Texas Tech University

In January, my wife, Sarah (Schabacker) Burkhart (TTU Alumni 1997) and I decided it was time to take the next step in both of our careers and to seek out new opportunities. This past June, Sarah moved to Charlotte, NC ahead of me and joined Source Technologies, where she is the Director of Marketing. She is really challenged by the position and is flourishing in an environment that allows her to use her creativity. I remained in Orlando through August, working to find renters for our (sadly) unsellable home – we’re landlords now – and to transition Flying Horse Editions (FHE) to an Interim Director, Theo Lotz.

Over the past 8 years, I served as Director of FHE and a full time Instructor in the Art Deptartment at the University of Central Florida. I am very proud that FHE has gained a reputation as an up and coming collaborative printshop known for quality editions. It was great to work with the collectors, artists, and upper administration at the UCF to take FHE to the next level.  I am taking those experiences and building upon them with my next venture: A studio in Charlotte where I can focus completely on my studio activities and a new private press, Firsthand Editions. I am also serving as a consultant, helping others set up their silkscreen studios safely and efficiently. 

Sarah and I are enjoying having seasons again, the fine people of Charlotte, and putting our guns up on the weekends for the football team. 

Some upcoming exhibitions and demos include:

BookOpolis – Asheville BookWorks, Asheville, NC
Featuring Ghost Towns of the Enchanted Circle, my recent collaboration with John Poch (Director of the Creative Writing Program in English at TTU).    read more >>

Gaines Clore Wynn, (BS, TTU; MFA, Arizona State) exclaims, “Thanks, this is a great idea!” talking about the School of Art’s Alum Blog.  A 1968 graduate, she remembers fondly “my years at Texas Tech when I was an art major, but was also in WSO and Mortar Board.” (She was known then as Mary Ann Gaines, which she has not gone by that “in centuries!”)

She now lives in the Washington D.C. area.  “After finishing my MFA in painting from Arizona State in 1972, I am still painting in my great studio in the arts district of Mt. Rainier, Maryland, which is two blocks from the D.C. line,” Ms Wynn said. 

A trip to North Africa has inspired her next exhibition of mainly oils and pastels slated for 2009, at the Parish Gallery in Georgetown, Washington DC.  Another inspiring sort of gig occurred last year for Ms Wynn as she explained, “I was asked to be a ’Muse’ for the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Tech and was very honored to help out with that.”  See her art website at http://gainesclorewynn.com and/or visit with her at gainesclorewynn@hotmail.com

That’s right – Marie Weichman left Texas this summer and moved to the Pacific Northwest for the second time in twenty years.

Since graduating in 2000 (MFA Ceramics) I have spent the last eight years of living the gypsy life and teaching part-time time at various colleges and universities, (well, okay… there was a year of full time faculty life stuck in the middle there), but now I am finally gainfully employed as a tenure track member of the art faculty at Olympic College in Bremerton, WA.  When I accepted the job I received a rainstorm of e-mails from faculty and staff welcoming me to the most beautiful place on earth.  Now that I’m here, I can see why.  It really IS a stunning place to live.  The new job is a sweet gig.  I am working with extremely talented, friendly and laid-back people.  I am in charge of the entire 3D area for the department and I ride my bike to work everyday! 

Besides teaching, I’ve been making and showing artwork and lately, that has kept me fairly busy.  Currently, I have a piece included in an all-media, group show at Murray State University called THINK TANK.  In Jan/Feb of 2009 I will be showing recent work with two other TTU Alumns, Ian F. Thomas and Dryden Wells at Slippery Rock University, (thanks, Ian, for making that one happen!).  That show will focus on work made during and after our residency in Jingdezhen, China in 2007.  Also in Feb. ’09 Olympic College will be hosting a solo show of my work.  Last but not least, Sante Fe Clay Gallery recently invited me to participate in their group show scheduled for January.  Things here keep moving forward and the momentum is up right now. 

Links:  www.marieweichman.com and www.flickr.com/photos/roaddog

Vermont is an amazing place to visit in the fall. It’s even cooler when you live here. If you’ve never experienced autumn in New England, just imagine God dumping Fruity Pebbles on New Mexico… and that’s about as close an approximation as I can give you. The landscape is Martian, and inhibits obsessive compulsive artist’s behavior. It’s really mind blowing, and I’m fortunate enough to be experiencing it for my third year in a row.

I moved up here in 2006, about a year after graduating from Tech. I am a product designer and illustrator for Questech, a decorative home tile manufacturer in Rutland, VT. My company produces high end products for  people’s kitchens and bathrooms, which are sold at in Home Depot, Lowes, etc.

I married my college girlfriend, Kelly, a TTU alumna, and San Antonio city girl, who just loves -30 degree winters, torrential snowstorms, and driving on ice……. hahahahaha. I wasn’t too popular when I told her I landed the job up here. She is adapting, and I am proud. We live in a restored 1798 farmhouse in the Green Mountains, in a tiny mountain township called Shrewsbury. If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘Funny Farm,’ I will vouch for its accuracy.

New Englanders are an odd sort. They don’t think too much of Texans. For some reason, I’m responsible for George Bush’s existence because I’m from Texas. Never mind that he was born and raised in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Ironically, Lubbock prepared me for life in Vermont, although Vermont wins the Darwinian award for most exotic white trash selection. Some of the locals here have their teeth removed in their late teens, to avoid ever having to pay for a dentist. How bout’ them apples?    read more >>

Randall Reid (1981 MFA :: Drawing & Painting, San Marcos) has an exhibition of thirty new works at St. Edwards University Gallery in Austin, September 19th – October 8th.

Randall Reid’s sculptural paintings and studio practice are the subjects of this collaborative project and exhibition. Reid collaborates with designer Michelle Hays to reveal the artist’s inspiration and working process. By combining raw and well-worn materials, textured and laden with history, Reid seeks to give visual form to the past. Through layers of image, texture, color, and geometry, Randall Reid re-contextualizes found objects into formalist abstractions. Graphic designer Michelle Hays has explored the layers-physical and metaphorical-in Reid’s works, and has created a visual, tactile, and interactive book reflecting the artist’s process. Through this project Hays hopes to demonstrate the possibilities of interplay among the layers of process, materials, form, senses, text, and imagery. Erina Duganne, art historian and writer, lends some of her writings on Reid’s works to the exhibition. The exhibit is sponsored in part by a Research Enhancement Program grant from Texas State University—San Marcos, where Randall is a professor of art.