There are cat videos on the internet...

Irrelevant, but true. 

This is the video Mozart would've directed for his piano concerto (No. 21 in C major, K.467: andante (nicknamed "Elvira Madigan")). Trust me.  

Bookbinding!!!

Nothing signifies elation more than the end of 2D folios (for this semester, anyways)! And nothing signifies the end of folios like a freshman tutorial on bookbinding!


In spite of the disorganization, the lack of time to complete the task and the constant confusion of our instructor (who couldn't always figure out what was going on, and had to run out of the room to ask another teacher if she was doing it right), I had a lot of fun learning this historic bookbinding stitch. I've never bound a book before, but I do enjoy textile arts, and therefore found the slow, methodical stitching process to be rather relaxing. I brought my little book back to my dorm, intending to add more pages and to finish the bind (we ran out of time, haaa!) at a later date. My only concern is that this process takes time to do correctly - especially for us inexperienced freshmen - which means that 2D for these remaining few weeks will be more stressful than I could ever imagine. I'M SCARED!!!!!

Lead pencil studios

This week's visitor was the leadpencilstudios team (my friends and I were getting really distracted with debating whether or not the two were a couple...why is that? Because their work wasn't interesting enough...? Or because in our society we can't see a man and a woman working together without wondering if they are an item? ...but I digress) who make fascinating wire sculptures all over the place (among other things; wire seems to be their forte).


I dunno...in spite of the impressive size of some of their installations, I'm not entirely convinced that I like their work. It seems...a little overly common; I'm not deriving a particularly moving message or statement from viewing these pieces, which (I am just realizing) I find to be an important quality for artwork. On their website it says that there will be a display here at Temple on Dec. 1. Maybe if I view some of their work in person, it will better convince me of their authenticity...

Self Portrait

CAN HAS JOB?!?!?!

This past week, several folks from the career center talked to us about their internships and how one should assert oneself in order to ascertain these positions. One student described to us her internship with one of the sculpture professors which she procured her freshman year, and how it was insanely stressful but also very rewarding to work side-by-side with an independant artist on strange new artwork. The knowledge gained from this experience was also invaluable: the student learned about goldleafing, time management, the mechanisms behind shipping artwork across the country for an exhibit, and performing to the expectations of the person in charge. Another student - and this I found most remarkable - utilized her bursting personality and interaction skills to attain a relatively prestigious internship with Hallmark. She repeatedly made her presence known, and it is astounding to me that one could be so comfortable talking to higher-ranked officials within a company. This approach served her so well that even if another candidate had timidly presented themselves with a mind-blowing portfolio, this intern would have been accepted over the other because of how pleasant it was to converse with her, to bounce ideas off of her, to receive thoughts and opinions from her,  and to feel confident that she would be a strong member of the Hallmark team. I desperately need to do this with my life: I am so soft-spoken, I doubt I give off a good first-impression beyond being a timid yet kind girl without much to say. I NEED TO ATTACK PEOPLE AAAAAARRRGGHGHGHGHG!!!!! ...attack them in a good way.

Community art project guy

Hmm, maybe I should start writing down the speakers' names...

Anyways, this guy said many awesome things (whoever he was), and although the thesis of his speech was finding a studio space (his was in the unused gym of a sunday school or something - awesome idea!), I once again focused on the description of the artist's work. He told us about several community projects he had worked on: the one featured above involved many Philadelphia citizens ranging in ages from really young to oober old. Another project involved students from a problematic middle school, and they made some amazing wood installations that I don't think most adults are capable of making. The collaborative aspect of his work was very inspiring, and he seemed to have a wonderful time working with these kids; his artwork is not only beautiful to look at, it involves a beautiful process. ...is it even his artwork anymore? Ah, orchestrator gets the credit I say. Whatever, this makes me want to do something on this theme: I really like my elementary school, and although the kids are far from being problematic, I think every child deserves lots and lots of art in their schooling experience.

Jessica Hische

...sigh...

...

...well, nothing makes me feel more awesome about my life than listening to the outrageous successes of another's...

...that was sarcasm by the way.

Okay, I'm not that down on myself, but it can be a little discouraging when one compares themself to somebody who's capable of freaking making THIS --> and who was recruited straight out of college to do work, and who appears to be perfectly happy doing all these things in their life. Yeah, all that seemingly unnatainable awesomeness aside, it was incredibly interesting to hear about the type of work she was doing her foundation year at Tyler, and the level of commitment she had to her work. Based on her oration, it seems that she pinpointed her artistic interest - lettering, etc. - relatively quickly in the game, which allowed her to focus on honing her skills in said field throughout the duration of her college years. I find this to be absolutely incredible, and as I have responded to other lectures we've been required to witness, I desperately hope to find the specific field that interests me relatively early in the program.