We’re into in our fourth week of summer classes, which means our five week jaunt is drawing to a close. We had two exams already and have two more this week. There are  projects due in both classes next week, and finals aren’t far away. It has been somewhat challenging to make time for non-academic ventures but I certainly have not been holed up exclusively with my textbooks. One of my favorite activities has been going to aerobics classes at the gym. I have tried kickboxing, zumba, yoga, and pilates. Kickboxing was absolutely hilarious—there was so much choreography and I had no idea what I was doing so it was entertaining to say the least. All in all, the gym facilities are great and Gregory‘s proximity to McCombs can’t be beat. The TeXercise pass is definitely worth it. I also went to the outdoor lounge pool last weekend, (there are 3 outdoor pools) which has a small waterfall and a water sprayer that feeds into it. It is a nice spot to relax right on campus.

Off campus, I really enjoyed an art opening called “Texas Soil” at Photo Méthode gallery which is in the Flatbed Press building. Flatbed Press rents out space to a few galleries and as a result, the building is really unique and the art diverse. Karen Hawkins’s Totem Installation at the Gallery Shoal Creek was quite visually stunning. The totems hung from the ceiling and were made from deconstructed books. It was a lot of fun to walk among the sculptures. The photographs in Texas Soil, which I ventured out for, were fantastic as well and it was such a treat to be able to chat with the artists. I guessed correctly that one of them had used a Hasselblad film camera for his shots but was a bit disappointed to learn that he scanned his negatives instead of making prints in the darkroom. It is really unfortunate how few people still print in the darkroom as the materials become more scarce and cost prohibitive. It is a very meditative and special practice that will soon be all but lost. Nothing beats the smell of developing chemicals and the buzz of the red safe light, or in the case of color printing, being confined to your own closet sized printing room that is completely sealed off from any light whatsoever. I am very lucky to have been in the last color film class at UPenn before they demolished that darkroom. This show reminded me that I need to shoot and print more soon. Nonetheless, I will definitely be going back to Flatbed and believe they are a part of the East Austin Studio Tour which I will be checking out in November.