Well I went in for my pre-screening for a juried exhibition at Tamarack of WV. Things went pretty well. I still have to address some details and workmanship issues on my work, but they liked the design and no one else showing at Tamarack works in aluminum, it's mostly dark, heavy, steel blacksmith work.

So for the first month of 2009 there was a serious chance that I would lose my free shop space, which would have been the death knell of my nascent art career, but it appears things are going to be okay for another year at least.

After ten years of raft guiding on the best whitewater in the east I realized I needed to get a job. While I still raft guide, I am expanding my metal working abilities into the realm of art. I used to work at a shop rebuilding underground coal mining equipment, but that job sucked.