Mental Health

Here's piece about the Matthew Israel school system. He works out of Massachusetts, treating kids with ADD, autism, and mental retardation with a systematic use of fear, paranoia, and unannounced electroshock therapy. The kids live in fear, not getting better because of any understanding of their specific issues, but adjusting their behaviors because they learn to associate those "bad" behaviors with pain. It's a lot like training a dog, when you think about it. Parents and the state have tried to shut him down time and again but other parents, without recourse for their troubled and often self-injurous kids, praise his methods.

Deer

Here's a sketch for a recent private commission of a jersey design. Now, I'm not sure where the design comes from, but it involved a deer head, with a broken rack still in the picture, in a box with ferns and maple leaves on it. I found that, after the initial confusions and putting these ideas together in a way that made for a good design, I thought it was a great opportunity because just looking at the sketch I can see that this is something I don't think I would have ever done on my own. It's an entirely different aesthetic and visual vocabulary from my own, but put through my hands and design sense. It's an interesting result so far and I'm anxious to move to the finish.

Back from the Break

Back from the holiday break, visiting family in Pennsylvania and then down to Florida for the start of the new year. It was a fun break, especially because I don't get to travel a lot. A new scenery, real blue water, and a lot of pictures. Normally I'm not the touristy type (breaking out my camera and embarrassing whomever I'm with) but there was too much to see that I couldn't help but want to add to my already sizable collection to pull from for future projects.

I'm back in the city now though, and I have a few new pieces and a good amount of sketches for upcoming projects. I hope you enjoy.