New Year’s Resolutions

Like every year, I made several New Year’s Resolutions. One of which was to go to my studio more. I actually went this morning before a conference call at noon. Although I didn’t want to leave, it was good that I got up and actually went. Maybe shorter, more frequent visits are the key.

While on the call, I started breezing through Book Arts’ listings of Schools and Workshops. I found several different classes that I want to take. I had already gone through the Corcoran catalog and Pyramid Atlantic listings several times. I thought that I had narrowed down my choices. But now I have a half dozen new classes that I want to take:

• Corcoran :: Intro to Book Arts with Kerry McAleer-Keeler
• Pyramid Atlantic :: Books and Personal Art with Maria Anasazi
• Pyramid Atlantic :: WUNDERKABINETS: Architectural Book Environments with Hedi Kyle
• Women’s Studio Workshop :: Books that Expand and Contract with Nancy Callahan
• The Center for Book Arts :: Diorama and Carousel Books with Maria Pisano
• The Center for Book Arts :: Tunnel Books with Carol Barton
• Haystack :: Automata (Plural for Automaton) with Michael Croft
• The San Francisco Center for the Book :: Making Movable Editions: Single-Sheet Books with Paul Johnson
• The San Francisco Center for the Book :: A Box of Fireworks with Paul Johnson
• The San Francisco Center for the Book :: Book of Ours with Paul Johnson
• The San Francisco Center for the Book :: 3-D Spring Books with Paul Johnson

So part of my New Year’s Resolution is to actually take at least some of these classes. Actually I wrote them down as goals instead of resolutions. Somehow that makes them seem like I am more likely to complete them. Or maybe I have just participated in one too many staff meetings. I start every semester searching for classes, pasting their descriptions into Word, formatting the document, researching the teachers, narrowing the list, writing the ones I plan to take in a notebook, and add “register for classes” on my to-do list. For some reason, I never complete the last task. I pick the top classes and try to minimize my expenses. But then something comes up so that I don’t take my top picks. Before I know it, the semester is over and I have not taken a single class.

My entire goal of moving to DC was to treat it as part-time art school. But so far the only classes that I completed were the Create and Build classes that are part of my training at Paper Source. Don’t get me wrong, it is awesome to get paid while essentially taking art classes. Plus, I am going to be the TA for two upcoming Paper Source workshops. So that is very exciting. But I need to really get serious and commit to these classes. Now I just have to decide which ones…