There was a lecture this morning from a woman who is a curator. It was kind of insightful to see how they select works and what goes on behind the scenes. She said that they have a broken microwave and landlord wouldn't fix it so they turned it into mini gallery with artwork inside the microwave. They actually receive applications from people wanting to show in the space. At the end of the lecture, one of my classmates asked, "Does your microwave have a website?" and surprisingly, the answer was yes. The lectures all take place in the Chapel.
I have seen a few people walking around with this button pin on their backpacks that says MFA on it.
The old lady behind the desk said, "I don't think we have any pins, maybe it was something from admissions or some kind of promotional material."
"I don't think so because it had a swear word on it."
"Oh really? What did it say?"
I felt hesitant to tell her what it said since older people are usually more conservative about these things, but she asked for it. "It says mother fucking artist"
"Oh that's fantastic!" She replied, "but no unfortunately we don't have those in here." Too bad.
Next was a workshop for my class about research. We started with an activity where they made us pair up and answer three questions about how did we do our research last semester, what tools did we use, etc. We discussed this for about 10 minutes. Then they said, can we go around the room and each person say what new research method heard about. So this implies to me that we say something the other person in our pair said, I mean, you can't surprise yourself with a new research method unless you have dissociative personality disorder. But everyone around the circle just simply recapped their entire 10 minute discussion they had with their partner. That wasn't the question people. My group is wonderful and I love them all, but we are seriously a bunch of weirdos. While one girl was answering, Dont kept saying "mhmm" after everything she said, so other people in the group all started going "mhmm" and before you know it the whole group was mhmming at random intervals and we all started just cracking up. One person went on and on about how they really didn't have a research method because their faculty advisor just "spoon fed" them the whole time and gave them a prescribed list of books to read. The next person said they had a hard time getting books. And people suggesting using libraries (imagine that) and she said she has a hard time with libraries because she can't remember to take the books back, she has a hard time getting things in the post office on time. Everyone started jumping in and trying to help her solve her library problems. She said, "My challenge with libraries is not really the topic of discussion." And everyone rambled on and on. It finally was my turn to speak and I said, "one new research method I found surprising was to listen to podcasts and ted talks." The end. Dont seemed shocked by the abruptness of this answer so I continued, "That was the original question you asked" I said making chopping motions with my hand, "But if you would like me to follow suit, I can meander longer," I said gesturing to the speakers before me. Everyone was laughing quite a bit and started imitating my chopping gesture. Dont said, "Yeah please meander." So I completely ignored the original directive and summarized how I did my own research this semester and everyone was pleased.
Over dinner I had a discussion with Nick, who is graduating this semester. He asked me how my crits have been going and I told him that people have suggested I show one photo and make it huge. But, i confessed, that in this environment there are other factors going on. "You can't just show up after six months with one photograph and easily convince them that you spent 12 units worth of effort in the studio." He totally agreed. He said, "You are very wise. That's what I did last semester, I brought one painting. Faculty asked me 'is this all you did?' and I said well....no.....but this is all I want to show you. It was a very unpleasant conversation."
I have seen a few people walking around with this button pin on their backpacks that says MFA on it.
I love this pin and I wanted to know where they got it. So I went in the bookstore to ask, "Do you guys have that mfa pin in here?"
The old lady behind the desk said, "I don't think we have any pins, maybe it was something from admissions or some kind of promotional material."
"I don't think so because it had a swear word on it."
"Oh really? What did it say?"
I felt hesitant to tell her what it said since older people are usually more conservative about these things, but she asked for it. "It says mother fucking artist"
"Oh that's fantastic!" She replied, "but no unfortunately we don't have those in here." Too bad.
 |
| It's like...so conceptual |
I spent three hours repainting my wall back to pristine whiteness. Because I'm breaking down my exhibit at a nontraditional time, I was the only person in the gallery. I realized I must have totally been in the zone when I painted the black because of how difficult it felt this time with the white. I thought the trim would be easier because I didn't have to worry about spilling over the edge, only along the bottom I had to be careful not to paint the floor. It was so hard, I dripped so many times I had to wipe it up with my fingers and toilet paper from the bathroom. While I was waiting for the first coat to dry, I smelled smoke very strongly. I walked around the gallery and didn't see anything. But when I looked up at the lights I could actually see smoke in the air, that's how thick it was. I called the campus grounds people and they came to inspect it and found that the boiler in the basement was malfunctioning. So I might have saved all the art in the world.
Next was a workshop for my class about research. We started with an activity where they made us pair up and answer three questions about how did we do our research last semester, what tools did we use, etc. We discussed this for about 10 minutes. Then they said, can we go around the room and each person say what new research method heard about. So this implies to me that we say something the other person in our pair said, I mean, you can't surprise yourself with a new research method unless you have dissociative personality disorder. But everyone around the circle just simply recapped their entire 10 minute discussion they had with their partner. That wasn't the question people. My group is wonderful and I love them all, but we are seriously a bunch of weirdos. While one girl was answering, Dont kept saying "mhmm" after everything she said, so other people in the group all started going "mhmm" and before you know it the whole group was mhmming at random intervals and we all started just cracking up. One person went on and on about how they really didn't have a research method because their faculty advisor just "spoon fed" them the whole time and gave them a prescribed list of books to read. The next person said they had a hard time getting books. And people suggesting using libraries (imagine that) and she said she has a hard time with libraries because she can't remember to take the books back, she has a hard time getting things in the post office on time. Everyone started jumping in and trying to help her solve her library problems. She said, "My challenge with libraries is not really the topic of discussion." And everyone rambled on and on. It finally was my turn to speak and I said, "one new research method I found surprising was to listen to podcasts and ted talks." The end. Dont seemed shocked by the abruptness of this answer so I continued, "That was the original question you asked" I said making chopping motions with my hand, "But if you would like me to follow suit, I can meander longer," I said gesturing to the speakers before me. Everyone was laughing quite a bit and started imitating my chopping gesture. Dont said, "Yeah please meander." So I completely ignored the original directive and summarized how I did my own research this semester and everyone was pleased.
Over dinner I had a discussion with Nick, who is graduating this semester. He asked me how my crits have been going and I told him that people have suggested I show one photo and make it huge. But, i confessed, that in this environment there are other factors going on. "You can't just show up after six months with one photograph and easily convince them that you spent 12 units worth of effort in the studio." He totally agreed. He said, "You are very wise. That's what I did last semester, I brought one painting. Faculty asked me 'is this all you did?' and I said well....no.....but this is all I want to show you. It was a very unpleasant conversation."
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