VSA Texas: The Blog-yssey

Hello folks. The last 6 weeks have been full of travel for me, so I thought I would share some of my adventures through photos. I started off in Corpus Christi at our annual Distinguished Artist Veterans' exhibit. The exceptional drawing of a cowboy is by Sharen Craddock. After the reception, we enjoyed dinner and drinks with another artist, Denise Knebel. We were out over the water, rocking on our dock!

The following weekend found me dancing with April Sullivan at the Houston Arts Partners conference. Can you tell who is who?

I returned to Houston the following weekend to teach the art of audio description to folks at The Hobby Center. Sorry folks, no photos here. We were working! “Seven women and one man sit around a long, rectangular wooden table, staring at a small television monitor to observe the set of The Gin Game.” But I did return to Austin in time to enjoy a performance by The Old Hats at our Lion and Pirate Open Mic!

Then, it was on to Miami, Florida to teach the teaching artists and docents at Perez Art Museum Miami the art of audio description. Miami has some crazy drivers! Sorry, no photos. I value my life too much. But my hotel suite was spacious and the spa was magnificent!

After a wonderful day and a half at the museum, I did what every disability arts professional does on their day off. I crashed the South Florida Inclusive Arts Silver Summit in celebration of the 25^th Anniversary of the ADA. Of course, you say. Why not? We had a visit from The Beam – way cool – and a little more dancing by participants of VSA Florida residencies with Karen Peterson and Dancers!

After Florida, it was back to Austin for, you guessed it, more dancing. This time, ECHO, a Body Shift site specific performance led by Silva Laukkanen. We christened the new courtyard at Creative Action and Sustainable Foods. Let’s hope this brings many years of joyful art-making to this wonderful spot in East Austin!

Finally, after a quick breather to keep the staff in line (smile) and keep up with those pesky grants and grant reporting, April and I were off to Albuquerque for the annual Southwest Conference on Disability. Balloons every morning over the highways. This year, we just watched from afar, so more balloon photos next year. We met the crew from “When Pigs Fly,” so maybe we will host a touch tour next year! Stay tuned for more on that.

But, prior to our three days of describing all the movies at the Film Festival as well as the Keynotes –are you noticing an audio description theme to my travels? – we spent a day exploring west New Mexico. Lava fields in El Malpais, natural stone arches, sandstone cliffs. Then off to Tinkertown where we had our fortunes told and learned about our true professions.

Following the conference we dropped in on our friends VSA New Mexico at their North 4th Art Center before heading out to our last NM meal for another year.