Greetings from Jeanne Barron Aikman

Hi Cathy,

Just thinking of you often these days and wondering how you are doing. I'm thinking this birthday could be your 60th but I'd hate to assume in case you get one more year of the glorious 50ies. It's amazing, isn't it, to realize how many years we've been playing on this planet. I hope your celebration is a joyous one indeed.

What are your holiday plans? Traveling east or staying home? I'm not sure yet how mine will work out. I'd love to have my girls here. Mom and sisters usually join us but there are several issues this year that might complicate things. So, we'll see.

Speaking of mom, I'm wondering how you'd feel about posting something on your blog on her behalf. I believe she has a possible mold problem in the back bathroom which could require new flooring. I'm not sure how to go about finding help for her. You know, finding someone she would feel comfortable with coming into her home and giving her a fair deal. I'm going to check out Angies list and see if I can set up some appointments for estimates if I wind up going down during the holidays. It would be great though to support our BHS community with work etc. Let me know your thoughts.

The school year has been great so far. We are completing our first semester before the holidays so it has been a little more intense than usual. Our National Art Honors Society club won First Place in the San Jose Christmas in the Park contest with a theme of Dr. Suess and the Joy of Reading. The students did a phenomenal job constructing a large book (8 feet sq) that rests on a stand with Who-ville emerging from the pages. The tree is filled with familiar characters made of papier mache with books and baubles as ornaments. Personally, I love the green eggs and ham.

They worked after school and weekends for months. I loved it when they reflected back to when they had the original idea on paper and then when they realized all it took to bring it into being. I'm so proud of them. It was fun for me to return to the woodshop and have them work with the power tools. Ahh, the smell of the sawdust. I miss it though I wouldn't trade it for working with the clay.

For two weekends last month, I studied with two different sculptors and expanded my own experience in sculpting faces and heads. It was fabulous. We had live models one weekend. I have sent along a photo. Also, the last photo shows how I dressed it up in my classroom for the holidays with a santa hat and beard. It gets some chuckles.

The following weekend had a different twist. Not so "sacred" ha! especially when we purposely dropped it when we were done. I think that was the most fun. Attachment is always an issue and this method really helped lighten things up. I sent those photos too.

One of the groups has decided to continue on and we met Saturday for the first time. It was great and we even had a live model. This is so nurturing for me and I'm pleased we will get together often. It has been a long time since I've done any of my own work as I'm usually just doing example pieces for instruction purposes.

It's been fun sharing this stuff with my students too. It's definitely put a kick in my step.

Hmm, the clock is ticking and 5am always comes a bit early for me. I'll send this along and again, send you big hugs and wishes for a wonderful birthday.

Enjoy the photos.

Love,
Jeanne

Anthony






And this is a photo of my students' entry to San Jose Christmas in the Park.

May our collective sense of humor brighten all our days throughout this holiday season and well into the new year.


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Hi Jeanne,

Yes, we can post your email on the blog and see if anyone can help your mother.

Is it my imagination or am I correct that when we went to Miller, we were not allowed (or discouraged??) to read Dr. Suess books?

And yes, I'll be 60 in just a few days (Dec 22) and it is for sure WEIRD. But to celebrate, I'll be taking the redeye from Californy to Florida to spend the holidays with my children and grandchildren and my daughter's new 160 lb Mastiff pup - click here to see photo!

Thanks for the great pics, Jeanne.

hugs,

Cathy