random times at westby.

about once a year, facililities comes in to westby to fix something. the other day they chose room 208.

this is my bike with big jason’s bike. many of the westby kids have bikes on campus. we’ve decided to form an unofficial bike gang dubbed “The Bikings” by Dr. Hottle.

basketcase. crackerface. sexy lace. yes, we have strange imaginations.

a fun portrait of big jason that i took- i think it really shows off his personality. and big-ness.

tomorrow is my birthday! exciting every year, my birthday falls on spring break- which is very convenient for me!