The Problem with Guns and Toilets

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As a professor, I have been a part of many discussions regarding campus security and active shooters. I just read this article about a problem related to gun ownership that I hadn't realized was happening, though: An Alarming Number of Guns Are Waiting to Be Found in Campus Restrooms

I have returned a couple cell phones that have been forgotten atop toilet tanks to their owners.  I myself accidentally left a plane ticket in an airport restroom stall and had to run back to get it around six minutes later when I discovered it was missing.  It makes complete sense to me that people forget their loaded guns as well, particularly because they aren't a frequently-used accessory.  I have no doubt that if the number of guns on campus increase, the number of accidentally abandoned, loaded guns will also increase.

Now that Spring Break is Over...

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Here're a few readings for you that I've been interested in lately:

The Place of the Arts in a Liberal Education by David W. Oxtoby

How Engaging With Art Affects the Human Brain by Kat Zambon

How the Environmental Humanities Can Heal Our Relationship to the Planet by Ben Valentine

Should Some Species Be Allowed to Die Out? by Jennifer Kahn

New Above and Below Photos from My Finding Light Exhibition

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You'd be forgiven for forgetting I made two new interactive living sculptures over the summer, since I've only been posting photos of All That I See so far!  I did, however, make a second one titled Above and Below.  Here are some photos from that part of the exhibition:

More Finding Light Exhibition Photos!

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Here are a few more photos from my Finding Light exhibition currently up in USM's Goppert Gallery!  I'm taking photos in batches (it is very hard to get good photos in low-light settings, so I take some, see if I have any good ones, post, and repeat!).  It's not hard to take photos of the non-interactive parts of the show, so I haven't been focusing on those just yet since it's more important to figure out the photography for the interactive pieces since they're so tough to capture!  So first up - here are some additional photos of All That I See.  The algae that is growing on the sculpture is a local species - I took water from USM's pond and have been cycling it and keeping it alive and flourishing for several months now within the sculpture's glass container.

Photo Teaser from My Exhibition Reception!

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This Friday was my opening reception for my Goppert Gallery exhibition Finding Light.  I will share a more comprehensive set of photos with you in a bit, but here's a teaser!  The show is up through March 9th if you want to experience it firsthand.

New Artwork!

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I just completed a new piece of artwork - the second companion piece to Pilgrim.  I had intended to do at least two from the start, but it took a while to find the studio time to devote to the second piece.

In this one, I wanted to achieve a real sense of depth in my relief without being cartoonish.  My aim was to maintain the possibility of illusionism from some angles - particularly that of the shallower sections.  With Pilgrim, there is a relatively shallow relief over the entirety of the sloth's body.  In this new piece, the sloth's body contains an area that is solely painted with no relief at all and then extremely shallow through rather bold relief.

I'm considering titling this one Outreach.  It's Quick Cure Clay and acrylic on basswood panel, 12x6x1.75", 2018.  Due to the dimensions of the piece, it shows up quite large below; if you click on it though it will open up in an overlay that depending on your monitor and settings will probably be smaller and more of a gestalt.

Below you can see a couple in-progress photos of the relief work before I applied paint.

QCC Is Licensed!

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Some very exciting news - Quick Cure Clay (QCC), the clay I helped Dr. John Pojman develop, is now being licensed by Ranger Industries!  Ranger has products in nationwide stores like Michael's, so it might not be long before you can find it for sale in your neighborhood.  Here's a Greater Baton Rouge Business Report article about the deal (and about other startups that LSU is incubating).

You can see the product listing on Ranger's site as well!

I am so happy about this!  The clay is such a pleasure to work with that it really deserves market success.  And speaking of the clay and how nice it is to use, I've been working on another relief piece recently... more on that soon!

Joy Anne Duquette's 'Sightings and Daydreams' in Goppert Gallery

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We are hosting an interesting spontaneously-added exhibition this week in USM's Goppert Gallery - Joy Anne Duquette's Sightings and Daydreams, with the opening reception having taken place on Friday, January 26th.  Since it wasn't in our original gallery schedule, it's only up through this next Friday, February 2nd at 3pm, so if you want to see it you should come by soon!  Here's the press release for the show.

December Houseplant Happenings

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Here are the photos from the final month of 2017!  We've got fewer flowers for sure this December - just this Copiapoa hypogaea, Gymnocalycium pfanzii var albipulpa, Sansevieria cylindrica, and Sansevieria phillipsiae, respectively.  This fruit on my Gymnocalycium mihanovichii has also been around since at least November, but it really started becoming eye-catching in December.  It is now in the process of drying out.

A New Year, a New Semester!

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It's that time again!  Spring 2018 at USM will start on Monday, January 15th, and with it, my courses: Introduction to Printmaking, Computer Graphics, Advanced Honors Seminar in Interdisciplinary Art, and Art Career Internship, Advanced Studios, and Senior Exhibit (the latter three counting together as one course load).

I look forward to seeing new and returning students and all the new artwork they'll produce!

November Houseplant Flowers!

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And here is the next set of houseplant happenings, from November!  I'm at the point now where I always have at least one or two plants in bloom at any given moment; I often neglect to photograph my orchid and African Violet (Saintpaulia spp.) flowers not because I don't appreciate them - I do! - but because they're quite common.  Here, we have in order from left to right and top down: Crassula perforata, Crassula ovata, Mammillaria elegans, Quaqua incarnata, Echeveria shaviana 'Neon Breakers', Rhipsalis mesembryanthemoides, Rhipsalis pilocarpa, Senecio jacobsenii, Duvalia sulcata, Anomalluma dodsiana, Stapelia sticula, and Matucana madisoniorum.  

The Crassulas are particularly surprising because Crassula hate me (and in return, I don't much care for them) but on both plants the blooms seem like they could be a last gasp, so... it's damning with faint praise, I suppose.  Also, my Anomalluma dodsiana revealed a mealybug infestation post blooming, so it's currently in round two of diatomaceous earth dusting.  The Quaqua incarnata has been blooming non-stop since November and is still in flower today, and the Stapelia sticula has also been quite prolific.

Remember that if you want to, you can click on any of the photos to see them in more detail!

...And Another One!

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Well, let's start the new year the same as we ended the old!

Some prefacing information: I've heard that one should set water out for at least 24 hours to let the chlorine dissipate out before watering plants.  This presumes there is chlorine in the tap water, which is not always true, but it's easy to do and possibly helpful so I do it.

This morning, I was greeted by a bold jumping spider (Phidippus audax) floating in my watering can full of de-gassed water.  He did not appear to be able to get back out.  I took a couple photos, rescued him with a screwdriver, and put him on my Dischidia platyphylla to dry off and get his bearings.  I do have a limit to how many spider friends can stay indoors with me, and already removed another jumping spider who got a little too adventurous to the outdoors, but since this little fellow was soaked and it is presently -6°F or -21°C, he would not have survived.  So he'll join Audrey's territory and I'll hope they get along.

I know he isn't Audrey because his spot coloration is different (hers is a light yellowish tan, his is a saturated orange), and he has bushier eyebrows - thus leading me to suspect he's a he.  I have christened him Brooks, due to his rather wet arrival.

My New Phidippus Audax Roommate!

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Happy holidays!  Here to celebrate with me is my new spider friend, Audrey.  She's a bold jumping spider (Phidippus audax).  She must have hitched a ride indoors with me when I relocated all my plants in for the winter, but she's preferred to maintain a very low profile and only popped out recently (and only for two days).  There's a whole small ecosystem going on with my outdoor/indoor plants - there are ants, and beetles, and mites, and spiders... I could nuke them all with neem oil or diatomaceous earth, but as long as they aren't harming me or causing significant damage to my plants, I like being able to support the local fauna and they in turn pollinate my plants or like Audrey keep them safe from pest species.  I watched her hunt for prey on at least ten different plants, but due to the way in which I've set up my collection, I couldn't get clear photos on her on most of them.  The best photos of Audrey are of her posing atop my Matucana madisoniorum which serendipitously was in bloom at the time!  I also have a couple okay photos of her on my Anacampseros rufescens.

More Houseplant and Insect Visitor Photos!

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Here are my October 2017 notable houseplant moments and visitors!  The photos are respectively of flowering Ariocarpus fissuratus, Duvalia sulcata, Euphorbia francoisii, Mammillaria schiedeana still in bloom (it lasted two months!), Mammillaria plumosa, Stapelia gettleffii, and then a stick insect and a moth pretending to be a fallen leaf while visiting a Pilocereus.

Confluence of Expression's Wildlife Exhibition held at Green Door Art Gallery

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My painting City Solstice has been awarded Honorable Mention at Confluence Art Gallery's 2017 Wildlife Arts and Photography Exhibition.  For this juried show, there were 121 artworks submitted for consideration by 79 artists. Jurors Lisa Ober and Dana Holm selected 56 artworks by 31 artists for the online exhibition, and selected 18 artworks including my own for awards and inclusion in the Green Door Art Gallery exhibition outside of St. Louis.

Green Door Art Gallery is in Webster Groves, MO.  The exhibition is open Wednesday-Sunday 10am-5pm from November 8 through December 30, 2017.  For more information, please call (314) 325-6130.

Houseplant and Insect Visitor Photos!

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All of these houseplant and insect visitor photos were taken in September 2017 - I'll make separate posts for October and November pictures!  The plants in question are (in order): Hoya carnosa compacta, Mammillaria schiedeana, Parodia mairanana, Stapelia gettlleffii, Stapelia schinzii var. angolensis, Ariocarpus retusus var. furfuraceus, Gymnocalycium mihanovichii, Gymnocalycium ragonesei, and Dracaena marginata tricolor.  The insects in question are respectively a Redfooted Cannibal Fly (Promachus rufipes), a bumblebee pollinating the Hoya carnosa compacta flowers, a tan moth, and a praying mantis I named Vladimir (after Saint Vladimir) on a Dracaena marginata tricolor.  You can click on any of the thumbnails to see a larger version of the photo.

A Selection of Readings

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