I feel like the senior exit show is always exciting. The whole time you're working as a student, you witness the senior exit shows and it's always fun to see students' last big effort before they go. Finally being able to participate in it was exciting in different ways. First of all, even though it's an open show and not juried, it still seems like a much bigger deal to show your work in this context. It feels as though more people see your work, and are more likely to recognize it as your own instead of just some piece they liked. A lot of this probably has to do with students, myself included, finding their voice and point of view during the time they spend at Bloom.
I really enjoyed seeing everyone else's work, both during the hanging and at the reception. I've seen a lot of these pieces before from working with these students for so long, but there were also lots of new ones. I feel like photography had a pretty good showing, but only one sculpture was submitted. I actually had a few sculptures myself, but I didn't submit them because they were still in progress at the time of the hanging.
One thing I'd like to change about the show, and not necessarily this one specifically, is the space issue. I know that we're always free to pursue solo shows at the local businesses downtown, but it also feels kind of special to be part of the grown-up graduating show in the official gallery. So I think a lot of students want to participate in that show specifically. I know that 13 of us trying to show 4-5 years of work (well, at least the best of it toward the end), was very crowded. I don't have a solution for this, and the show is still great and a lot of fun besides, but it was something to maybe think about in the future.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Personal Adornment Day
Personal adornment day is always tons of fun. For anyone who might not be familiar with it, it's the annual spring runway show of wearable art. Sometimes it's more classic fashion, but sometimes it's way out there innovative materials or crazy performance art. This year's show seemed to go really fast, and I'm not sure why. I don't think there were any fewer participants, but maybe there were just fewer performance pieces and more uptempo music choices to walk through. I don't mind whether the show goes fast or slow, it was just an observation I made.
The guest judge was Christine Zoller, and she actually had a workshop session before the show. I thought that was a lot of fun. For me, the demos weren't that exciting because I had learned what she had showed us in Professor Grimsley's class, but it was nice to have a refresher from a visiting artist. My favorite part of that session was seeing her own fiber art.
As for the show, there were the usual awards. I don't remember all of the categories, but a few stand out in my mind. Innovative use of materials went to a girl who had made a sort of robot suit out of all sorts of reclaimed metal. She had big shoes that looked difficult to walk in, but I felt that the most interesting part was the bicycle wheel/arm hybrid piece. I had actually seen this part before when the whole wearable piece was in progress, and it was nice to see it finished. I also think she deserved that award because hers was the least like clothing and looked like the most difficult to actually wear. Avant garde went to Devon for one of her 2 dresses. I had also seen this piece in progress up in the mezzanine all semester, but the headdress really tied it all together and took it to another level past "pretty dress". As for best in show, this was a girl who had done 3 dresses in shades of blue. I was somewhat disappointed in the choice, not that the work wasn't nice. Just to me it seemed more like traditional fashion and some nice dresses. However, I do know that a lot more work goes into pieces like this than meets the eyes, especially when you get to hand dyeing and stitching. I also understand why Zoller would choose something like this, as a fiber artist herself and being familiar with the dyeing and stitching involved. She said she chose these because she would wear each of them. I think maybe I would appreciate them more if I could see them up close and study the work in them more, but I think it was an ok choice for a winner.
The guest judge was Christine Zoller, and she actually had a workshop session before the show. I thought that was a lot of fun. For me, the demos weren't that exciting because I had learned what she had showed us in Professor Grimsley's class, but it was nice to have a refresher from a visiting artist. My favorite part of that session was seeing her own fiber art.
As for the show, there were the usual awards. I don't remember all of the categories, but a few stand out in my mind. Innovative use of materials went to a girl who had made a sort of robot suit out of all sorts of reclaimed metal. She had big shoes that looked difficult to walk in, but I felt that the most interesting part was the bicycle wheel/arm hybrid piece. I had actually seen this part before when the whole wearable piece was in progress, and it was nice to see it finished. I also think she deserved that award because hers was the least like clothing and looked like the most difficult to actually wear. Avant garde went to Devon for one of her 2 dresses. I had also seen this piece in progress up in the mezzanine all semester, but the headdress really tied it all together and took it to another level past "pretty dress". As for best in show, this was a girl who had done 3 dresses in shades of blue. I was somewhat disappointed in the choice, not that the work wasn't nice. Just to me it seemed more like traditional fashion and some nice dresses. However, I do know that a lot more work goes into pieces like this than meets the eyes, especially when you get to hand dyeing and stitching. I also understand why Zoller would choose something like this, as a fiber artist herself and being familiar with the dyeing and stitching involved. She said she chose these because she would wear each of them. I think maybe I would appreciate them more if I could see them up close and study the work in them more, but I think it was an ok choice for a winner.
Student Show
This semester's SAA sponsored student art show included a good mix of work from all different mediums. I felt like students seemed very interested in the show because there were so many pieces submitted. The juror was Karl Beamer, who many of us remember as one of our former professors from not too long ago. While I don't want to exclude anyone or their work from the show, or to criticize Professor Beamer's discretion, I feel as though a few too many pieces were accepted. Maybe this is just because I had to help hang them all. It just seems like space is limited in the gallery, even included the outer hallway, and like the exhibit was a bit crowded. But, complaints aside, all the work was great and it was an interesting show.
This year the SAA decided to do awards a bit differently. Awards given to each specific discipline were done away with, simply because sometimes only one person submits work in a given category. We felt that this wasn't really fair, even to those people, because it's not quite as exciting winning an award when you have no competition. Instead there were juror's choice awards, to be awarded at his discretion, and a best in show award for which there was a $50 gift card (the monetary prize was a new feature as well). Professor Beamer still seemed to give awards generally according to discipline, probably because that's the way it's been done for so long, but at least he had some freedom with his choices. Keith Seaman won best in show, and I feel that it was well deserved. I've always liked Inkfinger's work as a group, and Keith seems especially motivated with his own solo work. I was also a fan of this piece specifically.
Overall it was a good show, with lots of great submissions. I hope everyone had fun who submitted their work, and I'm really looking forward to next year's show (even though I won't be eligible to enter anymore :)).
This year the SAA decided to do awards a bit differently. Awards given to each specific discipline were done away with, simply because sometimes only one person submits work in a given category. We felt that this wasn't really fair, even to those people, because it's not quite as exciting winning an award when you have no competition. Instead there were juror's choice awards, to be awarded at his discretion, and a best in show award for which there was a $50 gift card (the monetary prize was a new feature as well). Professor Beamer still seemed to give awards generally according to discipline, probably because that's the way it's been done for so long, but at least he had some freedom with his choices. Keith Seaman won best in show, and I feel that it was well deserved. I've always liked Inkfinger's work as a group, and Keith seems especially motivated with his own solo work. I was also a fan of this piece specifically.
Overall it was a good show, with lots of great submissions. I hope everyone had fun who submitted their work, and I'm really looking forward to next year's show (even though I won't be eligible to enter anymore :)).
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