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digging out
I’ve been super busy over the past several weeks, with school, work, and freelance work. To complicate matters further, I’ve been having chronic headaches which are really doing a number on my life in general. I went to the doctor on thursday, and I’m getting a CAT scan on wednesday to hopefully rule out something wrong with my head. For now, though, I’m just trying to keep my head above water in the realm of school. I missed 3 days this past week, and still have to make up a few things. On the positive side, I’m finally getting the remainder of my application materials off to SCAD on monday. I wrote my statement of purpose this past weekend, and got my last letter of recommendation a week ago. I took some photos of my packaging today, and will be finishing that up and bundling it out to CD. It will be great to have that off of my head so I can concentrate on other issues of more immediacy.
In other great news this week, I received a call back from erickson marketing this week, and will hopefully will begin doing contract work for them in the next couple of weeks. This is pretty darn good news for me, and an answer to a lot of prayers regarding work during grad school. A particular job I’ve been promised has a contract length of 9 months, and I should have work beyond that as well. All in all, very good news, considering that this will allow me to cut back on stressful hours at PCJ, and provide employment once I move down to Savannah. God really works things out in the right timing–sometimes I just have the weakness of wanting immediate results or leading on a specific issue.
Monday, that blessed, never-celebrated holiday Valentine’s Day became celebrated for the first time in my life. I prepared some gifts for Crystal and cooked up a reasonably good dinner for the two of us at my house. Mom and Dad graciously chaperoned from the comforts of the downstairs living room while we dined. I prepared a cheese appetizer, spinach salad with strawberries and a fresh vinegrette, strip steak seared with peppercorns and horseradish, asparagus, and to top everything off, heart-shaped brownies made from scratch for dessert. It was a good time, but things had to get cut short because I wasn’t feeling too well. She went to all of the trouble of putting together a classic french bistro lunch in the snack shop. She got some really good cheese (a semi-soft with sage, and a semi-firm with parsley and horseradish), fruit, and classic french limonade, with dark chocolate covered almonds and espresso beans for dessert. I’m so blessed to have someone so unselfish and patient to call mine, and it’s a wonderful bonus that we have the same taste in food, history, culture, and pretty much every other area I can think of.
To wrap things up, I’m posting my statement of purpose for anyone that really cares. Just follow the link at the end.
SCAD Statement of Purpose
I grew up on a university campus in the southeast, strong in cultural activities, deep in faith, and steeped in academia. These are the primary influences that shaped me as a child, and continue to define my artistic and academic endeavors looking toward the future. I grew up in a home that revolved around academic pursuits–my parents both held college degrees, my father a PhD in Microbiology. I also had the benefit of older siblings, influential in an early grasp of language, mathematics, and a desire to learn. My artistic exposure, both aural and visual, began early as well, through exposure to galleries, undergraduate and graduate art shows, as well as numerous operas, plays, and orchestral performances. These cultural influences shaped how I viewed life and art, even though I was not directly involved in the visual arts at the time. My faith is also a strong influence, effecting how I approach both life and art.
It was during high school that I first became involved in the field of graphic design, albeit indirectly. Starting my sophomore year, I started doing freelance web development work for agencies and individuals in the area. Although most of my projects were not approached from a design perspective at this time, they did feed the desire for more training. My senior year in high school, I made the decision to major in graphic design on the college level at Bob Jones University, influenced strongly by my Desktop Publishing teacher, George Koontz. The graphic design program is classically based in studio art, much like the Foundation Studies program at SCAD. During my college career, I not only gained a foundation in graphic design, but enhanced the underlying artistic bases for design through a variety of studio classes, including drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and traditional illustration. These studio classes continue to inspire and transform my graphic design. I minored in history to prepare myself in the areas of research and writing for the academic demands of art history on the graduate level. I am currently engaged in freelance work for local businesses and agencies in South Carolina and Arizona in the areas of print advertising and interactive design.
It was early during my college program that I first had the desire to teach, specifically on the post-secondary and graduate levels. My father and mother taught on the college level during my formative years, and I grew to appreciate strong, conceptually based teaching with a goal of understanding, not just rote memorization. I look forward to bringing the knowledge I will gain through my graduate training to a new generation of artists and liberal arts students, tempered with the experiences of my undergraduate training. To further my goal of teaching, a masters degree was the next logical step.
Looking forward, I hope to begin my MFA degree in graphic design in the fall of 2005. Upon completion of my MFA, I will be looking at a variety of universities, in both the United States and abroad, to earn an MA in Art History. This degree, in addition to my studio art and graphic design training, will provide an excellent foundation for a PhD in Art History. At the conclusion of this education, I look forward to begin teaching on the post-secondary level. In the near-term, I believe that the MFA program at SCAD will commence my higher education aspirations in the most effective way.
I’ve been super busy over the past several weeks, with school, work, and freelance work. To complicate matters further, I’ve been having chronic headaches which are really doing a number on my life in general. I went to the doctor on thursday, and I’m getting a CAT scan on wednesday to hopefully rule out something wrong with my head. For now, though, I’m just trying to keep my head above water in the realm of school. I missed 3 days this past week, and still have to make up a few things. On the positive side, I’m finally getting the remainder of my application materials off to SCAD on monday. I wrote my statement of purpose this past weekend, and got my last letter of recommendation a week ago. I took some photos of my packaging today, and will be finishing that up and bundling it out to CD. It will be great to have that off of my head so I can concentrate on other issues of more immediacy.
In other great news this week, I received a call back from erickson marketing this week, and will hopefully will begin doing contract work for them in the next couple of weeks. This is pretty darn good news for me, and an answer to a lot of prayers regarding work during grad school. A particular job I’ve been promised has a contract length of 9 months, and I should have work beyond that as well. All in all, very good news, considering that this will allow me to cut back on stressful hours at PCJ, and provide employment once I move down to Savannah. God really works things out in the right timing–sometimes I just have the weakness of wanting immediate results or leading on a specific issue.
Monday, that blessed, never-celebrated holiday Valentine’s Day became celebrated for the first time in my life. I prepared some gifts for Crystal and cooked up a reasonably good dinner for the two of us at my house. Mom and Dad graciously chaperoned from the comforts of the downstairs living room while we dined. I prepared a cheese appetizer, spinach salad with strawberries and a fresh vinegrette, strip steak seared with peppercorns and horseradish, asparagus, and to top everything off, heart-shaped brownies made from scratch for dessert. It was a good time, but things had to get cut short because I wasn’t feeling too well. She went to all of the trouble of putting together a classic french bistro lunch in the snack shop. She got some really good cheese (a semi-soft with sage, and a semi-firm with parsley and horseradish), fruit, and classic french limonade, with dark chocolate covered almonds and espresso beans for dessert. I’m so blessed to have someone so unselfish and patient to call mine, and it’s a wonderful bonus that we have the same taste in food, history, culture, and pretty much every other area I can think of.
To wrap things up, I’m posting my statement of purpose for anyone that really cares. Just follow the
SCAD Statement of Purpose
I grew up on a university campus in the southeast, strong in cultural activities, deep in faith, and steeped in academia. These are the primary influences that shaped me as a child, and continue to define my artistic and academic endeavors looking toward the future. I grew up in a home that revolved around academic pursuits–my parents both held college degrees, my father a PhD in Microbiology. I also had the benefit of older siblings, influential in an early grasp of language, mathematics, and a desire to learn. My artistic exposure, both aural and visual, began early as well, through exposure to galleries, undergraduate and graduate art shows, as well as numerous operas, plays, and orchestral performances. These cultural influences shaped how I viewed life and art, even though I was not directly involved in the visual arts at the time. My faith is also a strong influence, effecting how I approach both life and art.
It was during high school that I first became involved in the field of graphic design, albeit indirectly. Starting my sophomore year, I started doing freelance web development work for agencies and individuals in the area. Although most of my projects were not approached from a design perspective at this time, they did feed the desire for more training. My senior year in high school, I made the decision to major in graphic design on the college level at Bob Jones University, influenced strongly by my Desktop Publishing teacher, George Koontz. The graphic design program is classically based in studio art, much like the Foundation Studies program at SCAD. During my college career, I not only gained a foundation in graphic design, but enhanced the underlying artistic bases for design through a variety of studio classes, including drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and traditional illustration. These studio classes continue to inspire and transform my graphic design. I minored in history to prepare myself in the areas of research and writing for the academic demands of art history on the graduate level. I am currently engaged in freelance work for local businesses and agencies in South Carolina and Arizona in the areas of print advertising and interactive design.
It was early during my college program that I first had the desire to teach, specifically on the post-secondary and graduate levels. My father and mother taught on the college level during my formative years, and I grew to appreciate strong, conceptually based teaching with a goal of understanding, not just rote memorization. I look forward to bringing the knowledge I will gain through my graduate training to a new generation of artists and liberal arts students, tempered with the experiences of my undergraduate training. To further my goal of teaching, a masters degree was the next logical step.
Looking forward, I hope to begin my MFA degree in graphic design in the fall of 2005. Upon completion of my MFA, I will be looking at a variety of universities, in both the United States and abroad, to earn an MA in Art History. This degree, in addition to my studio art and graphic design training, will provide an excellent foundation for a PhD in Art History. At the conclusion of this education, I look forward to begin teaching on the post-secondary level. In the near-term, I believe that the MFA program at SCAD will commence my higher education aspirations in the most effective way.