i'm much better at writing down my thoughts; typing is, uhhh, not my thing. but i thought it was time for another journal entry to say...

VCUARTS.

the dream had been the Brown/RISD dual degree. foundation year at RISD, a perfect blend of visual and liberal arts, and providence RI! providence! oh, but that brown interviewer-lady had it right. "the numbers are against you!" i would have had to get into both schools separately and then be one of 20 (?!) students selected for the dual degree. but i wanted it so bad. really really.

i didn't get in to either school.

aaaand i had only applied to three other schools, two of which i had no real interest in. silly, i know. i applied to VCU on a whim. and, ironically enough, back in the fall i was adamantly opposed to even entertaining the idea of going there. the one thing i was getting excited about for college (not football, parties, or idontevenknowwhatelse) was leaving. getting away. i felt like (and still do!) that i need to have that experience. 

frantic emails for advice ensued (mrs mosley and julia park are the most amazing human beings), and in the end, it came down to money (ha!) because JMU, bless them, wouldnt give me any more. 

it's taken some coaxing, appreciation of irony, and a whole lot of imagination to start being able to see myself at VCU, but i can count on art! 

i'm still thinking about the picnic marina and i had this past wednesday after picking up our loads and loads of supplies and works, sitting outside the art room under some trees in the parking lot (that needed tending!). maggie walker has been so special​ in terms of art. the one constant, defining thread of the past four years has been art. all. the. time. massive sketchbook assignments, pARTnerships, VMFA TEEN STYLIN (looking at you jaq jaq), art history magazine (also you jacqueline), Future Studio, first fridays, studio two three, etc etc.

there was a very silly moment i had after reading those awful rejection letters when i though about quitting art. very silly.​ stopped at once.

starting week five of quarantine / self iso

not much fun...i really miss art class. but! i have plans to continue my big project that i had in mind, and being at home might help. procreate sketch and some more test pictures below!

the plan is to
1. create a hole in an old sheet, like one that might naturally happen over time. i rubbed some fabric with sandpaper to test it, and it worked quite well.
2. i don't have a massive embroidery hoop, so i hope it works freehand, but i want to weave over the hole i created to mend it. it would look similar to the little one i put in my show a few weeks ago (which i don't have a picture of !), but big.
3. build a bed frame matching the dimensions of my own bed. 2 x 4 s ? i think lowe's is still open...
4. drape sheet over bed frame.

i had wanted this to be the main piece in my final senior show exhibition, sitting in the middle of the floor. it's a development from my future studio raft that i wove out of recycled materials, but this is more me i think. sleep, if i end up making it, would have had a lot more content a month ago, when life was so so busy and my relationship with the night and my sheets and pillows and mattress were quite different. but i've been dreaming about this for a long time (no pun intended) and want it to come through. the mending technique that i have been practicing is really involved but in a still-experimental way. 

ok this was a long post! i'm looking forward to the senior zoom meeting wednesday and trying to tear a giant hole in a sheet.

the first in a series of very strange weeks. 
studio time spent practicing encaustic outside was lovely, though, as was the weather.

​dang it.
i missed another lunchtime lecture. but i had a very valid excuse! jacqueline and i are NEHS co-presidents and had to be at the induction ceremony, which just so happened to fall on the same day as the lecture. pooh.
so instead, im writing a bit about the new exhibit at the VMFA: Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop. i went to see it friday, march 6 ( a first friday ) with jacqueline, renny, and max.
and it was amazing. it was one of those times when i really, really wished i could have taken a photography class at maggie walker, and not just so i could hang out ms stinnett. no, it gave me a real appreciation for the art of photography; the beauty of black and white; the capturing of a moment.
and i learned a lot, too! the kamoinge workshop was a club of african american photographers brought together by louis draper, a prominent black photographer but one who was nevertheless forgotten because of the color of his skin and the time period he lived in. but he brought together a group of fellows, colleagues, inspirations to further the study of photography, with the first fourteen members being Anthony Barboza, Adger Cowans, Danny Dawson, Roy DeCarava, Al Fennar, Ray Francis, Herman Howard, Jimmie Mannas Jr., Herb Randall, Herb Robinson, Beuford Smith, Ming Smith, Shawn Walker, and Calvin Wilson. the New York-based collective named themselves after the kenyan kikuyu word kamoinge, meaning "a group of people acting and working together."
what a beautiful concept.
their was influenced by the times, politics, nature, modernism, but most importantly, each other. critiquing, organizing their own gallery shows, and starting photography initiatives for black youths empowered them while "push[ing] each other to expand the boundaries of photography as an art form during a critical era of Black self-determination in the 1960s and 1970s"
this exhibit showed something crucial that is often forgotten in art-making: community. a studio; an art class; a muse; a circle of friends; a groupchat.
​no artist is an island.

monday - critique! i've been working on my color weavings for some time now, and the plan is to do 12 of them and make a quilty sort-of thing. i have six so far, and it was really helpful to get some feedback on my craft and things like that.
wednesday​ - started on pink and purple :-)
friday - oh! school's closed! a very wild day of hearing rumors, packing up supplies, and waving goodbye to people for two weeks. i took down a few pieces from my show that i wanted to keep safe at home to look at when im feeling sad (or sick) and brought encaustic kit #3. its going to be a strange time, but hopefully i'll get to make a lot of art.

it all got done! i made decisions about which pieces to display, stayed after school, skipped some classes, and got everything installed (somehow) im really quite pleased with the way the video turned out, and im glad that my friends said "do it" when i was debating about the purple strip behind my name. the stickering of 'eileen morley' to the wall was especially fun.
i found myself in the supply closet about five minutes before my talk, trying to think of a reason for why i make art. in the end, so many people came down, and i can't even remember exactly what i said, only that mr coleman asked a lot of questions :-)
friday - we got to experiment with encaustic! its a medium that i think im really going to like and that will go well with my other work. oh and i went to can can and the kamoinge opening!
i can't believe im a senior.

monday​ - uhhh...my show needs to be installed in a week! i think i spent today in class staining a embroider hoop that will have plain fabric in it for the video, but im not sure yet about the logistics of that
wednesday - my show cards! look so good! and i was able to stay after today because i didnt have work :-) 
friday - not exactly art related but i baked a cake for the auction (we played with encaustic in class!)
saturday - not exactly art related but i did art reproduction for congres (the french thing!) didnt win anything :'-(

monday - no school, presidents day
wednesday - still workin on color weavings, picked up my shirt from visarts, TAd a macrame class at s23
friday - can't remember; class is always so short. but i saw 1917 with my mom and my cousins came to spend the night!