I apologize for not responding to all the emails... I will eventually read all of them (except the ones that my new email assistant has determined to be vitriolic). The supportive posts (and the extremist posts which illustrate my primary point) are deeply appreciated. All the dissenting views are being left on the blog to maintain a fair dialogue, unless they are completely irrelevant, or particularly personal attacks, having nothing to add to the discussion. I am restraining the art professor in me from trying to explain symbol and metaphor to people who seem to have no desire to understand the principles.

It is challenging these days... monitoring the blog, dealing with the business and personal-protection end of what has happened, and fulfilling my commitment to teaching a little mini semester class that I have never taught before. Sleep is not a common occurrence these days.

I am being personally challenged in the "artists need thick skin" philosophy I have preached to my students for the past ten years. Most of the attacks roll off my back, except for the "selling out", and "publicity seeking" comments. For 20 years, I have made what I wanted to make in the studio with NO regard for sales. For virtually all of my professional life (until last year), I specifically avoided working with commercial galleries, choosing instead to show in academic venues, non-profits and small museums. I was a university professor specifically so that I could maintain the purity of my work, with no worry about the need to "make things that sell", so these comments are especially hard to let go of.