back to (school) work

NSCAD kinda kicked my butt this week, but thankfully the homework is down to a dull roar at this point.

Monday: We spent part of the class looking at recent work. I showed my final projects for Intro and Beyond the Frame.

That evening, one of my former classmates had a show opening at the Economy Shoe Shop (which is actually a bar). Having seen her stress over the photos, which were her final for last semester's view camera course, I loved seeing them printed, matted and framed on the walls.

Tuesday: My day off--from classes, at least. I filled it with getting a few things straightened out with my account at the school where I'm staying (I'd received a note about my fees being overdue, but it had been sent in error, as I'd suspected--whew!), meeting with NSCAD's financial adviser and the assistant registrar to get things sorted out for my final semester (the loan and Advanced Photo Critique, which is a mandatory fourth-year course) and sending off my student loan papers. I also found out that I'm actually between the third and fourth years (I thought I was a fourth-year).

Wednesday: I spent the day finishing the reading for Obsolescence and doing little things around my room.

That evening I had my first evening class since FVA: Graphics for Artists and Craftspeople I. I think I'm going to like it. We'll be working with Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

Thursday: We met in the Photo Dept. computer lab and Bob went over a bunch of under-the-hood computer things and passed around an opened SATA hard drive.

After class SUNSCAD hosted a meeting between the students and FUNSCAD 1 and 2 (the faculty union--FUNSCAD 1 is the teachers and FUNSCAD 2 is the techs). As I mentioned before, there's a possibility of a strike next month, so FUNSCAD gave us an update on the situation. If there's a strike, it would likely happen in early-February (FUNSCAD 2) and late-February (FUNSCAD 1). As I wrote in an email to my parents, "the next few weeks are not going to be good for my nerves."

That day NBCCD had a ball hockey game in the courtyard between the main building and the Barracks. Two of the second-year Photo students (Class of '13) took photos and one shot a video. You can see the photos from one of the Photogs here, and here's the video. LET'S GO, PHOTO, LET'S GO!



The photos and video made me miss NBCCD, the Photo Studio and the faculty like crazy. As I wrote in a Facebook status update, "NSCAD may be awesome, but nothing can replace you [the Photo Studio, fellow students and faculty]. Nothing."

Friday: That day was one of those days where I wasn't happy about the fact that I had class all day.

Obsolescence was mostly devoted to discussing that week's reading.

Writing for the Arts met in the Granville Campus that day and Anna (our teacher) introduced us to the library and the Visual Resources Collection (VRC) and gave us the rundown of the assignment that's due next week, which is a scavenger hunt involving both places. We then went to two of the galleries that are in the same set of buildings as NSCAD: Gallery Page and Strange and the Anna Leonowens Gallery, which is one of NSCAD's three galleries. We also have to write a review (either on a body of work or on an individual piece), so we took notes for that.

That afternoon there was an Idle No More protest at the Halifax Grand Parade, and although I'd planned to go, by the time I was done class the protest was over. I spent part of the evening catching up on the meetings between Harper, Governor General David Johnston and the First Nations chiefs. The meetings weren't as successful as the chiefs would've liked, and Chief Theresa Spence will continue her hunger strike.

Saturday and Sunday: I spent much of the weekend doing homework as NSCAD doesn't take as easy an approach to homework as NBCCD does in the first couple weeks of the semester (NBCCD lets you slowly get into the groove of the semester over the course of the first three weeks).

On Saturday evening I stumbled across a video of the BSO from '08. I think I've seen this video before, but this time it really had an effect on me--so much so that it brought me to tears. I then decided to look up the entire piece. Here's the BSO's version. It's from an open dress rehearsal, so there are some mishaps, but there's still that take-charge, "let's-see-how-many-socks-we-can-knock-off" attitude toward their part from the violin section. There's no messing with those guys, which is one of the things I love about them--and why they make me proud to play that instrument. Brace yourself for awesomeness.


The Bangor Symphony Orchestra - Sneak Peak, January 31st, 2008 from Luke LaBree on Vimeo.

And here's a recording of the whole piece: