The holidays are over, which means that school is gearing back up for winter quarter. Classes start tomorrow and I’ll be teaching another section of foundation drawing as well as a revised and improved printmaking course focusing on relief applications. Should be fun but exhausting. The studio is fully booked and I’m going to have to train a bunch of new studio assistants this quarter as well, which (done well) requires the same amount of preparation and instruction as teaching another class. This quarter will be the busiest I’ve ever seen in the studio and it’s only going to get busier this coming spring quarter.

Exhibits at Northern are already planned through April. We’ll have the install for this month’s show later this week featuring two young local artists’ psychedelic ink drawings and cardboard/ papier mache constructions. February will feature the work of four Evergreen photography interns. In March, I’m curating a group show of  several rad folks I met at Vermont Studio Center, which should prove exciting.  In April, we’ll be showing  the work of multi-talented indie stalwart Rachel Blumberg and an another Portland based artist. Whew. I’m already four months into 2010.

I’m also applying for several teaching positions around the country as well as more residencies. The application season comes in three parts: The first tier of highly desired positions closes around the 15th of the month, with some having already closed in December. These jobs are for those folks who already have several years of teaching experience and are looking for lateral or upward career movements into higher tier research universities or well regarded liberal arts colleges. The second tier closes in the middle of February, allowing those new to the job market or those with less experience to attend the annual College Art Association Career Fair in mid February. Many of these institutions are looking for entry level positions like lecturers, adjuncts and assistant professors in foundations areas or newly developed departments. Usually these schools are located in rather undesirable areas of the country for liberal, culturally sensitive artist types. Basically, they’re the jobs that will work you to death and make you question if you want to continue to pursue a career in academia. The third tier opens up in March and April and runs through May/June. These are the positions that open up through the academic shuffle resulting from first and second tier hires and they’re usually one year visiting positions while the college plans a national search for a full time hire. And then there’s the emergency hires during the summer months, the unofficial fourth tier. These hires result from sudden funds being released to college and other unforeseen circumstances that cause a temporary position to open up or be created entirely. Usually, By June or July, the vast majority of job seekers have been so thoroughly rejected that fewer people even bother to apply during these months. The pick-up and move-your-life in the matter of weeks is also a factor, so for the more flexible, less experienced academic job seekers, this is a prime market.

I will not be attending the career fair this year and probably won’t again until I present a paper or participate in a discussion panel, which is on my list of things to do before I die.

The rule of 2010 is Work.

And if work fails, there’s always Portland.