classes

i've finally gone through my full rotation of classes. drum roll please...

monday - graphic design II (9 am - 3 pm)
tuesday - civic humanism (9 am - noon)
wednesday - type II (4 pm - 10 pm)
thursday - architecture, art, and the open city (4 pm - 7 pm)
friday - concrete culture: city as text (9 pm - 3 pm)

second semester: spring 2008

i'm nervous. but that's a good thing. not much can phase me anymore. so when i actually admit to myself that i'm nervous, i know i'm stepping out of my comfort zone. maybe first semester was too comfortable. i picked mica because it would be a challenge. and i'm still waiting for the classic art school post-crit breakdown. but i'm sure i shouldn't speak too soon... i'm doing lots of scary things* this semester. (not to mention taking on the position of arts and education program manager in the student activities office...)

monday - drawing II (4 - 10 pm)
wednesday - sculptural forms* (8:30 - 2 pm)
thursday - elements of visual thinking II (8:30 - 12:30) & critical inquiry (1:30 - 4:15 pm)
friday - painting I* (9 - 3 pm)

sorry, dad. no spelling class.


edit: i just had to add this syllabus from sculptural forms today. scary? not so much. he put quotes on his syllabus. good quotes. reassuring quotes. i can dig it.

this one was on the back:

"there is no measure with time. no year matters, ten years are nothing. being an artist means not reckoning and counting but ripening like the tree which does not force it's sap and stands confident in the storms of spring without the fear that after them may come no summer."

ken talked about his own experiences in grad school. encountering all the fears and doubts. thinking "i'm not any good at this." or just getting plain sick of it. but realizing that it's all part of the process. and you just do as well as you can. because he had a history of always doing as well as he can. he just needed a reminder to trust himself and believe in himself.

i love it here

i feel like such a dork to keep saying how much i love mica. if ben ever reads this he'll make fun of me. but i really do love it here. the love is currently gushing... but ask me again a few weeks/projects/crits later and the love could be considerably less. (and in such an instance i have my keri smith artist's survival kit on standby. http://www.kerismith.com/ask.html.)

so far i've had two classes- drawing I & the cap elective. yesterday was odd... before the class my mom said that the class wouldn't take the whole time, that the professor would probably just go over a syllabus and basic introductions. i laughed at such a high school expectation and figured that i would be doing some crazy hard still life right off the bat. but, momsie was right. the class didn't even make it to the dinner break. but i love the teacher, fabienne. she's super cute, originally from montreal (right up my ally), and new to mica. i'm kinda glad she's new to the class too... and i liked everything she had to say about class expectations. my first homework assignment is to bring in images of pieces by 2+ artists i like, bring in something i've done (not necessarily an art project, could be an essay, etc.), & write a short paragraph on what drawing is to me. i was excited about the assignment. but then i started wondering if i should be upset that it's not harder. (on top of that, i won't have the class again for two weeks because of labor day.) i guess part of me is still scared to formally get started, especially with something like drawing. i didn't really "draw" at all this summer. i really just need to jump in.



today's class was finding baltimore, part of the community arts partnership program. and i am so glad i chose to take that class. it is exactly what i had hoped it would be. this class actually took every minute (& then some) that was given to us. and i got an email last night telling me that the class moved from the fox building to brown center. so our class room was a super cool , all glass (there actually was a bullet hole in the glass- but that just lent itself to a discussion on the baltimore community), corner room on the third floor overlooking campus. and to get to it i got to walk by the graphic design bulletin boards and see some work. it was seeing that sort of stuff at the open house that inspired me so much. i can't wait until that building and the graphic design department becomes my home. sorry, off on a tangent... we got started right away, creating a self map. i still want to work on mine more (i have some ideas i want to experiment with.) the concept of self mapping is intimidating but really intriguing. sometimes you forget how intricate you are... until someone asks you to put it all down on a sheet of paper.



after class i went on a wild goose chase from building to building, office to office, trying to fill out forms for my work study (which i should have done the first day i was here, and somehow missed taking care of. wonder what else i had on my mind...) i found out that i'm going to be working with student activities. so perfect! and the girl i have as a contact is the one who basically planned orientation, so i've at least seen her around. i also got my first mica sketchbook at the school store. this one is just for cap, so i'm planning on deconstructing the cover & putting some of the many baltimore maps i have to use.

right now: i'm hungry. so i'm going to meyerhoff to eat before it closes...

my first week in b-more

this past week has totally been a whirlwind. even if i had been able to process it all and actually write about it, i had absolutely no down time to mess with this blog. which makes sitting down now and trying to recap everything that much harder. part of why i started this blog was just to document things for myself... for the nerd in me that will look back in a year and wonder what i was thinking/feeling/experiencing. (like the nerd in me that is totally bummed that i lost my agenda at the end of the year and wont be able to reminisce and look at everything that was going on. and the nerd in me that saves all of my to do lists. and takes pictures of them.) so i'll attempt documenting the craziness that was (drum roll please...) orientation at mica. some snapshots:

dorm

i'm sure cathy never thought i would find a place for the bazillion things i toted along with me during move in. or fit the huge ikea desk in. but i got it done. and it works. it feels like a place i can call home. i've have so many things that inspire me. wood stars, pictures (the jc gang, jackie & me in front of panda express...) a map of my new stomping grounds, postcards from the aic, my let go shadow box, avondale leadership postcards, my pantone color chart. i still want to mess around with clothes storage, and i still forget where i put somethings when i unpacked. (if i was a stain stick... where would i be?)

i'll post better pictures later.



writing test

our second day at mica & we were already in classrooms and being tested. this was to see who needed any help writing and who would take the academic writing workshop. which usually ends up being 10% of the freshman class. the question was perfect for the start of a four year art college career:

"given so much pain and suffering in the world and much of it right at our doorstep, is it a sinful waste of time to spend one's life making art?"

it was exactly what donaghy has asked me a few times... will i be someone that becomes so consumed with art that forget there is a world around me? the topic begged for bruce mau quotes and social design preaching. right up my alley. i wonder how many other mica people would agree with me on that mentality. i'm sure i'll find out soon.

jamie washington (guest speaker)

talked about community & diversity. & even though he played the good old "crossing the line" game, he got me thinking. one thing he said stuck with me... "speak your truth in the community." i like that one.



extreme bingo

it starts as a simple bingo game. just add loud music, mud, girls in bras, and guys in girls underwear. a mica tradition. and absolutely crazy.

schedule

monday - drawing I (4 - 10 pm)
tuesday - cap: finding baltimore (9 - 3 pm)
wednesday - electronic media and culture (8:30 - 2 pm)
thursday - elements of visual thinking (8:30 - 12:30) & art matters (1:30 - 4:15 pm)

admissions boasts of hand selecting classes and diligently working to put people in the best possible classes. i believe it... i love this schedule. i got the elective i wanted (the community arts partnership class), and i was able to get it first semester. it will be super helpful to explore the city and make art in response to different sites as i'm getting used to living in big ol' baltimore. even though i'm sure i'll end up painting in my elements class, i get to make the transition from drawing I (first semester) to painting I (second semester). & i also don't have to worry about sculpture right off the bat. but i do get my art history. love it.

washington dc trip

i love dc. and i love the fact that i can take a bus pretty much every other weekend to dc (or new york if the spirit moves me farther north.) it wasn't so long ago that i wanted to go to school in washington dc really bad. but now i can have this amazing & unique baltimore experience and still get my monument/art musuem/american history fix whenever. (and georgetown can suck it.)

i spent a good portion of the day in the east building of the national gallery of art. i miss museums. it felt so good to be back in one and taking notes on whatever pieces pull me in. this museum was more contemporary.

here are some of my discoveries... (pardon the lack of accents... i'm not sure how to get that high tech on blogspot)

marcel duchamp- la mariee mise a vu par ses celibataires, meme (the bride stripped bare by her bachelors, even.) had a collage feel that reminded me of the "look" i go for when scrapbooking.
robert henry- snow in new york. i have a thing for empty white space, and this city scape looked just like a picture i had taken in chicago last summer messed around with the contrast in photoshop.
barnett newman- yellow painting & the name it. love massive pieces like this that just lure you to stand in front of them and become surrounded by color. puts me in the mood to cover the white homosote walls in the apartment with something bold.
robert rauschenberg- canyon. kind of a creepy piece... but gave me a sabrina ward harrison vibe.
ellsworth kelly- color panels for a large wall. a very fitting title. looks like the wall and the space was made just for it.
richard tuttle- no joke. there was a piece just a solid color on canvas, but it was totally my color (teal). and it just happened to be my good friend, dick tuttle.
pablo picasso- guitar. love his classy use random everyday household objects. wallpaper, carpet tacks, nail, wood, string.
henri matisse- lorette with turban, yellow jacket. and not just because i'm jealous that yellow is not my color (geoff.... please reconsider your yellow ban on my skin tone.

& i couldn't believe it when i saw a free hugs guy in front of the lincoln memorial (sean will be so jealous.) i made my roommate, tara, get in the picture with me.



in conclusion

i had a lot of prerequisites for where i would spend the next four years of my life. but i always asked myself where i would feel most alive. i am so glad that i made that a priority... because i feel so alive here at mica. and at least for now (check back when i'm knee deep in assignments) i can't help but smile when i walk down the tree lined streets or listen to a speaker in falvey hall or even just enter the commons to go to my dorm. i'm totally giddy. this right here is what college should feel like...