After the launch

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
601

<p>Bears, I had half a thought of sending D1 your way since she isn’t managing much on her own around here and she could probably cut out a bear skin. But then I remembered that she is tagging along to Germany so that probably won’t work. She got some idea in her head that she told shrink and social worker about that we would go to Czech Republic. So I told her to check on visa requirements and could we drive rental car there and could she find czech translation for gluten free diet. Naturally she has yet to do any of those things. My mother’s home town is fairly close to the Czech border, so I gave D1 the option of going to Munich or to Prague. I’ve never been to Prague, so maybe it would be interesting. </p>

<p>The gluten free ziti (ok, I confess that there’s no gf ziti, we substituted gf penne) turned out very yummy. I had to take Aspie girl to riding last night, DH had to stay at the office late. D1 had to come with me because sometimes I get double vision at night and it’s not safe for me to drive, so she had to come along to be the back up driver. So manga was alone with the eggplant, sausage and ziti. Hehehe. It was an Emeril LaGasse recipe too, that I hadn’t made before. I heard she had some struggles, but she persevered and she is turning into a very good cook. The eggplant, by the way, was supposed to be cut into circles and browned and then layered in the casserole with the other stuff. I think the only hiccup was that she didn’t realize, until the last step,that she was supposed to COOK the pasta first. But she did that and it turned out fine. As far as kids eating eggplant… they are mostly okay with it. I think it has to do with giving them things like mushrooms, eggplant, cabbage etc when they were small. Because of the celiac disease, on those occasions when we did go out to eat, there was never anything to choose from the kids’ menu, so they’ve always had to eat ‘grown up’ food. Not that they don’t love the occasional meal of hotdogs (they love Soul Dog in Poughkeepsie) or mac and cheese.</p>

<p>Manga girl has manga class today. She saved her money and bought herself a graphics tablet, so now she is constantly at ‘my’ computer ‘drawing’. sigh. Aspie girl has some horse riding thing today and tomorrow… so it looks like I should have prayed to the weather gods for more snow so I could stay home and get some house work done. Lord knows that D1 isn’t going to do it. If only I could convince (and trust) D1 to take over some chauffeur services.</p>

602

<p>Prague!!!
Kolya!!!
<a href=“http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116790/[/url]”>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116790/&lt;/a&gt;
see it before you go if you haven’t.
D1 shall pack paints and stuff.
am I jealous or what.
come visit factory when you could all of you.
we like cute girls. almost all people there keep having boys boys boys boys boys boys boys boys while we make pink huggy frilly fluffy stuff</p>

603

<p>“founders weekend” is next weekend. I will be there 2/18 and leave 2/22, since 2/21 the Monday is the president day.
switters: it will be nice if you come.
bears: D is not neat. I know she give out impression to people the wrong way. she is quick but never make thing really fine. when she talk about her art project, she said she have to try to win by idea and can not endure time consuming thing. She can sew though. she took a class in high school about cooking and sew and the rabbit she sewed is cute. I still have that rabbit.
Maybe we can stop by your workplace Friday afternoon the 18th? If you are busy this time, maybe later sometime. for sure I will have to fly to nyc many many times.</p>

604

<p>hummm… do I hear Chinese Tiger mom talking?</p>

<p>come come!! bring your bunny! could be neat-er, better than mine.</p>

605

<p>Hey, guys! </p>

<p>So I have not exactly been ‘launched’ yet, but I am on my way in that direction. I would just like some general opinions about my portfolio as well as my college choices. </p>

<p>In terms of my background, I was never able to take art classes at my little public HS due to lack of funding and my rigorous academic courseload. Until attending the ECP program at SAIC this past summer, I was pretty much a self-taught painter who worked in her basement with her cats. I now have a newfound love for sculpture and installation work- which will probably be my studio concentration in college, wherever I go.</p>

<p>Heres my carbonmade- just a warning, my stuff is a little atypical- more conceptual than observational:
<a href=“http://laurenbarnes.carbonmade.com/[/url]”>http://laurenbarnes.carbonmade.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Here is where I applied/am applying to:
*SAIC (recieved 88k scholarship that I am still in awe of O_o)
*UMich Dual Degree (BA+BFA upon graduation- still waiting to hear back on scholarships)
Oberlin College
*Knox College (12k a year scholarship)
RISD (scaring the nuggets out of me)
Cooper Union (even more so)</p>

<p>*= already been accepted.</p>

<p>THANKS</p>

606

<p>Whaattt? you are Knox kind of kid as well?
(lick all over your face)</p>

<p>Hi folks Bears here
this ^girl, if any of you remember, asked about Moore in Philly (I think, no?) and SAIC pre college before then she got max$$ from SAIC, same as loveblue’s D or that Valterkid.
I suggested she post here instead of PM-ing, so could get different feedbacks.</p>

<p>Barnesy2011
gawd I almost typed “Barney”, don’t make me do that, I will die…
there is “Post your portfolio” thread somewhere in the pile.
there are mean folks say mean things in there but since you are already accepted to some good schools, they can’t dis you.
I can not see your link til later (I am at home and my system is a dinosaur, I will do it later at job) wagwagwagwag
anyone else?</p>

607

<p>and I like Oberlin, cats, nuggets and basement.</p>

608

<p>Hahah I think I will post there too. Whats the worst they can say? I dont personally know anyone on here, so I cant get too offended. </p>

<p>So what is your opinion on picking Knox or Oberlin (If accepted) over a school like SAIC?</p>

609

<p>I just love LACs and still doubt BFA, can’t help being failed artist and big time poor needy parent.
Couldn’t get to Oberlin because I don’t /shouldn’t drive, but only hear good things about it, I love love Wesleyan and Oberlin is low key version of that in midwest, is my take. Is it wrong?
I did get to see Knox and it is still within my personal best 3.
thou my kid is not me, and has no near stats, so there…</p>

610

<p>Wild clapping and applause to you, Lauren. I love your work! You go, girl!</p>

611

<p>wait, Gmom did Barney named her real name? …oh, the site is her name. guess it’s Ok, yes? many kids’ sites are like that in “port” thread.</p>

612

<p>wagwagwagwag gotta finish laundry then can go to work ( I mean open the link…)</p>

613

<p>Manga girl informed me just now that I am to take her and her friend from manga class who is spending the night to this bookstore in Peekskill. The Bruised Apple. Funky place. Not sure what it is that she thinks she will find/see there. I keep telling her that the NOOK is the way of the future, and she really isn’t so determinedly retro since she just got a graphics tablet. Anyhow, she is a bully, that girl. She knows how to get what she wants. She’s the only one of the three who has ever expressed true interest/motivation in getting a job. When she was 8 she wanted to know if the supermarket would hire her to retrieve shopping carts. When she was 11, she took the red cross babysitting course to be a babysitter (though she kind of falls short on the recruiting clients end of it) and now she’s talking about being a camp counselor in the summer. Some times I’m just astonished that she is really one of my children – how do I know she wasn’t switched at birth – given the other two???
Okay, maybe she’s a little OCD.
sigh.</p>

614

<p>^Gmom Judith Harris will answer all your questions! heheheh</p>

<p>OK Barney-chan
these are contemp-conceptu but fine works, photo-ed beautifully. Where was it? who did photo? those names you mentioned did settings or something?
If it is their white box place and their equipment, and offered freely for three weeks pre college, it does mean something special.
I could see something like that in Whitney or hi-mighty Chelsea place.
but
that, might be the issue. however you got good value, eye, color etc, something like that are all over the place.
I think what makes you different is your brain side. This is my theory and people hate me for it but making things nice can be learned, but inner mind power that is hungry and wanting to learn more and brain power that is able to process what you learned, is hard to come by.
All too soon art kids quit math science history and big boring books then they are missing out when your system is at the best, most agile and strong-time.
Eva Hesse had to ask book-y friend to name her pieces so that they’d sound deep and interesting.
Basquiat had to have pile of reference books on his side to copy texts from.
nothing wrong with that, but think, if it is your own word that came out from inside of you, how much more original it will be? I think you are doing it already, and I bet that is why the 22K.</p>

<p>my two cents would be… say go wherever you can afford and feel right, but keep adding smarts!!!
Ok I shut up now.</p>

615

<p>Lauren- i love your work. My vote is UMich. But I am an engineer with an art school kid, so I dont know much. He is at Cooper and loves it, it is very conceptual there, but so is SAIC. Would the UMich BA/BFA mean a BA in something besides art?</p>

616

<p>Bears,</p>

<p>Thanks so much for the advice! This is why persuing a BA along with a BFA really appeals to me. Fantastic art speaks to people- I think this can only be done if you understand the people you are speaking to… if that makes sense. So I plan to keep growing intellectually as well as artistically.</p>

<p>What do you mean by your comment about “…Whitney or hi-mighty Chelsea place” if you don’t mind my asking?</p>

<p>Glutenmom- Thank you so much! May I ask what you think I can improve upon, what you liked in particular, etc?</p>

617

<p>Barnesy - I like your work a lot too! The way it is photographed really helps. I think you’ll do fine wherever you go. My D has a friend at UMich. He is aiming for a dual degree too, in Russian and some kind of art (a tech kind). He figures he’ll be there for 5 1/2 years but he’s OK with that. It’s expensive though, even though he gets a slight discount for being a DC resident. </p>

<p>I saw your name and immediately thought of “Burnsy”, the nickname for Eunice Burns in What’s Up Doc. A great, slapstick movie! You might be inspired to change your name.</p>

618

<p>Well, fresh back from the MICA parent’s weekend and I wish I had gone yesterday too. D2 told me not much was going on except visiting classes and that her class would be boring to sit in on because it was all on computers. Well! I looked at the complete list of classes to visit (not available in advance online, but only when you picked up your registration packet) and it made me groan with regret for missing it. Raja Yoga Spirituality and Art, Warped Wood, Let there be Light, Sourcing Textiles, Virtual to Real - Rapid Prototype (?), Reading Nabokov, etc., etc. Where was I? Lolling in bed!</p>

<p>Today was the main event though. We arrived in time to deliver the usual collection of stuff to D2 (clean laundry) and wander around the galleries before the afternoon workshops and discussions began. They had an exhibit called “The Narcissism of Minor Differences” that made quite an impression. The main piece, called “Jonnie Hitler” juxtaposed photographs of Hitler (in various ways), with photographs of the artist Jonathon Borofsky. There’s Hitler with his dog, and right next to that is Jonnie with his dog. Hitler’s mother, Jonnie’s mother. Hitler’s baby picture, Jonnie’s baby picture. Creepy, powerful and uncomfortably funny at the same time. Other things in that vein: photographs of a tree, a vacant lot - what could they mean? Oh yikes, the card identifies them as places (and trees) where lynchings occurred in Maryland; gives names and dates. More about people being “disappeared”, a similar feeling in an etching by Goya, etc.</p>

<p>I was more than ready to head over to the Visionary Museum for their exhibit on “What Makes us Smile”. No time today though.</p>

<p>So we went to a printmaking workshop first. It was very fast, so we had time to sneak into another discussion in the first session. The class for younger siblings was a bust as the fine print said it was appropriate for ages 5 to 12. WHO has a 5 to 12 year old at the same time as a 18 - 22 year old??? Only people who have remarried and started over or those with an uncomfortable almost-menopause surprise! We knew about this in advance and didn’t bring D3 with us. She could have come and done the workshops and I think we’ll encourage her next year, but I’m sure she would have caused too much of a fuss this year. We did see a few teenagers with their parents. </p>

<p>For the second workshop, I dutifully headed to a discussion on study abroad and summer programs abroad, and sent H to a drawing workshop with D2’s favorite teacher, David Cloutier. H was going to draw!!! I couldn’t wait to see the results but it turned out to be better than that. I spoke to many of the study abroad people before the lecture started, so I ended up getting out about 1/2 hour early and I crashed the drawing group. They were all walking around the perimeter of the room, looking at eachother’s drawings and picking out three that they all liked (they had a nude model). These drawings had been done with the non-dominant hand, and the teacher had wonderful, interesting things to say about how liberating and illuminating such drawings could be. Then they head back to their easels and as good luck would have it, H had an empty easel near him so I could draw for the last two five-minute drawings. What fun! A man there told me his wife had made a sculpture the day before. She clearly wasn’t lolling in bed.</p>

<p>Tomorrow is more touristy stuff - tours of Baltimore, the campus, look at the housing options - and something they call the “raw art sale”. I’m curious about that but it continues on Monday, when more wonderful classes are open to sit in on. Advanced Book Illustration, Game Play 2, Intro to figure sculpture, Language of the Artists 2, Puppets and Prosthetics, Psychoanalysis and Film, and more; so tempting. Shall I skip work? </p>

<p>But it was COLD. Supposedly a mild weekend, but so windy it was just painful to walk between the buildings.</p>

619

<p>@greenwitch: sniff sniff stifle sob sniff
Glad you guys had so much fun! I admit that I would have been intimidated by a nude model though. A flower is one thing… a body…quite another. Hmm, DH might have quite liked it though (I promise he’s not perverted).</p>

<p>@Barnesy: I’d be interested in seeing what your drawing skills are like, and maybe the schools would too? Do you have any work that you’ve done from life? It can be anything, old shoes, fruit, door knobs. I guess you’ll have to give the bicycle a try if you’re applying to RISD. My daughter put much MUCH more time into her RISD drawings than she did for the Cooper Home Test. I think she felt defeated by Cooper before she even started. </p>

<p>It is what it is…</p>

620

<p>I suspect Bears means Whitney as in Whitney art museum and Chelsea as in the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC where all the art galleries are now located. It’s a compliment but Bears being Bears also has to make the dig at Chelsea as I suspect she finds it a little too upscale and tony. Chelsea used to be one of the few still sort of “working class” neighborhoods but as happened in Soho once the galleries went there (rents were reasonable…for NY) the entire tone, look and feel of the area changed. Am I right Bears?</p>