Greetings from Antarctica! I mean Iowa City! Lordie, we have had sub-zero temps far too many days in a row now. I personally am over it. But!–– I told my husband if I ever resurfaced from chemo hell, I would never complain about anything ever again–– so I won’t. It’s just cold, and everybody has to deal with it. ☹️

Since my last blog, I’ve had a mastectomy, so I’m cancer-free, and I’m currently undergoing a three-month chemotherapy treatment. I wasn’t sure how I would react to the stuff, so I didn’t want to start another Art Office session too soon. It seems like I’m mainly affected for about five days after the infusion, and only short bouts of nausea and fatigue here and there after that. SoOo, I’m getting ready to crank up the old machine again!

My plan is for this next round of Art Office to also be slightly truncated, because I’ll be having reconstruction surgery (which is a bigger deal than the mastectomy!) at the beginning of May.

The structure of the session will remain the same, but instead of three months, it’s going to be eight weeks. I’ll begin accepting applications next week (I’ll make another post then), our first meeting will be March 1st, and the final show will be April 24th.

I’ve learned so much over the past three test sessions, I really feel like the “product” of Art Office has been beaten into something quite beautiful. And of course I mean “beaten” in the blacksmith way. The concept of Art Office has changed substantially since I first had the idea, and that’s because of these test groups. Each member brought invaluable perspective and insight to the table, and while I’m sure that I’ll never be able to please 100% of members 100% of the time, I think we’ve really crafted something here that works. And that’s the main thing. I aim to always be flexible, teachable, and open-minded about Art Office, so that it can continue to grow and become the best version of itself possible.

With that said, I’m off to bed! I appreciate all of you who are tagging along on this wild goose chase with me. Doing Art Office has been the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever been a part of, and I can’t wait to start ‘er up again! Stay tuned!