Whew, that was a hectic few months. Here's what's going on now.

Just started my second semester at Indiana University of Pennsylvania!  I'm taking Painting, Drawing, and Graduate Studio Critique. I am excited about all of them. For painting, we have to have a binder of 70 art historical/other images that influence our work.  We have to write a proposal for what we intend to accomplish through painting this semester.  I recently wrote an artist statement for a show in Louisiana and in it I stated that I believe that art is a documentation of an artist's experience with and ideas of a particular time and place.  So in my proposal I am going to say that I am documenting my life as it is now and as it was.  Common themes will be me doing things accompanied by my dog, dating and relationships, and serious events that have shaped me into who I am.  I will use a simplified, flat, yet realistic style like in the painting of Bella and me that I painted for my mom over Christmas break.  I have to have 14 paintings completed by the end of the semester.

In Drawing, we have to have 10 drawings per three credit hours, so that means 20 drawings for me.  I plan to continue to work on my graphic novel, my brother's graphic short story, and screen printing life events on soft storytelling objects.  (Printmaking is included in the Drawing department here.)

In Graduate Studio Critique, it's all about our experiences and how our research shapes the work that we create.  We're doing "field work" to gather fodder for our artistic endeavors.  Everything is a possible source for inspiration.  The point is to go and do and make!

It's going to be a busy semester.  I can't wait to see what I make.  In the Interlude between moving back for the semester and starting class, though, I did get the chance to watch Netflix's Jessica Jones and Narcos.  Both are great.  I will probably rewatch Jessica Jones as soon as I'm done with Narcos, which is going to take me a while longer now that school is back in session.  I also watched the Tribeca Film Festival Choice Goodbye to All That on Netflix.  It was great.  It gave me a whole new perspective on dating.  In it, Otto Wall, the main character, goes through a divorce and jumps right back into the dating pool.  It's funny and genuine and good.  I've watched it several times already.  Now to build my watch list as I make all the art!

Successful visit to IUP!

This past week I visited the Indiana University of Pennsylvania to meet the faculty, meet my classmates, and see the campus.  It was a great trip!  I felt like I fit in with everyone and that we were like-minded.  My Drawing professor, Nate, recommended the book 'Vitamin D' to me, and when he asked my opinion I said that the blurbs about the artwork were high-brow, but the actual artwork didn't seem to reflect the lofty attributes the commentary bestowed upon it.  He said that was his beef with contemporary discourse on art, and that I would find out more about that in class.  What a relief that my professor believes in critical integrity and the honesty of art.

I mean, listen to this sentence: "Kaoru Arima's drawings function as transcriptions of unmediated thoughts...His deliberately amateurish execution, which resembles childlike graffiti, and his choice of inexpensive or expendable materials, like craft paper or newspaper, emphasize the modest nature of his forms.  The paradox of a new microcosm evolving from such a humble medium is strongly embodied in what he calls 'shinbun-ga', or 'newspaper drawings.'"  Which are exactly what they sound like.  "These feature figures drawn in thin pencil lines on white areas painted first with correction fluid in the middle of a newspaper page, accompanied by an epigrammatic text written in Japanese."  The craft paper/newspaper and the style of the artwork are on par with each other.  Therefore the cheapness of the material emphasizes the style and execution of his images, or quality.  And the critic also says that Arima's work creates a new 'microcosm' and that this in turn creates a 'paradox'.  Is she trying to say that creating childlike drawings on cheap materials is creating a new schema of seeing repeating patterns in the universe at all levels?  That the quality of something corresponds to the materials with which it is made at all levels of the universe?  And that is supposed to be new and paradoxical?  Of course, I don't know what the epigrammatic text says because there was no translation, so maybe therein lies the key.  I don't know why they didn't show his cool stuff: loose lines and broad brushstrokes, colorful and gestural portraits.  Anything but amateurish.  

Nevertheless.

Nate liked my idea for creating a graphic novel memoir as part of my thesis.  So for this summer I think I need to research graphic storytelling with Will Eisner and read as many graphic novels as possible for style.  I'm also excited about working with printmaking again.  Nate suggested drypoint and etching due to my line work in Burn Down the Past.  I'm excited to try it.  I can't wait to see what I come up with and the wonderful artwork I'm going to be making over the course of this next three years.  From talking with Nate and Sue, my Painting professor, it sounds like self-direction is a key element of the program and is expected.  I'm going to use this time to make as much artwork as possible and explore as many different avenues as possible.  For painting, I want to focus on colors that create a positive feeling in the viewer and make them want to look at it for a long time and feel zen.  Sue pointed out that zen is more the feeling of emptiness and entering the void, so I need to research Zen Buddhism this summer too.  

In the meantime, I'm going to continue working on my alphabet coloring book and applying to as many jobs and scholarships as possible because this is going to take some moola!