Fall 2010 Work Share

It’s been a little over a week since the end of the semester Work Share at VSW. I’ve been holding off posting about it because I wanted to give myself enough time to fully process the day. I was literally sick the entire week leading up to it. I don’t think I have been that nervous or stressed out about anything in a long time. Turned out it was all for nothing! The day was a great experience. I learned a lot about my work and met a lot of really interesting people in the art community, specifically the VSW community.

What is a VSW Work Share you ask? Well, all of the first-year graduate students are given a table in the student gallery to display our work from the semester. Then, the gallery is open to the public and we are introduced to artists and academics in the community. Fun times.

Anyways, my book was a huge success and I am SUPER inspired to continue with it. I’ll be posting more about that later.

One moment that really stands out in my mind from Work Share is when a gentleman came over to my table and exclaimed, “I see we have a minimalist amongst us!” I kind of laughed it off and started talking about my work. For the rest of the afternoon I was caught up with the hustle and bustle of people coming in and out of the gallery. I don’t think I have ever had to talk about my work so much and it was great practice. I cannot imagine my thesis defense in a couple of years!

I keep thinking back to that “minimalist” comment and it reminds me of earlier in the semester when one of my instructors said my work was becoming more and more “conceptual.” As an artist I honestly don’t think too much about my work post-completion, I just create. I kind of have that “If you get it, you get it. If you don’t, you don’t” attitude. Writing an artist statement is seriously the bane of my existence. Am I a minimalist? Am I a conceptualist? I don’t know. Perhaps by this summer I will have an answer. As relieved as I am to have this semester break, I am already excited for classes to start back up again.

I’m excited to continue creating. I have a few new ideas for artist books and a photo book. I should have some maquettes to share within the next few weeks.

HUZZAH! I survived my first semester of grad school!

I have a few more weeks off before the Spring Semester starts up. I am in the process of re-designing my website. Part of that process is photographing my artist books from the Fall Semester. Yay! With that said, I am putting together a few posts that will specifically address the four different artist books shown in the above photograph. Stay tuned!