Last Monday was a special event – it was an art show by a former CVCA student and a founding member of the Royal Fools (my school improv group). Michelle is a wonderfully creative person, so I was very much looking forward to her show, entitled “Wanderer.”

Michelle has gone to the University of Akron, so that is where her show was (and is – it runs for a month). Mer and I are familiar with the University from Mer’s grad school days, so we had no real trouble parking and finding the building. What we did have trouble with was getting in the place – the exhibit was in a hall in the lower level of the Honors Dorm, which meant that you needed a swipe card to get in. Happily, we wandered around enough to find access through the administrative offices in the building.

Michelle and her parents greeted us most warmly. Michelle had most (all but one display case) of her works on the wall of the hall. The works were pencil drawings, watercolors, and oils, and were very impressive in detail and composition.

The works are all illustrations for a book Michelle has written, called Wanderer. Michelle was kind enough to spend a good amount of time with us, so I know some of the details of the book. It is a fantasy book that takes place on another world. In this world, the people are focused on rational advancement of the main race. The heroine of the book goes looking for more, looking for the appearance of The Prince who walks among the people, but is more and more ignored. Michelle has thought out the work in great detail – she has invented a language and an alphabet. Many of her drawings are studies of the animals of the world. Her paintings are full of details of patterns on the clothing, and the significance of the tattoos each family member wears. She has worked out a creation narrative of the world, where the creator brought the world into existence by a dance, where canyons were formed wherever the Creator dragged his foot. Nifty!

The works were wonderful (and yes, I am biased). One of my favorite pieces was a watercolor of the heroine, hunching in a doorway looking scared. The detail on the painting was amazing – at first I had thought it was a sketch made by colored pencils – some of the specifics were that fine (my apologies for the poor photo).

There was a steady stream of people who came to see the opening, and quite a crowd. There were Mer and I from CVCA, friends of Michelle’s from U. Akron, colleagues of her mother who teaches at the university, and even students from the school where Michelle is student teaching. It was a festive time.

Michelle is one of those young folk who make me so happy to be in education. I think constant exposure to the energy and ideas of younguns keeps me from being too old-fogey and cranky. Michelle has a clear vision of a very cool world, and I am happy that I could see a glimpse into it.