On Fire

Last night I won the Provost’s choice Award for my piece “Hanging By A Thread,” and my “Untitled Abstraction Series.” I am surprised that I even won an award, not to mention two! I was really happy and it gave me some confidence about where my art is going. The provost of the Weber State chose my work to display in his office for an entire year! In addition, I was given $100 for each piece. I am going to use that as spending money in Italy. It was nice to have some of my family there to see all the hard work I do. Some of my favorite professors came up and talked to me throughout the night, reassuring me that Graduate school is where I need to be and MFA is what I am meant to get. I need to start looking at different schools and programs to decide where I want to go. I don’t want to wait more than a year after my undergrad to start an MFA program.

I bought my plane ticket to Venice -- $1400 well spent. It is getting closer and closer, I can’t believe I am finally going. I have been thinking about this trip for so long.

Aside from the reception and Italy, the studio has been good to me. On Thursday we had crit in Seminar and I presented what I have been working on. Most everyone really liked the direction that I’m taking which made me feel good and excited to keep working this coming week. Angelika and K told me I was “on fire” during the crit, and at the moment that’s a little how I feel in my art mind. Life is going nicely and I think Grandpop is watching over me. I feel like my time in the studio is helping me to remember him and mourn him at the same time. I think he is trying to help me as well; he always cared about my schooling and was always telling me how important college was…he couldn’t wait for my graduation. It’s exciting for me to be doing well in art and know that somehow I am making my grandpa proud.

Back to the crit: It was discussed that people can really start to see the thought connections going on in my work and a lot of people responded really well to the collaging going on in my current piece. It has been fun to just be free with the paint and the materials and follow my impulses. I don’t really figure out the narrative or the story until I am well invested in the painting. I react to the phenomena of a form and react, and react. What comes out is a mystery, and I think that people responded well to it during the crit. Some even thought I might need some psychotherapy because of the crap that comes out of my head!!