Reviews

Last week, I had a BFA certification review. What is that you ask? Every semester (until my last) I meet with different faculty members in the Fine Arts department and they review my work. This year, we set up in Gallery 3 in the art building for a week.

Reviews are always a toss up. Sometimes they're great and leave me feeling good and sometimes they're not so great and I feel like ignoring my paint brushed for a month. I had both of those last week.

I decided to ask a couple different faculty members (besides my scheduled ones) to meet with me so I could get a bigger range of opinions and advice. The first meeting was with our resident Renaissance expert and the last was with Interim Department Chair. Those were the ones that left me feeling awesome and on the right track. In between I met with two other faculty members, the head of the department and the painting professor. They always give me really great advice, and they did this time but, they can be hard on me. Which, don't get me wrong, is not a bad thing. It challenges me to think about my work more deeply and understand what I'm doing. After a couple days. But for a moment, I feel a bit defeated.

I think this good and bad tug of war we go through as artists in training can really help us grow but it certainly doesn't do wonders on the emotional level.

Sigh. All in all, I'm very grateful to be able to get so much face time with our faculty members. They're all really great and its nice to have the guidance of pros. Even if I feel two feet tall sometimes.. :)