New Website and the Effects of the Government Shutdown

New Website
It took some doing, but I now have a newly redesigned website hosted on a site that I hope won't become obsolete in the next year. For years I had designed and managed my website using iWeb on my Mac, but they recently stopped hosting and supporting websites. Before that a student at UW-Madison helped me build my site using html and I still don't really understand what she did. I like things to be immediate and visual, hopefully tactile too (like clay). Squarespace is pretty direct, though I could have done without the previous 3 days hassle trying to get Squarespace to talk to my domain.

Regardless, the website is now live at the correct domain name. You can visit my site at www.racheldorn.com or by clicking the little sculpture picture on the top right of this blog. (Please do tell me if I've missed a typo or a dead link or something.)

new website designed on Squarespace

Government Shutdown

Speaking of things not working the way they are supposed to, I was surprised to discover, this week, the unusual way in which the government shutdown impacted me, personally. I have been trying to update my website for the past few weeks. I was looking for information about a show in which I currently have work. The show is called "Paradise Lost? Climate Change in the North Woods." The show is a reunion of a show of the same name which traveled to sites in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan from 2006 to 2009. The St. Croix National Scenic Riverway wanted to revive the show and since my work was still stored in Wisconsin, it was relatively easy for me to participate. (Thanks, Mom!)

Anyway, I was looking for images and dates for the show to update that information on my end, but when I googled the show and clicked on the link to the opening at the St. Croix Riverway, this is the site I found:

St. Croix is a National Park, so obviously the park is closed, but I was surprised that the website was down too. I assume having the website down is more about awareness than actual cost. And having the information available on my website wouldn't help anyone anyway. The exhibition ends October 6 and the park will likely be closed until then because of the shutdown. 

Dark Clay

In the meantime, I threw 25lbs of Midnite Black clay (while waiting for my new white clay to arrive). Midnite Black is a funny dark red clay when wet, but nice to throw.