spring fever.

i am currently on cruise control and it’s really great! my show is done, i’m in to graduate school . . . other than some catch up work in my magazine article writing class, i can just enjoy spare time, enjoy my friends, and enjoy creating art for the sake of it.

let me catch you up on all that i’ve been up to, pre and post “fugit hora.”

the night after courtney’s opening (and the first night of spring break for me!) two of my best friends from home came down to visit. it was really exciting because my friend katy, an education major at millersville, hasn’t been to rowan since my freshman year! and it’s always fun when karina comes down . . . so we went out and had a blast! it was really fun to blend both worlds of friends.
and since we all love food, we made the trek to wawa! i don’t know what i’d do without wawa in my life.

oh, and before i go further: big j had a show of his paintings the week before courtney! at the encouragement of prof chard, the head painting teacher here at rowan, he had an inpromptu show of his progress in painting. i took photos of big j in front of his work to show the scale of how large he works.
this piece was inspired by type of mold.
this one is actually called “my size painting” as the canvas is 6′4″ by 6′4″. and, i think he’s smiling because he sold this work to a former faculty member! so awesome

anyhow . . . spring break was a nice, if short, break from my show prep. as i had written before, i celebrated my 22nd birthday on st. patrick’s day. since it was a monday, not many people could celebrate with me as most of my friends have full time jobs or went back to school! but i had fun with the few good friends who did make it.
i think this picture is so funny! karina always looks frightened and i’m not sure why.
this is my favorite photo of the night- when i busted in on the dj to play some awesome songs

when i returned from spring break, i drove down 322 to find that rowan had peeled the walls off of bosshart hall! bosshart, the former science building, has since been condemned due to asbestos. luckily for us scavenger art majors, we got to pillage the building for goodies before they gutted the building. i am now the proud owner of empty film spools and stacks of blank computer paper i can make books out of anyhow, before they put tarps over the whole thing, big j, his girlfriend, and our friend adam got to have an informal photo shoot:

on the 26th, i got to go on a field trip to new york city with my american art history class, taught by dr. adelson. it’s really nice having the opportunity to be able to go on school field trips to major art centers in the united states. this particular trip was to see the Whitney Biennial and a Jasper Johns show at the Met. as this is my fifth art history course at rowan, i’ve also been to MOMA, the Guggenheim, the Cooper Hewitt, and to the National Gallery in Washington D.C. i know that Dr. Hottle sometimes takes his students to the Brooklyn Museum or the National Museum of Women in the Arts too.

anyhow, we began our trip at the Met where I got see a piece by one of my favorite and most influential artists, Alphonse Mucha:

even look how the frame mirrors the curves of the image! so fantastic. after a quick stalker stop at mayor bloomberg’s nyc apartmentment (adelson loves his celebs!) we went to see the biennial.
the words at the top of the building are actually part of the show- they are an installation by Lawrence Weiner. the biennial was really fascinating. i’m not sure how the non-art students liked it, as a lot of it was installation and non-representational pieces. one of my favorites was a video called “Home 2″ by Olaf Breuning.

on that friday, the 28th, i participated in my first critical mass with big j and liz. i seriously had a blast- and it was so exhilarating! as i might have mentioned before, i ride my Schwinn cruiser all over campus. we have a small, but avid, bike community here at rowan. but philadelphia’s bike community is intense! and on the last friday of every month, they gather at 6pm at city hall to ride all over the city en masse. this particular ride lasted for two and half hours and extended from city hall to university city, from washington ave to spring garden. eventually, after the police helicopter and cruiser intervened(apparently NOT a normal occurence), the group got split up and we rode our separate ways. but the weather was perfect and there were so many unique people there, some with some pretty crazy bikes! i want to go back every month

and so, after a lot of work and an equal amount of play, i settled in for a solid couple of days of all work and almost no sleep in order to get my show together. i began putting my show up at 8pm on tuesday the first . . . i finally finished it on thursday morning at 9am. it took WAY longer than i had anticipated- and the installation i had planned didnt even work out! but, i finished in time for my opening and i’m proud of what i put together i got a lot of rave reviews from both the faculty and my peers. here’s what my show consisted of:

this is a very tiny image of the whole room, pieced together by digital photos i took. if you can tell, i painted a two color mural with my show’s title on three of the walls. on the fourth, i hung approximately twenty framed prints in a salon style format. in the center of the room, i set up pedestals featuring the different books i’ve created.
this is the main wall, with my artist statement in the swirl.
this the pedestal featuring hand printed and bound florence guidebooks i had made. the flowers were the perfect touch- my former italy roommate and good friend caitlin sent them to me the day of my show all the way from colorado! it was such a great thing to wake up to

my actual opening was a success- somehow, i managed to pull off a huge food assortment (thanks to some friends and family! thank goodness!) and some people came down from home that i hadn’t seen in just about forever. this photo is of me with my print teacher from last semester, carol schottenfeld. she actually went to penn state for her graduate degree as well and she was a huge help in the whole graduate school application process. if there was anything i learned from that experience, it was to ask people who had gone through it- it eliminates most of the unnecessary guesswork.

a funny pic of dr.hottle and angela. i gave my camera to friends, which resulted in some strange photo discoveries the next day haha.

one of my best friends megan came down for the opening. she’s a global studies major at ursinus and she’s one of my biggest supporters

after my opening, i gathered the remaining friends and we headed to landmark to celebrate! and, perhaps in honor of my show it was 80s night! definitely saw some hilarious getups:
bri and jay pulled out the 80s shades all night long.

if i was awarding prizes, courtney would have taken first place in the women’s category . . .
and brandon, our neighbor across the way in townhouses, would have gotten top prize in the men’s category. i mean, how many people can actually pull off a fake mullet? haha.

the next day was first friday for april. big j, anna, dana, and i went up specifically to see current tyler grad student, and former rowan undergrad Jerry Kaba’s MFA exhibition. his show was a sculptural installation based on the idea of an interactive, manmade world.

dana had fun riding the blue rolling carts through the aisle.
a close up of the flowers he created.

after his show, we roaming around olde city for a bit, stopped and got some awesome pizza, and visited the animal sanctuary.
i had to pet all of the cats, of course.

the next day, the friends who couldn’t make it on thursday night to my opening came down to see my show and come to the “jock jams” party my apartment threw. what a fun time! it was so nice to have fun with my friends and not stress about my show. we all got dressed up in ridiculous sports outfits and danced all night to jock jams volume 2-6!

liz was the unofficial adidas representative.
big j in his famous tshirt haha.
this picture is so random and candid haha

all while i was in the studio busting my butt for my show, my friend courtney wyman was working right along with me for her upcoming show, which went up the week after mine. we spent a lot of time tossing around ideas, dancing to music, and taking food breaks haha. anyhow, when her show went up this week, i felt relieved for her; we had worked so hard together, it was like this great triumph that we’re all done! here’s some images from her opening:

here’s happy courtney, patting her best friend jen’s head. jen flew from her americorps position in california to be there opening night!

her show, called “wide eyed” was a combination of printmaking, installation work, bookmaking, and stop action animation videos. these are her lightning bugs, part of her installation.

when most everyone has cleared out.

so. now it is mid april. yesterday, i had a meeting with a woman from berlin, nj who is interested in having me photograph her wedding. i met her and her fiancee yesterday and we came up with solid plans- she’s my third wedding job of the summer although wedding photography isn’t something i want to do the rest of my life, it’s good experience and a great portfolio builder. i’m really fortunate that mike and erica gave me the headstart i needed with their wedding last summer!

in other news, i got a letter in the mail from rowan a couple of weeks ago telling me that i was awarded the “parthenia j. vandermark creative arts award medallion,” which is apparently top honor in the art department. and, as i found out recently, it means i have to speak at my graduation ceremony! i’m really excited that my professors have that much faith in my and my work, but i’m kind of nervous about speaking. i’m sure i’ll be writing more about the speech later . . .

through some correspondence with a woman from near my hometown, i’ve secured a spot as a volunteer teaching elderly residents a weekly art class this summer! i’m actually really excited about the opportunity- it’ll be great experience and practice, will look awesome on my resume, and i’ll get to meet a whole bunch of new people from all different backgrounds. and, the best part: i can teach anything i want!

this coming week is submissions for the juried student art exhibition. last year i got in and won honorable mention. maybe i’ll get a prize this time? also, next month i’ll submit to the gloucester county community center show again. last year, big j took first prize! and i sold one of my pieces, which was awesome.

also on the agenda: westby prom preparation! more to come about that . . .

anyhow, hope you enjoyed a month’s worth of catch up! lots of exciting times to come