Cadillac Ranch

On the way back from New Mexico, our family wanted to stop by and see the cars located out in a field right before Amarillo (Cadillac Ranch). We had seen them out there before, but had never actually stopped to see them up close. (This is a very popular site for passersby traveling down the road). There are a total of ten cars embedded halfway into the ground with the tails of the cars tilted at a diagonal angle. There are a lot of spray paint cans that people can use to write and color on the cars. Even though spray paint is a very thin layer, the buildup of paint on the cars was thick from all the coats. It was definitely worth going out to see the cars. It is totally unexpected coming across the cars while traveling hundreds of miles down the road because they are not advertised by billboard signs. If you ever go out that way past Amarillo, be on the lookout on the left side of the road!!

Santa Fe

Today we (family) went to Santa Fe. I went to the Center of Contemporary Arts, a couple of art galleries, and SITE Santa Fe-a contemporary art museum. At the CCA there were several interesting sculpture pieces used with non traditional materials. One was titled Hammered Heart where just the heads from hammers were used to make a heart shape. Another piece was made of rulers that were bent and formed into chain links. This was a neat piece. I was excited to go to SITE Santa Fe this time because I saw some very interesting work on their site. This was the third time I have been to this museum. Three artists exhibited their work--IT BLEW ME AWAY!! The museum floor is made of concrete and one artist, Ruben Ochoa, cut out blocks from the floor and constructed these incredible sculpture works with rebar all bent underneath holding up the concrete blocks. These towered above a person's height. I wish I could of taken pictures, but was not allowed to. You can see pictures on their website at: www.sitesantafe.org
Also, Brent Green had three video pieces and a huge installation work, which were terrific. The third artist was Klara Kristalova who showed stoneware works.
Santa Fe is a difficult city to drive in and locate buildings. The problem is that all the buildings and restaurants are made of adobe and they ALL look the same. They just have signs on the buildings and by the time you notice them, you have already passed them. The city is situated around mountains so it is nice scenery. Buildings are not tall at all in Santa Fe in contrast to New York-no comparison whatsoever!!

Flight back to DFW

Thursday August 6th I flew on American Airlines from Hartford, CT to DFW. The flight was at 6:15pm on eastern time, and I landed at DFW before 9:00pm central time. At the airport my girlfriend Patty picked me up. I was so happy to see her after being gone for a month and two days!! She drove me back to Commerce and had already fixed supper (delicious spaghetti). It was about 11:00pm when we got back to Commerce. I would like to mention the fact that Patty means so much to me-she cleaned my house spick and span and organized everything while I was away. Thank you very much Patty for all your time and efforts! Friday, I unpacked, washed clothes, and then repacked for our family vacation to Glorieta, New Mexico. We arrived today (Sunday) at Glorieta and just settled in. We are going to go to Santa Fe this week, and I am planning to go to Site Santa Fe (a contemporary art museum). Meanwhile, we are enjoying the mountain scenery and will soon be doing some of the fun activities offered in Glorieta. This is the perfect place for peace and quiet and for rejuvenation from the hot summer. More updates and pictures are soon to come!

Yale Summer Session Exhibition

Last night I went to the opening of the show Summer Session Exhibition. It was a good show with sculpture, photographs, drawings, and paintings. I put two of my pieces in the show. Today was the final day of class. We met in the Gallery to have critiques. After the critiques Michael showed us his video work on a screen. That went to about 5:30pm and so only an hour was left. Towards the end of class he gave us some paper and black paint to draw something on. I poured some paint onto the paper and started to let the drips run onto the paper in different directions. I was really pleased with the result, which only took about 30 seconds (see below). The experiences of going to NY and taking this sculpture class at Yale have been so incredible that I wouldn't trade any of it for the world. It has been the best time of my life seeing sights and meeting people from all over the globe. It's sad it has to come to an end in only five weeks. Tomorrow my flight back to DFW leaves at 6:15pm, and I land in Ft. Worth at 9:03pm. I will not be in Commerce very long as I will then be leaving Saturday morning to go to Glorietta, New Mexico as well as Santa Fe for a family trip for one week. I have traveled a lot this summer including Marfa, TX and seeing Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

Healing

Today I went to the Yale Art Gallery and took some pictures of the two pieces that I installed yesterday. The staple piece (below) is in a cylindrical form packed solid with all the staples and pieces of metal removed from one utility pole. I think the title Healing is a very appropriate name to call it. The act of removing staples is in a way like "plucking staples out of our lives" that have hindered and nagged us for long periods of time. The staples removed were old, rusted, crooked, sharp, and darkened symbolic to bitter thoughts we won't let go or actions that are hurtful. During the process of pulling out the staples, I couldn't help but think about the cross, rugged and splintered just like the utility pole was. After the staples had been pulled out, tiny holes remained in the wood like little scars. Those staples served the purpose of only to attach thousands of flyers to that utility pole. And after the flyers were ripped away, the staples were considered dismissable and rejected forever embedded in the wood. Now in a gallery room setting in a sculptural form the thousands of staples can be "realized" and valued to a higher degree. After the removal of staples the process of healing begins.

Installation of sculptures

Today in class we primarily set up in the Yale Art Gallery for a show tomorrow (Tuesday) evening. Each of us set up some of the pieces we've made. I installed the Staple piece titled Staples from One Utility Pole. It sits on a pedestal, and I packed the staples into a cylinder shape. I'll take pictures of it tomorrow. I also installed the three clay forms onto a wall. At the beginning of class I recorded an audio of popping bubble wrap-this is part of the Lawrence Weiner assignment. One more class day-its gone by so fast!

NY Mets Basball Game

Saturday afternoon a group from the dorms including myself met at 5:00pm to ride on a charter bus to a NY Mets baseball game. I am so glad the weather was perfect because Friday it rained and so far today (Sunday) it has been raining. The game started at 7:10pm against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Our seats were in the grand stand between left and center field. Our view of the field and action was really good though. The ballpark is called Citi Field, and it is a gorgeous new stadium. The game was really good and close. The game was tied in the eighth inning 5-5 when the Mets hit a grand slam homerun to lead 9-5. The final score was 9-6. Everyone left home happy! The game lasted over three hours. We got back about 12:30am to New Haven. This trip to the game in NY capped off a terrific experience of all I've seen and done in NY in seven visits. Now I have two more class days this week to concentrate on and finish strong before I leave on Thursday.

NY-Chelsea Hotel/ Sta. of Liberty

Yesterday I took the 9:30am train to Grand Central. It was an overcast day and began raining when I walked to Union Station. It didn't look like it was going to be a very pleasant day to be walking a lot outside. However, I needed to go to NY and boarded up on the train. When I got off the train, it was not raining so that was a relief. I walked toward 23rd St between 7th and 8th Avenues for the Chelsea Hotel. I wanted to see this hotel and go inside because it is very historical and houses artwork. Unfortunately a man would not let me go beyond the lobby area. I did see some artwork on the walls and took a couple of pictures. My intention was to see some art galleries in the Chelsea neighborhood, which my teacher mentioned being in that area. I did not realize how hard it was going to be to find them. I walked pretty much all day, and finally decided to head to lower Manhattan. I walked on SoHo St. and all the way down to the tip of Lower Manhattan! I walked at least five miles from Grand Central to Chelsea to Battery Park. The weather held up in the afternoon. When I bought some more postcards, the lady there said a storm was coming about 5pm. I wanted to do something good before I left so I went to one of the piers on the harbor and saw the tall ship Peking. I then went down to see if the ferry for Liberty Island was still open. I bought a ferry ticket to see the Statue of Liberty. Because it was later in the day, the museum was closed and the inside of the statue. I took good pictures from the outside. Then it started raining a lot harder. There wasn't much else to do so I took the ferry back to Manhattan. I then found the subway station and went to Grand Central. One of the last highlights of the trip will be going with a group from the dorm to a NY Mets baseball game. We leave this afternoon at 5:00pm.

Performance

Today I continued working on removing staples from the ultility pole I selected yesterday. This particular pole was covered in staples that probably have been accumulated from years gone by. The process of plucking them out was slow, but this one was different...instead of privately working in my studio, this was a performance with people walking down the sidewalk and cars passing by me. I did get several responses today while I was working. One guy commented if I was getting paid by the staple, while another said something like "one million two hundred fifty one, one million two hundred fifty two..." Another man said "that's a day's work"! Total amount of time it took to complete the main section of the pole was four hours. It was grueling, because the staples are a thick gage that were embedded into the wood. I used two tools: pliers and a flat head screwdriver. Some of the wood actually came off with some of the staples. I collected the staples and will make a sculptural form with those. I documented the pole before and after. I haven't come up with a title yet, but my idea is to write a title on a sheet of paper-like a flyer-and post it on the pole. It would be interesting to see if people would comment on it and by so doing, put staples back into the pole. Of course, the pole will eventually be covered with staples again, but for now it is rather unique I would like to think!

Kurt Schwitters' Merz picture with Rainbow

Today at class we met and walked to the Yale Art Gallery to give a 5 minute presentation on an artist and piece we chose. I presented on Kurt Schwitters' Merz picture with Rainbow. After our talks we went back to the sculpture room. I worked a little on taking the gold stitch thread out of a pair of blue jeans for my third piece. I then worked on my final project......when me and Michael and Rachel were walking back from a store we passed by a telephone pole that had hundreds if not thousands of staples from flyers that were posted. I mentioned taking the staples out jokingly, but at the same time seriously. (I showed Michael my previous staple sculpture). He thought it was a brilliant idea. I found a pole on a sidewalk and street that didn't have any flyers posted to it, but was covered in thousands of staples. I started plucking away with some needlenose-like pliers and made good progress. I worked for about an hour and a half. What is unique about this piece is that it goes along with my past processes, but this time it is an actual perfomance out in public instead of privately in my studio. Most people casually just walked by and didn't say anything (probably thinking I had lost my mind). I did get about three responses though. One older man asked what I had done to deserve doing that. That was funny. Another guy asked "every single one"? I'm going to go back and finish the rest of the pole. I'm over halfway. I'm keeping the staples to make a sculpture out of them, and I am taking pictures before and after of the pole.

The Encounter

Ok, this morning I had an encounter with a woman from the post office who caught me off guard by the way she acted (and by the way I acted) . I bought two postcard stamps and she handed them to me, one of which was peeled ready for me to apply to the postcard. I however did not think much about it and put the 60 cents on the counter area, which is where I made the mistake. She got very upset and said to me "Did you see how I handed you the stamps and you put the change down"? I was shocked at how quickly her mood changed and didn't really know what to say. She went slow giving me change back and put the change on the counter as I did. I think she wanted me to say something, but I couldn't get over how mad she was, and didn't feel like saying anything that would upset her more. Of course, I did not mean to be rude by putting the change down-it happened fast. I'm pretty sure she wasn't holding her hand out waiting for me. And I did want to apologize to her, but I was kind of frozen in speech. I learned my lesson to not place money on the counter, but rather hand it to the person. It's something so small, but makes a big difference in the eyes of some people.

Puddle of Water

Today in class we finished our second project and at the end of class we had short critiques. Along with our piece, a video accompanied it. We were to document an action by video and then create a container to house the remnants of the action. I videotaped myself cutting out lakes from state maps and rolling them into tiny balls. I decided that my container would be to place the rolled up balls onto a stone. Actual puddles of water are left on rocks and roads after a rain. My idea was that these lakes could serve as a tiny "puddle of water" on a stone where water would get trapped. Had really good critiques. There are only three more class days!

Brooklyn Bridge, Governors Island

Saturday I took the 8:55am train to Grand Central. Beautiful day to be outdoors for what I had planned! I arrived in Grand Central and got off to hop onto a subway for my first time to ride alone. I found the green route (asked a police officer how to find it), and it took me right in front of the Brooklyn Bridge when I walked up from underground. I walked the length of the bridge one way and then went back. They have a specially made walking/running/biking wooden walkway that is very safe. It is above the two roads that the traffic is on. A lot of people were excercising while others were busy taking pictures of the incredible views. You can see the Statue of Liberty and a lot of boats on the water. The Manhattan Bridge is also very close to the Brooklyn Bridge. I took quite a few pictures. The bridge is massive with miles of cable lines. I then headed down to Battery Park where I've been previously with my teacher. I walked around for a while trying to locate the Battery Maritime Building where the ferry for Governors Island departs from. Many people were standing in line for what I believe was the Statue of Liberty. The ferry for Governors Island leaves every 30 minutes to take people across. I didn't have to wait long at all to board up on a really big ferry boat because of the amount of people it holds. Landed at the Island about 1:45pm. I walked around the paved road on the edge and soaked in the views of Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, bridges, boats, helicopters, birds, and waves. Based on the brochure I got for Governors Island it says that "it was one of the longest continuously active military posts in the United States....The history includes the experience of Confederate prisoners crowded into Castle Williams during the Civil War, and their 20th-century counterparts incarcerated in the old fort, which had become part of the army prison system". Lot of military history here including Fort Jay! I saw a film called Isle of the Dead at a theater. There are buildings to see art in and one really neat piece was in darkness with haze machines and light projectors that looked 3D. I saw the most bizarre and wackiest putt-putt golf courses I've ever seen. Very creative! One picture down below. The island is very peaceful and is the perfect getaway place if you want to escape the city. I rode back on the ferry at 6:00pm. The island is only open to the public Fri.-Sunday, and they close off the island in the evening. Got back to New Haven about 9:15pm.

Beautiful East Rock Park, Eli Whitney

This morning I took Patty's laptop computer to the ITS location in the Bass Library to have them try to fix the virus that the computer picked up. They are keeping it overnight, and possibly tomorrow it will be fixed. On the first day I came to New Haven when Dr. Ian Maddock was driving me in the town, I saw a tower on a mountain that looked very interesting and was definitely worth checking out. I researched more about it and found the route to go there. It is called East Rock Park, where the summit of the mountain rises over 350ft high. It worked out to where I could actually walk to the park from my dorm room, which was about two miles one way. I left after lunch at 1:00pm sharp. It was an overcast day, and I was afraid it may start raining when I was up there on the mountain. During the afternoon there was only a very light rain, which made it pleasant walking through the lush forests and trails. At first I didn't know how to make my accent up the mountain until I finally saw a trail on the side of the road. I started climbing up, and I believe I went up the route that was more straight up and vertical. I for sure got some exercise! I reached the top and what a view it was seeing the monument and the spectacular view of the city of New Haven. I could actually see the New Haven Harbor and Long Island Sound (it was a little hazy however because of the cloudy day). The Soldiers and Sailors Monument honors the men of New Haven who died in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War. It was erected in 1887 and stands 112ft tall, and can be seen from nearly all over the city. I made my way back down another way on the road and by more trails. At the bottom I came to Eli Whitney's Museum and there were some small shops. I went in and there were a lot of school children working with wooden crafts such as building boats. These were wood shops were I suppose kids go to work on projects. It was very neat to see these little kids working with tools at their age. There was a beautiful dam nearby with water rushing over it (pictures below) and a lake from above. There was also a beautiful forging house. I continued on a trail beside the house and ended up where I first came into the park. So I decided to head back to the dorm since I didn't want to get caught if it did start raining hard. What a great day to get out and hike up some trails and see some more amazing sights!

Learning Chinese

This morning I attended church at Trinity Baptist. While I was walking there, I took a wrong turn and ended up being far from it. Probably after 30 minutes of walking I finally found it. Talked to Dr. Ian and Mr. Bob who helped me out the first day I came to New Haven. The streets in New Haven can be tricky. I feel like I have to be on my guard more so in New Haven than in NY (not because of the streets though). On several occasions people in New Haven will straight up ask you for spare change. That doesn't sound bad, but it's the feeling you get around those type of people that makes you uncomfortable. In NY it is not as bad because so many people are around you. After lunch at the dining hall, I went to the cemetery to take some pictures of Eli Whitney's grave and enjoy the quietness and beauty of the environment. I've become really good friends with my room mates. The two Chinese students names are Shuai Dang and Sun Hao. The one Korean student name is T.J. Park. I enjoy eating with Sunny (Sun Hao) and Shuai's Chinese friends at the dining hall. I've played some ping pong, and Friday a big group of us played Ultimate Frisbee. I am trying to learn some Chinese words and phrases. It is one of the harder languages to learn. They are very, very friendly students and enjoy having a good time, but working hard. I'm so glad to have this opporunity to get to know them better and vice versa!

Phantom of the Opera

Earlier this week I signed up for the Phantom of the Opera show at my dorm. Because a lot of students sign up for trips like this one, they have a lottery system that randomly selects a certain amount of people that the bus can hold. I was one of the ones chosen to go along with 45-50 other students. Each person only had to pay $35 that included transportation and a ticket to see the Phantom of the Opera-great deal for a famous Broadway show! We met at 10:45am at the Gym to wait for the charter bus to arrive. The show began at 2:00pm. We arrived in NY and g0t off at 1:00pm. We had a short amount of time to grab lunch. I walked through Times Square again and took some pictures of the huge screens and advertisements. Inside the theater we found our seats. My seat was three rows down from the very top of the theater, but the view was still descent....may could of used some binoculars. The musical was really good-2 1/2 hours with a short intermission. They actually had a few small pyrotechnic effects (fire spuds/smoke). The singing was top notch although it was difficult to understand everything they were speaking and singing. Very good stage props/backgrounds that changed with different scenes. We boarded back onto the bus right after the show to come back to New Haven-just in time to eat at the dining hall before they closed. This evening I walked to the cemetery to take some pictures of Eli Whitney's burial grave, but it was closed. Its been another great week that has come to an end.

The Whitney, Met, and Empire St. Building

Thursday I took the Metro North Train to NY at 9:30am. The first thing I needed to do in NY was to buy a digital camera since the previous camera cracked. I went back to Best Buy and picked a good quality 10 Megapixel Nikon Coolpix camera for a good price. Fortunately the battery worked for the duration of the day without charging it any. After my purchase, I headed toward the Whitney Museum of American Art near Central Park. Made good time walking. At the museum I saw a Sadie Benning video piece, Dan Graham's glass sculptures that you can walk into, and the Music Room by Claes Oldenburg. My favorite piece in the Music Room was a bent clarinet sculpture that was painted blue and silver that rose around 10ft high. The Whitney is a not a huge museum so it was very manageable to experience it without rushing so much. After the Whitney I made my way up Madison and 5th Avenue to visit the Metropolitan. This is a massive art museum! Incredible displays of all kinds of artifacts from all over the world and various cultures. I saw the Burghers of Calais by August Rodin. The original cast is in Calais, but there have been other original casts and this is one of them at the Met. After taking art history with Dr. Wadley last fall and studying about Caravaggio and the Italian Ren., it was very special to see some of these paintings in person. After the Met. I decided to take a rest at Central Park. I found a good rock to lay on and relaxed for awhile! Then I headed back down 5th Avenue straight for the Empire State Building. Along the way, I stopped at an Italian restaurant and had a big piece of pizza and a $2.29 bottle water! Bottled water is very expensive in NY. It worked out good going to see the Empire Building later in the day when the sun was setting. Cost $18 for students. I didn't have to wait really long, but they do a security check on you and your belongings like at an airport. One elevator takes you up 80 floors and then another elevator takes you up 6 more. What an unbelievable sight to see Manhattan at 1,454 feet in the air when the city lights are beginning to shimmer. Of course, you can see East, West, North, and South, but it was very crowded and people were standing all along the fence railings. I was able to get some good shots with the camera. The price of paying to go up there was well worth it, and that was the highest I've ever been on a building. I left the top around 8:40pm. I took the train back to New Haven at 9:37pm. It was raining when I got off so I had to take my first taxi ride back to my dorm. It was another exhausting, but fun day in NY. Enjoy some of the pictures down below!

Rolling up lakes

Went to the Yale Center for British Art this morning and saw some paintings worth noting by John Constable and J.M.W. Turner. Saw a variety of paintings of landscapes, seascapes, men of war ships, animals, and portraits. Solid collection! In class we finished the first project and showed them in a gallery space. Each person (4) had a short critique. Part of my piece was cutting out the lakes from a Connecticut state map and rolling them into balls and placing them in a ziploc bag. The concept is that the lakes of water can be contained in a small bag. I plan on cutting out all the lakes at least from all the States in the U.S. and rolling them into tiny balls. May do all the lakes in the world. Tonight, I'm washing and drying clothes. I found out by email tonight that I was selected to go to the Phantom of the Opera show on Saturday in NY!

Parmelee 2082-2105

Class at 1:30pm. We took a field trip walk to the historic Grove Street Cemetery on campus. Very old tombstones. We saw Eli Whitney's burial place where a large obelisk form marked his grave. Alongside, his descendants were also buried. Michael wanted to show us a grave marker a student had made and that he sneaked in the cemetery. The stone read PARMELEE 2082- 2105. The stone has remained there for about five years. Very beautiful cemetery. I am going to try to go back and spend more time there. In class we turned in the exercise drawings and worked on finishing the first project. After class, Michael ate at the Saybrook dining hall with me and another student in the class. I'll use this evening to work and think about my artwork.

MOMA, Amer. Museum of Natural History, Guggenheim

Saturday I took the Metro North train at 8:32am and arrived at Grand Central about 10:15am. The first art musuem on my list to see was the MOMA-Museum of Modern Art, which opens at 10:30am. Made good time and arrived there shortly after they opened. I made my way through the museum at a relatively steady pace because i had a lot to see the rest of the day. Some of the pieces that I was really impressed with was a Jim Hodges piece with colored pencils, a Jim Lambie wall piece that had black tape and eyes, a Tom Friedman wall piece, Jasper Johns Map (painting of the United States), a Joseph Cornell box, and a Frank Gehry cardboard chair piece. Very crowded on a Saturday morning, which was typical. I had lunch at the Pizza Villagio, good place with low prices, enjoyed it a lot. I then walked to Central Park and headed to Central Park West to go see the American Museum of Natural History. The park was filled with people tanning in the sun, playing frisbee, jogging, riding bicycles, and enjoying the perfect weather. Also, there were a lot of carriage horse rides. The Natural History Museum was voted the #1 attraction in NYC by Zagat Survey U.S. Family Travel Guide. This was one of the largest museums I have ever seen. Two big dinosaur skeletons are in the entrace on the inside of the musuem. I had to wait in line awhile because so many people were there. The museum has four floors, and I think a person could spend an entire day on just one floor. They had everything you can imagine there. I finally decided I had seen enough, because my legs were starting to get tired. My plan was to visit the Met. for the third museum. I walked by it and saw how huge this one was also. I knew I needed to do it when I was fresh so instead I chose the Guggenheim Museum, which was smaller. The walk in the museum was a neat experience as the grand ramp curves from the ground to the dome. Frank Lloyd Wright's drawings were incredible designs along with the detail of some miniature models of structures. I'm glad it worked to do this one b/c they closed in the evening at 8:00pm. After this museum my legs were dead tired. I should of taken the subway, but I enjoyed walking by Central Park. I think it was about 40 streets one way to walk. I think I walked at least 10 miles total on Sat. I took the train back that evening and arrived in New Haven about 9:50pm. It was an overwhelming experience to see all the pieces in one day. The first week at New Haven and NY has been a tremendous opportunity to see new things, and there are four more weeks to go....

Meeting Michael in NY

On Thursday I took the Metro North Train at 9:30am to Grand Central Station in NY. Train ride is about 1 hr 45min. Got off the train underground and walked up to ground level and experienced the crowds of people for the first time in NY. Grand Central is a large Station, but it is not hard to figure out where you need to go. Exited the Station and there I was in the middle of Manhattan with towering buildings surrounding me!! The sights, smells, and speed of NY are quite spectacular and takes your breath away. I met my sculpture teacher Michael Stickrod in NY with his wife Erin and their son Oscar. (Oscar was in a stroller and Michael pushed him). We saw Times Square and Broadway St. and the massive advertisements of movies, shows, and plays. We went by Ripley's Believe It or Not and saw a lady blow a fireball, and we also saw a wax model of Morgan Freeman and Nicholas Cage. We walked up to Central Park where a small carnival was going on. Later we ate at Johnny Utah's...i had a monster burger that cost $9 with water. (They should rename the burger b/c it was on the small side)! We took the underground subway to go see Ground Zero where the twin towers stood. Very powerful sight. At Battery Park we saw the harbor, boats, the Statue of Liberty from a distance, the Brooklyn Bridge, helicopters flying, and a huge cruise ship passing by. One of the greatest sights I have ever seen! We then made our way back to the subways to go back home. I took the 7:05pm train back to New Haven and arrived about 9pm. Tiring day of walking and traveling, but the experience and sights I will never forget. Plan to go back Saturday to start seeing the art museums.

Security

The security on campus at Yale is very tight and obviously that is a good thing. One bad thing though is that the building our sculpture class is located in, the students cannot go in and work outside of class time. The building is locked. Interestingly, we found out that there are no electrical outlets in the walls in our class to plug into. Later we found them in the ceiling. We went upstairs for a screening, but Michael's ID could not open the doors, which were supposed to. We did get to watch some clips, but were kind of interrupted by a janitor man who said he needed to clean the floor in the space we were in. He started in another place. I worked on three shapes with clay; fin/keel-like forms. It looks like we are down to the Final Four. There are supposed to be 7 students in the class. Monday five were present, but today only four were there. Tomorrow I'm heading to Union Station to catch a train to NY!!!

1st day of Class

Had Sculpture class on Monday July 6th from 1:30pm-6:30pm. Watched some video clips and began thinking of ideas for the first project working with clay. *Went to the Sterling Memorial Library.Tuesday, worked on some drawing exercises, went to the Yale University Art Gallery, walked around the campus more and picked up some maps. Also, played some table tennis with some international students. Plan on going to NY Thursday or this weekend. Rained on July 7th and the weather all week has been very cool. This is a spectacular campus with gorgeous old buildings mixed in with the New Haven city life with all kinds of street stores and people traveling on the roads. This is an amazing place to be!

*Sterling Memorial Library is the 2nd largest university library in North America.

Church, Picnic, Check-In at Dorm

Sunday-I attended Trinity Baptist Church at 10:00am. For lunch Dr. Ian Maddock and I went to an Italian market store and picked up some sandwiches (I had chicken parmesan), and then drove to a nearby park. Some other students came and ate in the shade of a pine tree on a beautiful green lawn. After lunch, Dr. Ian drove me to register and check in for the summer course. Waited in line for awhile, but soon received the Yale ID card. Carried four of my bags at the same time up to Saybrook College, which was my exercise for the day. Moved into Saybrook on the third floor in a spacious room. There are three other International students who have their own room close to mine. In the afternoon I walked around a went to the Yale Bookstore. That evening I ate at the dining hall for the first time-good meal. At 8:00pm all the students in the three dorms had an orientation meeting and then a small counsel meeting. Later, TJ and I worked on getting Internet access on our laptops.

**Notes- Digital camera cracked on the inside of the viewing screen :(

July 4th Airplane Ride

I flew out from DFW at 12:55pm and landed in Hartford, CN around 5:15pm et. Altitude: 37,000ft- 39,000ft. Beautiful warm day for flying. Not much turbulence. Didn't eat lunch today, but had some of Patty's trail mix for a snack before takeoff and some orange juice and a pepsi on the plane. Dr. Ian Maddock picked me up at the airport and drove me to New Haven, CN. Met his family and had some delicious lasagna for supper! Later that evening after supper he took me to Mr. Bob's home to spend the night. Didn't get to see any fireworks, but heard them. The evening air was nice and coolish. Great first day on the semester away!!

Eve of the Semester Away

I am flying out tomorrow at 12:55 pm on American Airlines and landing in Hartford, CN. Flight a little over three hours. Hope to see some fireworks that night and see the town of New Haven!

Getting Ready

Jeremy is flying to New Haven, Connecticut on July 4th to take a summer sculpture class for five weeks at Yale.