Gotta say, I’m pretty damned happy with how 2011 worked out.
I finished my degree. I am your Master of Fine Art. With Distinction. And a prize. Pieces of paper, marks and so on aside, I have to say I’m pretty fucking proud of all the artwork I’ve created over the past year. And there was a lot of it. 25 etching plates (not counting the initial tests and experiments), 72 screenprints, 27 digital prints, 3 extraordinarily time-and-sanity consuming artist’s books. And I love all of it.
Occasionally the Imposter Syndrome grumbles about me enjoying my own work so much, so during 2011 I worked hard to get better at kicking that stupid syndrome in the face.
I had to give a (15 minute? 20 minute?) talk about my artwork at the start of the year to 50 or so of my peers. It’s up there as the most terrifying thing I did all year. I remember the night before, while doing a timed run-through, thinking all my artwork was terrible and boring and predictable and ohmygod what was I even thinking doing this degree. My talk was scheduled in the afternoon, so I had that whole night and the next morning to develop my terrified nausea. There was something wrong with the projector that was stripping out the red channel, meaning all my work that was printed in straight red ink was going to look grey and washed out. I had to somehow talk into a microphone, press buttons and turn pages while attempting to hide my (exaggerated from fear) essential tremor. And you know what? Even before we stopped to try replacing the projector cable in an attempt to fix the colour (which worked, btw), it went well. I had to read my name of the piece of paper in front of me, and I read a quote, but after that I didn’t refer to my notes AT ALL. For a couple of minutes I thought that people were horribly bored, and then I flipped the slide to a particular work and heard a slight gasp of delight from someone, and I looked up and saw the fascinated looks on the faces of those in the audience. I held the microphone close to my chest throughout, with both hands. I have no recollection of what I actually said, but came away with the feeling that I’d done well and my work was good. There were no questions at the time, but plenty of praise and new people approaching me later at the pub.
Outside of uni, I worked four days a week all year at my job. Some schoolwork was done on weekends, but most of it was completed in the 1.5 hours I’d spend in the studio each morning before going to work. I’d get up at 6(ish), be in at uni somewhere between 8 and 8:30, then work solidly on tasks I’d set myself until 9:45. In the second half of the year, I started going for a short run followed by 100 pushups each morning, before heading to school then work. It took me a little while to notice, but since getting The Implanon in late 2010, I’d managed to gradually put on a whole stack of weight. I knew I couldn’t fit a gym or swimming or anything that involved any kind of effort into losing weight, so I adjusted my eating habits a little (I ate all the same food, just less of it and in a more thought out order) and ran for 10 minutes each morning while looking up at the stars. I lost 13kg watching Jupiter and Mars and Venus, and seeing the scorpion disappear from the morning sky to be replaced by the big dog at Orion’s heel.
I’ve done other things this year too. I’ve eaten food I’ve grown myself, made cider using apples picked from the trees in my yard (apparently it’s even drinkable now!), cooked delicious meals, made cheese, read books and watched some excellent television. I rebooted my website. I took part in nine exhibitions, including fundraisers and juried prizes. I was asked to be president of our MFA fundraising committee, and was thus responsible for raising over $7000 to put toward our end of year exhibition and catalogue. I knitted some things and finally finished making that wedding video for my brother from when he got married in 2010.
None of it was easy. But it was all worthwhile.
2012? Mostly the same, but without the safety net of study.
Image: Monoceros Monologue (by crumpart)
Gotta say, I’m pretty damned happy with how 2011 worked out.
I finished my degree. I am your Master of Fine Art. With Distinction. And a prize. Pieces of paper, marks and so on aside, I have to say I’m pretty fucking proud of all the artwork I’ve created over the past year. And there was a lot of it. 25 etching plates (not counting the initial tests and experiments), 72 screenprints, 27 digital prints, 3 extraordinarily time-and-sanity consuming artist’s books. And I love all of it.
Occasionally the Imposter Syndrome grumbles about me enjoying my own work so much, so during 2011 I worked hard to get better at kicking that stupid syndrome in the face.
I had to give a (15 minute? 20 minute?) talk about my artwork at the start of the year to 50 or so of my peers. It’s up there as the most terrifying thing I did all year. I remember the night before, while doing a timed run-through, thinking all my artwork was terrible and boring and predictable and ohmygod what was I even thinking doing this degree. My talk was scheduled in the afternoon, so I had that whole night and the next morning to develop my terrified nausea. There was something wrong with the projector that was stripping out the red channel, meaning all my work that was printed in straight red ink was going to look grey and washed out. I had to somehow talk into a microphone, press buttons and turn pages while attempting to hide my (exaggerated from fear) essential tremor. And you know what? Even before we stopped to try replacing the projector cable in an attempt to fix the colour (which worked, btw), it went well. I had to read my name of the piece of paper in front of me, and I read a quote, but after that I didn’t refer to my notes AT ALL. For a couple of minutes I thought that people were horribly bored, and then I flipped the slide to a particular work and heard a slight gasp of delight from someone, and I looked up and saw the fascinated looks on the faces of those in the audience. I held the microphone close to my chest throughout, with both hands. I have no recollection of what I actually said, but came away with the feeling that I’d done well and my work was good. There were no questions at the time, but plenty of praise and new people approaching me later at the pub.
Outside of uni, I worked four days a week all year at my job. Some schoolwork was done on weekends, but most of it was completed in the 1.5 hours I’d spend in the studio each morning before going to work. I’d get up at 6(ish), be in at uni somewhere between 8 and 8:30, then work solidly on tasks I’d set myself until 9:45. In the second half of the year, I started going for a short run followed by 100 pushups each morning, before heading to school then work. It took me a little while to notice, but since getting The Implanon in late 2010, I’d managed to gradually put on a whole stack of weight. I knew I couldn’t fit a gym or swimming or anything that involved any kind of effort into losing weight, so I adjusted my eating habits a little (I ate all the same food, just less of it and in a more thought out order) and ran for 10 minutes each morning while looking up at the stars. I lost 13kg watching Jupiter and Mars and Venus, and seeing the scorpion disappear from the morning sky to be replaced by the big dog at Orion’s heel.
I’ve done other things this year too. I’ve eaten food I’ve grown myself, made cider using apples picked from the trees in my yard (apparently it’s even drinkable now!), cooked delicious meals, made cheese, read books and watched some excellent television. I rebooted my website. I took part in nine exhibitions, including fundraisers and juried prizes. I was asked to be president of our MFA fundraising committee, and was thus responsible for raising over $7000 to put toward our end of year exhibition and catalogue. I knitted some things and finally finished making that wedding video for my brother from when he got married in 2010.
None of it was easy. But it was all worthwhile.
2012? Mostly the same, but without the safety net of study.
Image: Monoceros Monologue (by crumpart)
Posted 1 month ago & Filed under 2011, 2012, printmaking, art, 10 notes
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