Eating through a semester of yogurt

Coins, stamps, buttons, baseball cards. Little things people collect. There is a certain amount of joy found and felt in collecting things, looking through a collection, having dozens and dozens of one object in different shapes or sizes, and in my case, colors. I wanted to start a collection of really any sort of odd scrap that would otherwise be overlooked and thrown away.

I spent my spring semester collecting yogurt lids. Initially I was inspired to start a collection by one of my art professors who had a wonderful collection of egg shells (egg shells do come in colors other than white.)

Process is important to me. As an art student I am learning to be thoughtful in my process and that this helps me to mark my progress. Each project goes through different stages and each is a project in and of itself. This is what I told people when I asked them to save their yogurt lids- I wasn't sure what it was I wanted to do with the lids except that I wanted to collect them and that was a project all on its own.

So thank you everyone who ate lots and lots of yogurt with me this past semester! I can't tell you the joy it brought me when you said you had something for me and handed over a stack of lids- especially when they were color coordinated.

from my dorm room to my home room

I don't like packing. I really don't like unpacking, but I also can't stand the feeling of living out of a suitcase. So that meant when I moved all my dorm room things into my home room, I was going to have to find a place for everything to be put away while I bum at home home for three months this summer. hmph

Before

After (a few weeks):

Packing and unpacking are definitely not my favorite thing- especially since you really can't do one without eventually having to do the other too. But I will say, the before and after is pretty satisfying.

At a Standstill

What happened to summer? Summer used to be three precious, longed for, sought after months squashed between the end of one school year and the start of another. Summer meant sun, riding bikes, playing in the hose on the driveway, family vacation-all fun, no worries. This is ironic since, when summer was that way, I wasn't old enough to have any worries, or anything to take a break from for that matter.

The meaning of summer has transformed in the past few years of growing up. Yes, it is still three months separating one school year from the next, (in my case it is anyway...not sure what it will be once I no longer function on the academic calendar. That will be a post of it's own someday.) there is still sun and a sort of vacation. What is different is that summer now seems to mean putting my "life" on hold and by life I mean the social-hangout-fun-time of dorm life, late night projects and 8 am class. It means moving back to my hometown and living with my parents. This year summer meant moving away from the new home I created in my college town, separating myself from the people, places, routine of the past 9 months. Summer is now the time to make money so I can start all over again in the fall, spending my earnings on text books and art supplies.

Maybe summer is the same. It just seems different because now I am too.

innocence is bliss

I recently had a birthday. I am not old. However, I do not feel like I am quite so young any more. I say this because for the first time I am embarrassed to tell anyone who asks my age what it is. That is a clue right there- I'm not old enough that it would be considered rude to ask my age, but young enough that to answer feels revealing. I confess that the sheepishness comes from the fact that, in my head, I look like a innocent 12 year old girl, maybe 16. This is probably because when I was that age I thought anyone who was the age I am now was a real 'grown up'- wrong. In my inocent mind to be so old meant life was fun and full of excitment, which it is, and I couldn't wait to get there. However, what I failed to realize was the innocent bliss of being 12 years old.

You have to start somewhere

I write this post well aware that odds are no one will ever read this. However, I have to start somewhere. I want to make a place where I can upload my artwork and keep tabs on my creative process.