Saturday, June 11, 2011
Body Art
Yesterday, at Chiara's birthday party there was a facepainting table set up. Naturally, this meant that after 2 or 3 kids got their faces painted, the college students flocked to the art supplies and began drawing on each other. So here's a quick little glimpse of my new tat :) (courtesy of Kat)
We've Got Spirit- Yes We Do!!!
I just wanted to leave a quick selection of pictures from this week. Kelsey set us a whole spirit week for this week so I'll share some of our themes. Since a picture is worth a thousand words and these pictures are louder than most, I'll try to keep it short and sweet.
Monday: Dress like your roommate
Monday: Dress like your roommate
I did the typical Carly look - headband, bun and snuggie. She wore one of my dresses and stuffed not 1, not 2, but FOUR t-shirts into the top.
Andrew and Nick as each other
Megan and Kelsey as each other
Tuesday: School spirit - very limited participation
Wednesday: Mismatched clothes and funky hair
Becca and Aashley in the studio
Meghan
Kat and Cora
The picture caught me a bit off guard
Prof Doll dressed up specifically for chapter meeting. This deserved 2 pictures
Thursday: Dress like Prof. Doll day. We all wore dark button downs, and matching coral scarves. He ended up coming to lunch with us so that we could be an even bigger spectacle than normal.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Current Events
I realize it's been ages since I've posted (well, approximately 2 weeks which in the grand scheme of this blogging endeavor is slightly shameful) and while there have been plenty of fun events to write home about I thought it might be nice to just write about day to day things. As of today I have 10 days left in this country which is actually kind of frightening. I think we are all going through the panicked process of wondering whether we have fully utilized our time here, have we made enough art, will our grades be high enough for our scholarships, will our relationships to one another last, and, of course, how on earth am I going to get all this crap into my suitcase! (I live with 21 other women, that last question is MAJOR here. Also (Dad) I probably brought less than everyone else. I know this is hard to believe but it's true haha).
We've just finished the third week of our last class, which for me is Text and Image. Apparently the program directors believe in saving the best for last because while I have enjoyed all my other classes, this one is definitely the best, at least for my temperament. On the first day of class, our Professor (Botts, who immediately won us all over with his eclectic personality and appearence to match. I mean ponytail, jesus sandals, and a flute hung around his neck.) started us off by chopping down a thicket of bamboo in the courtyard with a hacksaw and teaching us how to make calligraphy pens out of the stalks. The second thing he did was delete/tear up the syllabus and tell us we'd be starting from scratch. We then got an introductory lesson on calligraphy and worked for about a week on developing our letters, and creating shapes and designs out of the letters in our names, which we then tiled together to make a kaleidoscope effect, and cut out out. Our final project will be creating backgrounds to place these cut outs on "like windows", which will, no doubt, be indicative of our personalities or some such notion.
Then, we were each assigned 3 letters to design and given a supply of linolium to carve them on. FINALLY!! I was so very very happy to be back in printmaking. When he handed out supplies and described our assignments it was like the homework version of Christmas. I was so happy to finally be working on something that I both liked (a lot) and felt competent at. I've found that printmaking is a different beast than drawing or painting, for while I like both of the latter quite a bit, they seriously stress me out with details and reworking. However, once you carve into the linoleum, there is nothing you can do to get rid of that mark. I really like the permanence of it all, you get a very clear idea of what kinds of marks you are able to make, how capable you are of details, what your personal carving style is. It's all very telling, and I like that you have to embrace what you can do and develop a confidence in your own work for any of it to work well at all.
This week was slightly more difficult, with the move from linoleum to wood carving. Anyone who has heard me talk about printing know s that I don't particularly care for woodcarving, but somehow I'm actually learning to like it here in Orvieto. I think I've grown more patient with trying to understand the wood, how to cut across the grain, or tell if it will splinter. It's like I'm growing up, or maturing or something. Very strange. Anyway, our assignment for this week, which was also completely wonderful in my opinion, was to create 5 designs that could be used as prints OR 3-d molds. This means that you not only have to pay attention to what is left on the surface of the wood block, but need to carve in a careful way to establish different depths in the wood, interesting shapes, and designs that when inverted create interesting textures. So 4 days, 1 mildly bloody face off between a straight blade and my finger (spoiler alert: I lost), 12 sketches, 5 woodblocks, and one very swollen and slightly bruised hand later, I have my designs. And I am excited. Today, we created make-shift molds for them out of old corn-flake boxes and started pouring plaster. Prof Botts and Prof Doll (who, by the way are best friends from college, both supremely weird and hilarious to see together) bought us dyes from one of the hardware stores that are made to match the colors of the rocks in orvieto and we are dyeing our tiles different colors.If you don't quite understand what I mean, it would be like dying a sculpture the exact color of the formations in Garden of the Gods (for all of you at home.) The plaster versions are to be tiled on the floor of our art exhibition next thursday. It's very exciting. - In case it's not clear at all yet, I love this class.
I just wanted to give you all a glimpse of what life is looking like for all of us as we're nearing the end of the semester here. While it gets a little tense around the monastery every so often, my peers seem to be filled with encouragement from and for one another which helps more than anything, and the professors are doing their part to be understanding and involved in the community.
One of my favorite things that we've started doing are "artist talks." Professor Fretz was the first (painting professor from the last class), then Stevick (Poetry prof.), then our printing professor Botts, Josh (the R.A.'s husband who is finishing a novel and apparently raps on the side), and Karin Coonrod who teaches drama. We set up a 1-2 hour time slot where they either show us photos, videos or demonstrations of their work. It is a real blessing to see the things that our mentors are making, because it helps us to understand what we do in class and gives us a better comprehension of what they do in the real world. For example, our painting professor modeled the project we did after a gallery show of his own. Next week we will have our final artist talk which is very fittingly all about Prof. Doll's work. I, for one, am really excited to see it, because its like we've had sneak previews all semester. When we had dinner in his apartment we got to see a few of his paintings (one landscape in ochre and beige colors, one of Frederick Douglass, one of Johnny Cash), and a camel he made out of cherry colored resin, as well as the requisite "bag" (Read: MAN PURSE) that he carries literally everywhere with a picture of Johnny Cash silkscreened on it. Yes, the Johnny Cash thing borders on the obsessive, but it's rather funny really.
This weekend and the week to come are jam-packed. Tomorrow, we're having a lesson on how to cook tirimisu, and then Chiara Doll's bday party is happening in the courtyard. A note on the Doll kid's birthday parties: They rival county fairs. I'm not kidding. Prof Doll makes posters of the kids, develops a theme, decorates the courtyard and makes tshirts for the guests in some cases. Meanwhile, Sherona spends days cooking cakes, cupcakes, pastries, caramel corn, etc. We students are drafted then to man craft tables, game stations, group activities, decorate cupcakes, and generally keep the peace. It's an extravaganza. Chiara turned 4 in March or April (they don't believe in telling the kids when their real bdays are because this way they can plan the parties when they have time. definitely a sneaky parent trick) and that makes her officially old enough for her first party. I think part of it also had to do with the fact that there were 22 girls living upstairs. In fact, the way we were approached was this- "ladies, we're doing a Princess Extravaganza. And we really need help with....this whole, PINK thing." Naturally, this was followed by about 2 minutes of incoherent screaming and squealing by all of us mature college students. You get the idea. Anyway, we're all very excited and it should be a good time.
Then on Sunday, Nick, one of the students here, has written a murder mystery dinner for all of us to participate in! I'm so excited!! There's specific parts for all the people who can make it, and we all had personalized invitations slipped under our doors. Naturally, being art students, many of us responded with hand-made, over the top, RSVP cards which may have been a bit overwhelming, but all in good spirit.
I'm telling you all about these things, partially out of excitement, and partially so there will be something that pushes me to write to you all about them sooner rather than later haha. Sneaky, isn't it?
As always, I hope this finds you all well, happy, and healthy. For those of you at home, I will see you in a week and a half. For the rest of you, I cannot wait until we meet again!
We've just finished the third week of our last class, which for me is Text and Image. Apparently the program directors believe in saving the best for last because while I have enjoyed all my other classes, this one is definitely the best, at least for my temperament. On the first day of class, our Professor (Botts, who immediately won us all over with his eclectic personality and appearence to match. I mean ponytail, jesus sandals, and a flute hung around his neck.) started us off by chopping down a thicket of bamboo in the courtyard with a hacksaw and teaching us how to make calligraphy pens out of the stalks. The second thing he did was delete/tear up the syllabus and tell us we'd be starting from scratch. We then got an introductory lesson on calligraphy and worked for about a week on developing our letters, and creating shapes and designs out of the letters in our names, which we then tiled together to make a kaleidoscope effect, and cut out out. Our final project will be creating backgrounds to place these cut outs on "like windows", which will, no doubt, be indicative of our personalities or some such notion.
Then, we were each assigned 3 letters to design and given a supply of linolium to carve them on. FINALLY!! I was so very very happy to be back in printmaking. When he handed out supplies and described our assignments it was like the homework version of Christmas. I was so happy to finally be working on something that I both liked (a lot) and felt competent at. I've found that printmaking is a different beast than drawing or painting, for while I like both of the latter quite a bit, they seriously stress me out with details and reworking. However, once you carve into the linoleum, there is nothing you can do to get rid of that mark. I really like the permanence of it all, you get a very clear idea of what kinds of marks you are able to make, how capable you are of details, what your personal carving style is. It's all very telling, and I like that you have to embrace what you can do and develop a confidence in your own work for any of it to work well at all.
This week was slightly more difficult, with the move from linoleum to wood carving. Anyone who has heard me talk about printing know s that I don't particularly care for woodcarving, but somehow I'm actually learning to like it here in Orvieto. I think I've grown more patient with trying to understand the wood, how to cut across the grain, or tell if it will splinter. It's like I'm growing up, or maturing or something. Very strange. Anyway, our assignment for this week, which was also completely wonderful in my opinion, was to create 5 designs that could be used as prints OR 3-d molds. This means that you not only have to pay attention to what is left on the surface of the wood block, but need to carve in a careful way to establish different depths in the wood, interesting shapes, and designs that when inverted create interesting textures. So 4 days, 1 mildly bloody face off between a straight blade and my finger (spoiler alert: I lost), 12 sketches, 5 woodblocks, and one very swollen and slightly bruised hand later, I have my designs. And I am excited. Today, we created make-shift molds for them out of old corn-flake boxes and started pouring plaster. Prof Botts and Prof Doll (who, by the way are best friends from college, both supremely weird and hilarious to see together) bought us dyes from one of the hardware stores that are made to match the colors of the rocks in orvieto and we are dyeing our tiles different colors.If you don't quite understand what I mean, it would be like dying a sculpture the exact color of the formations in Garden of the Gods (for all of you at home.) The plaster versions are to be tiled on the floor of our art exhibition next thursday. It's very exciting. - In case it's not clear at all yet, I love this class.
I just wanted to give you all a glimpse of what life is looking like for all of us as we're nearing the end of the semester here. While it gets a little tense around the monastery every so often, my peers seem to be filled with encouragement from and for one another which helps more than anything, and the professors are doing their part to be understanding and involved in the community.
One of my favorite things that we've started doing are "artist talks." Professor Fretz was the first (painting professor from the last class), then Stevick (Poetry prof.), then our printing professor Botts, Josh (the R.A.'s husband who is finishing a novel and apparently raps on the side), and Karin Coonrod who teaches drama. We set up a 1-2 hour time slot where they either show us photos, videos or demonstrations of their work. It is a real blessing to see the things that our mentors are making, because it helps us to understand what we do in class and gives us a better comprehension of what they do in the real world. For example, our painting professor modeled the project we did after a gallery show of his own. Next week we will have our final artist talk which is very fittingly all about Prof. Doll's work. I, for one, am really excited to see it, because its like we've had sneak previews all semester. When we had dinner in his apartment we got to see a few of his paintings (one landscape in ochre and beige colors, one of Frederick Douglass, one of Johnny Cash), and a camel he made out of cherry colored resin, as well as the requisite "bag" (Read: MAN PURSE) that he carries literally everywhere with a picture of Johnny Cash silkscreened on it. Yes, the Johnny Cash thing borders on the obsessive, but it's rather funny really.
This weekend and the week to come are jam-packed. Tomorrow, we're having a lesson on how to cook tirimisu, and then Chiara Doll's bday party is happening in the courtyard. A note on the Doll kid's birthday parties: They rival county fairs. I'm not kidding. Prof Doll makes posters of the kids, develops a theme, decorates the courtyard and makes tshirts for the guests in some cases. Meanwhile, Sherona spends days cooking cakes, cupcakes, pastries, caramel corn, etc. We students are drafted then to man craft tables, game stations, group activities, decorate cupcakes, and generally keep the peace. It's an extravaganza. Chiara turned 4 in March or April (they don't believe in telling the kids when their real bdays are because this way they can plan the parties when they have time. definitely a sneaky parent trick) and that makes her officially old enough for her first party. I think part of it also had to do with the fact that there were 22 girls living upstairs. In fact, the way we were approached was this- "ladies, we're doing a Princess Extravaganza. And we really need help with....this whole, PINK thing." Naturally, this was followed by about 2 minutes of incoherent screaming and squealing by all of us mature college students. You get the idea. Anyway, we're all very excited and it should be a good time.
Then on Sunday, Nick, one of the students here, has written a murder mystery dinner for all of us to participate in! I'm so excited!! There's specific parts for all the people who can make it, and we all had personalized invitations slipped under our doors. Naturally, being art students, many of us responded with hand-made, over the top, RSVP cards which may have been a bit overwhelming, but all in good spirit.
I'm telling you all about these things, partially out of excitement, and partially so there will be something that pushes me to write to you all about them sooner rather than later haha. Sneaky, isn't it?
As always, I hope this finds you all well, happy, and healthy. For those of you at home, I will see you in a week and a half. For the rest of you, I cannot wait until we meet again!
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