Florence. It has taken me all summer just to start writing about it. I was there for three weeks, immersed in a summer art program at California State University. It was wonderful, intense, gratifying, overwhelming, exciting, and exhausting. I felt exposed, vulnerable, honored, and affirmed. I did not do my best work. I learned a tremendous amount. I still have a lot to process and absorb, and a whole journal of ideas for future art projects.
Florence. It is a fabulous city with so many riches that even in three weeks of going to a new place every day we only touched on its incredible treasures. One day I must go back at a time when there are not so many tourists and it is not so hot and I can go back to certain places to stroll through at my leisure. November, perhaps.
I don’t know that I have ever felt so raw. Maybe when I made big breaks in my life: starting at Boston University, moving to Southern California. This was another big break in my life, as I step into my next massive change, to study art in great intensity and to produce serious art.
I am off to California State University Long Beach today, to see the work of grad students and professors. The door is open and I am going to step through it, no matter how unformed I feel.