Katey, final blog... :(

hey, so I can't believe that the show is over already...i can't believe the semester is over already. i feel like i might cry. actually, i 'm sure i'll cry because i love florence and this semester has been really amazing. anyway, i'm putting some pictures on flickr of my piece for the final show. its entitled "seeping" and i think it turned out really well. i was really sad to take it down. that's the bad thing i guess about doing an installation. its so sitespecific and now that its over its over. i guess i'll be signing off now. julia and jana, i really enjoyed working with you this semester. we'll all definitely have to keep in touch!! Ciao tutti!!
katey

Emily

I forgot my photos but they are here now!

and the alternate-

hi

as per julia's suggestion, I'm linking to some pics of the alternate ending I worked on for a bit. It ended up not working at all, and I decided to keep the original. The new ending was too gory and extreme, and didn't really fit. anyway if your interested, here's the link.
Ciao e grazie,
Sam

Joey Again

Whoops, sorry forgot to include pics. Here they are.

Joey

Sorry I'm a bit tardy but better late than never right?

Not sure what else there is to say. I'm pretty satisfied with how my last piece turned out, but as we all know, just gotta keep on keepin' on! Although I did not produce a lot of physical work this semester that i was happy about, I do feel like I've learned a lot of really valuable lessons about how to think and how to make progress - which, in the end, is more what i wanted this experience to be about anyway.

Chin chin to everyone!

Professoressa Julia

This is my first and last blog post, having been tutored in the "how-to" of blogdom.

I have had a thrilling half-semester of getting to know each of you, your fascinations and studio practices. Witnessing the leaps that have occured as a result of your hard work, combined with group support is particularly gratifying--I want to thank you all for being willing to "let me in" when I arrived smack in the middle of the course, after your great and productive time with Jana.

Your show at Officina looked polished and wonderful, and I felt extremely proud on your behalf.

As you all enter into your majors, I really hope that the most basic activity in our class--finding compelling visual forms to house the ideas that you are passionate about--will continue to bring you pleasure, even during the times of struggle. Everything we did together can easily be translated into all the areas of major study--good for Viscommies, Fashionistas, messy Printmakers and exacting Painters alike. And of course, for your creative life beyond the horizon....

Please--I will not be at Wash-U next fall, so I truly hope that you will keep in touch with me, and keep me up to date as to your progress work-wise, and your general well-being too...e-mail: julia_randall@yahoo.com

Also, if you will be in the NYC area, please let me know! (860) 248-3067.

Tanti baci to all,
Julia

Emily Gordon

I cannot believe that the semester is over already. The show on Friday was amazing. I put up two different works. The first was my flooding image where there was lots of water being dumped on my hand. I printed this 11X17 ish in black and white on water color paper. The second piece consisted of the image of my finertips at the top of the paper. This was shown twice next to each other. The first one was just the image, and on the one next to it, I driped a light watercolor down from the two points where water was about to drip from my fingers in the image. These were also printed the same size as the first piece but were vertical and on the same paper. The two pieces were titled flood. I realized that in the pictures, it was not really necessary to intervene, and I was having a lot of trouble adding to the images without taking away from what was already there. I think in the end, my solution worked out well, and they both represent the experience of the flood in a different way. This class has been a wonderful experience. Thank you to everyone for the support and fun times at studio.
Ciao,
Emily!!!

lee graf

soo the show went really well, was lots of fun, i thought.
putting the videos on the dvd itself was probably the most stressful thing of the semester thus far...maybe. but we got it to work, pinot saved us all.

as for my wax spheres, they were clearly not exaactly thought out - the tub i had them in wasnt the best. people had suggestions for a clearer wax material so light could pass through, the potential for adding color, and lighting it in different ways. also i could think about having a smaller hole in the bottom of one with liquid emptying out and moving the different spheres around.

Ally Glazer

I can't believe the semester is over. The show went really well and it was exciting to see everyone's work at Officina. I displayed my book in the show. It had pictures of the abstracted reflections made from my sculpture. I had the mirror sculpture and my work that brought me to make the sculpture displayed at my space in the studio. I'm really happy with the finished work that I had for the show. In general, it was a really good semester. I think I learned a lot in this class about creating conceptual work. Thanks Jana and Julia for everything this semester.

Alessandra

Since it is a holiday today officina is close, therefore i can't talk any pictures YET.... but i will. This semester has ended in a sort of weird anti climactic way... i feel like i was expecting something big an now it is over. As form my art I am actually pretty satisfied. there was a period during the installation phase where i was uncertain about what i was showing in the exibition, but i ended up double layering two pieces of velum back to back. The top piece had the detailing in the beads with pen, and the underneath was just another print of the same images scrampled in a different way. I was pretty please when i fixed that. Initially i wasn't going to, but i hung the piece the wrong way and it fell.. so i took the opportunity to add the second sheet on the back the morning before the final crit. ill post the pics tomorrow when oficina opens

Jane Philipps

Florence is over and I can't quite believe it. I was a complete slacker on the blog during this half of the semester (sorry Jana!), but most of the time in the end was spent preparing for the final critique and show. The show went really well and it was great to see everyone's work in a space. Not only did the individual pieces look good, but the arrangement of the show in the space also worked very well! I took pictures of some people's work, but only included the photos that turned out ok (the lighting made it kind of tricky).

For my own project, I ended up combining my final for sketchbook and studio because a lot of the stuff I was interested in drawing in sketchbook related to the work I had been doing with the Fibonacci sequence. I made a flag book using natural colored paper and the same rice paper I used in my mid-term books for the flags. The transparent quality of the paper allowed me to make comparisons between my drawings and I also added cut-outs. I don't have pictures of the back yet, but I included some of the mathematical formulas used in the Fibonacci sequence to mix it up a little.

Finally, thank you Jana and Julia for a great semester! I am glad to say that I feel completely prepared to go into my major next year (Printmaking!) and work independently. Though I had a hard time with a lot of my work this semester, I am at a good place with it now and am excited for what will happen in the next two years!

Kelly Diehl

So sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I'm really happy with how the second half of the semester progressed. For the show I installed a piece in a corner of the front room that extended along the wall and slightly out into the room. The week before my goal was to make a more extensive vocabulary of mark with stuff other than just cut paper. I used mesh, wire, torn paper, burnt paper, crumpled paper, and fine curly paper. In the piece I ended up cutting all of the paper I used but manipulated it in different ways. I also used molded mesh forms and wire. I prefer the cleaner lines. Anyway, I didn't work from a drawing this time, shocker! The piece/drawing was an unravelling of sorts, with curly crumply pieces in the beginning and eventually straightening out to the hangy strips, which were the only parts of the piece that moved in the room. Kind of a before and after and everything in between look at my state of mind here. The process of breaking away from things. I'm really happy with it. The lighting really helped it because the shadows of everything became incorporated into the drawing, beefed things up. I'm going to take some more pictures tomorrow before I take it down (sad!) and post them. I'm sad this is ending. Florence has been wonderful.

JULIA's last blog

Well, I TRIED to take pictures at Officina this morning but seeing as how them there bein closed because its a national holiday (...?) an all, I will be posting pictures as soon as possible. Sorry. Thanks to all for a great semester, I feel like I've learned a whole lot about art, my relationship to it, and particularly my relationship to painting. I ended up making the first abstract, first colorist paintings I've ever made, which is probably a step, so thanks to all the great advice in crits! It's been impressive to watch every one's progression, I think we've all come a long ways and I'm excited to see the work every one produces in the major.

EXPOSIZIONE

The show went incredibly well. I went with the theory of displaying my work two dimensionally and took someone's advice to fray the edges of my piece a bit and then shoved some fantastic roles of tape behind and viola! there's art. The lighting was nicec and from above, it highlighted a bit of a sway in the fabric which was great. Melissa was great and passed on a compliment to me which was also good to hear that her friend enjoyed it. All the work upped a notch in the space and it was a good occasion for friendly reminencenses (i know thats spelled wrong). All in all a great oppurtunity and good execution on the part of the school as a whole. I don't have new pictures now but I'll take one today and put it up. mags

Meredith Nelson

The opening at officina was great. final critique and set up all went smoothly and it was nice to see everyone's work up in a real space. my final project was a big study, kind of like what i did earlier this semester. i made lots of drawings of shells and taped them up in a space in officina. it ended up being a pretty straightforward thing, the idea being to imitate the boards i tape up with pictures at the studio. hence the "messy" arrangement of pictures, overlapping corners, left-out masking tape, etc.

Amy

The semester is over and I can't believe it. It has been an amazing time here and I'm sad to leave. The opening on Friday went real well. It was a lot of work building up to it, but totally worth it in the end. I think my boxes turned out really well. At the last minute we decided to include some of my boxes from the last project to shake things up a little bit. I'll have pics up tomorrow. I forgot the camera cord today. oops. So it has been amazing and I want to thank everyone for all their help!!! This has been the best semester yet and also the best work I've done yet!!! Thanks again!!!

p.s. (Rachel)

Thank you so much Jana and Julia for all your help and hard work this semester! Couldn't have done it without either of you. I wish you could have come to the show, Jana!

Final Show!!! (Rachel)

Well, the semester is finally over. It is so hard to believe how quickly it went by. Anyway, the final show was fantastic - great work everyone, I was so impressed! I chose to only submit one drawing for it (I worked on some of the stuff I'd mentioned before - background and stuff). Anyways, after all the work setting up, it was great to see how all the pieces worked in Officino. Great way to end the semester!

Sam

Hi Jana,
Sorry for the lack of photos, but the video had few major changes when put into the final show. Some features that were added included subtitles and a clarification that made it more obvious that the cheracter was pushed into the hole instead of just falling in. This and front and back credits completed the movie, which went over well at the opening. I feel pretty good about how everything turned out, and now I'm getting summer projects ready and prepped while getting ready for the move out.
All in all, the semester has been pretty amazing. My work has taken a huge leap, as I am much more comfortable doing pieces that take risks now.

Thanks everybody!

ciao!

zoe

Hey Jana (and Julia, and everyone else too!)

Well the show was really super, but it's sort of strange to do a blog now. Everything feels over, and it's really odd. I mean, I know it's never really over, that practice continues and that this was just a step in a much longer process, but it's odd to have the "overness" of the intellectual, also culminate with the "overness" of the physical in terms of leaving Florence, my desk, and my studio. Not to mention the community and the instructors. Everything is feeling a little a miss about the whole thing, and it's all left me a bit speechless (there's a first time for everything...).

Plus, I wrote a four page paper this morning, and a two pager to my mums. So I guess I'm a little worded out (and, carpel tunnel, anyone?). But, thank you, Jana, Julia etc.s for everything. I'm including some photos, images that around available for me to share. I didn't take any at the opening, but I found some that other people took, so I'm posting those!

Va Bene!
Amore!
Mangia!
what?
I don't know..
Have a super day...
Zoe

Adell

So this is my final piece. I like it all except for one kind of important thing - the composition. It's the sort of mistake one makes early on and can't really fix. On the other hand, I enjoyed going OCD on the mark making and elevating to symbolic form little things that I simply enjoy drawing. And of course, a huge thanks to Julia and Jana! I learned a lot from both of you and I definitely want to explore more conceptual drawing in the future

Allison Shellito

I guess that this is my last post on the blog. Sad. I have been running around like crazy this week trying to get last minute museum visits in and also packing. How am I ever going to fit everything into 2 suitcases? I don't really have any new photos or anything (I had booked a ticket to Sicily a few months ago for the weekend of the show so I had to miss out on the opening, unfortunately). I hope everyone has a wonderful last week and a great summer! XOXO Allison

Windnie Pan

aahh, so i'm putting off my Art and Culture paper because after i finish writing it, this semester will be over!

the show was so much fun and everyone's work looked great! it was fun to see everyone together and dressed up and i think everyone felt a nice sense of accomplishment. i don't know what to say really... so i guess i'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

ps. i'm going to miss florence like mad.

Jessica

Here's my last blog... it's very nostalgic.

For the past weeks I have been working on a video that was built off of my last one. The lack of context in the last one bothered most people so I spent a while thinking about how I could build in context without losing the sense of isolation and generalization that I was going for. I decided to write my own beginning to the story rather than use the one that was already in the story. I thought about it as a "day in the life of Jane" (although I ended up using the name Kate...). In Kate's totally ordinary day she experiences moments of surrealism or insanity amid dull continuity. I struggled with how continuos/fragmented the piece should be. In the end I cut a lot of the video clips much shorter and cut up my music (an Indian drum solo).

Jane graciously agreed to continue to star in the tale though I believe she had no idea what she was getting herself into. Thank you Jane. I owe you one.

There was an incredible struggle trying to burn all of the different videos to dvd. As a group we tried a couple times before we gave up and realized that no one had enough free space on their computer for it to work.

It took an incredibly long time to piece everything together but it came together eventually. I think I may have been as insane as my character by the end of it. Or more insane... ah well. I am well pleased how it turned out.

Good semester. I am kinda sad for this class to be ending.
(btw Jana... thank you for the essay/poem. I realize this was a bit belated but I just remembered.)

river sports

White Neck. That was the title I decided upon for my final Officina piece. I made a photo installation ( my first) using small printouts taken from inside a white balloon. Through the mouth hole you could see any of four themes: light streaming in, views of my pink bubble gum piece, other ballons with hair sewed around the rim, or white easter grass. I then tried to affect the immediate area of the balloon surrounding the camera and sewed some hair into that, and so played with long focus shots versus up close shots. I feel that these photos were closer to getting my message across about how sculpture can draw you in whereas photographs may not always.
As for the barnacles.... well, I made a slew of them. I researched them, found out they consisted of little marine animals with the longest penises relative to their size and that they grope around for places to cling on to and they just bunch up regardless of how different they might look from the ones they're surrounded by and... they just weren't doing it for anyone, including myself. They look cool, but there is not much transferred there in terms of reationships making sense or whatnot. So, while I can say that I learned a ton about giving form to those little suckers, using everything from crumpled toilet and wax paper to the plastic containers used to display fruit at the local market, I did not pull the various mixed mediums together. Maybe next time.

Just wanted to give a shout out to everyone who took ( and taught) this class, especially in these past two weeks where we've all been in studio nearly all day. I had an awesome time getting to know what each of your works were aiming for. Hope you all got the good artistic inspirational shivers at some point this semester, and that those shivers continue to ring in the passion for art making. Happy Summer y'all!
~Nicole

Catherine Hite

so i suppose this is my last blog. i have had a great time in this class and have learned alot about process and how to problem solve in my work. here are pictures from my photo shoot and one of me and the lovely windnie in my dress which she wore to the show
-catherine