This past Friday was the opening of the FACE Four Seasons show. The show is of women artists, and it includes emerging (juried), mid-career (invited), and advanced (jurors) artists. It is pretty open-themed, but the goal of the show is to give a sense of the multi-facets of women’s lives.

The show is split between three galleries in Tucson: Stone Dragon, Kachina, and 5th on 6th. I have a photo diptych in the Kachina Gallery (3rd floor of the SUMC at UofA), so come by and visit!

See works by the artists here: http://www.face-uofa.com/Artists.php

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Feb. 3-Mar. 31 Four Seasons show Dragon Stone Gallery, 1122 N. Stone Ave.
Feb. 1-Mar. 31 Four Seasons show Kachina Gallery
Mar. 8-21 Four Seasons show 5th on 6th Gallery, 439 N. 6th Ave.

Feb. 13 5-6pm Opening ceremony at Kachina Gallery, The University of Arizona, Student Union Memorial Center, Level 3
6-8pm Panel discussion: Life as women artists The Union Kiva
Panelists: Julie Sasse, Chief Curator of TMA; The University of Arizona Prof. Barbara Rogers, Prof. Beiley Doogan, Student Union Memorial Center, Level 2
Feb. 26 5:30-7:30pm Workshop on career development Stone Dragon Gallery
Mar. 2 6-7:30pm Co-event with the Women’s Resource Center: Kachina Gallery, Launch of movie on professional artists, The University of Arizona, “Who Does She Think She Is?” Student Union Memorial Center, Level 3
Mar. 3 7pm Movie: “Who Does She Think She Is?” Gallagher Theatre, The University of Arizona, Student Union Memorial Center
Mar. 20 6-9pm Closing ceremony at 5th on 6th Gallery
Mar. 27 12-2:30pm Potluck and closing ceremony of Four Seasons Dragon Stone Gallery

My internship with The Caliber Group starts tomorrow. I feel like I don’t know how to do as much as they think I know how to do. I guess we’ll get to know each other.

School starts Wednesday. Courses include: Design II, Typography II, Contemporary Drawing, Design History, and Contemporary Art History. Today I spent 5 hours working on the first assignment for Design II, and I’m only a quarter finished with it. It is due on the first day of class. I’m going to die.

A photo diptych I made will be in the Four Seasons show in February and March. The show features art about women made by women artists (just in time for Women’s History Month). Last November I completed a series of diptychs that explored the differences between how a woman is viewed and how she would prefer to be viewed, so the show came up at the perfect time. It is a juried show, and I still don’t know how I feel about juries, but I think the show will be really great. Four Seasons will be in a couple different galleries and there will be a panel discussion and opening parties and such. I’ll let you know more about that later.

Lakewood, Colorado. Nov 2009.

Dove&Snake, a local Tucson zine, interviewed me after I contributed to Issue No.2. I’ve always wanted to be interviewed, and I wanted to be a professional blogger once. I think I’m reaching goals.

Read the interview here.

Buy an issue here.

This is 1723 photos, shown at 12/second.

I went to Mexico two weekends ago. This picture was taken from that weekend.

This screenshot is taken from a new project that Adam and I started together. 

http://adamplusalisa.tumblr.com/

My friends and I went to San Diego, California for the weekend. We decided Thursday evening to leave Friday morning. It was one of the best trips that I’ve ever taken because there wasn’t room for disappointment. Our only plan was to touch the ocean, and we did that.

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See more photos from the trip here.

View this photo larger, on black.

View it larger.

I spent the last few days of 2008 in Mexico with my family. I’ve also spent the last few days thinking a lot about New Year’s Resolutions. I always make them, and usually they are so subtle that most people would never guess them. Some are lifestyle adjustments, others are just things that I want to think about throughout the year.

During the summer my Project-mates and I talked a lot about what it means to live an open and honest life with others. It stretches beyond telling the truth. I think that it also means living out what you say you believe in, and making what you value in life apparent to others through how you live your life. I’m not exactly sure how measurable that is, and living an open and honest life is something that we as humans must continually work at, but that’s my New Year’s Resolution.

That, and read a little more. George Bush beat me in the amount of books he read this year (source). And he’s the president of a first-world country.

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See more photos from my trip here.

The only thing more embarrassing than seeing someone you know in the grocery store while wearing sweatpants and buying 5-gallon vats of ice cream is seeing someone you know in the shrink’s office.

As soon as I sat down and opened up a newspaper, out of the office came Leno. I slouched in my chair and held my newspaper higher. Leno is one of those people who, when given a soap box to stand on, will stand on that box for hours. Every time I talk to him, I try to think of something to say that is so absolutely absurd that it throws him off-track. Phrases that have worked so far include: “The fungus on my foot is literally rainbow colored,” “One of my best friends is a serial unicorn rapist,” and “The leftover spaghetti that I had for lunch was magical — the sauce was red last month, but this month it’s green (red’s complimentary color).”

I was slouching under my newspaper when Leno spotted me. “Hey! Alisa! You’re in here seeking mental health counseling as well?”

“Yep. I’m a crazy too! Who knew that we would have something in common?”

“I’m not crazy. I’m just mentally unstable.”

“You know, I was having a conversation with my pet praying mantis the other day, and he told me that crickets taste great. I don’t know about you, but I just don’t understand how he would think that tastes good. I think grasshoppers are tasty, but I don’t understand the cricket fetish.”

“Uhhmmmm.”

Success!

Actually, I was seeing the shrink because I’ve been really depressed lately. We talked through some things, and decided it’s a combination of too heavy of a work load, my perfectionist tendencies, and culture shock. Here’s a quick summary:

Problem: Working 50-60 hours a week at the Daily Wildcat on top of being a full time student.
Solution: Stepping down from my position as managing editor to being a page designer, online assistant, and occasional photographer, and dropping one of my classes. I’m now working 20-30 hours a week and taking nine credits.

Problem: Seeing everything I do as a failure.
Solution: Finding at least one thing that I’m genuinely happy with in every project that I do.

Problem: Culture shock. This one is a little weird because I never really left the country, but this summer I lived in a very tight-knit community that was very opposite of the real world. Culture shock snuck up on me because I really didn’t expect it to happen.
Solution: I’m still trying to come up with a solution for this one. I’m really unsure of what to do, and no one really has a tangible answer for me.

My shrink also gave me a flow chart that shows different stages of depression and physical steps to take to get back on track. He was very helpful, and I’m going back for a follow-up visit in a couple weeks.

See also: 2008 presidential candidates positions on issues involving mental health