ROCO and No Hot Cocoa?

Last Thursday was quite nice and probably a good warm up to senior trip. Bleu was fantastic to talk with. He's clearly very dedicated, level-headed, and takes everything in stride, not to mention successful which is something we're all striving for. The basics that I walked away with: have an excess of patience but still be active and apply towards everything. Literally everything? Literally everything. Oh, but don't be annoying, people will hate that (unless this is their cup of tea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAWoP1kncRE). But there was plenty more to be learned, from pricing a piece is rarely, if ever, simple enough to be broken down into an equation, to Adam, perhaps a bit cynically (but also rather accurately), has made up his mind on an artist based on the first few lines of their CV, and if he's doing it, I assume others are to. What's the lesson there? Maybe don't go to a snooty school for your MFA but also realize your paperwork (and let's not forgot the delicacy, or lack there of, with which you package and ship your work to galleries) is an instant first impression and first impressions matter.

Moving back to the studio, critique was actually really good. Show of hands for continuing that format? For me, the most important thing that was brought up during the smaller group sessions was don't back away from a project that you're excited about right now. I'm highlighting this for two reasons. One, we've got very little time to make stuff so the easier it is to get in Sage and work the better. The second reason is I'm feeling pressured to develop the meaning/reasoning in my work and that's rather significantly killing my motivation to just jump into the ideas in my sketchbook. I get that developing skill, craft, and an artistic credo go hand-in-hand, and even though we can dream, I not nearly naive enough to believe you can waltz through a life of making artwork with 'I enjoy it' being your only reason. But when time is such a limiting factor and materials/tools/ideas aren't, I personally feel like there's a more obvious choice at this time for what aspect of my artistic self to develop. I'm also curious to know if I stand alone in this sentiment.

But seriously, how do you not have hot cocoa or non-mix cider during early autumn in Rochester?

-Ciarán