September Report

September Report – September 28, 2015

When I first retired from teaching and started my blog, I used to post on a daily basis.  Over time, daily posts gave way to weekly posts.  And now I’ve found that the frequency of my posts has tapered off even further – a result, no doubt, of a schedule that’s busier than ever.  So as the current month draws to a close, I’ll update you on September chez nous. 

Visitors!

The most memorable event was the highly anticipated visit of Elisa, Christian, and Sylvie.  At the tender age of two months, Mademoiselle Sylvie made her debut into Virginia society with style, poise, and characteristic charm (no doubt inherited from her completely unbiased grandmother).   

Miss Sylvie getting to know GrandDaddy

Great-Grandma Katie meeting Sylvie

For three and half glorious and exhausting days and nights, life revolved around the baby.  We welcomed a steady stream of neighbors, friends, and family members who came to meet her.  We vied to hold her and play with her.  In the mornings, we attempted to elicit smiles and in the evenings, we attempted to console her during her screaming episodes.  It’s funny how someone who weighs barely ten pounds can take control of a household.  Of course, we all loved it!  And for Elliott, who was seeing his new granddaughter for the first time, the experience was very moving. 

The Cheslaks weren’t the only guests at the Thompson B&B in September.  Just prior to their visit, two of Elliott’s adult granddaughters from Texas came to stay with us for a few days.  We kept them busy with a variety of activities, including dinner at our favorite Afghan restaurant (Mazadar) and a wine-tasting and picnic lunch at Molon Lave Vineyards in the beautiful Virginia countryside.  

Dana and Erin at Molon Lave Vineyards

Adventures in AbEx Land

As for my academic pursuits, I’m finding that my art history class is giving my brain quite a workout.  My fabulous prof has given us a quick rundown on academic art, which held sway for centuries, followed by challenges to academic art in the 19^th century resulting in Modernism, and then completely new developments in the art world, starting with Abstract Expressionism in the period following World War II.  In order to understand AbEx (as it’s affectionately known), we’re reading and discussing articles by two major art critics.  Harold Rosenberg describes AbEx as “Action Painting.”  From an existentialist viewpoint, he sees the artist searching for meaning.  The process of creating the image is more important than the image itself.  He describes the never-ending dialectic of the painting process whereby the artist puts a stroke of paint on the canvas, then struggles to respond to the resulting image, which leads to another stroke of paint, and so on. If you take a look at a Jackson Pollock painting, you’ll get an idea of what Rosenberg is talking about. 

Another critic, Clement Greenberg, offers a formalist view of AbEx.  He espouses the idea of “pure painting.”  Unlike Rosenberg, Greenberg states that the value of the painting is in the image.  He stresses that the artist must embrace the unique characteristics of painting as a medium – its 2 dimensionality, its flat and defined plane.  In other words, the goal of painting is not to create an illusion of three dimensionality.  That’s the goal of sculpture.  And as far as content is concerned, the function of painting is not to tell a story, since narrative belongs to the domain of literature.  Mark Rothko was one of the artists that Greenberg admired.  Not to be outdone by Rosenberg, Greenberg also refers to a dialectic.  In this case, the dialectic is the artist doing something new (the avant-garde) as he strives to approach pure painting, which leads to a reaction from other painters, creating a new avant-garde as they try to advance the quest for pure painting.   

So, take your pick - Existentialism or Formalism.  Having fun yet? 

Artists at Work

The 6-week break between the summer and fall sessions at Workhouse Arts Center turned out to be a real test of endurance.  I did some half-hearted design work at home, but I was seething with impatience to get started on new fused glass projects that I’ve been carrying around in my head since mid-summer.  Fortunately, I had my first class of the fall session yesterday.  Many familiar faces were back.  And Matt is the instructor’s teaching assistant. 

Elliott has been busy working on his own art recently.  Most days, he spends at least a couple of hours in the downstairs studio.  He has worked up some designs and is eager to start painting.  Today, we spent a couple of hours shopping for canvases, paint, and related supplies.  I attribute this renewed interest in painting to (1) the stronger dosage of his pain medication, and (2) working with me on the painting inventory.  He’s quite pleased with website I created.  It contains some biographical information and images of his earlier work.  If you’re interested, you can take a look at the Elliott Thompson Art website.  

Taking a break and enjoying the fall weather

My September Problem

T.S. Eliot wrote, “April is the cruelest month.”  I disagree.  In my opinion, September is the cruelest month.  It seems that every September, as I gear up for the new schedule of activities (classes, house guests, etc.), I also start to sense a creeping dread invading my psyche.  It becomes a constant struggle to keep the dread contained.  If I’m not vigilant, it will jump out of its box and strangle me.  The image that has been swimming in my brain, perhaps from a dream, for the past few weeks – I’m swimming in the ocean, amid the waves but close to shore, when I suddenly realize the force of the undercurrent is drawing me further and further out and I fear that I’ll never touch down on land again.  Terror!

I’m convinced that it’s tied to the change of seasons at this particular time of year.  It isn’t so much the cold that I fear, but the shortened hours of daylight.  I hate getting up before sunrise, even though I woke up at 5:00 a.m. during all those years I was teaching.  Actually, once I got out of bed and turned on lots of lights, I was absolutely fine.  But peering into the morning darkness from the cocoon of my bed is a cruel way to start the day.  Maybe I’ll have to trick my brain by installing one of those programmable lights in the bedroom that gradually illuminates the room to mimic sunrise. 

So now we’ve passed the autumn equinox and we’re in the worst period.  The knowledge that we’re on a downward trend regarding amount of daylight compounds the anxiety I feel.  How many days until the shortest day of the year, when we start to add minutes of daylight again?  

Big Excitement!

September 6, 2015 – Big Excitement!

We’ve had some exciting days, and one exciting night.  Let’s start with the nighttime excitement:  It was the middle of last week.  The night was quiet and calm – no rain, no wind, not even a gentle breeze.  Elliott had already gone to bed and I was sitting in the living room, reading.  Out of nowhere came a series of gigantic crashes at the back of the house.  I ran to the family room, looked out into the darkness and saw leaves and branches pressed right up against the windows.  Immediately, I went onto the deck to investigate.  It looked like a tree had fallen over, which seemed bizarre, given the absence of windy or rainy conditions.  When I went out into the yard with a flashlight, I discovered that an enormous limb had broken off the tallest of our towering oaks.  Fortunately, the structure of the house seemed to be intact.  The only real damage was minor, i.e. a couple of torn window screens.  What a relief!   

And now for the rest of the exciting recent happenings:

  

For Elliott, the excitement was finding a solution to his pain problem.  As I’ve mentioned before, this summer had been a difficult time for him due to nearly constant pain that was increasing in severity.  It impacted his quality of life and his outlook had become very negative.  Elliott’s doctor was hesitant to increase the strength of his pain medication because of possible side effects.  But we were desperate to give him some relief and I urged Elliott to make another appointment.  Finally, last Friday, we convinced the doctor to prescribe a stronger dosage of Elliott’s pain med on a two-week trial basis.  And, guess what?  It worked!  Elliott noticed an immediate and drastic reduction in his pain, and I’m thrilled to report that the old cheerful Elliott is back in action.  We’re being vigilant about watching for side effects, but all seems fine for now. 

As for me, although I’m retired from my teaching job, the academic calendar still structures my life to a large extent.  There’s something about the beginning of a new school year that signals new beginnings in general.  Every year, by mid-August, my excitement level starts rising.  I’m eager to see my teaching colleagues (both those still working and those who have retired).  When we’re together, we talk about the new problems teachers are facing (which sound a lot like the old problems I faced) and we reminisce about past dramas and comedies that played out in the classroom and with the administration.  Lunch this past week with my AHS ESOL pals reminded me that some things never change.  Do I miss teaching?  Less and less each year.  However, I’ve already put one sub day on the calendar for early October. 

My focus now is on being a student, and the fall semester at George Mason University is already underway.  I registered for three classes, but will only be able to find time to attend two of them: Contemporary Art and Jazz.  In the art history class, we spent most of our class time last week in thought-provoking discussions, trying to decide what contemporary art is.  I look forward to doing lots of viewing and reading as we tackle this hard-to-define topic.  I’m especially excited about the jazz class, which is taught by Darden Purcell, a noted jazz vocalist.  I like jazz (at least, I like some jazz), but I freely confess my ignorance about the subject.  Fortunately, I have five years of serious classical piano study in my background to help me understand some of the music theory.  Now, through lectures, reading, and listening, I’m learning about blue notes, chord progressions, and the role of improvisation.  I am totally in awe of musicians who can sit down with an instrument and improvise.  My goal is to be able to do a little improvisation myself by the time the semester ends!

The major excitement in our lives comes from our little granddaughter.  For Sylvie, every single day is full of discoveries and new experiences.  It’s amazing how she’s grown and developed in the past seven and a half weeks.  I am so grateful to Elisa and Christian for sharing Sylvie’s world through their wonderful blog, The Big Adventures of Little Sylvie.  We look forward to introducing Sylvie to Grandpa Elliott in person very soon.  

Elliott looking at a recent Sylvie photo