My talk on Thursday evening at the Guildford Lane Gallery went well, and the experience was less frightful than I had anticipated it. There were 3 other artists who also gave talks. We were a small group which made it easier to feel comfortable. I was impressed with the talk of Jillian Allan on her Japanese paper débutante dresses and their representation of fragility. One can appreciate good art when there is coherence and depth between the idea and the final project. I felt the same way when I went to the Center for Contemporary Photography yesterday to listen to the artists talks. David van Royen’s talk on his self-portait series, Not moving, was truly the most inspiring one of all. Firstly because it dealt with self-portraiture and identity, a topic I’ve been exploring. Secondly, the images were well composed, and the original idea of identity was well depicted thoughout the series. The show runs until May 16th.