cool lady

craziness?
today i *almost* submitted three paintings into this continuing ed show
IF it hadn't been for some bad luck at the one-hour photo lab on the island =(
or actually.. my lack of centered photo skills. (i was in a rush to take pictures of those three paintings so i can put them into this portfolio that i'm suppposed to magically come up with. i even gave myself an hour to get everything done - as in buy frames, fill my gas tank, pick up the pictures to put into a portfolio for my application, and THEN drive to detroit to drop off the paintings and THEN make it in time for this portfolio talk~ CRAZY? i think so)

so the thing is.. this school in korea that i REALLY want to go to
the place i really want to be~ besides maybe ewha
asked me for a portfolio AND a recommendation letter~ which i don't understand why they are asking me for this stuff b/c in their application instructions it states that it is POSSIBLE to be EXEMPT from the performance exam IF you send in EITHER a portfolio OR a rec. letter~ not both, so what the heck? i must be in!

as my luck would have it~ it took nearly 2 hours to get my photos developed and once they did develop, they sucked. there goes portfolio attempt number one. a flop. but i sort of set myself up for that...perhaps i set myself up for self-destruction, knowingly~ =( (not.) so i checked the time, and it was too late to submit artwork anyway (the lady at the cont ed office even gave me an extra day!~ cool, huh? i wish i could have sent those pieces in...but finishing this application.. my GOd i've been staring, waiting for it for months)

then it was onto the portfolio talk~ it was geared towards high school students, and when i first walked in...i thought i was the only NON high school student~ it wasn't until the end of Sabrina's talk and where people were asking questions that i realized the older women who were also there were NOT the MOMS of the high school students~ but earnest artist-wannabes, too =] so that was a relief ..at the END of the talk however
so you can imagine the array of facial expressions i had DURING the talk, which ranged from "oh man, just blend," "i feel kind of old, the cute little Matilda looking girl looks like she's in middle school and she can probably draw circles around me" to.... "hey, this isn't so bad and this sabrina person is really upbeat and it's cute how she talks about her son" and then it was "wow, she really knows her stuff and she's extremely insightful. thank goodness i came to this thing..."

she had some really good points on what to think about when looking for the right school for YOU. if the location floats your boat, then by all means...trust that feeling (of course that's not verbatim, i'm paraphrasing. yes, i like to paraphrase AND it was the point that REALLY hit home with me). and she admitted that being the art administrator that she is, she would have nothing but great, school promoting points to say about art schools and suggested that students should really try to talk to the students of the schools they are intersted in. what i'm saying is i REALLY liked the points that she made~ the difference between state universities and colleges of art and design (good thing to know b/c i dont want to take up time and repeat the liberal arts education i already received), AND the really interesting indiosyncracies to certain schools...like pratt's athletic program??? or something??
anyway... of course i was still reluctant to speak and even consider that it's ok that i was there~ which is all in my own head (or my bubble society's head. get me out of this bubble!) but after answering some of the questions from the articulate and comfortable high schoolers~ she asked me about what colleges i was looking into...i spilled about the korea stuff and she filled me in about this accredidation thing between Samsung and CCS. VERY COOL. good to know about this whole transferring credits stuff. more things to think about that i had NO IDEA! mind opening! awesome!
it felt good~
i'm taking such baby steps at this point, and yet taking huge leaps at the same time.
crazy?
yes, i think so.

after the workshop/talk thing, i felt great~ i was inspired by the high school students around me - their talent and how articulate they were (actually one kid~ the rest were sorta quiet and cute. one girl had a piece in the show and even received an honorable mention for it) and i was so impressed that there are SOOO Many resources out there for high school students... and which high schools in michigan are really supportive of the arts (and how my hs art class...sucked. i think it got a LOT better since 1996, but i was lucky enough to ask my mom for help)

of course, i was just initially curious about what these portfolios look like in general~ and i figured..high school? yep~ that's about the level i'm at? of course today i was a bit schooled, but in a good way. not schooled as in the stupid jumping through pointless hoops stuff..which i've been through for way too long
but in the sense that it felt good, refreshing and a bit edgy that 'dayum! these kids are really really good'

and then the questions in my mind went to... holy cow.. i'm thinking about art schools~ i've been sort of playing with the idea since junior year... but wait a min, what's going on here
hmmmm

but it also made me think about high school and being around high school students~ which could be the potential setting IF i get into this school next school year~ kids could be FRESH out of high school. and then besides the whole cultural gypo thing, which i won't make an issue out of - not really interested in exploring that aspect of my identity...but more of a chronolgical journey that has the freedom of expression from ..what.. does that make sense? ok yes, i'm trying to avoid labels.
i care about that.

anyway

back to being around high schoolers~ i thought i would be worried about feeling like there would be a lack of 'intellectual stimulation' or mutual thought for being around younger kids~ but.. their talent.. wow.. was enough stimulation~ really. i was blown away at some of the example portfolio pieces and blown away by the high school student exhibit at the art center. and then the refreshing attitude of the whole thing~ it made my day
then there is the whole idea of tutoring high school students
...yay... *cross fingers*