Saturday, September 7, 2013

Why Do I love PBS? Because it Really is a Window to My World!

Photograph of me 1977 Yes I really was a blond.

Why would anyone love PBS? They say TV is bad for you...blah blah blah. It really can be if you don't choose carefully what you are watching. I feel pretty damn lucky that I didn't get cable tv till I was 11 or 12 years old. I had parents who were always working, sometimes two jobs at a time. I was an only child and really independant. Yet there were times when I would rely on the tv for company. Just turning it on was like having other people with me. Especially as a latch-key kid. New worlds were shown to me through the programming on WTTW Channel Public Broadcasting Station. I learned to count in spanish on Seseme Street. How other people are supposed to be treated on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. My love of drawing and paintinng was from PBS as well. My first still life was made up of kitchen tiles and some fruit on a counter. It was the first lesson in perspective. This was the 1970s and early 1980s. I was on my own a lot and the tv provided company that took the place of siblings. Even to this day no matter where I have lived, there was always a PBS Station waiting for me. I attribute my love of vegi's and vegitarionism to watching the Victory Garden. Also my love of french cookery to Julia Childs' cooking show, even though I have yet to make a chocolate souffle. It is still on my bucket list. This channel presented me with learning oppurtunities, some pretty eye opening. My mom used to talk about the time we were watching open heart surgery being performed and I was glued to the TV. She talked about that later on in life. I think she had hoped I would work in medicine someday like her cousin. Along the way I developd an overwhelming desire to become an artist. Thanks to public television and my love of learning  It planted a seed that would make me become a very well rounded and caring person today. My love of different cultures, the sciences, dancce, and art is the beautiful result of watching educational television. Make a point with your own children to let them watch tv, but with purpose. Who knows they may learn something from it and find their life's passion or some usefull skills. Give them the desire to learn new things and you may be changing the future for the better. Kids need positive role models. PBS was one of mine. Who were your role models? How do you think television changed your view of the world? Leave me a comment. I would love to hear your thoughts!

Have a great evening and Happy Viewing :)
Stacy Frett
Artist, Photographer, and Wandering Soul.  

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Heading Into Fall

Heading into fall, back to modeling for the art department. Still trying to find a job with more hours,. Haven't had much luck as of late. Still it is good to have the jobs that I do have. I will persist! Still in a bit of a fog after writing that grant, I took a risk and made it deeply personal. Oh ya that is right, I have no filter what so ever. That is the story of my life, I say too much or too little, never an inbetween. I have never achieved any sort of balance and that is my flaw! My thoughts are pretty scattered this morning as I am once again in personal upheaval. I have really been letting things that bother out of the bag as it were and I am not to sure how comfortable I am about that. Keeping my everything compartmentalized has served me well over the years...not so good now. Oh well this is my strange life and I will continue to live it. I need to stop feeling ashamed of being me and that is where the road takes a new turn! I will see how it goes.
Cheers,
Stacy Frett
Artist and Photographer

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Fall is Here Again and I am Still Out of Paint :)

Welcome to the humble beginnings of Fall! Last year around this time I was just getting my Etsy shop going. Most of the work I started with is nolonger in the shop. This is a good thing! It has been a rough year, but am starting to pick up some momentum with regard to finding jobs on the side and creating new images. I am soo glad to have gone through this shit over the last couple years fairly unscathed. So many wonderful and helpful people here in Murray. Personally, I find myself still waiting for the shoe to drop when I meet people. Some of the choices I have made with regard to trusting and relying on people, were very bad! I learned a very hard lesson and am still leery to this day about opening up about anything going on in my life. Like I said before, this was a tough year, but by trusting my gut and holding back a bit it did get better. My level of commitment to anything has really been demostrated this past year. Typically I tend to live in one place/city for around two years and then I have to move elsewhere. I am so used to being disappointed by people and they of me, that I beat them to the chase and go. I have had several career changes by choice and consider my self to be a renaissance women because of it. In spite of all my different gigs in life, I have remained perpetually rootless and aloof. Out and out poverty was the ultimate gift I received this past year. It may sound ridiculous, but when you don't have the money to move and there are next to no jobs available, creativity really sets in.
 I say this because it really does! If you have bills to pay and such, you either get moving or  die in the process. I prefer the life thing, so I took what little resources I had and started taking photographs again and making earrings to help with the bills. I have often commented that having an arts education is a great luxery. It is, but in my case it gave me the skills to tread water. There is no way I was going to go down without a fight! Currently I have work for sale online and at the Murray Art Guild. I have begun showing my work again and working with a community photography program that I was asked to facilitate, called MAGPix. Good things are happening again all because I have been letting people into my life. To think all this started up because I ran out paint and was in a serious depression over the loss of my mom. Sometimes little things really do make all the difference. So far I am still barely treading water financially, but not emotionally anymore. Have since forgotten about the paint that I wanted and have fully comitted myself to a community and it's people. I still have that urge to move now and again, just not as strongly as before. I have hope, friends, and have put some roots down. Eventually more work/money will follow I just have to trust in the process and show a little more patience. To think of all the chaos of last year, almost losing my father, trying to heal every aspect of my life, and learning to trust the right people. Still a work in progress, but what the hell! I have always loved a challenge in life. 

Thanks for catching up with me and the blog,

Cheers, 

Stacy Frett
Artist, Phhotographer  & Locally Wandering Soul!