About!

Well, hello there. So you want to learn more about Lauren the art nerd. What would you like to know? Who am I? Why do I blog? What makes me tick? That sounds like as good a list as any, so here goes

Who am I?
I am your average PhD student- poor, hardworking, willing to teach just about anything for a paycheck, with recurring nightmares about the day my student loans come due. I study art history, got my MA in 2006 after an epic thesis-writing endeavor, and have managed to finish extra classes for my PhD by the time I got the damn thing done. I study contemporary art, especially painting of the 70's, 80's and 90's, women artists, contemporary realism, and censorship.

I also have a BFA in painting, and I dream of someday going back to it. Only, unlike when I graduated college, I'll be super-talented, brimming with the knowledge that I've gained through study, and will set the art world aflame. I might even write about myself. Then I will form a supernova and implode on my self. Or not.


In other news, I am married to an awesome guy named Kev. I probably should have given him a "blog name", but for the longest time my only reader was our friend Andrew, and, well, I felt dumb code naming him for one dude who actually knows him.

Why do I blog?

I blog because, well, I like it. I guess it's a bit narcissistic. I don't really think I have a lot of important/hilarious/even marginally interesting things to say. But I began this blog as an exercise in writing daily, and in keeping my stories short and to the point. I'm not sure how effective I've been at that, to be honest.

I also blog because I like to feel a part of something, even something as intangible as the blogosphere. I don't really want to be famous, but more than 7 readers might be nice. And maybe I want to be caught, so my advisor knows how I think he's a giant douchebag, and how I wish my second advisor would just take over already.

I'm careful not to reveal too much on this here blog, and I refrain from talking smack on the in-laws. Though it probably would feel really good initially, I am a sissy and would cry if I was outed here.

What makes me tick?

I'm a sucker for art-school boys with long hair, who turn into rock-star types with beards. Music is good, and my taste runs the gamut from honest-to-God crap to stuff the critics think you should like. I don't have much of an attention span for movies, but Jaws and Rocky rank right up there for me. Both came out before I was born, but hey! Books are great, but I find myself reading a lot more blogs recently. I like geeky tv- Rick Steves' Europe, almost anything Rome/Early Christianity related on the History Channel, and Miami Ink. In art, I like tons of things, but among those that make my mouth water are Degas' pastels, Manet's still lifes, Lisa Yuskavage's paintings, and anything that causes a scandal.

To sum up, I'm an average arty girl, who couldn't do, so decided to teach. I like music and geek tv, and most of all, I like the blogging community. That's me in a nutshell.