An End to an 'Era'

Well folks, this is my final post as an undergraduate!  I walk the line on Monday and receive my honors cords the day before-YAY! No worries, I will still be posting to this blog to an extent; however, the formatting of my posts will change (still working on the details). So please stay tuned.

In reflection, I have found that regardless the sometimes extreme trials I faced while in college, I am very grateful that I did not give up and kept headstrong!  I learned so much from the fine faculty of the Fine Arts department and I shan’t forget the amazing Honors Program!  Thank you to all of you (you know who you are) who helped in making my dream a reality!

Let’s get a little more specific now. Concerning ceramics and my endeavors, glazing has been an adventurous endeavor all its own! I have created many glazes and still need to perfect more on them and I really can’t wait to do this.  By perfecting my glaze recipes and application techniques-I can better enhance the passion and creativity that I painstakingly put into all of my ceramic work.  I have also enjoyed experimenting in the field of glazing and look forward to really being able to sit down soon and solely focus on both my recipes and techniques…who knows, you may eventually find one of my glaze recipes/techniques in your own studio!

Next topic. Throwing. Honestly, due to my circumstances, I was not able to explore, in great depth, my throwing capabilities.  However, I definitely plan to remedy this in the coming months!  Even though I am more of sculptor, I would really like to pursue combining both throwing and sculpting techniques.  At this point, I have learned to see the wheel as another valuable tool in my studio and not that it is just for “potters.” Thank you for that Professor J  Also concerning the wheel, I am dead set on continuing in my challenge of creating nice spheres on the wheel.

Oooh! Time for a reflection on my mad skills >.< Posited question: what can I get better at?  Well, let’s see, I can get better at everything. As an artist and with thanks to my personality, I feel that while I may be somewhat decent at ceramics and art in general-there is and will always be room for improvement in all aspects of my artistic life.  To name just a few areas off the top of my head, I definitely want to improve on the wheel, creating new clay bodies and glaze recipes.  I would also like to continue my endeavor for improvement on the surface texture of my pieces-like getting the entire surface super smooth or incorporating more shadow lines to enhance the 3D feel of the piece.  With my personality and passion for art, this is ALWAYS going to be something I challenge myself at and enjoy doing so!

Moving on from my OCD of always challenging myself and pushing my abilities further and further, I shall now address my Professor’s ‘favorite’ OCD that I have.  PLANNING!! “Hello, my name is Kirsten and I am an extreme planner.”  My plans for the future as an artist are many!  Overall, as an artist I would plan to do such as I have stated previously in this post: continually challenge and experiment to better myself craft.  I also have a dream goal of one day being able to open my own teaching studio to the public.  There are many reasons for my dream goal, but the two main reasons are these: 1. Unfortunately, the ‘man’ is seeing it more and more fit to remove arts from the public school systems. Which a complete atrocity seeing that EVERYTHING is directly linked to art! Not to mention, I truly believe that those who hone their skills in the field of arts, make better of themselves and those around them and all in all make the world a better place. (Maybe a type of creative ‘pay-it-forward.’ 2. By being able to own and work in my own art teaching studio that is open to the public, I will also be fulfilling a dream of being able to offer absolute wonderment to everyone and not just those that are rich enough to afford the ‘finer’ things in life.  ART is one of the top ‘finer’ things in life and so it shall be enjoyed and available to ALL! Besides, the Earth without ART is just eh. Ponder on that.

In ending on my reflection post, I would to address a question that has been asked of me more times than I can count: Why studio art-what gets me up every morning to do studio art?  Coffee! Coffee helps to get me up in the morning ;)  Joking aside, my decision to do studio art and what gets me up every morning is simple…it makes me very happy and feeling whole. It also provides me the opportunity to share my happiness to the world, which, in turn makes the world a better place and it also makes life a lot easier to handle.  Unfortunately, our world has become more and more fraught with hardships and disappoints-by doing art every day and passing it on to everyone I meet, I am able to lessen the impact of the negative aspects of life and build upon the positive aspects.  I may not be doing art with the purpose of turning a monetary profit, but I do art to turn a spiritual profit (so to speak).  And this is what keeps me going to the studio and gets my wary bones out of bed each morning (besides my family).

Thank you again to all of you who helped me on my education endeavor-I will be forever indebted to you!  Now to preparing for the next stage in my life…becoming an artistic inspiration to all!

I will see you soon with newly formatted postings :)

Don't forget to feed the fishies!