Our visit to The Country Club of Virginia!

Sorry for the Delay! I've been having technical difficulties and didn't want to do this post until I could get the pictures from my phone onto the computer. I can't get them to email, but will post them at a later time if I do figure it out.

We met with Anne and Kevin (Manager and Professional Development Specialist) last Tuesday to take a full tour of The Country Club of Virginia and learn how this facility functions as a community.

There were 15 original members and now there are about 7,400. To become a member you either have to already be apart of a family who's enrolled or you can gain sponsorship. There's an extensive 3 step process required to obtain membership, and an initial fee of $35,000 per member. On average the typical family pays about $550 a month to belong.

The club is very proud of their culture which consists of a cohesiveness between members and staff, long tenured employees, shared vision, shared values, and "walking the same walk, and talking the same talk."

Kevin shared a 4 minute video with us which featured the Bangles "walk like an Egyptian." This mainly displayed the staff striking an Egyptian pose, a few members partook also. It was supposed to reflect how the staff enjoys their jobs and the good relationship between them and members.  

The images above are info cards for the staff (which is very diverse). There are about 250 full time employees and 500 altogether.

Going to the country club

Zwelethu Mthethwa Reception

Work in Progress Crit

Presented Today

• Kate
• Jaclyn
• Mark
• Casey
• Breonca

Showing of work and research material collected thus far

Progress in project and exchange of valuable feedback, written and verbal

Discussion of idea or other ideas of presentation of final project

Direction or way to approach project to further strengthen it

What communities they are involved in and engagement

Mike Interviewing Jaclyn

http://soundcloud.com/mikew6890/sequence-1

Mike: So tell me about yourself?

Jaclyn: Tell me about….(chuckles and composure)

Mike: Where you come from? What’s your family like?

Jaclyn: Ok. Um.

Mike: Parents, Siblings, …

Jaclyn: Well um.. I was born at a Petersburg Hospital. Southside Regional and spent my first five years of life living in Chesterfield Virginia. Then my family: me, my mom, my dad at the time moved to Colonial Heights Virginia and they bought my dad’s parents house. So um, from that point on from year five to like the end of high school I lived in my Oma’s house, that’s what I call my dads grandma. So yeah then they bought a nice new expensive house in a rich neighborhood in Colonial Heights. I hated that house. They still live there now. It’s just not really like homey. I never felt at home in that house.

Mike: It’s kind of foreign to you now uh?

Jaclyn: Yeah. Definitely. I don’t feel, I feel I don’t really have a home right now cause I have been living in an apartment for the past 3-4 years and that’s really a temporary residence, you know.

Mike: Right.

Jaclyn: But more about my family. I have two little sisters, Madison and Tori. Madison is ten years old and Tori is twelve years old. So

Mike: They are both currently in middle school or…?

Jaclyn: Madison is in five grade this is her last year, she goes to Tussing Elementary School and Tori, this is her first year in middle school so she is in 6^th grade. So

Mike: How is she enjoying that?

Jaclyn: I think she likes it. She does cheering, which is totally the opposite of what… like I hate cheerleaders..

Mike: Cheering

Jaclyn: Yeah

Mike: That’s pretty early to start in middle school isn’t it?

Jaclyn: Yeah so she’s like in 6^th grade cheering squad. 

Mike: Is she thinking about doing that in high school or is it to early to tell?

Jaclyn: She really likes it so um she probably will.

Mike: What did your parents do? In terms of work?

Jaclyn: My dad is a police officer. He has been doing that his whole life. He’s done a lot of things on the police force. He was a detective, he was on the drug task force, he did you know street work. Right now he is doing a mixture of street work and deskwork.

Mike: Oh wow.!

Jaclyn: He’s a sergeant, so he’s like not the lowest of the low, but he’s not the head guy in charge, so.

Mike: That must be interesting as a role model for a father and I can’t imagine what that would be like?

Jaclyn: It was pretty difficult, I think growing up. I would never want my husband to be a police officer because I just, I remember what it was like as a child kind of growing up with that. It was good and it was bad because I had to like watch my back and like never step out of line. Really as a child and as a teenager and I guess that affected my personality now. I don’t, I’m not too crazy.

Mike: In terms of that being an occupation and him being a parent did that kind of show through his parenting?

Jaclyn: Yeah definitely.

Mike: He interrogate you very much?

Jaclyn: Uh.. yeah a little bit, but he was just disciplined, a disciplined father. And my mom, she is a schoolteacher. She has always been a schoolteacher. She teaches K through 3 and reading for kids that need help, though with reading. 

Mike: Now those are completely drastic, two different sides. So in terms of education who helped you most? Your mom?

Jaclyn: Um, that’s hard to say. I think my mom with reading and stuff, but my poor subjects were math and like spelling and still are. My dad would like, since I hated it so much, my mom couldn’t take teaching me. So um, he would like get me to do it and like I would have to show him my homework and that kind of thing. So he would do the hard subjects with me.

Mike: So being born in Petersburg as you said and have been moved around to Colonial Heights, what as your childhood like?

Jaclyn: Well Petersburg was next to Colonial Heights so it’s pretty much the same place. It’s like where everyone goes to on Friday for the arts thing. Everyone goes to downtown old town Petersburg and hangs out there with all the cool restaurants, galleries, and stuff like that and its like right over the bridge from Colonial Heights so its pretty much right next to Colonial Heights. I never use to, use to get my hair cut I remember as a child in Petersburg because it was like really nice and up scale and my parents had money because they didn’t have, I was the only child at the time and um, but I never really like experienced Petersburg until like um the end of high school and going to college there. But it’s a really cool town and I wish I had like hung out there more.

Mike: I catch ya.

Jaclyn: Yeah

Mike: And so…Are you married or single?

Jaclyn: I’m married. You know that. (laughter)

Mike: I’m trying to act like I don’t.

Jaclyn: Um yeah. So, October 22^nd is our Anniversary date so it’s coming up on a year now and my husband

Mike: So it was 2011?

Jaclyn: Yup, um my husbands name is Josh, Joshua Keith Brown. He’s a cute guy. What do you want to know?

Mike: What does he do?

Jaclyn: Right now he is working at Wells Fargo as a teller and he’s currently applying to teaching positions. He got his degree in history from VCU a couple, a year ago and a year and half ago, something like that. So he’s just been like working and he really has got the motivation recently to actually this is it I got to apply for jobs to get the job, you know.

Mike: Right

Jaclyn: So he really wants to be like a high school history teacher and so he’s just been applying.

Mike: I thought it was interesting how you said he is a history major and he wants to do teaching but he is doing the middle step in terms of being a bank teller.

Jaclyn: Yeah he really…

Mike: I always pictured him as a kind of like in office building. He appears that way.

Jaclyn: He worked actually at a office building type thing called retail data, but he had a horrible boss and so he left there. It was making him same amount at his teller job so he’s better off there now. He’s really good with kids and he’s really good at learning information, especially history and math. Like he helped me with math all the way through community college because I like really struggled with that. So…yeah.

Mike: You talked about community college. In terms of your education, I guess, what high school and then from high school why did you go to community college and then decide to come here?

Jaclyn: That’s a good question. So as of high school senior I was really involved with everything. I was captain of the soccer team, captain of the field hockey team, I ran track, I played travel soccer, I was, u know art club president, I was national art society historian or something of that sort. So I was doing so many things that’s not even everything and I was constantly told I always need to have stuff on your resume like to get into college and stuff like that. So I was like good at art and I knew that I want to go to VCU, well I was actually debating between Liberty University, its like that Christian college in Lynchburg I knew a lot of people that were there and I had been there a couple of times and it was nice but I was really interested in art. I wasn’t sure exactly what area in art I wanted to go into so I just put something like graphic design down or interior design and my high school was very very small there was like a hundred and fifty, a hundred and seventy five students in my senior high class. So high school was small and we didn’t have any art classes besides like the regular normal art class. We didn’t have photography, we didn’t have design, and we didn’t have anything. So I just put something down and I was thing I was interested in design, applied to VCU, did not get in, so I was like what am I going to do, should I go to Liberty I was accepted to Liberty, but it was a lot a lot of money. My dad was like really against that and was like well if you go to community college for two years im going to pay for that and then I’ll pay for the rest of your college because my parents did the Virginia 529 savings plan. So um that like helped them out finically. So yeah I went to Richard Blan and then I guess I can just tell you the rest. I went to Richard Blan, stayed there two years, applied to VCU and I didn’t get into VCU for the second time. Well they said I was accepted into the college, but not

Mike: Not the arts program

Jaclyn: Right, yeah

Jaclyn: So I was really really upset because I knew I was good enough by then like I had a really good portfolio at that level and so I went up to Tracie Taylor’s office at the Photography and Film floor at VCU and I asked her like I need to know why I didn’t get in so she dragged me into her office, and she was like first off never put a cat in your portfolio. I was like I didn’t have a cat in my portfolio. So she was like, “What that’s crazy.??” So we found my correct portfolio thati had sent in and she was like well your pretty good, um we are probably going to have to accept you. So I pretty much got on the spot, except in some of her after I went through that.

Mike: So with your determination, you went in and sought out somebody and helped you get in.

Beth and Mark have a ten minute conversation via the strange and wonderful world of the internet

-->

Mark: Maybe talk about, if you were to do a timeline of your life, if you were to draw it, in under two minutes verbally, imagine you were drawing on a piece of paper a timeline of your life, with all your successes, losses, the most important moments

Beth: I was born, and I lived in Fredericksburg my whole life, I was pretty good in school but not the best.

M: Can you talk about, what was Fredericksburg like, talk about the house you lived in

B; It was a normal, middle class neighborhood, and there was a bunch of kids in the same age range as me, and there was a pool in front of the neighborhood, a playground

M: What was the longest lasting friendship that you had?

B: My friend Brittney, we don’t really talk to much anymore, she lived across the street from me for 15 years maybe, and then she moved away because her parents got divorced, but we’re still friends

M: On the facebooks?

B; Yeah

M: Was there ever any, did you ever get in trouble, did you ever have a little rascals moment?

B: Not really, there was a creek behind her house, and her mom that would get really mad at us because she thought that we were going to drown. And one time we thought, yeah, it’s rained a lot so we should definitely go swimming right now, wearing lifejackets, and then her mom was like, “No! don’t do that, you’re not allowed.” And then there were just some petty fights between the different groups of friends in the neighborhoods.

M: What was your school like?

B: I guess pretty average. It was a lot of white people. And I guess Fredericksburg is pretty ‘red-necky.’ 

M: Did you feel like you fit in there.

B: Not really. No, I was pretty quiet my whole life.  I mostly hung out with people that were in the same art classes as me.

M: What was your first introduction to creative expression? Was art always in your life?

B: I was into art as long as I can remember. From grade school on. And it was always one of my favorite classes to take.

M: Is there one artist that you most connect with? That really inspires your work?

B: I guess my favorite artist would be Catherin Opie

She took pictures of Queer people. And they’re against fabric backdrops.

She took the pictures in the studio, the backdrop is not a piece of paper, some fancy looking fabric, to give it some art historical type of…

I guess she makes people question gender in her work.

M: Can you explain why that is important in your work? What connection you make to it?

B: Its awesome to see other queer artists taking pictures of other queer people and being really successful with it. And making people question gender norms. And her work is really popular which I think is really cool.

M: So it normalizes it?

B: It brings it into more people’s thoughts.

M: When was the first time that you…when did you come out?

B: I’ve always been shy, so I never really had a big coming out moment.  I remember, this is really silly, but I put it on my myspace at the time, so then I was like, everyone will know or whatever, so yeah, I never really told anyone, I just assumed they would figure it out.

M: Did anyone say anything?

B: My mom actually, she was stalking my mysapce and she was really mad that I didn’t tell her about it. And she was crying because I didn’t tell her. And I was like, mom its kinda awkward I don’t know how to tell people that, its kinda funny, wow.

M: So it wasn’t the stereotypical disapproving mother. It was more like she wanted to be in the loop.

Yeah.

M: Did it effect anything in your family?

B: I don’t think anything really changed. It wasn’t really dramatic or anything. It was just like, ok cool.

There’s certain people I waited to tell till I was dating someone.

M: Were you dating someone at the time? Or , I’ve been interested in this, or this is how I feel, or this is the right time to make it public? Were you beginning to date someone or was it a feeling?

B: I wasn’t dating anyone, it was just a feeling, and I know it is guess this is kinda stereotypical, but I started watching the L Word. Oh yeah cool, I think I’m queer.

M: So how did your classmates react

I don’t know if a lot of them knew? I remember I told this one girl. And at the time I felt really anxious about telling her. But she was also gay so I guess that’s why I felt comfortable telling her. I don’t know, I guess I never really told a ton of people about it, so I don’t know how they reacted.

(cats fighting…aka…catattack!)

M: If you could make a monument to one moment in your life

B: That’s a very serious question.

One moment that I thought was an awesome moment, when I first started dating Jessica, and it was, I think it was valentines day maybe, and she hid me a bunch of clues and sent me on a scavenger hunt and that was so adorable and memorable. It was pretty adorable.

M: How long have you been dating?

B: We just took a break, but before that it was 3 years and 8 months.

M: Was that your first partnership?

B: My first real one. We get a long, it’s just kinda awkward now.

An Interview with Casey Collier

Transcription Interview

Breonca: Can you state your full name for me please?

Casey: My full name is Casey Lynn Collier

Breonca: And where are you from?

Casey: I am from Washington DC

Breonca: Ooooo so how is that different from Richmond, Virginia?

Casey: Um, its-it’s pretty different. I have spent my entire life in DC. And the only other –like big city I had ever been to was New York. And so I was really use to like this extreme- like (unclear word) kind of city and so when I was looking up colleges, I was only looking up colleges in cities and so I said Richmond was one so I was like oh okay, so I was expecting like to me DC was the smallest city I’d ever been to so I was expecting something like that and then I came to Richmond and it was not so similar. Um, but I really like it. I feel like, at home, is very commercial and shiny and every thing is just the way it is and it’s very centered around the government and a lot of place obviously. Like Richmond is nice ‘cause I always describe it as being very like dirty and old but in a very endearing sort of way, where everything is – there’s just one of it, it’s very unique, like there’s only one Rumors, there’s only one National Theater, there’s only one galaxy, I really like that about Richmond, that it’s more eclectic, than back home.

Breonca: So what would you say it was like growing up in the city? Or a small city as you put it.

Casey: Yea, well I don’t consider a small city anymore now that I’ve been hanging out I Richmond. Um, I –I liked it, I didn’t live in the parts of DC that people usually think about. Like, I’m not from southeast, which is the part that usually ends up on the news. Similarly, I’m not from the area where the federal government is, which also ends up on the news. I guess the coolest thing that I live near is natural zoo and that’s kind of still far away. I live out in the northwest so it was nice, I really liked it. Um, it’s really interesting talking to other people like from Richmond now about things I’m used to doing. Like I grew up riding buses and metros and like I didn’t get a driver’s license until like a year ago but apparently that’s very strange. Like, outside of DC, um but it was interesting because my school was very diverse, um, the public schools in DC are really bad and so I went to private school to avoid that and I guess in DC they try to make the private schools extra fancy so that the dignitaries would be encouraged to send their children there and so there’s a lot of diversity at the schools that I went to ike there’s a lot of people coming in from just everywhere all over the city and then also we had a fair number of people who came from other countries, a lot of people from like…growing up with a Latin American background, and their parents just moved from America, and now they live here, and they’re incorporated that way. Like a lot of my teachers are that way, they just came here from...a lot of Puerto Ricans and dignitary children. So it was pretty diverse which I liked. Um, and then I started going to catholic school, and that was not very diverse, it was very waspish (unclear word), so that was very different.      

Breonca: So what would you say was your start in pursuing art?

Casey: Um, I’m not sure like, I have memories of always just producing art. It was always just something I liked to do, but I guess I never really took it seriously till I was in the eighth grade. And people would notice that my drawings were very very good and would tell me about it. So I guess in high school I started really trying to pursue art. Figuring out that I wanted to go to art school. For a long time I wanted to be a clay maker like in the Wallace and Rabbit movies, like that was like what I had decided I wanted to do. Clearly that is not what I am doing, but it was a pipe dream for a long time.

Breonca: So what made you want to choose art education?

Casey: It was a process cause I didn’t choose art education originally. When I, um, after AFO when you have the portfolio process I had wanted to be a crafts materials studies major because I just like that sort of thing, but at the time I was taking a drawing class and my teacher would look at my drawings and would encourage me to go into painting and printmaking instead. And so I did, and I spent a semester there and I didn’t like it because it was, it was really self focused and I just couldn’t take it, because its like you would sit in your studio and produce art all day. It was just about you producing your own stuff, and I just wasn’t about that. I felt like its taking up a lot of my time that I wasn’t willing to give up. So I switched to art education cause I thought it was more people focused, and like later in life it would be easier to like maintain whatever sort of life, cause if you’re a painter you have to move to New York, you have to move to Chicago. But if you’re a teacher you could move to wherever there is people, like that so, that was my thought process.     

Breonca: So what’s your hopes after graduation?

Casey: Um, I don’t really know. I’m kind’ve on the extended senior plan so im not graduating right away but I am hoping to stick around Richmond for a while cause Im really involved in this church here and I would like to be able to uh give back to it in the area before I went somewhere else. Honestly I would be fine staying in Richmond for the rest of my life, but I could probably say that about anywhere I moved, that I would want to live there for the rest of my life. So.. 

Breonca: are you thinking about doing grad school? or…

Casey: No, I am not doing grad school

Breonca: I agree (laughs) um, what community are you focusing on?

Casey: I’m focusing on the homeless community of Richmond. Specifically there’s a health care organization on Grace Street, on grace and Belvidere, called The Daily Planet, which offers health care services to the, the homeless community of Richmond. And they’re very amazing, I’ve never seen a…a homeless organization that does the kind of things they do like they contribute a lot. Specifically I am focusing on their medical respite program, which is in the north side and it is a place where people who are homeless and have recently been in a hospital can go. Um, when usually they are discharged to be on bed rest, um if they’re homeless they don’t have a bed to go to so they go to this program and they can stay there until they are ready to get back on their feet.

Breonca: And what made you interested in choosing that community?

Casey: Um, well the homeless I’m specifically interested in is because I have this sort of interesting relationship with the homeless where like I grew up around…I grew up in a city that’s dripping with homeless people and so you see them all the time. And the ones that approach you are the more aggressive hand handler types and they’re very scary but through school like I would get involved with community service and I got to know a different side of homeless people. Like through volunteering at soup kitchens and the ones that you meet there are very different like they, they aren’t aggressive, they aren’t pushy, they’re not trying to hurt you, they’re just regular people and you can get to know them that way and they’re great. And so there is this discectomy of homelessness out there. Its just something I’ve been thinking about recently so….or doubt that I was able to think about it more through this class.

Breonca: And has being involved in the church that you, um, briefly spoke about, has that also enabled you to learn more about this community as well through different, um, community service events or anything?

Casey: Not really. Kind’ve. Um, it’s more like, the ministry I’m apart of is specifically focused on like trying to live by the bible. And so a lot of the things that I do is to help other people know what scripture says and then teach them to obey it. So on my part I read (unclear words)…and taking care of the poor people and I’m trying to obey that too, and we’re trying to get more community focused, uh and involved in the community so this is a great outreach, but I wouldn’t say that the one springs the other.

Breonca: That’s nine minutes

Lauren Lyon interviews Kate Fowler

L: This is Lauren Lyon interviewing Kate Fowler

K: Hello….

L: About Kate as a human, as an artist, as a thinker, as a lover…

K: Interrupts a couple times and giggles.

L: So you’re married, right?

K: I’m married. To a man named Robert Scott.

L: How long have you been married?

K: One year as of September 24^th, that’s our wedding anniversary.

L: How long were you together before you got married?

K: Five years before we got married.

L: That’s a long time…

K: That is a long time.

L: You’ve taken a lot of pictures of Robert.

K: Naked, clothed, laying in the grass, laying on the beach, laughing, crying…

L: Crying?!

K: No, there are no pictures of him crying.

L: This is supposed to be honest!

K: There are picture of him swinging, though.

L: What are your favorite pictures of Robert?

K: Hmmm… I like this one picture from Finland where he’s laying in the bed and the sun is coming in over his head and he looks really sleepy. And I like any pictures where his eyes are close because he’s got this really distinct black line from his eyelashes and its really pretty and kind of like a curve. There’s this picture of him where one hand is over his face like this and he’s smiling and looking down and you can only see half his face and it’s the cutest picture. I took that on my Pentax point and shoot camera. Its terrible, but I love it.

L: Have you ever thought about doing a series about you and Robert?

K: No. Laughs No I haven’t!

L: Well I know you’re doing your anniversary photo every year…

K: Yeah, I know, but I just…

L: Do you feel like people who make work about their relationship always do it about something sad or complicated?

K: No, I think there’s really beautiful work. Like, I’m really curious about Sally Mann’s work that she’s been making with her husband. Its been like 5 years that she’s been working on it, but I think its more about the connectedness and the unity between them. Rather than discordance. But no, I’m just not interested in it. There are pictures of Robert and I together that I’ve taken with the self-timer.

I, in general, have never thought about making a project about myself, visually.

L: Hm… Well, you made a project about your family… Family ties?

K: Yeah, but its not about, like, physically—me. Or the idea of me, either.

L: Why not?

K: I’m more interested in the people I’m connected to. I don’t know, because I understand myself. I’m not interested in myself, really. Its not very exciting to think about myself or ponder myself. I don’t feel like there are any gaping holes in my awareness of myself that I need to discover. I kind of know who I am.

Nothing—there’s nothing to be found. I wouldn’t be very happy looking at pictures of myself.

L: Yeah, but you sort of did when you made work about your relationship with your [twin] brother—that’s also about you.

K: Yeah, I think a lot of work is about things connected to myself. But not directly about me. I mean that work is more about the idea of space than about either one of us.

L: The idea of space in terms of being separated from him? Distance?

K: Mhm. Or that weird kind of phenomenon of loving a person when there’s nothing that really should connect the two of you emotionally other than family ties.

L: What’s the weirdest dream job that you have that no one would suspect? That has nothing to do with what you do now? Or even, like, a photography endeavor that’s totally different. Like mine, would have been aerial cinematography.

K: Really!? But I would suspect that! So you’re lying…

L: I tried.

K: Could it not be photography?

L: Yeah.

K: I think it would be really great to open a Bed & Breakfast. That’s something I’d really like to do when I’m 55, 65 years old.

L: What would it be like?

K: I want it to be in the mountains.

L: Where?

K: Ya know, in my brain its in Rappahannock County, VA. But I think its just because its what I know. Ya know. I hope I kind of reach out farther, but the idea of being that far away from family permanently is weird. I want it to be and old, yellow farmhouse, and I want to live there and I want people to have to come downstairs and eat dinner with us. That would be really fun. I could teach people how to cook.

L: That’s cool. Cooking lessons…

K: Robert and I have talked about how it would be cool to open up a place like the Tea Bazaar in Charlottesville. It would just be kind of like a cool, fun place to own.

L: You guys like having people hang out in your living space. Its funny that you can feel alone while living with your partner. Because you feel alone right now when you’re not living with three other roommates.

K: Well, because Robert and I kind of function on the same schedule most of the time. We come home at the same time, we leave at the same time. Its weird when you come home and you can feel that the space has been empty. When you know that for like 10 hours nothing has happened. And you don’t smell food, the lights aren’t on, the heat’s not on. Its just an empty vacant space and your animals are lonely. And they’re sad.

I like coming into a space and seeing people working on stuff. Their homework, or whatever. They’re cooking food or talking. Just hearing it makes me happy, even if I have to be in my bedroom focusing on something.

L: You’re going to have a big family. Maybe…

K: Yeah I hope so. I don’t want like, 5 kids. Three kids maybe. Two and one adopted.

L: You have a good relationship with your mom. And its always really cool for me to see you talking to your mom about your work. And you guys understanding each other.

K: laughs

L: That’s really rare! I don’t talk to my family about my work at all.

K: Really?

L: Nothing… barely anything.

K: Your mom, I bed she would.

L: This isn’t my interview…

K: Your mom wants to know about your work. My mom is funny—it makes sense that she would talk about it because she the most overly romantic woman in the world. I got an email from her the other day that slightly pissed me off, made me jealous, and made me laugh all at the same time. Because it was like, “My Dearest Kate, I write this as I sit overlooking mount Olympus in Greece. The fog is lifting and its beautiful. I’m drinking wine, the people are great…” She’s in Greece right now and everything she writes, its as if she’s William Faulkner. Putting this down to go into the history of a southern lady traveling to Greece and writing to her daugher thousands of miles away… Its very romantic.

L: Ya’ll are both romantic.

K: Nu-uh! I never say those things, I’ve never wrote like that a day in my life!

L: You… are. You do romantic things, and take romantic pictures.

K: I’m scared that I’ll be like that… WHAT!?

L: Yeah. Its true. The bad scans, all the dust, the lens flare…

K: Hey, man! I was 18 years old! When you don’t know how to use a camera those things are really exciting, you kind of rely on them when you don’t have much going on, otherwise.

L: Its magic. We’re at ten minutes… I’m trying to think of something I might not know about you…

K: Hmm… That’s gonna be hard! Laughs

L: What project are you most excited about right now? What project would you most want to work on if you had unlimited amounts of time and money?

K: Well, Nitro.

L: If you could work on any project ever—your dream project. That’s Nitro?

K: Its hard to think in that way, because I don’t have some like “big huge thing” that I’d really want to do if I had a lot of money. Because its mostly centered around where I live—the things I’m most connected to. So I wouldn’t have to fly very far. But I do want to work on this, and I’d like to work with other people on their projects.

L: What do you find more fulfilling about this project than others?

K: Its really challenging for me. Its a completely different mode of working than I’ve ever experienced. I mean to just go to a place and have to start from scratch. And literally meet people on the street and try to form connections. And also, so much of the information is completely new to me and so much of the legal practice and trying to figure out what it means is new to me. So its kind of like detective work at the same time, which is really fun. Its exciting. And I’m passionate about the topic, and so many people I’ve met—I care about them a lot. They’re good people.

L: You, more than anyone I know, likes to form close relationships to the people you make work about.

K: Haha, its probably not a good thing! Because I always make sad work. So its like witnessing terribly things happening to the people you’re increasingly feeling more at home with. I hate the thought of something happening to Mike, God… I mean, how could you not form a close relationship with those people?

L: Some people aren’t good at that.

K: Yeah.

L: You’re really good at—you’re a very warm and accepting personality and I think people could easily find themselves drawn to you or very comfortable with you at least. And that’s definitely a strong point. I don’t think many people have that.

K: In some ways…

L: Some photographers are notoriously cold.

K: I was thinking how different the work would be if I didn’t really care what the person would think if they saw it.

L: How would it change?

K: There was one girl that I took a picture of for the abortion project. The girl standing by the river.

L: Describe the photo.

K: It’s a picture of her wearing her bikini. It was not my idea. But she wanted to wear it because she had just been pregnant and had taken pennyroyal in order to terminate the pregnancy on her own. And thought that it would still be visible, that she had been pregnant, which is really scary because I think it was a later term pregnancy.

L: What’s pennyroyal?

K: It’s a poison from a plant extract. Its something women have used since the 1700’s to induce abortion.

L: Whoa.

K: Yeah, its really scary. And I think she ordered it on the internet. You basically poison yourself in small doses over a two week period. So she had just done that and I had a hard time talking to her because I didn’t agree with her mentality in a lot of ways. But, when I took the picture, I knew that she really wouldn’t like it, and it’s the first person that I haven’t been in touch with to discuss which picture they would prefer. Because I just knew when I took the picture that that’s the one I really wanted to use. Its pretty different from the one she’d prefer, which is the one where her boyfriend is hugging her and leaning against a tree.

L: Two very different photos… haha. They’ll make you think completely different things about a person.

K: Mhm… I still think she looks strong in that picture.

L: In a way…

K: Yeah, but I’m definitely not close with any of the subjects in that project at all. Like, distinctly separate from them. And I think you can tell because with all the women I photograph, there’s this slightly odd juxtaposition with their landscape. There’s something just a little bit off balance about it. Which is weird, because it makes it seem like its not a very empathetic project, when it really is a subject matter that I feel [strongly about]… Which is interesting because it seems like I don’t really want to hear these people’s stories, personally, because they make me upset. But in theory, I support their right to have them.

Interview with Lauren Lyon

Interview Begins:

Hello, this is Kate Fowler interviewing Lauren Catherine Thibodeau Lyon, aka Thibby. Could you please tell me your name? 

Lauren Catherine Thibodeau Lyon the 1^st!

Ok, great. Well! Tell me about Portrait as Community.

As a class?

Yes, How do you feel? Why did you decide to take this class?

I decided to take this class because of Zwelethu, honestly.

Why? 

Because I love his work and I was excited to have the opportunity to be in a class with such a distinguished professional… not that you are not, Michael Lease. But, of his caliber, I guess. ...it was also a class that I wanted to take because it would pose a challenge to for me to make work that I’ve never created before. I’ve never done work about any sort of real ideas about a group of people or any...documenting (of) real things in general.

What type of work do you make?

I would describe most of my work as being both analytical and formal, and also sort of poetic.

Describe a piece that you’ve made which fits all of these categories: Analytical, poetic and formal.

I guess one of the most recent series that I've done, printing Van Dykes on fabric... a series of gestures, paired with sort of graphic representations of what those gestures are about. So, a gesture representing an emotion, and secondly, a metaphorical representation of the psycho-sematic  response to that emotion. Which sounds kind of complicated, but in my mind it’s a simple concept. 

So, you went to school originally for nursing?

Well, originally when I went to college out of high-school... I was going to pursue photography. I started off at community college taking graphic design and drawing classes… but, after my friends left to places like Miami, Michigan and New York, it sunk in that I was there without my support system. I began to doubt myself and my ability and drive to pursue photography. So I thought it would be a good idea to do nursing instead. It was a total cop out. While I am interested in science, like I find anatomy, physiology and anatomy really fascinating, it’s just not who I am.

It seems like you’ve always had kind of an interest in deep knowledge of the way your body works in relation to your mind. Do you think that’s true?

Yeah, I mean… I’ve always thought that people don’t know enough about the way their bodies work, but I also think people don’t know enough about the way their emotions work. I don’t know, people just need to figure themselves out.. and understand why things affect them in a certain way. 

Do you think that’s why you create the work you create… as an attempt to figure yourself out?

Yeah, but also, its going along with figuring out how your body works physiologically…Yesterday, we were discussing how people think it’s such a weird and strange thing to go to therapy and start talking with a  counselor, but to me it’s something that I’ve done since I was eight years old. It’s like going to any other doctor for a check-up. So I think my ability to conceptualize my emotions has been pretty strong since I was young. Not necessarily being able to control them, but in understanding them.

How do those physical, kind of tangible representations of your emotions…what role do they play in your relationships? Do you feel like, rather than communicating with people about it, you make these things and that’s your form of communication, or are they just kind of secondary? Or, once you create that work are you not trying to work through those issues anymore?

It took me two bodies of work to work through one particular relationship that I was struggling with… I found that when I was making that work, it was the only way I could make work is if I could make it about that thing. It was all consuming and so hard to think of anything else. You make work about what you know… you write about what you know. So, at that time, it was unfortunately all that I knew… this really stressful struggle in our relationship.

What’s the most important thing that you’ve learned or gained as a photographer in the past two years… either through your education or through your experiences personally? 

To let myself be scared. To recognize a fear of something and just try to demolish it.

Is making work for you scary?

Making work about myself was scary, the idea of doing that was really scary to me. A lot of what I did was very formal, geometric, observational... about... relationships between objects in the world… so yeah, the idea of making work about myself was really strange and scary. I learned a lot from it and now I’m approaching another fear with the Burlesque project… a lot of different fears, actually. Approaching a community that I don’t really know, I get really nervous. Last time I went to shoot I wanted to leave within 15 minutes, but I made myself stick around... I’ve just realized that the power that doing something that you’re scared of has, how much it helps you grow. I feel that way about a lot of things in life, like food. I hate not liking food, so I will eat something until I like it. A couple of weeks ago, I’m proud to say that I finally like pickles.

I love pickles!! Dill Pickles?!  

I don’t know what kind of pickle… it was a Panera Pickle.

That could mean anything…They say that if you eat something ten times, you’ll like it. I don’t like olives. I think I’ve had olives like 150 times in my life.

Black olives, even?! They’re so good…

ANY OLIVE! Any olive in the world, that’s ever existed. It’s terrible.

So if you had to identify yourself as being part of a community, what community would it be? What are your communities?

My mom and my stepdad’s friend circle.. 

What community are they?

The Real Housewives of Roanoke. I’ve always been close with my mom and her circle of friends. I don’t feel connected to a lot of communities. I guess we’re in the lower end of the Richmond photographic arts community, but I’m also sort of involved in a little Illustration community with people who are working on comics and all sorts of things. I did some portraits of them last year in the studio. Other than that, I don’t have any weird hobbies or religious connections. Hopefully I’ll actually become a part of the Burlesque community in some way. I’ve never felt myself to be so inspired and attracted to a certain group of people before…

What is it about this group of people? 

It's something that I can never see myself doing… 

I don’t think that’s true! I’ve seen you break it down in the middle of a dance floor, with only one other person out there.

Yeah, but those are like little… I don’t know! They just have such balls! They’re so brave. It’s just really inspiring to me that there are so many different women, that do it for different reasons. So many different body types… It’s just inspiring… they look so happy and empowered. Before going to my first show I was really weirded out by the idea, but it’s nothing like a strip club where drunk men are just silently, creepily staring at a girl on a pole. There’s a really positive interaction between the audience and the dancer.

Have you ever been to a strip club?

No. Maybe I should for contrast.

Yeah, I was thinking it may be interesting to verify your beliefs.

I don’t think I need to go there to do that, though. I just know it’s a different thing.

So, you’re thinking about performing with the Burlesque group?

Fifteen percent of me can see that as a possibility. I don’t know, we’ll have to see. It will depend… it seems like a really trans-formative experience, going through the class and meeting all of these women. I mean, maybe. I’m definitely going to take the class. But, performing is terrifying. I can only imagine utter humiliation. I’ll just pee my pants on stage. Part of me wants to.

You’re a performer , though. I think of all of the times we’ve done karaoke . You want to be up there, by yourself, you want space to do your thing.

Yeah. I have different characters within me.

Yeah, that’s perfect for Burlesque, right? I do think there’s potential for you to be comfortable doing that since it’s inherently character based.

Yeah, it’s a different self. The stage self. I talked to one girl who said that she didn’t know her instructors real name until she had been taking classes with her for six months. So, you are totally Deanna Danger... 

So who will you be? What’s your name?

I have no idea, I’ll probably just do some silly pun with my last name. 

So, we’re currently at 17 minutes. Some Final Thoughts? What do you stand to gain from this class?...

I think that it’s going to be the first project that I can really get into long term and explore in a lot of different ways. There have been projects that I’ve done before where I tend to be a product thinker. When you only have a semester, you almost have to be that way. I look at this and I’m excited by the idea and the endless possibilities in exploring it, knowing that they’re endless in my mind is really exciting, whereas before it was scary… not knowing how to approach something, and how it’s going to end. I’m kind of a control freak in a lot of ways.

Do you like working alone?

I like working with other people. This is something that I would want to get a lot of people involved in, just because I think the ideas behind it are really important. Ideas dealing with female sexuality and body image.

She’s paddling off into her canoe for the rest of the night… thanks for tuning in, this has been Kate Fowler and Lauren Lyon.

Audio Interview: http://soundcloud.com/quietchannel/interview-with-lauren-lyon