Some of my friends, Juston Rominger and Jesse Albrecht  have a show with other veterans titled Combat Paper Project: Iowa at the Johnson County Historical Society Museum, located at 860 Quarry Road, Coralville. "The exhibit is the result of a series of workshops in which at least a dozen veterans from multiple wars worked with the artists from the University of Iowa Center for the Book in the spring of 2010. The participants started from the same point of making their old uniforms into paper, but then veered off in different directions." - Press Citizen 2011. I was able to be there when several veterans turned their old military uniforms into paper back in 2010. (Click here to see pictures)

I have been in Montana for the last week for the Archie Bray's 60th anniversary. I drove up with a few students from ASU, and flew back out of Bozeman, MT. I took a few pictures at the airport while I was waiting for the plane. The mountains are absolutely beautiful. I had an amazing time catching up with friends and meeting new friends along the way. I even found ten dollars laying on the ground at the airport!

I just wanted to give a small plug to The Archie Bray Foundation. The Archie Bray Foundation will celebrate 60 years of leadership in the international ceramics community in 2011. A distinctive fusion of visiting artists will culminate in a three-day international symposium on June 23–25. I will be at the Bray with Don and I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone there. Check out their website for more info by clicking here.

Last week I went on my yearly trip to Canada with my Dad and a few friends. Everyone had such a great time, we caught hundreds of fish, and personally I believe it was are best year at Thicketwood yet. There is something about being outdoors without communication from the "world" thats very refreshing. Here are a few photos from the whole experience.

Don Reitz has decided to bequeef his land to ASU after he passes. With that Don has also decided to do several workshops with ASU as a satelite program for Arizona State University Ceramics. We had several people come and work at the ranch for 3 days (several slept in the studio to utualize their time in the studio). Don gave a mini demo of a triptych, platters, and slab bowls. Then the students went back to the Tempe campus and created more work down there. The following week we fired the Train kiln at the ranch and had amazing results. The kiln was all over the place (cone 10 down in front top, cone 13 down in the middle and cone 12 down in back). Even though the kiln was drastically different from the front to the back, the results were amazing. Thank you to Joan and Evan, who were some of the students that gave me their cameras so I could use the photos for my website. Can't wait for the next workshop!

Last night we fired the small woodkiln at Don's. There was a full moon, the sky and clouds were incredible. I took lots of photos and I think they turned out pretty great.

I was working in the studio and happened to look outside and was completely blown away by the colors outside. The ground, sky, everything was a reddish hue. I quickly ran to get my camera and got some amazing shots.

Well it looks like I'm making a change in my life, I'm moving to Tucson. My mom and I went to visit sunny Arizona this week and I got my drivers license and my living situation figured out. It was really crazy to me that a 3 hour plane ride can take me to 115 degree weather so quickly. To go from Iowa to Arizona was a breeze and I absolutely love the weather. Luckily it's monsoon season in Arizona so while I was there I captured some amazing shots of the rains over Tucson. Hopefully more to come soon:

Every year for the last 4 years I've been lucky enough to go up to Canada to go walleye fishing. We usually fly out of Red Lake, Ontario on the first Saturday in June, and stay for a week. The only way in or out is via bush planes. There is something really refreshing about being outdoors where no one else is around. I took several photos of the trip and wanted to share them:

This weekend I went home (Spirit Lake) to help Ethan Carlson with an art project for the annual Red Bull Art of Can exhibition in Dallas, TX. We spent all weekend working away constructing, cutting, and gluing thousands of cans into his Red Bull plane. It was really nice to take a break from my artwork and really help out a great friend. The exhibition dates are July 31st - August 22nd 2010. If you are in the Dallas area, you have to check this out! Update: Ethan has finished the plane and taken it to Dallas. Everyone can now help Ethan out by going to http://www.redbullartofcan.com/ and vote for Ethan's plane to win the 2010 Exhibition.

I have been spending the last few days converting the list from Iraq Casualties. I am using the list for a print I am working on and thought someone could use the list of our fallen soldiers in Iraq.

Last night was the University of Iowa's School of Art and Art History's Arts Fest open house, and the turnout was fantastic. I took some photos of the installation:

The University of Iowa's School of Art and Art History are having an open house next week. It is open to the public and I will be having an installation of my recent show! If you are in the area come check it out.

Last week, Brandon Israels, took a few friends and I around New York City. We saw several shows and a few print studios. One of these visits was Chuck Close's studio. We got to be behind the scenes while they were working on a huge edition print for Pace Prints in NYC. Here are a few shots from the whole experience:

This week I was apart of a fantastic workshop, Combat Paper Project at the University of Iowa. This was one of their many stops along their tour. For those who don't know what the Combat Paper Project is:

The Combat Paper Project utilizes art making workshops to assist veterans in reconciling and sharing their personal experiences as well as broadening the traditional narrative surrounding service and the military culture.Through papermaking workshops veterans use their uniforms worn in combat to create cathartic works of art. The uniforms are cut up, beaten into a pulp and formed into sheets of paper. Veterans use the transformative process of papermaking to reclaim their uniform as art and begin to embrace their experiences in the military.

These are some photos of my recent show titled "Cost of War". The show is in Iowa City through the end of the week. There are 3 other shows in the same venue that everyone should check out. I consider myself so lucky to have a show at the same time as Maggie Yocius and Adam Filarski I've included some great shots of some friends and family that came to the opening: