Reflections...on the rest of the first week back

Reflections…On The Rest of the First Week Back Hi all

OK so I have now had all but one of my classes that I will have this semester. I’m equally excited and nervous for all of them, except one, but I’ll get to that… On Wednesday I had kind of an insane day. I had my first jewelry class with a new teacher (new to me, not the program). I’m not going to lie, this teacher is the most intimidating jewelry teacher in the program.  I think this is just because I don’t know him or haven't gotten used to his teaching style, which seems to be a bit tougher and a bit more hands off then I’m used to, but with only one class it’s hard to say for sure. The more exciting thing on Wednesday was the Reflection jewelry show. This was a gallery show that celebrated the CCA Jewelry/Metal program that is turning 100 this year! The Jewelry department worked really hard to pull this show together and it’s a great show. There are jewelry or metal pieces from almost all of the faculty in the program over the past 100 years, and also a few pieces from graduates over the years.

The opening was great, the whole department was there plus lots of people from the SF Jewelry community. We are really one of the only jewelry schools in the area, so almost all jewelers in the area have had some contact or connections with CCA – so that’s a lot of people. I was introduced to a ton of people, it was great networking, one of the things that make CCA’s Jewelry department so great is the large community and the connections that come with being part of that. For instance, I was very briefly introduced to the head of the Velvet Da Vinci gallery. This gallery is one of the best most elite jewelry galleries in the WORLD. If you make it in there you have made it as a jeweler, and lucky for me the gallery is located in SF and the head went to CCA as a undergrad.  So that was insane. After the opening there was a lecture given by Jack daSilva about the history of the teaching at CCA and the Jewelry Program. If you're interested, here is a link to a page that talks about the show and the slideshow images. Overall a fun Day. On Thursday I only have a history class in the evening. Looking at the course outline it looks like a straight up standard European history class, in fact it sounds like AP Euro but less cool. The teacher is this older guy with blond highlights and “young” jeans. He talked a lot about the Western vs. the Chinese point of view. Everything was fine, I was liking the class until he announced that he did not allow computer use in his classes… Um…I have never had a teacher tell me that at CCA. I talked to him about it after class he was really reluctant to allow me to take notes on the computer, he demanded I bring him my disability form when I get them next week. It looks like the notes won’t be a huge deal after I give him the paper, however he is currently denying me the right to take the midterm and final on the computer, he just can't seem to wrap his head around the idea that he does not have a choice. Both exams are essay based. I have never in my whole school career handwritten a history essay test, I took the SAT on a computer, both of my AP exams on a computer and even the WASL once on a computer. Its in the paper work, he’s just going to have to deal with it, but it means this whole class is going to be a uphill battle. I’m not sure if its worth it, I’m looking into switching out. On Friday I have a six hour class called “Intro to Interactions Designs”. I tried to take this class two semesters ago and had to drop after the second class because I just had too much to do. So this class this time around was a basically a review of everything I did two semester ago, so it was easy. This is a computer based class but different than the last one I took, it’s going to focus a lot more on design then on the electronic side. I will be using Photoshop and Illustrator quite a lot in this class which means I will (hopefully) be learning some skills on these programs. That means there is only one class that I have not been to, and that’s my six hour class on Monday; School to market - I’m excited for it but I think it will be a really long class. Ill be sure to tell you more about this class when i know a bit more about it. This semester I’m going continue to work on keeping my diet healthy, and I’m hoping to start working out on a more regular basis, I think I may sign up for a yoga, pilates, dance, or some other kind of class. Its going to depend on what I can get to easily, fits into my schedule and fits in my budget. On the food side I’m going to start trying to pack my lunch (and sometimes dinner) for when I’m in school. This will be healthier and WAY cheaper as I’m not eating out at the few places around that I can eat at (all expensive) so I’m going to start making Bento – this is a type of Japanese style lunch, similar to a kids packed lunch but more grown up, better tasting and healthier  (they also have all kinds of really really cute boxes) to really understand the process and jump start my food making skills I bought what is one of the most well reviewed books in the community, The Just Bento cookbook.

Wish me well on my new lunch box adventure!

Art School Math...

Art School Math Class and impressions of being back on campus I only have one class on Tuesdays and that’s a class called “Math, Programing and Art. Me and this class started out on the wrong foot before I even reached campus. See, the class is scheduled to take place in somewhere called SCTR. I have never heard of SCTR, this campus is small and I have been in every building on it so I had to ask someone in the Irwan hall (the admin. building on campus) turns out I was standing in SCTR, apparently they renamed the building last semester and didn't really tell anyone. The SC stands for Student Center and I'm still not sure what the TR Stands for but, at least I found the class.

An art school math class is going to be one of two things; Its either going to be really really intense for the crazy smart artist who are probably in some computer major where they get to do math for fun or (and most likely) its going to pretend to be a math class so that people will be able to pass it and still get credit...because, well, lets face it, you don't come to an art school for the math class, (or any academic subject) and I was partly right, it counts as a math class but its really a straight up Computer coding class. The class will be teaching processing and it turns out its on the interaction design program so I'm one of three or four non-majors in the class. Its a bit intimidating but I’m sure I’ll learn a ton. It’s not going to be a very easy class though, I have done a bit of programming in the past and always found it frustrating and very hard but I was mainly trying to do it on my own and maybe being in a class with set assignments and dedicated tutors will help.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day, not only do I have my first jewelry class with the one teacher I have never had, there is also a major jewelry gallery opening for the centennial of CCA’s Jewelry program. There’s a lecture after that, so that will be exciting, but a lot to do. I’ll let you all know how it goes but I may not post for a couple of days while I try to get adjusted and everything.

But enough with school, I'm going to say that the best thing about being back in California is unsurprisingly the weather, now I'm not in shorts or anything (this is the bay area, not LA people)  but I am sitting outside with only one coat and my fingers have not turned numb yet. I mean for January thats pretty great.

-Katie

Back for Second Semester (Spring 2013)

Hi everyone,

well I’m really sorry I never managed to get a wrap up post for the end of last semester up. but now that we are all the way up to the start of the new semester I feel its better to move forward and stay current (well as close as possible) so I’m just going to say I’m glad its done and I managed to finish with all A’s.

I had a great winter break, my winter break is really really long I have been hanging out in Seattle for just over a month! I have managed to do just about everything that I planed to over the break and got plenty of sleep. Christmas was wonderful, it was great to see the whole family (well almost all the family) and I have always loved the holiday time. I got to go on a nice and short Christmas cruse, (with no sea sickness Yhea!!) and a lovely Denmark themed Christmas eve dinner (the duck was great) 

I had a great time seeing all my friends that I have missed so much! in fact I was having so much fun I never took any photos! almost all mu friends started school on the 7th so I have about two weeks all to myself where I could get everything I had wanted to get done over the break (well not everything but just about) I re-arranged my room, sorted out the families tech problems, made some great gluten free food, did some much needed shopping, set up a Pintrest account and started pinning, and finished two sets of cuff links and stud sets for my dads birthday.

I also got some good and bad news from my doctor. I don’t have celice, I’m just highly sensitive to all gluten grains (that would be wheat, barley, and Rye and Spelt) this is a big relief as it means that my body just doesn’t get along very well with gluten and not actively trying to destroy my small intestine. I had a big allergy test taken as even with cutting out all Gluten I was still having some problems and the results were a bit surprising, they showed that I’m allergic to all forms of Dairy (including goat) which I knew. the gluten of corse and surprisingly eggs, Mushrooms and Hazelnut.  its not the worst news I could get but it adds a third complication into my already completed diet. On the advice of my Doc. I am going off eggs completely for six to eight weeks to see if my symptoms improve and then I will see if I can tolerate any eggs at all (I have a small tolerance to dairy depending on the dairy and more import the amount) so I’m going to guess that I have some tolerance to eggs too. Since its the start of a new year and a new semester I’m also going to renew my efforts to work out, but then again I think just about everyone says that so… 

goodbye eggs, and I was just starting to like you

 I will be heading back to Oakland on Monday(today) and school starts on Tuesday, I’m cutting it rather close but then again I don’t start classes until Tuesday afternoon and really I don’t have a ton to do there anyway. I am taking five classes (like normal) this semester and I’m not really anticipation things being any easer this semester, but I think the class timing will be better and since my classes are all in Oakland so I won’t have to worry about checking a shuttle to SF every week. they are listed here starting Monday and working through the week.

Monday/Wednesday from 12 to 3pm I have Jewelry 2B with a teacher I have never had before so it will be a new experience. 2B just means that its a continuation of Jewelry 2A. I think 2B focus on chasing and recusay, I’ll tell you all what that means when I have a better idea of what it means.

Monday form 7:15 to 10:15pm I have School to Market witch is co-taught by one of my farvout jewelry teachers, and one of the textile teachers (who I don’t know) It should be a interesting class all about the art selling system (how to get in galleries, how all that works) and a bit on business and marketing. its going over all the things that you should do the day after you graduate, its largely self directed so that will be a bit of a change but also a welcome opturnity.   

Tuesday from 12 to 3pm  I have math, programing, and art – its a math class that’s going to try to use computers and art to teach us, I’m not holding out much hope for it to be interesting but we will see.

Thursday from 7:15 to 10:15pm I will have a class called Modern Western Outlook. I think its history but not really sure of anything more then that.

Friday from 9:00 to 3:00 I have Intro to interaction design. this is the class I tried to take last spring semester but had to drop as I was taking to many classes. it should be interesting and I’m looking forward to it but I’m also a bit hesitant because I’m coming into the class with a completely different skill set then what most of them will have (this could be good or bad but either way its different.)

none of my classes start before 12 except the Friday class at 9, and only one meets more then once a week (Jewelry 2B) this means lots of the work will be self directed (and that getting up on Friday is going too be hard again.)

the semester is going to start will a bang in the jewelry program, I think I have mentioned it once before that this year is the 100th year that the jewelry program has been running at CCA and therefor they are doing a bunch of cool sentinel things, this semester will open will a gallery show of jewelry made by graduates and past and present jewelry teachers at CCA. There will also be a series of lectures about the program and the future of jewelry and CCA starting off with a lecture about the history of jewelry at CCA on Wednesday, I’m sure it will be interesting.  

I will be trying to update the blog once a week (that’s right once a week) they will be shorter but more frequent. I hope you will all stick with me and follow along.

November Update!!

I have been so bad at updating, I’m really sorry. i'm sorry I have not been blogging but everything has been so crazy! my class’s this year have really ramped up in the amount of work and effort needed. its a weird pattern i noticed sophomore year is always hard it was in high school and so it is in college. however i would like to give you an update on my classes and projects and also relay some observations on the second year of Art school.

so Halloween have now past, it was quite quiet. I got to carve a pumpkin, see some of my classmates in crazy costumes and go to the allergist. Supper Supper fun. Here's my Pumpkin and here are the crazy eyelashes i put on in lieu of a costume.

Its a bit odd but art school is seeming a lot more normal. Now that I have been here for three semesters its all just seeming normal. I no longer blink a eye at the guy in the top hat, or what about the girl in huge combat boots, fishnets, and a leopard print vest. this kind of makes me wonder however if i should blink a eye on the one hand, you can not deny the strangeness, but strangeness is not really wrong. we should not be judged on our strangeness although i don't think i was judging before, more making a note. Whatever the reason i was noticing and now i don't really, i see the person and then i let it go. I also find myself looking past the random art projects on campus, to be fair there have not been a lot of random art projects and two I’m not on campus as much and three, seeing the random art projects whall really fun and a nice surprise it still takes time (something i never have) and energy (see the note on time) . I marvel at how my classmates seem to find the time to party, and then spend the rest of the next day hung over. how do they have the time! because I sure dont between school work, feeding myself and keeping up on chores and housework. I want a chance to look at their schedules to see where they find the time, maybe they don't sleep....that would give me more time...

class wrap up!

Ok lets start with the class i have next

Futuner class - the class is going fine. its just... well I have kind of started to dread everything having to do with this class. out of the whole week Friday is the day i get up the earliest to chech the ridiculously early shuttle at 7:10 for my class at 9:00. if this were any day but a friday a separate shuttle would run at 8:20 giving me plenty of time, but the 8;20 shuttle does not run on Fridays so i'm at school almost two hours early. Not the best way to start a friday. and then theres the class itself. for one its five hours long, with a 30 minute lunch. Not Ok. then theres the woodshop itself. I don't really like the woodshop, I don't feel in my element in there. its odd i have never felt as uncomfortable in any studio as i do in the SF woodshop. I  have no idea why this is, it could be that I just have not spent a lot of time there, it could be that i have just felt comfortable in all the other studios and I just don't get that here. i think part of that is that i'm not a woodworker, i'm not bad at it i just don't instantly understand what i should be doing as i do in the jewelry/metal studio. its not all bad though, I really know that what I am learning will be super helpful later on, and im really excited for my table to be done. just look how pretty my wood looks now that its all cleaned up.

I chose to make the table out of walnut. it was the right choice.

this is going to be the wood on the top of the table isn't the grain on these boards just marvelous!

and am I glad that I only had to do three glue ups, unlike some of my classmates who had tons.

English 2 - all’s fine. should talk about the teacher and class some other time, there are some interesting things worth mentioning.

Workshop class- we have dived into the world of  Arduino - you can do a ton of cool stuff with it, but its got a steep learning curve. and we have started the final project, i'm thinking of a necklace that changes color when someone approaches, but its still a idea.

Media History Jewelry Metal - way interesting! just finished the second paper for the class soon. *Sigh* but did you know that a quarter of the worlds gold is in india as jewelry. well now you do. like I said way cool. I should also talk about the teacher of this class soon as he was once described to me as the crazy uncle of the jewelry department. :)

Jewelry 2A - so busy i have been working on my bank project all week but i feel like i'm getting nowhere! we have a progress crit already where i got a lot of good feedback and (thank the heavens) marilyn decided to push the deadline back to the end of the semester and cancel the final project!! so this is it for the sysmaster.

here is one side of my bank project all ready to have amber set and get pin backs - Finally! now I have to do the other side of the project.

Ok well I think thats it for now hopefully i will be able to post again soon. oh and also i will be coming back home for thanksgiving! I'm counting down the days see you then!

A change in the weather...brings me a cold.

So i have a cold i have had it all week and its getting in the way of me getting stuff done *sigh* and the weather's changed. its no longer shorts and sandals weather,  more like jeans and a coat weather. so all thats a bit of a bummer but onto happy things. there are some nice things i would like to talk about. the first is that at this moment i am eating a cinnamon roll, a real cinnamon roll with icing and everything, and i am eating it without fear of a headache afterwards or stomach issues because it has no gluten! (although now that i think about it it probably has some milk but i'm going to ignore that for now...) turns out that a local gluten free bakery is less than 10 minutes from where i live. its called Mariposa bakery.  they make all gluten free bake goods, that are good. they do a really good focaccia. the cinnamon roll is good too and they even do a bake your own set. I also had their tea cookies which were fantastic. so i'm quite lucky and i can guarantee that  this will become a weekly destination.  I'm excited to try all there stuff including their pies and cakes.

we have also moved on in classes, we are really working on the projects i want to be working on. working on something that you really care about, makes a huge difference. the bank box is coming along well I have made the three plant shapes and am starting on setting the amber.  heres a photo of  the amber arranged on the shapes as they will be set in the final piece.

There is also small loops on the end now that is not in the photo which allow a space for a chain . i’m going to start the vessel shapes next!

before the bank project got into full swing just to keep myself amused i was working on two small pieces. which are now finished and ready to be worn. the first one is a kind of fun necklace using up some of the extra pearls from a old project and the second is a ring. this ring will be in the upcoming ring show that is being held at CCA called 360. this ring will be one of (hopefully ) three hundred and sixty rings. thought i would give you a few photos of these too.

my other classes are going well too, I would love to give you update on the table but there is none thanks to the cold. (hopefully I will make some progress this week) I have a essay due next week for english and one for media history a week after that.  so I’m getting my typing fingers ready!

until next time :)

the last few weeks...

Hi everyone,sorry its been so long since my last post but things have been CRAZY here. I love all my classes, which is great but means that I have no easy classes. so all my classes have a ton of work! and on top of that I’m moving forward with my new gluten free, dairy free diet. Its been a challenge i'm teaching myself how to eat and cool again. I can't really tell you i feel a ton better the amount of headaches has gone down but that's about it, however now whenever i do have some gluten, i can feel it. so i thought i would give you all a brief overview of everything i have been up to in the past few weeks. class by class, as my life revolves around school.

Media history - this class remains fascinating, I mean how could this not be great! we jump around in history but its always interesting. I just finished up the first big paper for the class, we were supposed to pick one piece of historical metal work. I chose my favorite of the imperial Faberge eggs. I could take about this all day but instead i will just show you a photo and tell you that that they are all really cool but i like this one because of the really cute story that goes with it.

here is a few paragraphs from the essay i wrote about the egg explaining the basic facts about the egg and the story behind it.

The Rosebud egg was made in 1895 under the supervision of Peter Carl Faberge and made by Michael Perchin. It was the first egg commissioned by Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, and the eleventh imperial egg made by Faberge. It was presented to his new wife Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna on their first Easter together. Standing at just over seven inches high, the egg is covered with translucent red enamel over a guilloche pattern. The egg is then divvied into four panels running up the length of the egg.  Each of the dividing lines is set with diamonds, in each of the panels there is green gold Laura garlands twined around a stylized arrow. The arrow is also adorned in diamonds to match the diamond borders and topped off with red gold ribbons and finally pinned with a diamond. This pervading a decorative element and a strong symbolic element as well, showing the love of the young couple.  On both the top and bottom of the egg is a small clear table diamond. Under the diamond on top is a miniature portrait of Nicholas II and on the bottom the year of the egg, 1895 When the top of the egg is opened a closed yellow rose bud is revealed. Made out of yellow enameled petals and green leaves the petals are hinged to open, allowing the second surprise of the egg to be placed in the center. It is thought that the second surprise was a gold crown set with diamonds and rubies and a cabochon ruby pendant. However they have unforly been lost and the only evidence of them are an inventory taken in 1909 and an old archival photo taking around 1935. At the presation of the egg to Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna the young royal couple had only been married for three months however having known each other for a long time they were very close and very much in love.  The new Tsarina was unconformable in Russia surrounded by unfamiliar customs and people. She was also very homesick and reported missing the famous German rose garden called “Rosenhöhe” the rosebud egg was there for meant as a comfort to the new bride.

English - going fine, we have been reading the “best of” essay’s that come out every year. its a standard English class not much to say really.

Craft workshop- This is that kind of odd class, we have finally started working and last class i made a led that turns on when it gets dark, way cool. its in a prototype board right now but I just attached it to a cool lamp, that I made out of copper mess and paper. its due tonight so here are the photos of the light it turns on when it gets dark, and I kind of meant it to be a night light, I think it came off rather well.

Intro to futuner - we have started working! my band-saw box is almost done i just have to inlay the copper into the top and stain the whole thing. I will post a photo next time when its done. but what's more exciting is we have bought the wood for the tables, I picked out three really nice pieces of walnut. we are buying wood that has not been milled yet so its still really rough and not even and everything and we have to do all that ourselves. I made sure to get some extra so that i will have plenty to make a box for my jewelry project.  i'm making a folding tray table for my project here's a photo of the full scale drawings. I am going to do the hinges in metal.

Jewelry 2A - we finished the last project (the thimble) and i was going to spend a full post on it but i never finished it so i'm just going to give you a little info on how this was made and of course photos!

Thimble have a long history in the jewelry world as they were used for practical purposes and as decorative items, there are thousands of personalized thimbles. the assignment was to make a thimble to commemorate a person or event. my first thought was to do Lillian Gilbreth but after a week with no clear ideas I switched to Ada lovelace. I'm so happy i did i think it turned out well and while im not crazy about it, its not bad for only one week to work on it.

Like I said it could be done better but its not too bad. I'm glad that projects done so that i can now move onto the main project of this class. the really hard and famous (at least in the major) Bank project.

we have now moved on to the bank project and I finally have a plan for what i want to do. I don't think I have talked about this project yet. it’s HUGE. it is said to be the hardest project in jewelry, like the whole four year is this project. the time strand is huge, the expectations are bigger and the whole thing is gigantic!!!. the requirements are so simple its a bit dispective.  you are making a bank for something. funnily enough no one has ever done a money bank.  it has to have a concept and two ways into it, a deposit and withdrawal. a box with a lid is not going to cut it. there has to be something physical as the currency, the idea can be very conceptual but there still has to be a real representation. now these things are somewhat flexible such as the two entrances into the piece, if your idea is good enough or if you're doing a set of pieces like i am then you don't have to have that. they can be made out of metal and a combination of anything else. they can be worn, set on the table, hung from the ceiling, or whatever you want.

so i'm doing a set of pieces in silver, I wanted to do something around the seed, Like you all know I love plants. we were asked to think of things we collect, i don't really collect a ton of things what came into mind was my doorknob collection (its still small) my puzzle box collection (even smaller) my nail polish collection (its huge) and how I impulse buy plants. i can't collect plants her but i still like them one thing i can keep are the seeds, easy to transport and have the promises of a real plant later.  so i'm drawing inspiration from that and also from these diagrams used in bonitey to identify the structure of a plant these are the basic ones, but there are tons of variations.

they will be three broochs each with two parts. one with be a representation of one of the diagrams from above and then a larger version of the seed on the other side connected with a chain. there will be a way to open each “seed” to put in the seeds. I know it may sound a bit confusing but it will become clearer as I keep working on them.  I have ordered my supplies and its on its way I should start construction soon!

now that I’m done with school (haha I’m never done) I will move onto the next biggest part of my life, going gluten free. now that its been over a month i have managed to get over myself with the whole, OH GOD I WILL NEVER EAT BREAD AGAIN REAL BREAD!!! thing (well kind of...) its hard but i'm moving forward i have attempted two baked items without gluten and they both came out fine and were no harder than the gluten filled treats I used to make. I have found some great blogs and some cookbooks that I hope to order soon. so i'm working on it. I'm really glad that i wasn't diagnosed even 5 years ago because there are so many new products and a great online support system out there on the web now.  I'm going to include some links to some of my favorite blogs about being gluten free and stuff.

One)    and love it to. this blog is not huge but some great recipes and some good lunch ideas, I’m planning to buy one of her books soon. the Gluten free Asian Kitchen

Two) Gluten free reviews. this place is awesome. there are a ton gluten free products out now and some are great and some not so great its nice to be able to find new products with a review attached  this site turned me onto my replacement Luna bars - Pure organic bars and Kind bars. Life savers when i'm going to be in the studio all day.

three) Gluten free girl is based in Seattle which is cool, there are a ton of good recipes and seasonal recipes on this site, plus just a ton of information. looking through the site you don't really miss the wheat flour all the much.

Four) elanas pantry is great too, she does everything with almond flour, I have not made anything from this site yet because i need to order the flour she uses. I hope to buy her cupcake book soon

when i was going through all this i also ran into one other really cool blog its not gluten free but the women is a chef in Seattle who also has food intolerance's (to garlic)  so kind of on the list and kind of not is chef reinvented

Anyway hope to talk to you all soon. - Katie

more on classes and starts on projects!

(Sorry this is a full week late. Hopefully I will soon be caught up on all the posts) - KatieWe are heading into the second week of classes and we have started projects in all of them, or at least by this point we have started to get down to what we are going to be spending the rest of the semester doing. I so much prefer when a class has really started to move. We are done with all the introducing ourselves and have gotten the basic facts out of the way! First, a comment on e-books. People either seem to hate them or accept them for the features they provide. I have never run across a person who loves e-books; its really hard to love a digital file. Its not like owning a book, sometimes I love the physical book as much as the story. That being said, I love my e-book reader because of the practically and the functionality it brings me. I’m a college kid, and I’m also a huge reader. When I was in high school I read about a book a week, that has changed to about a book every three weeks in college. If i were to get all of those in printed form my room would be full and moving would be more of a nightmare. I could get them from the library, but lets be real, I have never had luck doing this. I get too attached. I'm also very weak willed when denying myself that new bestseller THAT I JUST MUST READ NOW AND NO, I CAN'T WAIT A MONTH ON THE WAITLIST! My Nook (my ereader of choice) is always by my side. It’s in my backpack everyday, its on my nightstand, its in my purse when I go anywhere (I do mean everywhere, including school functions, soccer games, and yes, partys).  I can always have something to read, no matter where I am. When this relates back to a school book, you would think that’s a good thing. If I can get the book you want me to have and read for your class it will be with me, I will read the homework you assigned when I have a good time to do so, maybe between my bus ride and my class. Because of this, I will not put it off and end up reading it right before class. But no, all the teachers cry, you will then not be giving your reading the analysis and the critical thinking that it deserves, you can't write in the margins and highlight things for later. This just shows they are outdated in their thinking, as I can do all of that and more; there is a highlight, note, and bookmark function on my Nook and even the Kindle. This also brings up the point that even if it was not an ebook, there is no way I am going to write in the margins. I hate that, a pen is not going to touch that page, something about that just seems so wrong, so that cancels that out. Then there’s the objection that if I’m reading the book when I bring it to class, for all the teacher knows, I could be sitting there and reading something else. This might have been somewhat valid objection in high school with 24+ people in a class, but for our classes that usually max at 16-18, you can tell when someone is not engaged and has no idea where the conversation is going. My final point is that most (not all, but a lot) of the books you are given to read in class are older, they are established reads, and when a book gets older it gets cheaper, or often goes into the PUBLIC DOMAIN. Oh how i love public domain, it means the ebook is free, or if you want it with a bit of work (interesting footnotes and such) it’s really cheap. This is wonderful for a book I'm being forced to read in class (I don’t mean the book is necessarily bad, I may enjoy it, but I'm still being forced to read it). The best price is free! For all of these reasons I get a bit frustrated when a teacher bans us from getting their chosen texts in ebook form. They just make my life harder, and therefore their assigned homework harder to accomplish, not their goal and not what I want either, so no one wins.

Now that that’s all out of the way here’s the better stuff;

Like I have said, I am enjoying all my classes., In Jewelry II our first project is due next week. I told you all about it, it’s to make a thimble and a display for it. At the time of the last blog post i was going to do Lillian Gilbreth, a women I really love to learn about and really admire. However I have reached the conclusion that a thimble is not enough space to represent her as a full person, I needed someone a bit more focused. Instead I’m doing Ada Lovelace – a person who has much to recommend her (to find out more about the person who was called “The Enchantress of Numbers” click here). I have the design and how I'm going to make it all worked out but I'm still not set on a display yet… I will do a whole blog post later on the process and the project, so never fear, I will explain how to make a thimble. History’s going well, really interesting but not a lot to say on that. English is going well too, although its not really going to push me at all, so far it’s been similar to my senior high school class. My workshop class is fantastic, but weird, for instance we have now had a lecture on hacking Ikea stuff and a random overview of a ton of different materials and how to use them. I’m not really going to try to describe it because it will just sound weird. I will blog about it when I have something to show you all. In furniture  we are starting our band saw box its a very standard opening project just to give us a low stakes way to get us on the tools and such. I have also found the kind of table I want to do. I’m going to make a really nice, functional, and collapsible lap desk. I know that much but I’m still playing around with design and hinges and so forth, but will give you images when I can.

On a last note during a walk around the neighborhood I found that there is a little stream that goes through a few blocks down from the house and there is a kind of walking tour art project on it. It consisted of these large monuments that when you look though you see some small sculpture by the pond of a kind of native animal.

They look a bit old and not all of them work well, but my favorite is this one with the snake, it looks so real, but trust me, its metal.

Until next time – Katie

Homework, Classes, and Gluten

Hi everyone - So this is the first weekend after school started and man, the teachers are not easing us back into college life. I have a ton of homework! At least its all interesting.  There have been a few changes since my last post. For one, I dropped the Form and Space class, it was not any better the second day, and the things that were being covered were not what I thought would be covered. Instead I have switched to an all day Friday Furniture class. There are some downsides to this class, like the fact that I have to now get up and catch the shuttle at 7:20 to arrive on time to my 9:00 class.The shuttle does not run that often on Fridays, and if I was to try and get their on my own it would take over an hour. It does promise to be an interesting class and I will be getting all the basic wood shop stuff.. There is really only one project to the whole class as working in wood takes a while. We will all be making a table, not a large table, we don’t have the time/space/money to do that so think more end tables, bedside tables, and coffee tables.The other two classes I have not told you guys about would be my English class, and my Workshop class. My English class looks like its going to really be a English class, we are going to be reading lots of non-fiction essays, and doing a fair amount of essay writing, and the teacher looks like he will be interesting. The workshop class is going to be awesome! First a few notes, a workshop class at CCA takes a few majors and puts them in a class with a kind of theme (such as Fabrication) one is required for a jewelry major. This class is even a bit weirder than most Workshop classes because  the other department (Besides jewelry) does not really exist. I was introduced to the two people who run this non-department late last year when I was talking to the head of the Interaction department. He got me in touch with them and I was invited to drop by and meet them. Its one large room in the animation department on the Oakland campus. You kind of enter through this tunnel of random stuff, such as wires, small motors, rusting grates and for some reason (maybe a pop of color) fake flowers. The end of the room is divided in two. The lower part houses several nice updated Mac computers and a large desk, and the second part of the room is a raised gallery that goes along one wall, which is crammed with stuff. This is where you get sent if you want to do something with computers and hydraulics and whatever art you already do. They have a room, two people on staff and even a budget, even though they are not an official department. I found out that they call themselves Department 51 (HaHa). Anyway, the class is taught in conjunction with 51 and the Jewelry department (David Cole) it looks like its going to be a really cool class, not sure what we will be doing, but our first project is a crash course in basic electronics and we are going to start by redesigning an Ikea lamp. So there is promise for this one and its worth being in such a late class. The other big news this week is after a blood test run by my doctor, I have found out that I have a very bad wheat allergy (you know, to keep my dairy allergy company). I was very upset when I found out, maybe more upset than was required. But this came as a shock and will be a huge life change. I love all the foods that I can no longer eat. I know that lots of people live a gluten free and even gluten and dairy free life. I also know I will feel better. I know there are substitutions and that there is still plenty of food I can eat. I know that I will  be healthier than the average American.  I also know that my food bill will be more expensive. I know that eating out will get harder then it was before. I know that I will miss my bread (as i know it) and Pasta (as i know it). I know all this and its still going to be hard. Its going to take time to get used to the idea that I will never really be able to eat wheat again, so until then I’m trying to deal with this by doing other things, looking at all the foods I can eat, and dealing with it one day at a time.

Me and rice are now best friends

Now that its been a few days, I’m starting to see the world has not ended and that things could be worse and really this will be OK after a while , however I still have moments where I realize that I will never eat something again, such as Baklava or girl scout cookies, or most cookies for that matter. So its going to be hard. I also said that last post I would talk about where i am living this year. I’m living off campus in a lovely house just a few blocks from campus. I’m renting a back bedroom, with a bathroom and a separate office space in the attic. On Sundays a few blocks over, there’s a farmers market. There are also two dogs. Does this beat the dorms? Oh yeah! So here’s my room, its not the best photo, the carpet is really brown, not the olive color it appears in the photo. Here's the other side of the room and my little desk area that I mainly use to put on my make-up. The spice rack on the left is actually in the kitchen. Here’s my office area. Just look at that nice new desk and chair, and now that you have all had the tour, I would like to note that you’re free to send me stuff here but I’m not posting the address on here (its a open blog after all and that’s just a stupid move on my part) you are free to call or text me or my parents as they will be more than happy to pass it on. – Katie

P.S - you might have noticed I have changed the look of the blog what do you think?

Greetings from Oakland

(This post was delayed in production it was written about a week ago, but that's OK :) ) Hi everyone its the start of the new school year. I'm now on semester three of my college experience. its the third day of classes and I have had all of then by now and some of them twice. So far everything's seeming to be working out great. but lets back up to the end of last year, my last post promesses a wrap up of my impressions from year one. I never got around to that as i got busy enjoying being back in Seattle. I feel however that this is still a good thing to reflect back on  my last year as I start my second year.

My First year was a mixed bag, and I'm going to say more bad then good. It was hard leaving Seattle, I never realized how much I loved the place I grew up in until I left and it was hard moving away, harder then I thought it would be. I missed my family, i missed my house and i missed my freainds who for the most part were all havering a great time back in Seattle at the University of Washton or a community college in the area.  I felt stuck down here missing out on all the fun things and normal college life my freainds were having without me. I also found out that you are capable of missing a entire city. I had no idea that it was possible to miss a whole city. I mean i missed even the things i don't really like about Seattle, like the bus system. I think the move was so hard for two reasons, one I have never lived anywhere except Seattle, anywhere i would have gone would have been hard because of that. the second reason is that CCA largely is a commuter school, sure there are freshman dorms on campus but there new and by in large, most people live off campus in Oakland or the bay area. the school does not have a community, not really. there are no clubs, there are no communal dining hall so there is really very little sence of a community around the school, I think the feeling of CCA is closer to a community college then a university or even a small school.  In fact I think that there was more of a community at my high school then there is here. For someone like me a person who gets on well with people but is really a introvert it was hard to meet people, even harder to meet people that I atchely would want to be freainds with. It wasent all bad tho, My classes (- one or two) were great. I lived for my classes, I was finally getting the instruction and support in my work and art education that I really wanted. Something that I knew I could not get back in Seattle (trust me, I looked. a lot). I am in one of the best jewelery/metal programs in the USA (also one of the longest running programs - this year marks the 100 year jewelry has been offered at CCA!) on top of that the bay area is humming with technology, if something new is happing in the tech world it probley started or is based somewhere around here. This would include Apple, Google, pixar, and Adobe as just a start, that's really exciting to be around. So most of last year I was torn. Socially being here sucked, but education wise, and corear wise this is the place I have to be.  I think this year will be better so far it looks as if all my classes are going to be great. I'm out of the dorms witch is awesome on so many levels (yea good nights sleep, having a real kitchen and not being surrounded my crazy artist who think its great fun to run yelling down the hall at 3 in the morning.) I think I will start to really get involved in my jewelry department and get to know the people there better, along with the tech people on campus (the students not the staff). I'm still not ruling out the possibility of  transfuring schools there are several that are more of a standered college with great jewlery programs on the east cost, but for now I'm here and going to try to make the most of it.

I'm also going to give you a little update on my Summer. Witch was long and awesome. I went back to Seattle as soon as I could, My dad drove down to pick up me and lots of my stuff and then we had a nice three day drive back part of the way on the cost.

(A beach on the way)

lots of my freainds were still in school but that was fine i hung out on campus with them and pretend to be a normal college student. Some highlights were checking up with my best Friends,  Feeding a Graff during a large joint Zoo birthday, 

working in my garden witch even thought it was kind of cold all winter did well, and getting all my jewelry photographed by a good freands and great photographer,

along with getting all the hard stuff done for my NEW website (also hosed by Wordpress!) that will act as a online portfolio (Its not up yet but I will tell you all when it is!)

Now back to this school year, as i said above i have had all my classes by now. Heres my schuagle   it looks a bit weird but I think I will like it. Notice that I don't have any class on Friday (Three day Weekends every week!), and i have morning classes all the rest of the days. I'm a bit wearid in the fact that I like having morning classes, if i don't i will not get up and then i don't get anything done and feel lazy.

the First class I had on Tuesday I was almost late to, not a great start to the year but in my defense i had just found out that i could join it 20 minuets before it started so... Its Media history, every major (just about) has one I'm not surprising taking the history of jewelry. I have never had the teacher although he is one of the jewelry teachers, but i will be having him a lot this semester as if you look at the schuagle  he also co-teachers the workshop class. the class only has jewelry majors in it witch is kind of cool and looks like it will be interesting but a bit hard as there is going to be a ton of reading to go with it. its also going to be really broad as there is a TON of history to jewelry, Jewelry is the first form of abstract ideas put into practice, it came before cave paintings. So there a lot of significant history there.

the class after that on Tuesdays/Thursdays is Jewelry Two A, taught by Marilyn DaSilva who taught my intro jewelry class and happens to be the head of department, I'm excited to have her again but the class is huge like 17 people, im thinking a few might drop but for now its a full class - not everyone is a jewelry major although there are some new people to my year and a few that are just repeating for whatever reasons. the class only has three projects but as you can emmagain they are big deal projects, and we have already started on the first called the Thimble project, the idea is to make a thimble (working or not) for someone famous (sorry mom I was going to make a thimble for you but...) some of the people who have been done in the past are lady Gaga, Emelia Earhart and the guy who invented mining lanterns. I think im going to do Lillian Moller Gilbreth (Click on her name if you want the Wiki page) she was a really awesome and busy lady, somewhat obscure and will allow me to make a functional thimble (hey mom maybe you will end up with a cool thimble!) but the thimble is only half this project as the presentation is about 50% of it, its a bit odd because I often don't have to think about setting, but in this case i have to. anyway its going to be a shot projects, at only two weeks long.

then there is my last class of the day. It's in SF so as soon as 3 comes I'm out of jewelry and heading down to chech the shuttle to the other campus the ride takes about 30 minutes. this is the first class i have had on the SF campus and so that will be interesting. I did not love this class as soon as I got there, its the into class for both Interior design and Architecture however lots of other majors take it such as ID major as its a basic class on space, planing and all that.  I'm not found of the teacher or the class room, someone decided that having classrooms that were all contented and open was a good idea, they failed to take into account the noise factor so the walls don't go all the way to the ceiling and have gaps in the floor for who knows what. when the classes on eather side of yours are in section its noise. I know all about who the outer teacher feels about being professional in the art world but I'm not sure what MY teacher was saying half the time. she also made us do the worst class introductions EVER. I don't mind going around and introducing yourself, my all for that its easy and a good way to start to know your classmates. Hi I'm Blank, I'm from blank and My favorat Blank is Blank. Its a good way to start a class.  I hate it when teachers make you intrduse someone else, you have a speed interview (what's your major, where do you live, your hobby's, how do you say your weaid name right) and then you are forced to stand in front of the class and hope you don't forget anything or say there name wrong. That sucks, I hate it there is not way to make that less awuard, I'm all for meeting my fellow students but this dosn not help - I have all semester to meet and get to know them, this just adds more stress on the first day. Okey so doing that is bad enough what she did was worst. she wanted us to "Meet" Three people do the speed interview and then when your called on intruduse someone who had  not already been talked about to the class, this means that there are even more things to rember and even more things that could go wrong. on top of this she did not really explain or orgnise it right (or at all) so introductions turned into a even bigger, longer more aquared mess then normal, it took a two out of four hours to do the introductions. and to top that off I still don't know half the peoples names because the room was so noisy. I just hope this class gets better because what we are so-post to be learning should be really helpful later on and i want that information.

Anyway I still have not gotten to my living situation or today's classes but since this post is getting so long im going to sign off now and talk about both of thought in a later post, Untell then - Happy start of the School year everyone.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, The last Week of School.

I am in the last week of school! here's the lay out of all my finals and important events for this next week. I'm supper busy so this is going to be short, Don't fear i will wright a longer post about the last few projects and my overall impressions of my first year of College.

Monday- Final for Ethics

Tuesday- no Finals but last chance to work on 2D final and the Crosses for casting

Wednesday - Crit for 3D, Final for Modern arts I also hope to have my modern arts essay in (its not due until Friday but I don't want to forget)

Thursday - Crit for 2D, Crit for casting. Dad arrives in PM

Friday - clean out and move out of Dorm room, Hit the road and drive up to Eureka

that's my week, its going to be busy i think the worst day will be Wednesday because of the crit in the morning and then the final in the afternoon...

Oh on the happier side i got to see my grandparents who drove down to see a baseball game, hang out in SF and see me, we went out for a nice lunch and a tour of campus. I also Found housing for next year and it really could not be better,  I will be renting a room in a house about six blocks from campus in a lovely neighborhood. the People are a young couple with two great dogs and plenty of space for a bit of gardening!