4th residency summary

My fourth residency was a great ten days. A lot of the concerns I had about my thesis project and thesis paper were discussed and resolved. Or, resolved as much as possible in ten days.

The main thing that was concerning me was my lack of direction for my thesis paper. I had my thesis project all planned out and was ready to finish the final illustrations. The topic for my thesis paper had to somehow relate to my book, so I decided to focus on non-verbal communication through visual narrative, which is basically a metaphor for a children’s picture book.

The elective seminar was helpful in that it answered my basic questions on the expectations for the thesis paper. It also helped to have my fellow grad students critique my artist statement and rough thesis outline. After the residency, I ended up throwing away my outline and starting over, and I may do the same for my artist statement. Mary Mayer gave me a great idea to write the artist statement in an ABC book format. If I have time, I’d like to try this as I think it’d be an appropriate solution to an otherwise stiff and formal artist statement.

John Kramer gave me great advice on the exhibition of my final work, and I decided to incorporate some of his ideas into the artist talk and exhibition. I’m having my boyfriend record, in both video and photos, my process of illustrating my children’s book. I’ve also arranged to have a child’s table and two chairs, that I will paint myself to match the book, donated to me for the exhibition. I’ve arranged to go to a friend’s preschool classroom to read my book, and plan to record that. I may combine that video with interviews of colleagues, friends and family talking about their favorite children’s books, and display that in the exhibition or incorporate it into my art talk.

In terms of the book itself, it was decided by myself, my mentor Susan Sherman and my advisor John Kramer, that I should illustrate the book using a style that would be fast and easy, considering the limited time I had to finish the book. After returning home however, I reconsidered this. I don’t want to abandon my collage style of illustration in an effort to make my life easier. This may be one of my last chances to illustrate a book in exactly the way that I want, without the overriding input of a publisher. And after experimenting with some different styles, I came to the conclusion that it would take me no longer to do the illustrations in cut paper. I appreciate Susan’s input on my collage style. Her concern is that it’s a very competitive style and you have to be very good at it. Well, my answer to that is that I see no reason why I can’t get very good at it. But I certainly won’t get very good at it if I abandon it at the first sign of a challenge. So my final illustrations for “Where’s Tiny” will be done in cut paper collage.

The Critical Theory class was interesting and I appreciated her style of lecturing. The slides were interesting and it brought up issues and artists that I had never heard about, which is always fun. It would have been nice to see more of a wide variety of visual arts, including graphic design movements, influential contemporary illustrators, folk artists, craft movements, etc. I get that there’s limited time, but is it really necessary to spend 20 minutes on one painter? I know I would be better served during these Critical Theory classes if I wasn’t forced to have to constantly be asking myself “that’s interesting, but how does that apply to me? Does it even apply to me?” Those are the kinds of questions I was hoping to have answered, or even just pointed in the right direction, by my professors…In that way, these classes have failed my particular area of visual arts.

My personal critiques were interesting and some people had really great input, while others, well, didn’t know what to say. I benefited the most from the group critiques with people like John Kramer, Hannah Barrett, Laurel Sparks, Deborah Davidson, and Tony Apesos. A lot of the graduate students had no real input on my work, and I could see that they were struggling to relate to what I do. While I get that it’s hard, I appreciated the people who made the effort to see and think outside their comfort zones and give me their real thoughts, input and critiques. It would still be nice to have a few more allies within this program for illustrators, but I recognize that it’s an ongoing battle, and in the time that I’ve been in the program, I have seen improvements.

Overall, I know the people involved in this program are committed teachers, and I appreciate their hard work. The other graduate students are great resources for me, and they have all been very supportive and helpful both in my art and in my life.

Good luck to you all this semester!