Blog: REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE

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Holy Moly!! This has been one stressssful week, boy...let me tell you!  Things just kept piling on! So, I don’t want to overwhelm anyone with anything, so I will try to explain my life right now as clearly as possible!

 

So, I knew I would get a bit behind because I missed thirteen days of classes.  I was lucky I got one exam moved back a week-thank goodness.  But, I am taking a two credit independent study course with (my favorite art professor) Harry McCue—I planned ahead and made a slew of handmade paper  (about 11x14) before I left.  I was planning on photographing nudes (also for my senior photo workshop course) and do a figure study on the paper using India ink and color washes. I had a quick photo shoot before I left for Florida, and as soon as I got back I did another awesome shoot with my friends and some of myself.

Hahaha-then I got an email from Mr McCue—“where are you? I need to see some things so I can give you a grade”  Thank goodness I brought some of my paper with me down to Florida and had some time to sketch.  I also did some more when I got back over the weekend...and I met with gold old McCue and we talked paper making.  Got some good hints and tips, and I am going to begin to apply some watercolor action to my sketches. He gave me a B for midterm—perfect by me!

 

Soo…photo workshop.  I did an informal shoot at my friends house.  I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to accomplish..bought some creepy masks, mustaches, heals, knee socks, set up my strobes, my medium format camera, did some nude figure studies in my friends fabulous retro-seedy home. It was so much fun!  Just imagine—floor to ceiling, wall to wall, wood paneling, with this amazing barf-ish tinted green, shag carpeting.  Could I seriously ask for anything more perfect?  I had bought the cheapest materials I could find at good old B&H…some Fomapan 200 speed film, and some fantastic semi-matte Fortezo 11x14 in fiber-based paper.  I had two hours to print… because I had a critique the next day.  I basically processed my four rolls of 120 film, and banged out about 12 prints.  They were perfectly seedy, and haphazardly thrown together.  I was pleased.  I think I was most nervous about how the critique would go.

 

--let me catch you up on the lingo…for those of you interested in pursuing photography..or film…or any type of art here at Ithaca College.  We are given projects and at certain times during the semester we have group critiques…that is where we take the work we have done and show it to the class…and we basically discuss it.  High points, low points, composition, technical aspects, if its successful…etc.

 

So—I was nervous about having the critique…just because I knew my work was working on a different playing field-subject matter wise-than anyone else.  I was going for the 1970’s biker chick—pin-up girl mixed with a notion of fashion and surrealism.  Real weird stuff…very revealing.  Also—I knew my professor (Ron Jude) does not dig the nude ordeal.  I went with it anyways—He loved them!  Well..I don’t want to give away too much—but I will say this—my work (and my classmates’ works) will be exhibited at the end of the semester—sometime in late April/ early May—I will keep you guys updated) But basically, we all put together a cohesive body of work-that we work on all semester.  We are in charge of conceptualizing it, mounting, framing, etc…and finding an exhibition space outside of Ithaca College to put on a week-long show..with an opening (food, wine/beer, music—goood time!) It is like the most important thing for us as photo students…and the senior show on campus.  I mean, for some of us…it’s just a great opportunity to exhibit work to a general public as well as faculty, staff and peers.

 

Wow—that was a lot…and that is only a portion of the things I am doing this week.  Today is actually the opening of a show here on campus, at the Handwerker Gallery—that myself and seven other students have completely organized….curated, put together the programming, and we all wrote the catalog.  I won’t go into too much detail—if you want to read more about this check out my next entry!! 

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