As an artist, professional development is entirely up to you. No one makes you hone your craft, push yourself further, discover new things about your work.

I really want to get more into fashion work, so I started searching for outlets for learning I could do on my own. I discovered the Fashion Institute of Technology in NY offers online, non-degree classes.

Learning from those who’ve gone before is key to making your art a business. So I’m excited to begin a new stage in my journey!

There’s one thing about being an artist that is always a struggle: making money vs staying true to art. While there are combinations, there is something about using your art for the sake of a greater good. This year I chose to work with the urban agriculture movement and will be making this a national project.

The faces of farming are not what you think. We aren’t talking 1000s of acres. Cities are taking unused spaced and growing the fresh produce you taste on a daily basis.

I love working with these individuals. They have fused their loves of things that grow with their adorations for the urban environment.

Something the fashion/photography world doesn’t know about me is that I’m also an opera singer. I have multiple degrees in music and run both sides of my life simultaneously.

Opera has taken me all over, and one place that will always be dear to my heart is Spoleto, Umbria. This little town built at a steep grade on a large hill in the middle of Italy is the home of several significant music festivals. In 2003 and 2005 I was lucky enough to spend my Summers there singing (as well as soaking in the culture, the food, the language, and the people). I am completely comfortable in Italy, despite the fact I’m a good 6” taller and 100lbs heavier than all Italian men. But there’s something about that country that speaks to me. I could move there tomorrow without any qualms.
So in 2010 I was shooting off the Amalfi Coast for Voyages to Antiquity - a boutique cruise line - and found myself with extra time after the initial tour dates. So I hopped off the ship in Palermo, traversed half the country at night via train (in what I still remember as one of the most uncomfortable and heat-ridden nights of my life) just to end up in Spoleto for a couple days.

When I got off the train in Spoleto, a whole new world of experiences came sweeping back. Like another me. My second identity. It was the first time I’d traveled anywhere overseas that gave me that feeling of solace, that “welcome home” wave of emotion. I felt like everywhere else I’d been was just a visit, and this was where settling down should happen.

I got a room at my favorite little hotel in il centro, Hotel Aurora, that still to this day has single rooms for €30,00/notte including VAT, breakfast, and wifi. It’s right off the Corso Mazzini in the old section of town. I safely left my key and passport at the desk, and set out to refresh my surging memory with familiar sights, sounds, smells, and tastes.
I repeated my evening loop, as I’d grown accustomed to doing every night before sleep in the Summers I sang there. It was as if 5 years had not passed. Time stops in certain parts of the world, and the only difference to the naked eye as the years allegedly pass are snippets of new technology and vehicles…but the pastries, gelato, coffee, ancient architecture, and general welcoming nature of the locals never change.

The images below were taken on one such late night perambulation. Now, 4 years later, and with significantly better photography skills, I desperately need to return.