At this point in the course, we had been encouraged to try lots of different avenues, to explore different parts of the campus, to dive into different techniques and find connections in unexpected places. This was evidenced in our "open studio", an evening where the communal studio is open to guests and students are encouraged to display their works in progress.
Collection of works in progress on Studio Wall
In the picture above, you can see my "Forced Connections" project along with some of the drafts on paper. You can see a plaster and wood sculpture (the one that looks like a pile of squished hands), which was inspired by a lecture on being an Art Critic and then going to a Maria Bartuszova exhibit at the Tate. You can also see some quick portraits of men, inspired by pictures taken by Jesus Abad Colorado, a Colombia photojournalist who recently published a series of touching photobooks depicting the victim's of our country's internal conflict. And there are three canvasses, two of them make up one painting (already sold to a friend who lives in California), and the other, an experiment with oil pastels on top of acrylic paint. I called these painting drafts "new nostalgia" because my previous concept of nostalgia for Colombia was changing, but I didn't yet know which direction it was going.
Having an open studio was rather helpful because, without being too precious or too attached to any of my pieces (because they're all works in progress and experiments), one can see how strangers react to them. See what causes curiosity, what makes people stop and look closer, what makes people take their phones out to take a picture, and what people don't notice at all.
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