May 1st the graduate studio class had its last critique of the semester. I had done a semi-quick small painting for this critique as I really only had about two weeks to start and finish the piece. It was a 30x30 stretched canvas and I was working with the same subject as I had in a previous painting but with new techniques I wanted to try out in this one. I focused my use of yarn within the boundary of my own land and still kept paint textures and marks throughout the whole painting. I wanted subtle marks and obvious marks in this piece, as well as many layers. I would go over the painting with a wash of paint, probably about five times for this one. Overall the feedback for this painting was the best thus far, everyone could see the confidence (as one of my professors stated) in this piece that had been missing from the beginning works of this semester. It was a hectic and mind-bending semester to say the least. The dramatic experiments I went through with my technique and paintings really gave me a vast amount of information I had been searching for and trying to discover for awhile now. The professors tasked us with challenging assignments that really only helped us discover more about our art in the end. We will finish the semester next week with final presentations about our art. Ready for the summer and to have a little time to breath before getting right back into the paintings.

Gearing up for the final week of the school year, sooo close to summer. There is a lot to wrap up in this final week of class before actual finals. My own classes as well as the classes I am graduate teaching for, two drawing 1 classes. In my studio classes I have some work days and then the last critique of the semester that will span over two class times in order for everyone to show their most recent work. In my elective, higher education law, we have a last discussion reading as well as a research paper. Finally in my two drawing classes the students are finishing their reflective assignment and will partake in their last critique as well. So plenty of schoolwork to get my hands into and work on completing. On top of school, just getting ready for summer making sure things are in order with various events and affairs will take up my time as well. Two more weeks to go...

The following week after full faculty was somewhat of a blur. The art department had two visiting artists that week among other events to prepare for like Arts Fest. My studio schedule sort of turned into everything but actual creating new work. Monday in my studio class time we had a questions assignment that lasted all of class and over, which I have already discussed but I am still working on. Tuesday I helped a fellow masters student stamp out 600 clay animals for Arts Fest. Wednesday was designated research time to answer those questions that kept leading to more and more questions. Thursday was the artist talk from the visiting artist, a hectic week to say the least. I also had a studio visit from those visiting artists, so on top of all the full faculty feedback, the questions of my own work, I received even more opinions from those artists. It was really a lot of opinions and information to digest, picking and choosing what I agreed with and what I wanted to disregard. I chalked it up to this past week not being a waste since I didn't get a new work started but as more of a reflective week. I have processed all the hectic-ness and new information and now I am looking to move forward with my next piece which I was able to start on this week.

In an effort to make critiques run better, our professor had us meet together at the beginning of class. He stated we spend so much time creating, creating, and creating we never look back at our work and ask ourselves the hard questions. We wait for the faculty to do so and then have no clue how to confidently answer them in a way where we strongly defend our work. So he had us perform an exercise where we went to our work for 30 minutes and wrote down every question we could think of. Here are a few of mine...Why paint? What does the yarn represent? Why does the land matter? Why so important to you? Why land mapping? Why an aerial view? Why a square stretched canvas? Why paint the sides? What is strong? What is weak? What is the relationship of the yarn to the paint? Why is the land personal? Is it too representational? Too abstract? Why layers of paint? Why acrylic? Will you stick to this subject matter? Why another landscape painting? Why am I doing this? 
Many questions arose and as difficult as this assignment may seem I think it is necessary to help myself and the other students really think about our own work. So in the future we are better prepared to defend it. 

Full Faculty was this past Friday and six of the students were to present their work in front of the teachers, each student had a 20 minute time slot. This full faculty critique was the most casual one I have been a part of, which I kind of liked and kind of disliked. I am a fan of order and consistency and there were a few things that were disorganized throughout the critique. If a professor is going to attend these critiques then they should be fully present for the whole event, rather this go around some were hoping in and out of critiques, random people were in attendance and it just kind of threw me off my game. I kept noticing people walking in and out rather than focusing on the artwork and really being present. During my own critique I was talking and all of a sudden 5 new people just walk right in the discussion, messes up the flow I felt, repeating questions I had already tried to answer. One of my professors really didn't seem to enjoy how the critique went as well, both from how the professors asked questions to how the students responded to those questions. This week he has given us some really in depth assignments to research on and help us prepare for the next one. 

Gearing up for the Full Faculty critique, I have been working on a large piece to show as well as my artist statement. My work has made some major adjustments in how I am representing my ideas so my statement needed some major updating. Full Faculty will be interesting to hear the feedback of my new work since the last time the majority of the faculty say my work was November 2018 at 30 Hour. I am excited to see the response of the new work as I am enjoying the direction my work seems to be headed in. I plan on showing two pieces for the review, a 24x48 and a 48x48. Both represent the new concepts I have incorporated into my landscape works. Yarn and texture is still a major component of my work, so there will be plenty of that material in the pieces. Hopefully it goes well, we will see.

Just finished a very critique full week right before the start of Spring Break. Both of my Drawing 1 classes that I GTA for had critiques over their value egg projects, as well as my own critique for graduate studio. There was a two week period between this critique and the previous one, not much time, so I decided to work a little smaller and focus on one piece to have completed for the session. As my professor put it, I feel as though I am right at the edge of my work, about to discover the exact work I want to be producing. My goal for spring break is to work on two even smaller works and focus solely on texture and building the canvas up. More so, zoom in on my personal aspect of the work and build that up. There are a number of fiber artists, such as Ana Teresa Barboza, that I follow on instagram and other forms for inspiration, I want to look further at their work so guide me. 

The second critique of the semester was this week. I had completed one piece and got close to completing another work to show to my peers. The first work helped influence my second in many ways, showing me how to approach the second piece, what aspects I enjoyed from the first one and which ones I didn't. I knew I had to finish the first one in order to learn from it, in all honesty I hate how it looks, there are moments in the work that I enjoyed the process and finished product but as a whole it is not where I want my artwork to go. The second piece was more enjoyable to work on and create, I felt like I had room to breathe in the work. I plan on working on it a little more then starting a new one that really shows the direction I desire. 
 Charlene Von Hehl and Christopher Wool are two artists I have been looking out and learning their process when it comes to their work. I can find connections of their work with mine, when it comes to paint application and colors choices. During the critique I was given a few more names to look into.

​Third week of school means first critique of my graduate studio practice class. The professors this semester allot 30 minutes for everyone’s work to be discussed, as well as the rule that the artist is not allowed to comment on his/her own work while it is being discussed. I enjoy this rule as it allows the viewer not to be influenced by the artist’s words only the work itself. My critique did not go as well as I hoped it would, however I know my work is in the beginning stages. I am in this limbo moment trying to figure out this new experimental work and how I can tie the elements I enjoy from my older pieces while introducing the new concepts I want in the piece. I want to get in the studio and go all out and really put the time into the canvas and build my pieces up. 

Started out this year with many new ideas in my head about my work. Began a new piece once I got back in the studio that is fairly experimental but I am excited about the direction the work is going in. I have found a way to have a deeper connection to my work making it more authentic to my view point. I will be looking at aerial photography to help explore more of my ideas for this work.