Studio Journal #9

This week I want to focus on my thesis proposal and what I need to be doing. As it should be, I don't have a definite final product of what I am going to show in May, but I do have some ideas that I have been thinking about. Looking back at the past year, I had a difficult time finding something that I was passionate about. I aimlessly hopped from one topic to another. Even this semester when I finally found an interesting topic, I felt that I was still trying things around without a clear "to do list," which I should've been doing since the start. But then again, I don't think I would've known where I wanted to go anyway. Wanting to do a design project as well for the thesis show, I decided to work on an interactive book or books. It would be interesting if one could open a book and as he/she is flipping through the pages some images would appear. Because of my constant search for an interesting topic, I thought about making a book or rather a journal of my process. But it isn't just about a process of what I've done but more of a discovery process. The world knows that art is powerful; it has the strength to change and challenge ideas, promote inventions, and even keep history alive. I want to discover how a two or three dimensional object is able to make these extraordinary events happen. After all, artists are just putting parts together to make a single object. For example, how does a painting get reactions for the viewers? Through this process I know now that I need to read a lot of books on other people's experiences with art focusing not only on their intentions in making art but also their reactions from seeing art.

Part of the reason why I am leaning towards process is because I believe that it is important to include one's experience in the field that they're pursuing. What have you learned the past three years and even this year at Mason Gross? What new ideas did you develop that you never thought of before? What experiences did you gain from teachers, peers, and/or the environment? What is the meaning of becoming an artist? Is it to make change in our communities or about the process or both? I always thought that art schools focused on techniques and praised those that had extreme talent. But it wasn't until my teachers started asking me more open-ended and abstract questions about what artwork could mean or how can it be influential that I began to wonder why I was even in art school in the first place. What do I want to use my artwork for? Why do I paint or make designs? Why is art important? What is the value of art?

I plan to concentrate harder in reading more resources and applying them to my paintings. I realized that hopping around from one topic to another serves no purpose in developing and showing the real power of art.

To do List:

-write a coherent thesis proposal

-stretch canvases

-Read the book, "Complete Mondrian" by Marty Bax: It has a short written text on Mondrian's biography in the beginning of the book, but includes the influences and the intentions/explanation of some paintings that Mondrian portrayed. Also, the rest of the book contains pictures of most of Mondrian's works.

-Read the book, "A Decade of Thinking" by Mira Schor

Book Description from Amazon:

"A Decade of Negative Thinking brings together writings on contemporary art and culture by the painter and feminist art theorist Mira Schor. Mixing theory and practice, the personal and the political, she tackles questions about the place of feminism in art and political discourse, the aesthetics and values of contemporary painting, and the influence of the market on the creation of art. Schor writes across disciplines and is committed to the fluid interrelationship between a formalist aesthetic, a literary sensibility, and a strongly political viewpoint. Her critical views are expressed with poetry and humor in the accessible language that has been her hallmark, and her perspective is informed by her dual practice as a painter and writer and by her experience as a teacher of art."

-Start a painting that is similar to the print out sketches I've been making.