Taliesin

Well, after the shock of the phone call from Rene I proceeded on to my Bed & Breakfast--really not concentrating on where I was suppose to be going and managed to get totally lost for about an hour. I was almost in a panic, but I figured out my wrong turn. I'm talking about 1 lane country roads through the rolling hills--cows & corn pretty much.

So this morning I went on my scheduled tour which was really wonderful, but I was rather distracted thinking I should be heading back to Milwaukee to get on a plane.
Here are a few photos of Taliesin:

I decided to head back to campus this afternoon so that maybe I could get an early flight out on Sunday. I left the B & B about 4 and arrived back here about 6:30. I got my flight booked for the morning and my bag mostly packed. I figure I'll have to get up at 4:00 since my flight leaves at 7:00. Since I didn't get much sleep last night I'll probably be in great shape by the time I arrive in PDX.

I'm still in Maquon, WI

The coffee, snack & breakfast bar.


Shower to the left, toilet to the right Basic Dorm Room

This is the view from my dorm room door. The hall the other direction is identical.
As you enter the "suite" there is a lovely furnitureless room with two small refrigerators and a microwave.



Well, I haven't posted anything in a couple of days because really there isn't much to report. There aren't any priests buying my drinks (Katie needs to explain that one) nor are there picture-postcard chickens posing to create humorous joke. Life here is pretty simple, although I must say I am enjoying most of it and the people are incredibly friendly.

I thought I'd share some of the wonderful interior architecture of my surroundings. Not that I am complaining. It works out to about $16. a night so I can't complain.

As you can see I haven't quite figured out how to upload photos to the blog and add a caption underneath and place them exactly where I want them. Where are Nicole & Katie when I need them?

But other than going to class from 10 until 12 and again from 1 until 5, there isn't much else to report. I should be writing some papers, but I can't get motivated. I plan to drive a couple of hours east on Friday to a town called Spring Green. It is famous for Frank Lloyd Wright's home and school called "Taliesin." Other than that I'm drawing, reading, and surfing the net so I can keep up with what is happening in the world.

The accents here are pretty funny. Kind of a cross between Canadian and North Dakotan. Some people have a very heavy "aboat" that surfaces frequently.

I'm alive. I'm well and after the weekend maybe I'll have something of interest to share.

One week down, five to go.

I've been here a week already.  5 to go.

Well, as you can see I have been doing my homework this weekend.  A self-portrait is always a tough assignment, but in the end I had to admit that it is pretty close to what I look like. 

 

Today I went to a cute little historic town called Cedarburg.  I had lunch and roamed around for a bit. 

 

Then it was back to work on more drawings so I drew my mother from a photo I had taken on her 90th birthday.  I gave her all the wrinkles I could and she still looks younger than the photo.  That is probably a good thing.  It is really hard to draw pure white hair without making the background dark, so I let it fade into the background.

I tried to call Katie this morning.  She is now in the Aran Islands.  The call kept getting cut off, so after three tries I gave up.  All I got from the brief conversations was that the electricity on the island was out today due to a bad storm yesterday...I'm sure she'll be ready to leave in a day or so if she isn't already.

Exploring Lake Church Cemetery

It might be these........

or it could actually be this one because it did say "johann" but I couldn't make out anything else.....

Yes, the first few days I had the halls pretty much to myself. There are probably less than 50 graduate students on campus and no undergrads during the summer. There are several summer camps that started on Wed., so now there is at least a little life around here. Soccer kids & girls basketball as far as I can tell.

This morning I ventured up north about 15 miles to the little village of Lake Church. Actually it is just a Catholic Church and school--maybe a little restaurant. Anyway, I went roaming around the cemetery in hopes of finding the grave of one of my great-great grandfathers. He and his wife were married in the church in 1874 and he died in 1891 and is supposedly buried there. Unfortunately all the grave stones from that era were in pretty bad shape, so I didn't find any sign of a "Johann Kuther." Apparently Johann was a very popular name though, because just about every other grave was Johann. Also it was apparent that the Kriar family was the dominant family in the area and the rest were all German names as well. So sadly I took a few pictures of the cemetery and had a nice walk around and then left rather disappointed.

This afternoon I spent a few more hours working on my self-portrait assignment---it is coming along. Maybe I'll post a picture of it tomorrow. I am procrastinating. I should be writing a couple of papers, but I can't get motivated.

Milwaukee Art Museum Visit

Endless halls everywhere on campus.......




Concordia's 1950s high schoolish architecture

Well, I set out this morning for the Milwaukee art museum. An incredible building and their collection is pretty good. This weekend is the Lakefront Festival of Arts which was in huge tents on the lawn of the art museum. Sort of like Art in the Pearl, but vendors from all over the country. So really beautiful art and I was amazed with the number of printmakers. It was really enjoyable except it was warmer than I expected and I had long pants on. After a couple of hours I headed back. (I was going to post a photo of the museum, but just discovered I took a video instead of a photo! It wouldn't upload.)

I drove down via the Lake shore road. There is about 5 miles of one stately mansion after another. It was really a beautiful drive along the shore of Lake Michigan.

Yes, the photos I posted yesterday were of the lake and beach area on campus. That is the beautiful part. But you can't really see it from any of the buildings on campus because they are all 1 or 2 stories and weren't built with views of the lake. Amazing I know. Today I thought I'd share some of the boring architecture of the campus and a few of the 100's of hall ways that one can not avoid to get from one end of campus to the other. Apparently it is a good idea to build the buildings attached to one another so no one ever has to go outside in the winter. But, during the summer it is so frustrating to be walking inside these ugly corridors.

Well, another day of classes behind me and I was pleased to find out that classes are actually M - Thurs. I guess they are technically Mon. - Friday but professors just give extra work for the weekend and then can justify the shortened week. It is OK by me. I do have a lot to do this weekend, but it was an exhausting week.

I thought I'd try to post pictures because there is not a whole lot to report. I didn't even go out for dinner last night (another frozen entree) but I did decide that the morning latte is going to have to be part of my routine.

Another day of classes

Well, I kind of knew this blog wouldn't be very exciting. The only event in my day was that I got to the cafeteria this morning and it was closed for no apparent reason. All I wanted was a cup of coffee. I had about an hour to kill before class and so I decided to treat myself to a latte. I had to drive about 3 miles to get it, but it was a nice treat. Other than that we drew outside today and the wind was really cold. So far I haven't experienced any hot humid weather. I'm sure it is probably on the way.

Day 2 of Classes

I'm afraid my blog is going to be rather dull. I get up and make a bowl of cereal in my room and then get ready for the day. My first class is from 10 to 12, so I have time to do some reading or drawing in the morning. No lattes on campus. Unfortunately the coffee shop is closed for the summer. Starbucks is a couple miles away, so I haven't gotten that desperate yet. I haven't found a newspaper either.

After my morning class I come back to my room and prepare a gourmet frozen entree in the microwave and then head to my drawing class which is from 1 until 5. Yes, it sounds easy, but it is really pretty difficult to draw for almost 4 hours. Today we went down to Lake Michigan to draw for the first couple of hours. The (ugly) campus is on a bluff 150 ft above the lake. The walk down wasn't so bad, but it was a hike getting back up. The professor also expects us to draw an additional 1 to 2 hours a day--besides readings, etc. So, basically this isn't going to be as much fun as I had hoped and a lot of work instead.

After class I drove up the highway about 5 miles where there are a few restaurants, Target & a Costco. Now I need to do some reading and drawing. Pretty exciting, huh?

I think I'm in Wisconsin

The first day was interesting. I'm not sure why I thought it was a good idea to take a red-eye. I think it was to save a few bucks on a hotel for Saturday night. Yesterday was pretty much a blurrrr...... The flight was an hour late leaving PDX so it was one of those connections in Minneapolis/St. Paul where I had to sprint from one terminal to another and barely made the flight. Luckily the second leg wasn't full at all so I got to stretch out on 3 seats and get a little sleep. Unfortunately that flight was only 40 minutes. It must have been a smooth landing, because I didn't wake up until everyone else had pretty much exited the plane.

So on that 40 minutes of sleep I arrived in Milwaukee feeling quite weary. I rented a car and I one of my tasks for the day was to find the local Trader Joes. At 8:30 on a Sunday morning I was praying that it would be open, because I knew there wouldn't be much else open. I headed up the freeway and found TJs and bought water, snacks and essentials. Then I had to figure out how I was going to fill the next 7 hours of the day until I could check into my room.

I left the car in the parking lot and started walking. Much to my delight the TJs is part of a huge new shopping mall--but more like a cute small village with stores on the lower levels and then 3 to 4 stories of offices and apartments. It was perfect since I found a great coffee shop and got my daily latte then I roamed around for awhile, but nothing was going to open until 10:00. There was also a movie theater, but the first showing wasn't until 12:00. So I thought I'd sleep in the car for a while---that didn't work even as tired as I was. Instead I headed for a Target to get a few other things on my list and waste more time and then I headed back to the theater. (Oh, the movie theater was really something. More on the lines of the Living Room Theater in PDX. At first I thought I was walking in to a fancy restaurant which is actually part of it too. The snack counter was like a bar. There are ushers that show you to your huge reclining seats, side tables for food and drinks......really nice!)

Sex in the City was the first movie playing. What luck! Yes, Katie I am sure you are jealous. The movie was better than expected. Part comedy. Part romantic/tragic love story. Oh, and part PORN. I think it is actually the most sexually graphic movie I have ever seen. But, despite that it was pretty good.

Then lets see, I think I drove around a little and then headed up to Concordia. It is actually a pretty short drive--maybe 15 min. north of downtown. Check in was suppose to be from 4 - 7 pm. I was a bit early, but it didn't matter. I probably could have even gotten here earlier--oh well.

I have a regular dorm room. Normally it is a 4 person suite with 2 bedrooms, common room and bathroom, but I have it to myself. But the common room has no furniture--just 2 small refrigerators and a microwave. Then the bedroom has the usual 2 beds, 2 desks, etc. The cinder block white walls are already closing in, but I really won't be in my room much. At least I can fix breakfast & lunch in my room.

The campus is really ugly. Looks like a 1950's sprawling high school. I'll take pictures and explain at another time.

So today I started 2 of my classes. One is on Designing Art Curriculum taught by a Dr. Baker who is probably at least 80. He speaks with long pauses, but seems quite knowledgeable. The class looks like it will be a considerable amount of reading and work...not quite like Nicole's tour of Florence & the surroundings. There are only 9 students in the class.

The other is a Drawing (How to teach Drawing) course, so we will be doing a lot of drawing. 4 hours M - Th and then he expects 1 to 2 hours besides that everyday. So, I will be reading, drawing, writing and studying with little time for much else. Only 4 students in this class.

And that brings you up to date on everything. Now I need to figure out what I'm going to do for dinner and then get busy on my homework.