Sagan, Wells & Clarke, OH MY!
I love the messy mashup of what's in my life. I think we all tend to gravitate towards activities that we enjoy, and end up meeting similar people because of that. I let so much into my life that sometimes it's overwhelming, but I would be devastated to give any one thing up. So I don't.
I am involved in the arts, and try to go to as many openings and exhibits as I can. I try to accept all invites, especially because a lot of my friends exhibit. It's important to support local arts and I do my best to show up and engage.
I work at The Art Coop right now because it's a positive and creative work environment. It gives me somewhere to go outside of school and I think that's incredibly important for my life balance. I play tennis and coach the Mahomet girls team. I love having physical activity in my life and it definitely provides a time to occupy my body and free my mind. I freelance design which has provided me many amazing opportunities to meet people and feel involved locally. I also work with the PechaKucha team as a graphic designer, and general organizer. It's an incredible group of people. I have a studio in the Lincoln Building that allows me a space to be creative and create collages.
Other than organized activities and work I love spending time hanging out with my awesome dog, Scooby, watching TV and movies, as well as cooking with my partner. I think the time away from projects is vital to me. It allows me to absorb creative things around me and time to marinate on ideas.
I am definitely satisfied with the sum of my influences. I feel really like my influences give me life and fuel my creativity. I am always looking for more influences, whether it's a new artist or author I am constantly on the hunt for something new.
Carl Sagan was an amazing writer, teacher, scientist and thinker. His ideas were big. He was inspired and influenced by the work of H.G. Wells and Arthur C. Clarke, both science fiction writers. It makes sense to me that this is true, given Sagan's obsession with science and the universe. These authors were able to take him into completely foreign worlds across the galaxy. He was able to appreciate the alternate realities and the infinite possibilities and questions that these two men created. I included book covers and a video intro to Arthur C. Clarke's TV show because they are visually interesting to me. I've always been a huge fan of classic horror and science fiction art, so to already arrive at these two is really amazing in my chain.
