Blog Post #11 (Faculty Presentations and 5 Year Plan)

Part 1: Faculty Presentations
Bill Kennedy: Currently working on two bodies of work, he told the class that he circles back on his work. Bill said he sees his work as research (an analogy between applied research and pure research) which I found especially interesting. His work is currently being exhibited in Utah, where he has taken most of his photographs. I find it very creative how his photographs start as very simple things and then get photoshopped into more abstract pieces. When his photographs are ready, he uses inkjet technology to makes his prints. He told the class that he typically experiments with newspaper, plastics, and fabric instead of typical paper. I learned that he looks for rich history and stories behind the places he photographs. A thing he mentioned that I found most interesting was that he leaves his work untitled so that each piece has its own meditation. His reasoning behind this was that a title is a form of manipulation.
Hollis: I learned that as an artist, she has documented all the objects in her home (bowls, dishes, furniture, etc.). In addition to this, she has worked on weather patterns. Focusing mostly on storms, she revealed that her inspiration behind this were the tornadoes that came through the central U.S. in 2011. In working on these types of projects, she documents people’s experiences as a way of memorialization. She revealed that she has completed several sculptural pieces and referred to them as three dimensional. She told the class that her work flips back and forth between sculptural pieces and detailed drawings. I was very surprised and intrigued when she told the class about her house that burnt down when she was fifteen years old. Inspired by this life-changing experience, she held a show about it in 2015. She said many of her work includes tornado- like images coming out of rooftops. I can assume that her fire tragedy inspired most of the reasoning behind these types of images. I learned that she is constantly making a graphic memoir about her childhood and philosophical and political views. I learned that early themes in her work involved family. In addition to this, I found it interesting how she would collecting and work with a loved one’s belongings with the idea of it the items carrying their memory.
Alex: As she began her presentation, she mentioned how she gathered up work that has never been exhibited. Her current concept is “something that exists on something else”. The characteristic of her work has been very minimalistic, as she has gained an interest in the way people perceive things. She told the class how she references a lot of her work to her family’s army background, inspiring her work’s relationship to the land. She said, “I’ve had a home but never really had a home”. Her work flips back between having kids and not having kids. Her work overall reflects being confined to a specific bit of information or being stuck in your home. Before having children she mapped her experiences in the city, and then went to finding beauty in the nothing. She then continued navigating a space and noticing the simplicity of tone and shift in light. Interested most in the projects she worked on twelve years ago—she finds this very interesting.
Tammie Rubin: Tammi works with a balance between the known and the unknown. She has created mythological creatures and removed the function of things (absurdist and abstractions). She has gained interest in creating 3-dimensional collages. I enjoyed hearing about her concept of putting together non existing and existing things. In her work, she emphasizes the value of communication and its two major parts: receiving and transmitting. I enjoyed her idea of putting belief or faith into inanimate objects. In addition to this, she works with forms that repeat in collages. She mentioned her idea of getting close enough to see the detailing in her work but not close enough to touch it. The work that most captured my attention were the caution cones and funnels that were essentially turned into KKK hats. I believe they told a very emotional and complex story.
Joe: Focusing on a West Texas setting, Joe has specifically targeted the ranching culture and ranching lifestyle. I found this concept and setting very unique. He mentioned how he has captured families (3 generations of people) and has required a lot of cooperation. He mentioned how his photographs also capture different sources of income on a ranch. In addition to this, he has gathered interest in spring work, in other words, separating the calves from the cows. I learned that he enjoys working with large animals, capturing Texas culture, and the rodeo phenomena. He revealed, “The rodeo itself isn’t as interesting as where it comes from.”
Part 2:
(This five year plan is based after graduation)
Year 1: Graduate from St. Edward’s University and pursue a job in marketing/ and or design. Figure out if I’m going to stay in Austin or move somewhere else in order to find the most fitting job. Perhaps work at this job for a year in order to save money and gain experience for graduate school.
Year 2: Prepare for graduate school/decide which school to attend and where I’d have to transfer. Start my first year of grad school
Year 3: This would be my second year of grad school. I would continue to focus on school and perhaps work at the same time
Year 4: This would be my third year of graduate school. I would also focus on meeting new people in order to make the right connections for a new job after graduating.
Year 5: This would be my fourth and last year of graduate school. After graduation I would hope to have a steady job and knowledge of where to permanently live (also depending on the job). A year after graduating grad school would be the time when I would consider my personal life (marriage, children, etc).