I have a lot to be grateful and humble about. In May, I celebrated my
25th anniversary as a staff illustrator at one of the most
prestigious news dailies in the world, The Wall Street Journal at
a time when publishing industry has suffered a great decline. Also, as
hard as many illustrators have it these days, I was consistently
busy with freelance work throughout the year.
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| Drawings appeared in The Wall Street Journal and Man's Journal |
I have been a telecommuter since the 9/11 disaster forced my
company out of the WFC building in NYC, but I championed it in May
after a move to my new home in Florida. By also establishing an
illustration studio in my summer cottage overseas, I am now well
on my way of becoming a global citizen of my dreams, something I will
hopefully be writing about in next year's review!
Speaking of our overseas cottage, it has been the highlight of our
lives since it was built and I'm glad it's becoming a favorite summer
stop for our friends and relatives from all over the world. What can
beat a remote Adriatic island and its crystal clear, cool water in dry,
Mediterranean heat? Self sustained, off the grid, solar powered, rain
water collecting, built from stone found on the land itself, with skies
untouched by city lights, a perfect stargazing show every night,
surrounded by an olive orchard which provides the purest and tastiest
olive oil imaginable ... yes, I can go on forever.
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| Korčula Island, Croatia |
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But, the biggest highlight of 2012 was being part of something wonderful called CoRK in Jacksonville, Florida.
After 25 years fine tuning our careers in music and art, we decided to
stretch our wings beyond New York City, the place we were lucky to
experience at the time when culture and creativity spewed out of the
underground scenes and onto its gritty streets in the 80's and 90's. We
have decided today's Disney New York City flooded with commercial
tourist traps, doesn't need us anymore. As much as it'll always be home,
the NYC we grew to love has moved to Brooklyn, so for that matter ...
we could pick any other place.
So, Jacksonville it is. A city with beautiful weather year round and a
strange mix of southern and northern cultures, mostly suburban but with a
sizzling urban center. We found ourselves in the hipster part of town,
the only walkable neighborhood with a lively street life, all essential
to our lifestyle.
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| Riverside in Jacksonville, Florida |
Early on, we realized that, while the local art
community was surprisingly large and talented, it lacked a cohesive
center. And then, like a reincarnation of the early DUMBO arts center of
yesteryear, comes a visionary not unlike Wynwood's Tony Goldman,
creating the opportunity we immediately recognized as our own grass
roots art movement.
Becoming one of the first tenants, we eagerly shared
our excitement of working, creating and sharing ideas in close
proximity. Being surrounded by artists of all walks of life and all
ages, we're more than elated to be influenced and influence at the same
time.
We are painters, illustrators, muralists, film makers, potters, glass
artists, photographers, sculptors, and so on. George has a wonderful,
large fine art print studio, and I finally have a place to venture into
fine art myself. Rapidly expanding to adjacent 5 buildings, CoRK arts district is
transforming the
neighborhood and the city in general faster than anybody expected.
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| My illustration art at "Paint Paper Stencil" group show at CoRK in June 2012 |
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| PorgG05, Darger Girls |
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| Say C-O-R-K! |
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| My felons wheat paste street art at CoRK |
The most valuable aspect of the past year were the many great friends we
made and to whom we became close. We never felt as much as a community
as we do now. The love and support was especially felt in the last weeks
after George's mother's passing, which was the saddest and lowest part
of the past year, one in which we're still grappling.
Honorable mentions of the year:
- becoming art fair addicts
- becoming landlords
- doing more street art
- doing more traveling
- doing the band again
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| At Armory art fair in NY and Art Basel Miami Beach |
