Hula Drawings

I'm really excited about these new drawings I'm making as I attempt to break a childhood record of hula hooping for 2 hours and 16 minutes.

Final Show

The week preceding my BFA final show was pretty killer but I survived. Thank you, thank you to all of my paper cutting helpers. I'm so grateful for everyone who is in and apart of this exhibit. It is with great relief that I feel satisfied by the final result.

New York City

I jumped in a frigid, cold lake twice this week.

Oh, and then I flew to New York City for the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Convention! I have been given incredible opportunities through the art education program at BYU. I feel very fortunate and blessed to have been invited to attend.

This was my very first time to NYC and I thought it was busy, dirty, gray, cold, wet, diverse, loud, amazing, smart, and filled with so much art I couldn’t possibly absorb it all! I only had five days in the Big Apple, and I only saw a sliver of it.

In addition to attending lectures and workshops on the latest in art education, I visited four major museums and explored the city at night.

Here are some of the highlights of the trip in no particular order:

1.     Met well-known, contemporary artists Janine Antoni and Oliver Herring. I particularly admire Antoni who has been an influence to my work of late. Her work exploring questions of feminism, identity, and the body really resonate with me.

2.     My first glimpse of Time Square was quite bedazzling, but not quite as fun as when I walked through it in the rain with a good friend.

3.     I rode in a taxi! I’ve always wanted to do that! It was on my list of things to do before I die.

4.     And, I navigated the subway system all by myself.

5.     Attended a lecture by Jason Blair, an elementary school teacher in Ohio, who collaborated with other teachers to foster this wonderful yearlong investigation of “identity.” He demonstrated that deeply personal, intelligent connections and meaningful art can be made by 8-10 year old students. His students’ work was even featured in the Columbus Museum of Art. Here are a few newspaper articles explaining the project: article 1, 2, 3.

6.     Presented my research to fellow students.

7.     Ate the best cheesecake I’ve ever tasted…I even ate cheesecake for breakfast.

8.     Spent time with a dear professor and his friend who took interest in my work.

9.     Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ "Untitled" (Placebo), 1991 and “Untitled” 1991 at MoMA emanated beauty and poetic loss. (Placebo) felt especially powerful; there was something that held me in that room awhile as I literally partook of the art piece. I just thought it was so lovely that the artist would continue to give in spite of the work's tragic implications.

"Untitled" (Placebo), 1991 Image credit CarbZombie

Image credit The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation

10. Janet Cardiff’s The Forty Part Motet, 2001 at MoMA PS1 raised my eyes heavenward. It felt peaceful and inspiring, such a breath of fresh air amidst the predominately negative, critical, and overly political work I saw in New York. Watch a covert video in a different space here.

Image credit PS1

Utah Art Education Association Conference

This week was jam packed, every minute, pushing for productivity! I cut a good deal of paper (even on my holiday), began publicizing my show, and tried to prepare for a presentation at the Utah Art Education Association (UAEA) Conference amidst a myriad of other “to-dos”.

Thursday evening, I crammed myself with 12 other people in a van to journey down to St. George where the state conference for art education was held. Though my stomach was clenched with dread and my brain wracked with worry at the thought of presenting my limited amount of experience and research in front of very intelligent and qualified teachers who I admire, at least the beautiful desert landscape brought me a fraction of relief. I always forget how beautiful the desert and open sky can be.

Anyway, I stressed way too much about presenting. Even when I’m aware I’m stressing too much, I can’t stop. It’s this horrid personality trait of mine.

If you’re curious, I shared a bit about my research I conducted in Germany this past summer in attempting to study this coming-of-age ritual called Jugendweihe and how this experience informed my artwork concerned with finding self, which lead me to seek greater understanding of adolescent identity formation, specifically as it pertains to the art classroom and what I found is that by granting greater autonomy, students are more likely to create meaningful artwork and be aided in forming healthy, stable identities themselves and also that I am really, really good at writing a terribly, long run on sentences!

The best part of this weekend:

1.     60+ degree weather and sunshine that soothed my soul.

2.     Getting to know and respect a professor more.

3.     Feeling a sense of community from my art education program and the Utah teachers in general. It’s just so nice to be surrounded by people who are passionate about some of the most important things in my life: art + teaching.

MORE Paper Cutting Parties

FRIDAY, February 17th                12-3:00 pm @ JKB 3115
SATURDAY, February 18th          9-1:00 pm @ Home; 2-5:00 pm @ JKB 3115

MONDAY, February 20th             9-3:00 pm @ Home
WEDNESDAY, February 22nd     8-11:00 am & 5-7:00pm @ JKB 3115

I baked some cookies for you.

I researched some artists suggested by my professor. I happened to like Cornelia Parker.

All images courtesy of Google Image search

Trial Run

I set up a trial run in the gallery just to see and feel the space with all my paper. Sadly, I realized I need A LOT more.  It was exhausting putting everything up and down in 24 hrs, but it fed some ideas and got me organized. I still don't know how I feel about the tissue paper paintings. I love them on their own, but they may not make it in this exhibit.

 

P.S. I can't show pictures of the set up because I want it to be more of a surprise (or less of a let down) when it finally goes up.