My M.F.A. (Master of Fine Arts)!

Well, there it is! I have my M.F.A.!!! A little hard for me to believe, but I see the photo and I have to believe, it's a photo!

Thanks to everyone that helped me get here! I know I didn't do this on my own! The last three years of my life have been some of the best. I've learned so much about myself and others, it's been a beautiful and mysterious trip!

With all of this free time now, I plan to continue to make photographs, play my guitar more and learn the German language. Of course, we will travel more and see as much of the world that we can.

Marigny le Châtel, France

Saturday July 14, 2007 - Marigny le Châtel, France!
We took off Friday after work and ended up in Marigny le Châtel, France! Me, Jean, Summer, Denise and Lucky loaded the camera gear and piled in the car and took off for the weekend. It was one of the best (if not the best) trip I've had.
Marigny le Châtel is about 1 hour southeast of Paris. It's a small village in the country. The people are nice and the wine and food is yummy!


Katrina brings more wine as Thierry and Jean wait patiently for another glass.



I really like this image - Jean, Denise, Lucky and I were out walking before breakfast Saturday morning and I saw this reflector disc - I love to shoot picture in them - this one made it so painterly!


A wet plate (5x7) Ambrotype of Dr. Thierry Queinnec. He is a retired medical doctor that worked with amputees and handicapped people in his village for 25 years. He wanted to learn (and see) the wet plate process. We met him last month at the Paris Foto Show. He told us that the "tripod" of France is bread, wine and cheese. Look at the relection in his glasses in this image. I like that connection!


Denise and Thierry having coffee after lunch.

A cool French butcher sign I saw.


Having coffee after a seven course French meal - it was unbelievable!

Denise and Summer checking out a plum worm - it came from a fresh plum from the tree.

Jean says, "Prost" enjoying a couple of different French wines.

 

"The French Table" wife Katrina (left) and daughter Judy. Wet plate 5x7 Ambrotype.

Talking shop with Thierry - I can't speak French but I can say - Oui, Oui - Merci!

The gang having coffee Saturday morning with croissants! Magnifique!



Driving into the village.

The hotel we stayed at - we will be back again!!!

 

Experiencing Europe

We are thinking out loud here and planning our adventures. Here's what we've done so far:

2006
We explored Ladenberg, Heidelberg, Lorsch, Weinheim and Heppenheim, Germany.

2007
February 2007: Prague, Czech Republic
March 2007: Trier, Germany & Luxembourg
April 2007: Koeln, Germany & Masstritch, The Netherlands
June 2007: Paris, France & Koeln, Germany

Here's what we have planned for the rest of the year:

July 2007: Marigny le Châtel, France New York City (Quinn & Summer; Quinn graduates with his MFA!)
August 2007: Straussbourg, France
September 2007: Lucca, Italy (Tuscony), Florence, Pisa
October 2007: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
November 2007: Reus, Spain
December 2007:

2008

January 2008:
February 2008:
March 2008: Dublin, Ireland
April 2008: Berlin, Germany
May 2008: Glasgow, Scotland
June 2008: Barcelona, Spain
July 2008:
August 2008:
September 2008: Berlin, Germany
October 2008: Eindhoven, The Netherlands
November 2008:
December 2008:

We'll update this as we travel and plan.

Trier, Germany

Trier, Germany: The Imperial Roman Baths, Porta Nigra and More

What an amazing city. I thought I'd seen ancient in my life until I spent the day in Trier. It was gorgeous today; the weather, the sites, the food, everything was perfect.
We will return to Trier in the near future!

Porta Nigra (black gate)


The Imperial Roman Baths




The Jacobsons at the Imperial Roman Baths




Inside the Roman Baths (the tunnels underground) they were wild!!




More Roman baths...




Street musicians.. Don and Bunny we got you a CD of their music...




You know what they say about big feet!




St. Peter's Square Fountain




Inside the Constantine Basilica Church

Luxembourg City

We're In Luxembourg City, Luxemborg (Yes, the country)


We drove 2 hours this morning to Luxembourg City. We have a hotel here for the night (60 Euros) and will make a trip into Trier Germany (the oldest city in Germany 2000 years old +) tomorrow to see the Roman baths and look for Jean's long long relatives, the Wellers.

Today, we will bum around the city and look for books and art. We are sitting in the Cafe Francais right now as I blog and shoot the photos.
We'll send an update tomorrow from Trier.



Prague (Praha), Czech Republic (Bohemia)

The Jacobsons in Prague (Praha), Czech Republic (Bohemia) February 2007



 



Jean, Summer and Quinn at the 13th Century Charles Bridge in Prague.

 

Summer and Quinn in the Metro in the heart of Prague. You go down many layers in the earth to get to the Green line. It reminded me of the "Journey to the Middle of the Earth" - we kept going down and down. Very steep and fast escalators too. Unlike any Metro we've been on, including Paris, London and New York City.

 

Jean and Quinn enjoying a 1L Czech Beer called Pilsner Urquell made in Plzen, Czech Republic (we drove through it). These were $3 USD each! All you need is one!

 

The famous Charles Bridge (and Prague Castle in the background). Built in the 13th Century (Gothic) by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV. Gorgeous and looong! Kitsch booths setup all along it with people trying to peddle their fake tourist-art. And it was packed with people! I can't imagine this place in July! It serves a function, it connects Old Town with Mala Strana.

A Quick Overview of the Week

We spent the last week in Prague (Praha), Czech Republic. It was gorgeous! It's old, beautiful and full of art and history. It blew my mind. As an artist, and a human being, Prague is one of my favorite places so far.

We spent a lot of time in the Jewish Quarter (the ghetto) and went into the old synagogues - the Spanish Synogogue and the Maisel Synagogue. Again, beautiful and full of both incredible and disturbing history. Kafka, The Golem, Charles Bridge, Old Town Square on and on.

The weather was nice too. We went on the Metro, the bus, walked until our legs hurt everyday and then walked some more. It was great fun and we even learned a lot!

Some More Photos



Jean on the Charles Bridge in front of one of the many statues that adorn the bridge. Very beautiful (and large) pieces of art.

 



A musician in Old Town Square.

Final Semester of Graduate School!

Final Semester of Graduate School!


-4F, Plainfield, Vermont. I am completing my final semester of graduate school (MFA-IA) at Goddard College.

I attended (my fourth time) graduation ceremony yesterday. I have a good friend that graduated - it was a beautiful and intimate ceremony. That's what I really like about Goddard, it's not an "ivory tower" university where you are simply a "number" or "blade of grass" - you are truly recognized and valued as a human being and artist. - Ich mag das!!!

2006 Volkswagon Passat

2006 Volkswagon Passat

It's been a while since I've made an entry here. We've been busy. My fourth semester of graduate school is over (it went wonderfully) and we are settling into our lives here.

Here's the view from my window at work (minus the bars on the window). That's our car, VW Passat. Yes, I'm parking on the grass. The road to our building is being completed and we can't get to the parking lot. Anyway, It's fun to fly down the autobahn in that baby!

Welche Sprache sprechen Sie?

German Class (Welche Sprache sprechen Sie?)

We've been going to our German class this week. It's great. This is a tough language for me, but I'll get it. Summer and Jean are really doing well with it. At one point in my life I was fluent in Spanish so I thought another language would be easier, it's not. Maybe I'm just getting too old ;-) Give me a few months and I'll be speaking like the Chancellor!

(click here to see a short video from tonight's class)



Also, I found this to be very interesting. I am starting to do research on the death camps in Poland and Germany. It's a sad and sick history.

First rabbis to be ordained in Germany since Holocaust
Sep 14 12:35 AM US/Eastern

Three rabbis are to be ordained in the eastern German city of Dresden in the first such ceremony in the country since World War II.
They studied at the Abraham Geiger College in Potsdam outside Berlin which was founded in 1999 with the aim of strengthening the Jewish religion in Germany after the ravages of the Holocaust.

The college is the only institution in Germany that trains rabbis.

The three rabbis are planning to take up positions at synagogues in Munich in southern Germany, in Oldenburg in the northwest of the country and in Cape Town in South Africa, the college said on Wednesday.

The historical moment has been welcomed by the Central Council of Jews in Germany as a "return to normality".

"We need many more rabbis, 30, 40 times as many as we have," the deputy president of the council, Dieter Graumann, said on Wednesday.

Some 600,000 Jews lived in Germany before the Holocaust.

Today the country's Jewish community counts about 110,000 members, the vast majority of whom emigrated from the former Soviet bloc after its collapse and the reunification of Germany.