Quick Update

So today we picked committees and I'll be on TV... again. I'll make sure to put a link up here after I'm done with it. I get to head back to WTAP in Parkersburg to promote the Art Department of Marietta. I've also written a press release for the show, which is as follows:

“Not Formed in a Day: Senior Capstone Exhibition”

Marietta College Art Department proudly presents “Not Formed in a Day: Senior Capstone Exhibition,” which features the works of the graduating seniors in the Art Department. The show will be held at the Hermann Fine Art Gallery, located on the third floor of the Hermann Fine Arts Center on the corner of Butler and Fourth Streets on the Marietta College campus. The exhibition will run from April 13 to May 13, 2012. An opening presentation to celebrate the accomplishments of these seniors is scheduled from 6:00pm until 8:00pm on April 13, 2012.

The thirteen senior artists featured in this exhibition work with a variety of media. Anthony Azzi, from Ashley, Ohio, will present “Sincerity of a Moment,” a figure study commenting on the temporary state of life. Melanie Boyd, from Shrewsbury, West Virginia, is showing “Spruce Knob” identity, map, T-shirts, and signage for a fictional amusement park based on West Virginia tourism and history. Mary Crotty, from South Euclid, Ohio, will display “Literature is Sexy,” which makes literature more appealing by collages of thermal paper. Elizabeth Galloway, from Ravenswood, West Virginia, will show “Willy Shakes,” identity, banner, and programs for the plays of William Shakespeare. Francesca Gionfriddo, from Milton, Massachusetts, will present paintings of the life and story of Anne Boleyn. Misty Gray, from Armstrong Mills, Ohio, will display “Pello Deonte – Elkwood,” an original comic book series and story. Sean Kenny, from Cleveland, Ohio, will show “Fright Fight,” block prints and wrestling posters depicting vintage horror characters. Heather Lang, from Findlay, Ohio, will present “From Hand to Paw,” a treat and toy how-to book and accompanying website. Megan McGregor, from Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, will display “Desert Rose Ceramics,” a product line of potted plants. Corryn Meunch, from Cold Spring, Kentucky, will show “Modern Monkey,” an environmentally sustainable fast food restaurant concept. Peter Santagate, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will display graffiti images targeting issues in America. Grace Wang, from Beijing, China, will show “Good Morning,” a line of bridal apparel. Nathan Zarnoski, from Fairview Park, Ohio, will present “Five Elements Miniature Golf Course,” a ceramic model, drawings, and process documentation.

The exhibition is free and open to the public with regular hours Monday through Friday from 9:30am until 5:30pm. Hermann Fine Arts Center is handicapped accessible. Please contact the Marietta College Art Department with any other questions at 740-376-4696.

There you have it. This is not the final press release, just the one I've written because Professor Powell asked all of us to write one. I took some liberties with the language because I am in fact an English major as well, which always gives me a little tick until I make the writing stronger.

On another note, I'm about one third, if not half way finished with Austen. I probably have another 8-10 hours of work and then I will be done with her. My goal will be to finish up Austen this week, Poe the next, and work on Byron for Spring Break. Next week, I have a few papers and exams due, so I may not get very far on Poe, but pretty much as long as I finish them all by the end of March, I should be all right. My goal is to really have them finished by the end of the week after Spring Break (fingers crossed).

My Outside Critique

So last Thursday, I had my outside critique with Geoff Schenkel. It made me feel a lot better after my all faculty critique on Monday because he was really excited to see my work. We had a great conversation including when he went to Marietta, as well as the direction I was taking with my art. I will have to re-do Byron, and I've already done some sketches for it in Advanced Life Drawing and should be meeting with my original model for Byron tonight (if it works out). I'm actually excited to start over again on Byron because I feel right now he is the weak piece and if I can strengthen him, my whole series will look that much better. At the same time, though, I'm aware I need to keep up and finish Austen and Poe. Therefore, I spent four hours on Austen yesterday and I finished the barcode part of her jeans. It looks pretty spiffy if I do say so myself.

Grace's Second Presentation

As a recap, Grace is making two dresses and putting up four or five of her fashion sketches as well. For her installation, she will put the two dresses in front on models which she will borrow from the costume department. On the wall behind the dresses, she will have the five sketches on the wall to show her creativity and to illustrate what she has learned as a Studio Art major. To frame the entire piece, Grace wants to hang red tulle on the wall as curtains. To finish off the installation, she will put the character for happiness on the wall because it's a common character to see at weddings.

It's been awhile since Grace was able to sew in the sewing room because of the plays, so she's slightly behind in sewing. She bought a small sewing machine though, so she'll be able to work on the dresses during spring break. since the last time we saw the wedding dress, Grace had cut off the bottom and added the red around the waist. The second dress will be worked on over the break.

Suggestions:
- Tulle is good, but make is white instead of the red, with only a red ribbon to tie them back. Make sure to order the tulle now because it may take two weeks to get.
- make sure if you're going to put a sketch on the pillar, that it fits well.
     = maybe only have four sketches instead?
- Put the sketches on black matte board or foam core to make them neat and professional.
- Don't just cut out the character; paint or collage it instead. Make sure it fits. Great detail, though.
- You can't cover up the security monitor on the pillar, so keep that in mind when designing your final layout.

This time, Grace's project seems much more focused on the traditions of a Chinese wedding, and the continuous use of red and white make everything flow well together. I think it will be a clean, strong display of Grace's strengths, and I look forward to seeing the finished dresses.

Deep Breaths, the Presentation is Over...

Well, that was overwhelming, to be sure. I think it went well, but man, it was intimidating to stand at the lowest point of the classroom and have not only all of your classmates looking down at you, but the entire Art department faculty staring from the back. I got some decent feedback, but I still have a lot of work ahead of me.

First, I was told to scrap Lord Byron and start over. I groan in protest, but this is my capstone, and I'd rather all four be absolutely spiffy instead of let one drag me down. Good thing I didn't try finishing it then, because then I would have wasted a lot of time. I also like how easy it is to reuse pieces of thermal paper, so it'll be fun to take apart Byron 1 and put together Byron 2. I'll be trying to keep the same pose, but better composition, which will involve pulling back a bit and showing more of Byron's body. I'm going to practice working on the back of the body and do a couple more sketches until I actually begin the new copy, but I'll be working on Austen and Poe as well whenever I go into the Annex.

Second, I got some fantastic feedback about my frames, and I can't wait to see them after my father has built them. I already called him and he was actually on his way to the shop to see if he had everything he needed for them. By the sounds of it, he won't have to buy any supplies because he will use the pieces he already has in storage. I'm sure they'll look great, and he's already thinking of ways to create a white border instead of clear and what type of material to use. He thinks he has some f.p.s, which I guess is a cover for walls to add a decorated finish. I'll be bringing all be pieces home for spring break, and that's when I'll make sure they look smashing in their frames.

I've been feeling a little disconnected as of late. I'm not entirely certain why and it may be caused by my terribly busy schedule, but I'm not sure. To give you an idea, I am currently in 18 credit hours of classes with plenty of homework and reading, with five different grad school applications. I'm also a co-editor of Pulse Literary Magazine, secretary of Scholars Community which is working on recruiting new members, and am in the class putting together the Student Annual Juried Art Show... oh, and I have that nasty art capstone to do. I'm sorry if this sounds like complaining, but I assure you I'm not. I'm aware of all the things I do, and quite frankly, I like being responsible and busy, but it's making graduation look more and more of a relief. I just verified my graduation information, so before I know it, I will have two shiny new degrees!

My All-Faculty Presentation is TOMORROW.

Oh dear, I'm slightly freaking out. I've set up my presentation and I feel it will go well, but it's still an attack on my nerves.

Here are the pictures about my exhibit:

My small wall

I have two walls, technically, to put my four art pieces.  I really just want to have my pieces, 5" x 7" cards describing the writers depicted, and my artist statement. My goal is to use the exhibit to not only show what I've learned for my techniques, but also what I've been learning in Museum Practices. In that class, we've been writing information cards which are 100-150 words long. I plan on using those words to talk about the writers so that I can teach my audience about the writers and not just leave them with an image.

Large wall

How the frames will look.

Thickness and depth of the frames.

The frames are made up of black wood and plexi-glass. The white sections are the glass, and the black is wood. Top is front. The top piece of plexi-glass protects the piece, and the back piece can either be clear or black. The artwork will be adhered to the back piece of plexi-glass with a 1" border around the edge so that I can show the detail of the edges of the pieces. As mentioned, my father is building these frames, and these plans are not final. I want to check them with the professors to make sure they're decent, and then I'm going to call home and my dad will begin building them this weekend. My plan is to pick them up during spring break.

Wish me luck tomorrow!

A Very Successful Saturday

Although my plans for Saturday included swimming and playing soccer, I ended up spending most of the day hidden in the basement of the Painting Annex with my music blaring and my fingers covered in charcoal and glue (Note: this is the moment where you think: wow, what a good student). It was an enjoyable amount of time and I was extremely productive. I sketched both Jane Austen and Edgar Allen Poe so now I have all of my pieces officially figured out. All I have left to do is cover them in thermal paper, which I also started doing on Jane.

Poe: he looks a little better now, I was in process when I took this

Austen: also fixed a bit and the background is done.

I've still been struggling with Lord Byron, though. My main concern is out of all of my pieces, his is the most static. Yet at the same time, I want to avoid re-starting him at all costs. His hair alone took four hours to do, and since I already know I'll get to take even longer on Austen's curly locks, I'd rather not have to do Byron again. At the same time, I've been reading a biography about Byron called Byron in Love: A Short Daring Life by Edna O'Brien. What I like the most about it is the style of the book follows a more informal tone, so that instead of simply spewing out the dates and places of Byron's life, O'Brien writes it as if talking about an old friend; chatting up all his affairs and silly little quirks. One such quirk being a lame foot, which I never knew about Byron until reading up on him. He may have been known as the sexiest man alive in the nineteenth century, as long as you don't look at his feet though, I guess.

Ah, but I digress. The point I was trying to make was about Byron's character. Put simply, he fit easily into the "jerk" category. Sure, he liked to go around proclaiming love and going on adventures, but he really only focused on himself. Therefore, it makes sense for him to be in the center of the piece, with his all-knowing little smirk. I feel it's a good representation of his character, but as for the artist in me, it needs... something. I've considered altering the background in some way-- either adding drapery, Greek columns-- which also follow his character, or simply adding new pieces of thermal paper to the background which have a more dynamic composition themselves.

I would like to use these ones for the background, perhaps.

I'm not entirely sure yet, and have been concentrating on my sketches about it or working on the other pieces until I can figure out which way I wish to go. I still need to do an outside critique, so hopefully a new set of eyes can assist me.

Now that I have all of my pieces mapped out though, I can really start thinking about how to display them for the show. As I think I've mentioned, my father has graciously offered to make the frames, which will make them a bit larger, and then I will simply hang them on the wall space I have acquired. I'm not sure of the order, since I have two portrait and two landscape images, but also one female subject, so that might take some thought. I believe I have the time to mull over the small stuff for now, at least until I'm closer to being done with all four. The end is near, my friends, and soon these lovely faces will grace the inner walls of Hermann. I am most excited.

The final four!

Sketching and Planning...

Last night, I finally got my friend to pose for me for Edgar Allen Poe. He is one of my busiest friends, so even asking ten minutes of his time is a lot. Fortunately, he is a good friend, and I finally sketched out my final piece. My next step is to enlarge Poe as well as Austen and then begin the collage process.

As another note, my wonderful father has offered to make my frames for the exhibition. He's custom making them, so I'm hoping they will be perfect. I'm not worried about my father's skills (on the contrary, I know the frames will be perfect), but I'm hoping I made correct decisions about their design.

It has been a week since my grandmother's funeral, which is a heavy burden on top of all the work I have to do. I feel unmotivated now, but I have to keep pushing through anyway. It involves a lot more energy from before, but I know my grandma would want me to push through it and do the best project ever.

Latest Development

Since my last critique, I learned that I need to fix the composition of my Lord Byron piece. I've been using tracing paper so that I can put different backgrounds into the piece and seeing what I like. I'm also looking at new touches to Shakespeare as well to make sure that all of my pieces will be cohesive.