Hwhup The Deans List? The Jason Dean here, bringing an end to the weekend like into it you poured your kindness, your happiness, and your willingness to go with the flow and then proceeded to just chuck it into a volcano.

Anyways. Let’s get into it.

New Art in my own space

Here’s what I’ve been cooking up in the lab 😎

I’ve written before in this space about the big blizzard we had right before last New Year’s Eve. This photo, also from the storms aftermath, is of my drivers side car window and any ice/snow that wasn’t blown away by the 60+ MPH wind gusts.

I love the tint of the window; it has this matte bluish-green hue that I find particularly interesting, especially on days without much sunshine. I also love how pointy and sharp the ice chunks are. I take a lot into blurry and out-of-focus photographs as a means to self-express, but at the end of the day stories are stories and I don’t mind taking a more straightforward photograph to help tell them.

Speaking of blurry and out-of-focus shots, another Christmas tree macro photo for you!

I know I’ve been feigning incredulity about the fact that I am still processing Christmas tree photos, although in my defense, this was taken a week after New Years (editors note: look up the definition of ‘In my defense’). The truth is, I love taking abstract macro photographs of pine trees and Christmas gives me weeks of access to a captive pine tree. So I take lots of those photos and then I have to do something with them.

I took this on a late January sunset hunt with Myles. We didn’t find the sunset, or warmth of any kind really, but I did get to play with my new fisheye lens.

I thought this was a fun photo out of camera, but the square crop unlocked it for me. There’s a sort of ‘Yin & Yang’ dynamic with the sky and the foreground, with the Ore Dock and a wandering Myles serving as a boundary betwixt the two.

I am captivated by the distortion that you get from a fisheye lens. I’m still figuring it out and who knows how often I’ll use it. What I can say is that it’s going to be an incredible tool in my toolbox and I’m excited to create more unique images like this one!

Wintergreen Hill Gallery Reception

On Thursday, I went to the Artists Reception at Wintergreen Hill Gallery for the ‘Northern Flora and Fauna’ show. It’s always cool to see your work on a gallery wall alongside other great artists, and receptions are cool because you get to actually meet those great artists! I had a lovely time chatting with folks and perhaps most importantly, I will never doubt cucumber water again.

APPLIED Sciences

It was a busy week for me on the application front. I submitted applications for Art on the Rocks, the TV6 Mothers Day Craft Show, and the 2027 Public Gallery Program. Fingers crossed! I also made some headway on my application for the Marquette Farmers Market.

UP200 Gallery is live

My gallery of photos from the UP200 Sled Dog Race is available at the link below. The photos are ordered chronologically. Please check it out and let me know what you think!

HOME Made Art

Folks- I am working on a photo service package that I am SUPER DUPER FREAKING EXCITED about. I plan to write about it more in the next couple of weeks, so I don’t want to give too much away here. What I can tell you is that it’s going to involve the ability for you to own completely unique 1-of-1 artwork that is inspired by your home.

STAY TUNED

100 Day Project Update

Here’s where ‘We, The Songs We’ve Sung’ stands after about 4.5 weeks.

I’ve been posting daily updates on a private Facebook group for other artists participating with the project. On a recent post, Kate (the gallery director at The Bonifas), let me know that this can be displayed in a way where it can be viewed at 360 degrees and my brain started to rumble like a hungry tummy.

So now my goal is to fill up the WHOLE canvas; front, back, sides, inside the freaking canvas. The only thing I don’t want to be filled is the wood part of the frame. I’m still planning to do a bulk of the writing on the front; after all, that was the vision of the project. However, I LOVE the idea of a 3-dimensional display because it elevates the idea of how the music and moments of our lives affect our entire being and not just the part that other people see.

Waves are Wednesdays Preview

I wrote my final Waves are Wednesdays newsletter this past week. Thank you to everyone that reached out with kind words- I am glad that my weekly wave photos and words of gratitude have meant so much!

Like I said, even though I won’t be doing the weekly newsletter, Waves are Wednesdays is not going anywhere! And also like I kinda said (but more thought in my head), I’m going to give you, O faithful member of The Deans List, first viewing rights of each weeks wave post, right here, as a way to express my gratitude.

Thank you so much for being a follower and a supporter of what I do. I appreciate you! 🙂

We’re Dreaming

We’re going to move out of the world of visual arts- and out of the state of Michigan- for this week’s dreamer, Joel Lane- in particular, his Portland-based musical outlet Goodnight House.

Full disclosure, Joel is my cousin, which just means I got to know how cool he was before you did. Joel is kind, funny, smart, and a caring husband and father. For the purposes of this section, though- he’s an incredible musician.

To describe the sound of Goodnight House, I’m going to borrow heavily from the Spotify bio here, since Joel is a much better writer about his own music than I am. Joel’s music features “lush and varied musical backdrops” and “vulnerable, confessional lyricism” that tells “stories of transition, relationships, mental illness, and empathy”. His melodies are divine, only surpassed by his sense of harmony. What’s better than hearing Joel Lane sing? Hearing Joel Lane sing twice. There’s also a versatility in Joel’s music- no two albums sound the same, while also belonging distinctively to the same musical family.

I love so many songs from his catalog! Prior to a few weeks ago, my favorite track of his was ‘Nietzsche is Peachy’, a wonderfully sad song featuring a steel guitar and the incredible lyric ‘We still plug away til our bones will not forget our heads banging against the wall’. Then I discovered his first release, ‘It Ends and Starts Again’, and I’m not sure how I’ve survived the last 18 years without it! In particular, I have been blasting the albums second track, Flicker, so often that if it doesn’t end up in my Spotify Wrapped, it calls into question Spotify’s integrity which is not an accusation I bandy about lightly #sarcasm.

But most of all, Joel is one of the bravest people I know because he performs amazing music at a high level with a particularly debilitating disease. You see, Joel was born left handed.

Just kidding Joel! And apologies for being so dismissive to people that have actual real diseases they have to overcome.

To Joel- thank you for being a dreamer!

Lots of happenings happening. I continue to grow and advance and figure this thing out. Your support, encouragement, and buying stuff makes it all possible 😎

See you around,

Jason