The S. Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship Awardees exhibition is here at the university. I know several of the artists that received the cash awards. I wonder, however, if they are awarded the money in one lump sum of divided over several payouts like when I won some awards. I hate getting the money paid out over the entire year because it doesn’t allow for that major purchase that one needs to make. Oh well… Anyway, one of the awardees did a audio/visual lecture on her work dealing with the Florida Cracker population. A population that is slowly disappearing.

There are some Florida Crackers that live upstate where I used to live. I really enjoy being around some of them because they are so down home and honest folks. And, even though I may not live like them, eat like them or, talk like them, I respect them and what they’re about. I’m a person that loves learning new things and exploring new territories. Believe me, or not.

(added: Sat., 23 Sept., 2006) The second audio/visual presentation for the evening was given by Allison Smith, a New York based artist who is orginally from Virginia, and spoke about her current work and upcoming work for the Schmidt Center Gallery’s 2007 schedule. Smith’s work has developed around the “muster.” “Muster” is an old Middle English word meaning “a cause to gather”. Musters were a vital part of colonial mid-Atlantic life. Smith has taken the muster and the multitude of arts and crafts from that era and created a fascinating body of contemporary work.