Jennifer Michie

Category: Work (page 4 of 7)

November 15, 2012 / 0 Comments

What A Day!

I love this little picture. I found it awhile ago, I am ashamed to say, I don’t remember where, and the caption underneath it said, “Sometimes life is tough and that’s ok!”

What a day this has been! I feel like this miniature bunny, I need to be on my couch, with a soothing eye mask and recovering from the hectic pace of my school day.

We had our first Art Show of the season tonight. One of the students cut her finger pretty deeply while trying to trim her work to be mounted, so off we went to see the school nurse and then off she went to the ER.

That was the only major drama for today. We hung the show in a day, piecing it together as more work trickled in. It finally came together in the end as it always does, I don’t panic, because I know that it will be alright.

Mr. Michie took care of me and brought me a banana and a bottle of water for lunch to make sure I ate. I don’t worry about eating on days like this, our time is too precious in setting up the show to waste any of it, as I am working to a deadline, but, I appreciated him looking after me and my banana was a welcome gift.

We had a wonderful turn out and a lot of nice work. Now I am home, lying next to Mr. Michie on our bed, the hum of the radiators is the only noise besides my typing away and we are pooped! There is a comfort in the silence.

Tomorrow is Friday and I am so glad I made it through this week!

October 24, 2012 / 0 Comments

Madrid Part 3

This is my final Madrid Chapter. I have so much more to share, but these are really the highlights. The image above is the staircase in our hotel. The wood was so worn down it dipped, from all the feet that had walked over it for almost 100 years. We went to the Prado They were not the friendliest bunch working at the group ticket office that day and those ladies were extremely difficult about letting us in, even with my confirmation letters. As one of my colleagues said, “The Devil wears Prado!”

However, I got see Las Meninas, Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights (talk about the details you miss in a slide or viewing an image in a book, the colors were almost unimaginable, amazing!) and Fra Angelico’s The Annunciation. For that alone, it was worth all the hassle to get in. Gabriel’s robes were so much pinker than I had ever imagined. The gold glittered around the hem, catching the light in the room. It took my breath away.

We also went on a cable car ride and Goose Girl and Foxy got to see the Temple De Bod. Foxy studied a bit of Egyptian Art, so he is always glad when we gets to see something Egyptian in person, and test his Hieroglyphic skills.

We had lunch at a kitsch little cafe. Our waitress reminded me of an edgier Amelie. She had a great personality and was extremely witty! I ate pastela de pollo. It was heavenly, it was light, it was moorish, it was sweet. The chicken and almonds and apricots and cinnamon all bundled together in phyllo dough, with a sprinkling of powdered sugar on the top, it was devine.

We also went to the Caixia Forum. It was a really interesting building. There was an Architecture exhibition on, they had the prettiest statue of Saint Barbara from a Belgian church and the William Blake exhibition on the second floor had a gem of a Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

We finished our day with a walk back through the park we first started in and off to our hotel. I found this bicycle carved into a stone pavement and just as I was about to snap a picture, a little golden leaf blew onto one of the wheels.

I also spied this snail:

One last shot, taken behind one of the student’s glasses and we were off, bound for home.

October 23, 2012 / 0 Comments

Madrid Part 2

Well, in my next installment of Madrid, I thought I would discuss with you, what is possibly the best Gin & Tonic, I have ever had in my life thus far. We went out for an evening drink after one member of our group discovered this great little joint, tucked down a side road.

Making these drinks was a serious business. The ice was toppled in to chill the glass, before it was ceremoniously dumped away, the flick of the lemon rind around the rim of the glass, more ice being added, the lemon rind, a sprig of rosemary, the gin and then the tonic, gloriously poured down the metal swizzle stick. Our bartender was hysterical and put on quite a show for us, we enjoyed it.

We visited the Thyssen Museum and it started to become a joke at how many things we had told the students to see, or things that we wanted to see that were on loan. I didn’t get to see my Edward Hopper as it too was on loan, but tucked in a corner of the downstairs gallery was an Andrew Wyeth and seeing that, made up for the Hopper.

I was very fortunate growing up to have parents that instilled a love of the Arts into myself and my sister. We were also very lucky to have a museum near our home, that had a large collection of Wyeths and my mom would take us to see them during school breaks.

I love Andrew Wyeth, always have, always will. You weren’t allowed to take pictures in this museum, but I did sneak one onto my phone. That is a terrible thing for an Art Historian to do, I know, but I didn’t use flash.

His brushstrokes are so delicate, so powerful, I felt that I could just reach out and touch her sweater. You could feel the fibers and smell the wool.

We also traveled to the very exquisite San Miguel Market. It had exposed beams and iron-work and was filled with an extensive variety of food. One could have lived like a king eating from here. Many stalls were filled with just the “perfect bite”, so you could have made a selection of little tapas to enjoy at one of the tables while you watched the hustle and bustle around you.

Of course, wherever I go, so do Goose Girl and Foxy. This was Goose Girl enjoying the view from the balcony of our hotel. She liked to sleep with the doors open at night, so she could smell the city, feel the breeze ripple over her skin, watch the curtains dance and listen to the traffic below. She was happy there.

I have a few more things to share with you yet, so stay tuned, there is one more day to go…

October 22, 2012 / 0 Comments

Madrid Part 1

Well, it has taken me a little bit to get this out. I think that last week, almost killed me, we just have to survive this week and then we are on Fall Break, I am already doing a “Peanut’s” dance just thinking about it!

There is just so much I want to share with you and what I will be sharing, won’t even be the half of it, but here goes:

On our first morning, we took a meandering stroll through the streets of Madrid, before the city really woke and these were some of my finds:


Our first day was spent at the Reina Sofia Museum. I got to see Guernica in person, there were things that I had not noticed before. A slide or an image in a book can only go so far in bringing something to life for your eyes. The details are not always captured. 

I also got to see Picasso’s Woman in Blue (1902) and was very excited about that. Her lips were so red, redder than I had ever imagined, redder than any image had ever shown. But not just red, they were scarlet, they were strawberry, they were peachy, they were a blazing orange. She sat gazing out on the room and all who entered it.

There were so many other things I enjoyed seeing in this museum, here are just two:

After lunch we spent the late afternoon in the Buen Retiro Park, boating around the lake, visiting the Crystal Palace, drawing, photographing and just being.

We walked the students to the Forest of the Departed. It was built to commemorate the 192 victims of the 2004 Atocha Train Station bombings. A tree had been planted for each person who had been killed. It is composed of cyprus and olive trees and it was refined, peaceful and reflective.

It is surrounded by water and the garden winds around in a spiral, swirling around a mini mountain. At the top, very happily eating and obviously very used to people was the most exquisite rabbit. He let me photograph him and even came out from his little thicket to sniff my camera lens.

More to come tomorrow, so stay tuned…

October 10, 2012 / 0 Comments

Madrid


I’m leaving for a few days on a little adventure. I am going to Madrid. A city I have never been to before. This year we are taking our annual department Art trip and myself, along with 5 other colleagues and 54 students are heading to the gorgeous city of Madrid.

It is a lot of preparation and planning, but it is all worth it. I am very excited! I will get to see Guernica in person and after studying it so many times in school in my Art History classes, this is a big deal, as well as Las Meninas and a personal favorite artist of mine, the dynamic Edward Hopper and his oil painting, Hotel Room.

Mr. Michie took me to see a Hopper exhibition at the Tate Modern a few years ago and it was wonderful. We got to view Nighthawks in person, we must have stood there staring at that for ages. I was amazed at the scale, it was bigger than I had imagined, even though I had read the measurements countless times before.

That is one of Mr. Michie’s favorite paintings and we have a copy of it in our house. We used to play a game with each other and pretend we were the people in the diner and if we had been there what would we have ordered. I usually wanted something from one of my favorite local haunts at home that I couldn’t get here; a girl can dream can’t she?

We are also going to an exhibition of Imogen Cunningham’s work. Her photographs are something I am truly looking forward to. She constantly experimented with her craft and getting to view her prints will be a absolute treat! She was also a contemporary of other photographers I like and have used to teach the students about photography in my pinhole camera class.

I hope to come back with lots of pictures for you guys and interesting stories. In the mean time I will leave you with pictures I took in London over the weekend. While Mr. Michie was presenting at a conference, I was out shopping, walking and breathing in the sights and sounds of my city! Take care my friends, I shall see you soon.

October 2, 2012 / 0 Comments

Finished!

Finished! Today, I finished a project for work that has eaten up a lot of my free time at work and personally. It is for our upcoming Art trip. I normally create a giant map with a variety of information on it for the students to use when we are away.

This year, however, we decided to try something different, I created a booklet, that will outline our itinerary and the tasks that the students will have to complete when visiting exhibitions, museums and galleries.

That way, it is clearly written down, concise and no one has to try and tell 50+ students what they need to specifically be looking at when we enter a museum while the city is bustling all around us and you are trying to shout over the noise of traffic.

It is a big undertaking each year, but one that I enjoy. I get to be creative; creative in a school way, I mean. But, I am always glad when it is done, I get to breath again.

So, here’s to finished projects, to Tuesday being over, because that means tomorrow is Wednesday and we are that much closer to the weekend and here’s to the start of pumpkin season!

September 19, 2012 / 0 Comments

I took a Chance

I took a chance today. I rehung my sign and my older kids came through for me. They wanted to know what it meant, “take a chance on what?”, they asked. “On anything”, I replied, “on life, on school, on art, on love, a chance to be brave, a chance for a fresh start, whatever take a chance means to you!”

They took a tab. They wanted to figure out the meaning, they were questioning, they were thinking, they left with smiles and seemed inspired. And, that is all that matters to me. The boys came back again at lunch and ripped off the tabs that were left, but that’s okay, someone got it, someone understood, someone was put into a position where they had to think and that is what I was after.

September 18, 2012 / 3 Comments

Take One

Awhile ago, I saw a sign “pinned” on Pinterest and tucked it away in the back of my mind. This being the 2nd full week of school since our Summer Vacation, I thought I would try it out. I quickly whipped up a sign on Photoshop and printed it out when I got to work.

I liked it. I liked the idea of it. I tore one of the tabs off to get it going and then stuck it to my door. I had some things to do around school at lunch and after returning to my room, I saw a few boys hanging around. I realized later they were hanging around because they had ripped all but one little tab off of my sign.

I suppose, I should have known better, I should have known that the so-called “naughty” kids would do this. But, I refuse to give in to that mentality. I treat all the students the way I wish to be treated. I have made it clear, no matter what happens outside of my room, when you cross my threshold you have a a clean slate with me, until you do something to me.

These so-called “naughty” boys are students I have always treated with respect. I don’t know why it annoyed me so, but seeing all my little tabs torn away, because they were having a laugh, just deflated me. The days seem to be getting longer, so much happened yesterday that this morning it was hard to believe that it was only Tuesday today. ONLY TUESDAY!

It is silly I know to let something so trivial bother me, I think it is just my mood today. I took a chance, I hoped for better. If, one of them, just one of them, got the message, then that is all that really matters, isn’t it? I’ll just keep telling myself that for a little while longer.

I seem to be spinning in all directions at the moment as many of us are. There is always a point in my day when I long for solitude, for 5 minutes that I can call my own. Last night, that solitude came with Mr. Michie. We heated up some Mexican leftovers we had made at the weekend and he made a fresh batch of guacamole. It was the best guacamole I have ever eaten! I couldn’t stop eating it! I am looking forward to my evening, to cooking, to laughing, to recounting the day to one another and simply crashing onto the couch together to just be.

MMMM! Mr. Michie is a GREAT guacamole maker!

 

September 1, 2012 / 0 Comments

The First of September

Oh, the First of September! Where did you come from? It seems only yesterday I walked out of school with the sun on my back, heading toward vacation and Summer with open arms.

August brought a visit home to see new places, to see my family, a baby shower for my sister, shopping, eating, eating tomatoes that actually tasted like a tomato! August brought, getting to talk to my mom in person instead of skype, getting to see my dad every day. Getting to play with Maisy, the cutest dog in the world!

August brought suntan lotion and heat and skin warmed by the sun as you swam in the pool. August brought one hospital trip for me after a really bad case of food poisoning, where my dad was still my dad, no matter how old I am and held my hand as they tried to start an IV. It brought my first trip to the Wakarusa Dime Store, home of the famous GIANT JELLY BEANS, where my mom and I tasted almost every flavor and I got to see her beautiful smile and laugh.

August brought a road trip from Indiana to Viriginia, where I drove past Upper Sandusky, movie “home” to Doris Day. August brought me having to tell my family goodbye, to watch their beautiful faces as they waved and blew kisses from the other side of the ticket gate. I hate August, I love August. I am so blessed for the time I had, but I am ready to see them again.

School starts on Tuesday and I am not sure I am really ready for it, this time around. I still feel worn out from being sick and flying, but Tuesday will come whether I am ready or not and so this new school year shall begin.

Mr. Michie and I went out yesterday to run a few errands and the sun was out, but it was cool and breezy, the light is changing, Autumn is on her way. It won’t be long before we turn our clocks back and the night creeps in faster and more candles are lit in the cozy cottage behind the racing green door.

(Image Found at Golden Gems)

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