While in Kansas City I got to visit the studio of the great artist Mark English. It’s a beautiful place with gorgeous paintings filling the walls. And Mark has the biggest dog I’ve ever seen. He’s a 200 pound mastiff named Tug. Thankfully he has a very sweet nature.
I’m just back from teaching at the Illustration Academy for 2 weeks. This year we divided the school into two “pods”, one in Richmond Virginia and one in Kansas City. As usual the students were great, funny, talented and inspiring. They came from far and wide. We had 2 from Brazil, one from Johannesburg, One from Australia, and one from Canada! The school will now be retitled “TAD” or The Art Department and we are going online! We will be teaching our program online and we’ll also have 4 pods with the additions of San Francisco and Austin. If you are interested in signing up please visit http://www.theartdepartment.org
Photo by Jason Manley. Pictured: Kansas City students. I’m on the bottom left, and George Pratt and John English are on the bottom right. Pictures of the Richmond students are still to come…
Yesterday was one of the best days of my life. I received the highest civilian Canadian honour from Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaelle Jean, Governor General of Canada, who is Queen Elizabeth II’s representative. It was held in Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city.
The ceremony itself was warm and wonderful. I was particularly happy to receive the honour from Mme. Jean who is an incredible inspiration to all Canadians, women in particular.
And I’ve made a vow to finally learn French fluently so that I can represent my country properly!
I am so thrilled that my alma mater Ontario College of Art and Design has given me an honorary doctorate. I received it at Convocation yesterday. Other recipients were socially conscious photographer/artists Carole Conde and Karl Beveridge and singer/activist Buffy Sainte-Marie.
Congratulations to all the wonderful students who also received their various degrees. And thank you so much President Sara Diamond.
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