The second day without power at my apartment, I fled to Boston with George, who was with me in West Hartford for the Halloween weekend. We were zombies. However, when leaving West Hartford, I had no gas in my car and we had to fill it up before getting on our way. The problem was that entire towns were without power and the gas stations were affected too. I've never had to wait more than two cars in line for gas. This time George and I waited in a line that continued down the street more than two dozen cars in length. The gas station had run out of gas when we were about 10 cars in line. We drove to another and waited again in a long car pileup. Luckily we got a little gas before they too ran out and made it safely to Boston.
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| George and I as zombies. I did the makeup for us. I was actually a zombie from the 80s to be more clear. |
I packed a total of three outfits, including one I was already wearing. Only one pair of jeans. I only expected to be without power for maybe three days, but I was wrong. The University of Hartford canceled classes for the entire week as 1700 students were without power and displaced from campus. Gyms, libraries, and other large community centers opened their doors for people to warm up, shower, and charge their cell phones and laptops. The mall looked like a refugee camp.
I ended up spending the entire week in Boston with George. While I'll admit it was a welcomed break from working in the studio, I couldn't help at being frustrated at this waste of valuable time. So much can happen in a week in the ceramics studio. This is a crucial time for the ceramic majors to be producing work for the Holiday Sale opening on December 2nd. A lot of us depend on the sale of our ceramic work during this time so that we can afford to go to the NCECA conference at the end of March. And of course cash is always welcomed in a student's bank account.
While George was at work for the week, I had the whole apartment and Boston to myself. I spent this time catching up on sleep, cleaning the gross apartment shared by George and two other guys, cooking, watching TV shows and movies on Netflix, and dabbling in some painting. There is a large art supply store right next to George's apartment where I found many many supplies that I both needed and wanted (way too many for me to afford much). I picked up a small set of gouache paints, some nice watercolor brushes to use for regular painting and ceramic glazing, and some aquaboards, which are hard panels with a special coating on them that work best for watercolors and gouache. It was really nice to simply paint again. I lover ceramics but that does not mean clay is my only love! Originally I fully intended to be a painting major at the Hartford Art School. However, after taking a couple ceramics courses, I fell in love with clay and the ceramic making process. I never lost my enjoyment of painting and drawing. To put it simply, I switched majors because I believe that I have a good understanding of painting but when it comes to ceramics, I knew very little. In this short time as a ceramics major, I have gained such an incredible amount of knowledge of the complex world of ceramics. I do not regret my decision at all.
As a senior now, I have almost unrestricted freedom to do whatever the hell I want. I realized towards the end of last semester as a junior that I do miss painting. I want to combine the two and the best solution I have come up with is majolica. You have seen my majolica work in my latest blog entry online.
Anyways, now I'm back in West Hartford. Classes were canceled again yesterday but the art school was still open. It's hard to get back into a normal schedule and to get motivated again to complete new work. Everyone has been affected by this freak and unpredictable storm. It will probably be a week before complete normalcy returns.
Until next time, stay warm.
