An Extra...

I've finished the required number of posts, but realized I never really gave myself any closure.  I think I'll keep this blog, and maybe someday I'll even post my artwork to it, but posts will probably be few and far between.  Maybe random nights I'll go on post-writing rampages, but I can't guarantee it.  All in all, this was an interesting way to let some of my thoughts be known to the few people who are actually going to read this thing.

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday, and maybe I'll check back in 3 weeks!

My Love for Writing

These last 10 or so posts have been relatively easy to write, and I'm getting faster every time I get a new idea, so I don't know why I couldn't do this every week.  I guess sometimes things are easier to tackle all at once, rather than dragged out over a long period of time.

It's like cleaning for me - I could clean a little every week, leaving a lot less to be done later, but I can't get up that motivation to clean even for just a little bit every week.  I leave it all till it gets really bad, then do one big cleaning job.  The big job doesn't seem so bad once you get going, and seeing the progress makes you keep going.  I get in this mood, and I could clean for hours, making it much more efficient than if I had cleaned every week.  Why suffer every week when it could all be done at once, and even enjoyed once I get into it?

I don't think this is really making sense, so I'll stop comparing it to cleaning now.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that this has actually been a lot easier to write so many posts all at once because I've gotten into some sort of flow.  It must result from my love of writing.  I can't just sit down and write for 10 minutes.  I need an hour or two, and that is probably why these latest posts have come so easy to me.

So much to do...

Speaking of my College of Ed application (see my last post), I just realized I have so much to do!  My resume is all set, but I have yet to meet with my College of Ed adviser.  I think I am supposed to meet with her twice?  I also am planning on taking the MTTC Basic Skills test in January, so that's one thing I can't yet cross off my list.  I also need two (?) recommendation letters, and I'm hoping my GPA doesn't plummet after this semester (doubtful, but who knows with Design History in the mix).

Then there's the practical things.  As an art student, I have an overabundance of ratty, holey, paint-splattered clothing, but literally only one pair of dress pants.  I need some teacher clothes!!  Thankfully I have til next fall for that.  Also, I have maybe 10 lesson plans, but most of them are for high school art lessons, so I should start pinterest-ing, or following other blogs to get ideas.  I don't think I'll need many of my own lessons for teacher assisting, but student teaching in a year will probably require me to teach the entire semester.

I'm sure there's many other things that I haven't even thought of, but that's all I've got for now.

Next Semester

I know this semester has just ended, and I should give my mind a bit of a break, but I can't help it, I'm already excited for next semester!  So many cool things are happening!

First of all, my schedule is literally the best anyone could ask for.  I don't have class on Friday, and Monday through Thursday I start at 11 and am done for sure by 5.  No awkward breaks, and nights are free for homework or work.

Second, I'm taking some pretty awesome classes.  Advanced Painting 2, Advanced Drawing 1, Capstone, and two classes for my Writing minor: Intermediate Poetry and Intermediate Fiction.  So excited to get back into more creative writing classes!

Third, have I mentioned I'm at a really great place in painting right now?  Haha...sorry, I know I have, but I really am so excited to get back to school and be able to continue right where I left off and continue pushing myself and my work.

Fourth, I apply to the College of Ed next semester, and I'm looking forward to having that part of the process behind me.

I know I need this break, but hopefully coming back won't be so hard this time with all this to look forward to!

Holiday Break Goals

Now that it's the end of the semester, I have about 3 weeks to do whatever I want! Kind of.

I have a few actual goals for this break, so I thought I might post them, so that maybe someone will hold me accountable.

1.  Build a slipper chair for my new bedroom. (Plan is already found, now just to get to it!)
2.  Paint a Christmas present for my brother - MSU football stadium.
3.  Christmas shop - duh!
4.  Clean old room, move into new room.
5.  Document my artwork since I started GVSU. (I'm getting a camera for Christmas, maybe that will motivate!)
6.  Make more money than I spend (yeah, right)
7.  Catch up on all the movies that came out this semester.
8.  Sleep!

Shouldn't be too hard, right?

So Many Posts...

I may seem to be going on a posting rant right now, but the truth is I am trying to catch up on this blog thing.  I actually liked this blogging idea, and thought it would be fun, but as the weeks went by I kept putting it off.  Even though most of these posts have only taken about 10 or 15 minutes, it was hard to think up a topic every week.  Because of that, things have kind of been marinating in my mind for a while now, so now I'm left with an abundance of topics, and had 12 posts to catch up on to make the requirement.  4 more to go now, so bear with me for a little longer!

Self Evaluating in Painting

In Advanced Painting this semester, we were required to grade ourselves.  We were asked to write a 1-2 page paper that reflects on our semester, and also grade ourselves according to the requirements found in the syllabus.  It didn't sound like such a bad idea at first, and so I wrote the paper and graded myself as asked.

Then, I get an email from my prof, sent to our entire class.

Basically, it said, I didn't agree with a lot of the grades you guys gave yourselves, so I'll be emailing you with your real grade shortly.

My grade got lowered, as did others in my class.  The thing is, I also know that someone in my class gave herself an A, something I did not think was appropriate, but my prof agreed with it.

It turns out this same person has gotten an A in every painting class she has ever taken, even when her work (by anyone else's standards) did not merit it.

Now, I'm just frustrated.  Why tell us to grade ourselves if you are just going to change it?  And why ignore every requirement in the syllabus to give a good grade to a student you favor?

The Bad Things About My Work

I was discussing the recent direction of my work with a few other painting students, and I realized a few things that aren't so great about my work:

1. It gets reduced to documentation, because that is the nature of an installation - it is specific to the wall I build it on.
2. It probably will never sell - because it gets attached to walls, I can't really sell my work as a painting or piece.
3. Once I graduate, there won't be an abundance of gallery-like walls to make my work on. Let's just hope I can afford a studio!

I remember reading an interview by Judy Pfaff, and she said when someone wants a piece by her, they get a lot more than they bargained for - her entire crew comes, and they stay for weeks, building a piece for that specific space.  If they refuse her crew, they get a collage/drawing that can be hung on a wall.

Maybe I too will have to develop another option, like drawings, for potential clients.

What A Show by Me Would be Like

With all these thoughts of either having a senior show, or proposing one, it's been running through my head what a show by me would even look like.  I recently have come to a really great place in my work, and I know I'll continue in that direction, so if I can imagine a gallery filled with my work, it seems crazy.

My work has basically turned into a mix of sculpture and painting - some might call it installation, but it's not always that big.  I've been making pieces out of dried paint, painted canvas, balsa wood, paper, and a mixture of other materials.  I then take the piece and hang it on the wall, painting shapes onto the wall behind it, bringing it cohesively into a piece.

I think if I did an entire show by myself, it would involve the entire gallery, as one installation.  I can picture it really well, but it's hard to describe.  It would move across all the walls, and would involve different 3D elements either attached to the wall or hanging from the ceiling.

If you've taken a look at my influences, Frank Stella, Judy Pfaff, and Matthew Ritchie, you might understand a little better the context of my work.  I'm doing a terrible job describing this, so let's just hope a show happens sometime in my future, and I can post pictures rather than words!

To BFA or not to BFA???

I have recently been contemplating adding a Painting BFA to my major here at GVSU.  I guess that would mean I would be a double major in Painting and in Art Education.  I feel really strongly about my painting work, and my professor is really encouraging me to either get the BFA, or propose a show, so that even if I don't get a senior show I can still have something.

I just can't decide if it is really what I want.  It might add an entire year to my total schooling, making it six, and while I am feeling a lot of pressure from my painting friends to do the BFA, I also am feeling a bit of pressure from my parents, who were shocked when I wouldn't get done in even four years.  They are not paying for my schooling, it comes out of my pocket, but I haven't felt a ton of support from them in general once they realized I really was sticking with art as a major.

So yeah, I'm a little confused, and it's hard to separate for yourself your own desires when you have a chorus of chattering from the peanut gallery.  Maybe I'll be able to reflect on it over break.

Critique Handbook Assignment

In conjunction with my previous post about The Critique Handbook, I thought I might post the assignment (and my answers) that my painting professor required us to complete after reading.  A worksheet similar to this could be used in my classroom after my students have read excerpts from the book.



What is critique?

Critique is a process where a student presents work to be judged by a professor or class.  The evaluators provide constructive criticism so that the student can continue to improve in their work.  It becomes a kind of tracking device for the professor and student so that they can evaluate the progression of the student’s work.

Discuss your thoughts about formalism – how much does your own work depend on formal qualities for its meanings? What are your thoughts on how you use formal comments in critique?

My own work depends greatly on formal qualities for its meanings.  The section that talked about formalism and modernism really struck me, because I see myself as a painter that intentionally focuses my work on the formal elements such as shape, color and materiality. I really identify my own work with this quote, “In other words, a work of art no longer represents something out of the world but presents itself.”  I think that most of the content of my work is really presented with that formalist approach – that meaning is found in the materials themselves and how they are working together to create something that is new and non-referential.
In critique, because I think a lot about shape and color and material, I find that is the first thing I notice about a painting.  I am interested in how the brush strokes capture my attention, and work toward the broader goals of the painting, and I am especially interested in the colors and how they speak to the painting.  When I comment on formal qualities, I try to ask myself or the artist how their surface, colors, and size are helping their painting, or if these things don’t seem to be important to their painting – in which case they should think more about that for next time.

Write a little about how you use abstraction in your work.

I am kind of on the border in my ideas about the abstraction of my work.  Because I feel that my work doesn’t really rely on representation, sometimes I think that it is not abstracted at all, because it has nothing that it originated from.  If I am not using any sort of reference, it my work doesn’t begin with reality and draw away from it, my work could be considered an object itself, not abstracted from anything.  Yet, in some of my work, I am taking shapes I have found in my world, and converting them into a two dimensional form onto my canvas or paper.  I then layer these forms to create my own sense of space.  When I am doing this, I feel that you could argue that my work is highly abstract – I am referencing shapes that I see and converting them into a painting that no longer looks like it came from those shapes.  Therefore, I can identify with those critics and art historians they mention in the book, that wonder if the term abstraction should be used to describe works that don’t refer to anything.  The critics say pure abstraction is still in some way making reference to something, which you can argue with my work.  Yet, if I am not presenting my work with the goal that it looks like something else, can we judge it based on the associations we see in it?  I think I might prefer that it be assessed more formally, unless those associations are affecting the way the viewer is interpreting my work.

In the section, Looking at a Painting Formally, which formal considerations resonate with you the most in your own work right now? Why?

I thought this whole section was really relevant for my work, just because I try to think about all the formal things mentioned when I am creating a piece.  Thinking about the internal logic - the line, color, composition, and fields of color – is important to me because I am making compositions that need to address each of these issues.  The external logic – the edges, the scale, and the format – is also significant in my process, because if my piece is going to be viewed as an object, how I am addressing each of those things could speak to how I want my work to be identified (as object vs. painted surface.)  I also think about surface, gesture, and process, because I have been playing with how differences in surface, mark, and process can change how my work is viewed.  The section Painting as Presentation really resonated with me as well, because it helped me see how other are thinking about their non-representational work.
In your own work, how would you describe the content and the subject matter? (from The Story it Tells)

In my work, because I feel I have taken a more formalist approach, the form of my work makes up much of the content.  I try to create a dialogue between sculpture and painting, challenging the limits between what is traditionally known as a sculpture or as a painting, by using paint as a way to create a sculpture (as in my larger wall piece), or using paint as a way to reject sculpture (as with my smaller painted pieces.)  I am still trying to develop my language about my content, because in my head I am coming to a place where I know what I have to make, I’m just not always sure why, but it always makes so much more sense in my head than when I try to explain it.  So for me I am trying to learn how to express this better in how I talk and think about my work.  I would say that my work denotes layers of paint on a wall, paper, or canvas, but it connotes a creating of space that relies on shape, color, and other elements that relate it to sculpture.

Critique Handbook

In my high school art class, we never critiqued, so coming to college and having to do that for the first time was a little scary.  Because of that experience, I know that if I become a high school art teacher I would like to hold critiques regularly so my students can participate in critical dialogue about art.

For other art educators planning on holding critiques, I have a source you might be interested in.  In Advanced Painting this semester, we were required to buy and read The Critique Handbook: The Art Student's Sourcebook and Survival Guide.  It was quite helpful especially as a future art educator, because certain parts focused on what should be critiqued, and how to make sure others are receiving that critique well.

I am definitely going to keep this book, and probably even make my students read some sections.  I think certain chapters of this book would be perfect for a high school student to read, and will introduce them to the idea of critique rather than just forcing them into it.

My K-12 Art Experience

     I thought I'd use this post to reflect a little on my art classes growing up, and what maybe I would change if I had been my own art teacher. My K-12 Art Education experience begins in grade four, as I cannot remember anything prior to that.  In fourth grade I made a handcrafted wooden shelf.  Throughout the rest of grade school I remember a few projects including collages, a landscape painting, Christmas ornaments, and drawing/shading chrome objects.  In ninth grade I made a self-portrait, and in grades ten and eleven I was not able to take an art class. My twelfth grade art class focused on 2D work – drawings, paintings, etc.
     Looking back at my art experience, I think most of it was focused on being "good" at art.  Many projects were drawings or paintings, and much emphasis was placed on the final product looking good.  I remember fellow students dreading art class because they thought they were not good at it, and now I think the fact that they were dreading it probably also hindered their creativity from fully working.  My fourth grade shelf was probably my most influential piece, because we were building something with our own hands, and it could become something creative or pretty, or something straightforward. It was no longer a work of art based on your artistic talents, but rather your own handiwork, so I think all of the students participated much better.  My senior year was influential in learning about mediums, but not so much about technique. A majority of our projects were traced and colored in, which left little flexibility for creative control.
     In retrospect, I think for a majority of my art education experience, a different mindset should have been established where it was not important how talented you were, but rather that you were learning something with each project, and that your creativity and imagination were constantly being encouraged no matter your skill level.

Visiting Artist Critique with Mary McDonnell

Last week Wednesday, the painting department here at GVSU was privileged enough to invite the painter Mary McDonnell to come talk to our classes.  Because I am an advanced painting student, I also was able to have her come into my studio for a critique.  The experience really helped me, so I thought I might reflect on how feedback affects us as artists, and how building a community of trusted people to come in to talk to you about your work can really benefit any artist.

Meeting with Mary answered a lot of my questions about my own work, but also gave me a million more.  She changed how I was thinking about my current projects, and I think that I can really learn from her feedback in how I should always be experimenting in my projects - knowing what you are going to do before you do it not only limits your work, but also makes it a lot less fun to produce.  To constantly be questioning yourself and what you are doing and why you are doing it will ensure that you are growing as an artist, and challenging yourself in everything you are creating.

Meeting with Mary was also really encouraging because of the nature of my work - I paint non-representationally, and it was incredibly helpful to talk to someone who is working abstractly herself, who could understand the struggles of trying to create something non-representational.  I felt really uplifted by the way she talked about my work, because she had this way of making me feel like my work really was important, especially when sometimes I feel like it’s only important to me.  I definitely appreciated her feedback, not only to encourage me but also to show me that as an artist I need to be more open to things that could unexpectedly happen as a result of playing around in the studio, and letting go of my control over my work.

Feedback from other artists is always valuable no matter what level you are at in your work, and I think that people often underestimate that.  Especially as students, we get focused on grades and impressing our teachers and professors, rather than focusing on furthering our ideas and work.  The awesome experience that I had with Mary (and believe me, visiting artist critiques don't always go so well) made me think about how having the right people around us to push us and challenge us can not only help develop our ideas in art, but now as I'm thinking more about it, push us as a person.  Really, this can also apply to friends and family - surrounding yourself with people who are not afraid to challenge you can only help you grow.  And who can deny their own growth?
 

Art History and Contemporary Art in Art Education

Ideas about art history and how it has effected the contemporary art world have recently been floating around in my mind, so I am going to attempt to put words to those thoughts.  I hope this doesn't come out sounding like a lecture (imagine that, an educator giving a lecture!) or a rant, but rather it is my hope to shed some light on what I think a lot of people don't always understand.

People have said to me before that Minimalist art is dumb, and they don't understand it; why does someone pay millions to put a blank canvas in their art museum?  Or, what about Abstract Expressionism - why can someone drip paint all over a canvas (something a child can do) and show up in the history books?  I've heard that about so many different pieces and artists that seem to not make sense to the general public.  

Making a statement like that is one of my largest pet peeves.  As if whether or not you like something determines its importance.  Have they tried to understand it? Have they researched, or looked up the history or the culture that it came from?  Have they thought about its impact on the art that came after it?

While I think people can have their opinions about how they interpret a certain piece, I don't think they can judge a piece just on that interpretation.  Not only do we interpret different works in different ways the more they age, we also should look at these works from the perspective of someone who grew up in that time period.  

Because time changes the meaning of art, being educated on what certain pieces meant during their time periods is essential to understanding why a work like that ends up in an art museum.  Not being educated on it is no excuse - it doesn't mean you can walk past and write off those pieces because you didn't like them.  If you didn't like them, wouldn't you be interested in why they are there in the first place?  Have a little respect, and put aside your opinion in order to learn something that at the very least, will enhance your literacy in art.  

Donald Judd, 1965

Take Minimalism, for example.  Minimalists radically changed how people thought about art.  Why couldn't art be the column of brass boxes pictured to the right? Did art always have to be highly decorated?  Why couldn't simple forms create the same kind of meaning as something more visually complex?

This movement led the way for people to challenge the "rules" of art.

People like me.

My own work challenges the definitions people have given to painting and sculpture, using the physicality of paint to form a 3D surface similar to a sculpture.  Without Minimalism, would I be able to create what I create?  Or would I be stuck like too many other people, as a painting emphasis, striving to make my paintings look like photographs?  

While this seems like an obvious statement, contemporary art owes everything to art history.  So even if you don't like a piece from history, you can at least respect it, and recognize what it did so that you could be where you are today.  

References I Made, Linked For You

If you can't remember who it was that dripped paint all over canvas, click here.

For more information about the Abstract Expressionist movement, click here.

For more information on the Minimalist movement, click here.

For my image source, and a few more images of Donald Judd's work, click here.

To really take this post to heart, click nowhere and get yourself to an art museum to stare at the art you think you hate.

ArtPrize

With ArtPrize officially starting yesterday, I thought I might post a few of my thoughts about this popular Grand Rapids art competition.  Here at Grand Valley, you hear a lot of different views about ArtPrize; some argue that it takes artists and their work lightly, allowing anything to pass as an entry, while others are encouraged by the publicity it gives to art and artists.

For me, I find myself somewhere in between.  While I know that ArtPrize does not always represent art in the best light, mixing serious artists with the arts and crafts world, I also think that it is allowing for much more discussion about the arts in Grand Rapids than there ever was before.  I think that sometimes you have to dig for the really creative work, the pieces that challenge you and reveal something new to you, but that digging can help you learn the difference between great and not-so-great works of art.  I think any future art educator can benefit from that.

When I make it downtown to look around at the pieces this year, I fully intend to look at each piece critically, with a teacher's eye.  If I am able to critique all the different pieces you find at ArtPrize, it can give me a little insight into how to approach the critique of a student's work.  I am sure that I will see a wide variety of art forms in my classroom someday, so being able to look at a work of art critically at an event like ArtPrize can prepare me a little for what I might face as a teacher.

Introductions and Ceramics and My Painting Problems and Some Other Things

As I start this, my first real post on my first ever blog, I feel the need to introduce myself.  You know, to my many readers ; )

I am a senior here at Grand Valley State University, finishing up my classes so that next year I can teacher assist and student teach through the College of Ed.  My major is Art Education for the K-12 schools, and my minor is Writing.  I also work as a lifeguard and swimming lessons teacher for the Grandville Public Schools, which has helped me in so many ways to build the patience and confidence (and other characteristics) needed for a classroom. 

Here's a little insight into my life right now: currently, the studio art classes I am taking are Intro to Ceramics and Advanced Painting I.  The three other classes I am taking are Design History, Writing and Sports, and Teaching the Nontraditional Canon (the cause for this very blog!)

I joined the Clay Club here at Grand Valley this week, which I am very excited about.  While I am currently taking Intro to Ceramics, I will not learn how to throw on the wheel, and so I have a promise from a friend that she will teach me wheel-throwing, which is a class I don't have room in my schedule to take.  I look forward to learning this tool to expand the things that I may someday teach in my own classroom!

Painting is my emphasis, and I've found that everything I learn in my other studio classes has helped my focus in painting.  I have really started to enjoy challenging myself in a specific area of art.  However, I have my first critique for this semester on Monday, and I really am struggling with forming words that explain what I want my paintings to express.  As a Writing minor, I usually am not short of words, nor do I usually have trouble expanding on ideas, but for some reason finding a way to talk about my conceptual focus has been hard as of late.  Hopefully in a couple of weeks I can read this and be happy I have found my way out of this rut : )

As I finish up this introductory blog post, I've been faced with the question: What am I going to write about every week?  I could treat this as a diary, but that seems a little too personal.  I've thought about treating it as an assignment, but that seems a little too formal.  Therefore, I had the idea that I would treat this as an online sketchbook, a journal of sorts that can help me work through ideas for my classroom or my own artwork, in which I can post random things of inspiration - images, links, articles, etc.  This seems the perfect way to use this blog as tool for me today and for my future classroom.

Til next time!

Just to Start