MAEA Conference

So the conference went very well.

There were some complications. We were originally told we were going to present once on Friday and once on Saturday. Then we were notified that we had three total presentation times, so we canceled the one we were not originally aware of. However, they canceled the wrong session. So in the end, we had two sessions on Saturday.
This was not the end of our complications. One of the professors from Grand Valley was not able to attend the conference last minute. This meant our GVSU "vendor" table was not set up and we could not help much without the information to provide. There was also some confusion at the registration table. We heard that the people running the registration and information tables associated this professor with our organization and were telling people our sessions were canceled as well. However, they were not canceled, so it is possible that we could have had more people show up to our presentations than actually did.

Even though some things went poorly, so many things went well!
Most of us had the opportunity to meet one of the past Presidents of NAEA, who is also a past President of MAEA, and the current President of RAEA (Retired Art Education Association). He had so many enlightening things he shared with us, and I am sure we can use all of it to our advantage as an organization.
We were all able to see two very influential keynote speakers. These individuals were inspiring and thought provoking. Depending on our own schedules, different individuals in our group were able to attend various workshops and sessions held by other individuals. Each one was well worth the time, and sometimes money, spent to go be educated ourselves.

When we were not attending workshops and sessions, we were walking around the vendor tables. We got to test a variety of art supplies, get free samples, and sign up to get catalogs and a chance to win some supplies. More importantly, we got to network. We were able to talk to people who could potentially help us in our future careers and we got to see who is out there to supply our classrooms with materials.

My favorite part about the trip, though, was that we were able to get to know each other more. I know it sounds super cheesy and lame. However, we need good connections among the members of our organization to be successful in all the activities we choose to do.

Conferences

If you did not already know, I am a member of the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Student Chapter at my university. We have had an amazing opportunity open up for us and we get to present at the Michigan Art Education Association Annual Conference. We are going to give a presentation that explains what we do as a student chapter as well as thuroughly describe one of the workshops we did in collaboration with another student organization.

I am very happy that we get to do this, but I am really nervous. I am not sure how prepared we are and I am not that confident in what we have done so far. I am sure things will turn out great in the end, but I still can't shake these jitters and nerves.

No matter how our presentation goes, I know this will be an amazing opportunity for me. The conference will be a great place to do some networking. On top of that, I have the time and resources to attend some workshops and sessions. I don't see how this could turn out poorly! (knock on wood)

I will try to post an update on how things go!

You Gotta Have Friends

Brainstorming.

For me, it is the hardest part of the whole art-making process. I can come up with 542258 ideas, but that doesn't mean a single one of them is a good idea. How are we supposed to know what a good idea is? Are we even supposed to care?

On one hand, you might just want to get your message out. Who cares what other people think of the actual work. You are just making art and getting your comment out there. But how do you know if your message is getting across to your viewers? Does it even matter?

I find that I cannot get myself to actually start a project until I discuss my ideas with a peer, a classmate, or even a friend who is not studying in the field of art. I am not even remotely comfortable until I have someone else's opinion and some understanding of how an audience may react.

It's not that my ideas are horrible. I just cannot convince myself that they are decent until I say them out loud to someone else. Even then they usually need small tweaks that are often resolved while discussing with my peers.

It may just be me, but I think that you (or at least I) cannot make decent art without shooting ideas among friends. They are your first audience, your harshest critics, and your best chance at improvement.

Untitled, 2012

Lately I have been thinking a lot about titles and the impact they have on what they are the title of.

In artwork, titles can completely alter the meaning of the piece. I could put up the exact same image five times with different titles and a viewer could have five completely different experiences with the image.

A lot of the time, I want to leave my work untitled. This way the the viewer can be on their own in interpreting the work or so they can just view the work without a title suggesting they should interpret it. However, an untitled piece, i.e. the lack of a title, can lead to an entirely new manner of interpretation. This is especially true if there is a placecard, form, or gallery printing that says the work is untitled.

There is no way to escape this issue of titles. And art is not the only area that suffers from this complication. Look at books, lectures, activities, gatherings, and so many other things. Titles (and labels) permeate our lives and influence how we see the things around us.

Conceptual Struggles

Lately, I have been struggling with a lot of projects. I want to make sure that my concepts come across adequately, but I am not sure how far I need to push various techniques to do so. Some people say that less is more. Others say go to the extreme and really push the idea.

These may seem like good suggestions, but what if I like the way an image or piece looks when it is in the middle? I feel like when I go to the extreme, the result is too complicated and cluttered for me. When I hold back or try the minimalist approach, it feels empty or inadequate. I keep finding myself "finishing" a piece and then wondering if others will catch on.

So I suppose the question I really want to put out there is:

How much is enough?

Art Expo in Chicago

Yesterday I had the opportunity to travel to Chicago with my school and attend the Art Expo. This was a really interesting thing to experience. It exposed me to a different side of the art world that I am not sure I am so terribly fond of.
I am a college student, and I was under the impression that this was not that fancy of an affair. However, when I arrived I noticed that many of the individuals were dressed very well and seemed very important. They treated me otherwise, with my high school shirt and my backpack on. There were several cases when I walked into a gallery space and the people inside automatically went silent and stared at me.
There was even a point when I was talking to my friend about a piece and the woman running the space yelled at us that the sculpture was beautiful. I was not aware that I was talking about the piece in a way that stated otherwise. I was shocked that my interest in the object was not noticed and I wasn't even given the chance to say how interested I was in it.

Now, don't get me wrong. There were several very nice individuals who talked to me as a peer. I even got to participate in an art project as a model for Keliy Anderson-Staley. You can see her works here. That was a fantastic experience.

[*edit*] Here is the image that was taken of me by Keliy Anderson-Staley!

It was also really great to be exposed to so many works by so many artists in such a short period of time. My views of what art can be have been pushed to their limits and my understanding of the art world has been  changed drastically.

We will see where this experience takes me in my future.