My name is Sarah Dillon Gilmartin and
I am shifting into the studio side of
the house in the Fine Arts division.
Starting in the fall, so I'll be teaching
drawing upstairs in the shoes of Cindy Small,
who just recently retired and Jessie Brugger
will be taking my place in the design area
downstairs in the in the Digital Arts lab.
So it's encouraging to see our
students joining us over the summer.
I know it's a little quieter over the summer,
but we are recording this.
Artist talks so we can use it
throughout the rest of the school year,
so thank you for attending today.
So it is my pleasure to get to
introduce the two artists in our summer
exhibition growing pains before I do
just a little bit of housekeeping.
If you have a question,
there's a Q&A tab at the bottom of your
screen and the last 10 or so minutes of
this conversation we're going to open
up the Q&A and I'll read the questions,
and the panelists will have
an opportunity to answer them.
If you have a question,
but you don't want your name
associated with the question.
We can solve that too.
You can just send a email to or.
I'm sorry a chat to the all panelists and
I can read it from there anonymously.
So without any further ado,
a little bit about the show and
our artists today.
So Aunna Moriarty is an artist
based in the Seattle area.
She's a photographer and a model
primarily focusing on fashion and
performance art influenced by feminine
archetypes and mental health issues.
Moriarty's work is often reflective
of her own personal narrative as an
artist living with bipolar and OCD,
she uses costuming and set design
to investigate the psyche and
frequently performs her own work.
Moriarty is a graduate of the BFA of
a BFA Program photography program
at Seattle University and she's
currently starting her MFA at the
University of Colorado in Boulder.
In fact, just moving there very soon.
V and Gwen was born and currently
lives in Auburn,
WA with her husband and her young son.
She graduated from Western Washington
University where she attained a
Bachelors in Fine Arts with a
focus on painting and drawing.
At present,
Gwen is attending the Maryland
Institute College of Arts,
which is a low residency research based
program and will be earning her Masters
in Fine Arts at the end of the summer,
and she tells us she's participating
in their group critiques today,
even from Maryland.
So thank you for joining us as a
second generation Asian American.
Gwen has been raised with certain
ideals for the ideal body image,
skin, color type and gender roles.
None of these ideals perfectly fit her,
nor should they her work.
Raises questions about culturally
produced ideals and self identity.
She explores these questions
through metaphorical connections
with familiar childhood objects.
I propose the collaboration between
these two emerging artists for
the Helen Smith Gallery,
noting the similarity in
the context of their work,
but also where they are in their careers.
It seemed evident that these
two artists should meet.
Aunna and Vian came together to build this
incredible and unique exhibition for our
space which really engages the audience,
meeting many where they are as students.
On the verge of change themselves.
The gallery closed due to the
pandemic and the exhibition shifted
into a virtual modality.
I'm super hopeful that we can have
a follow-up exhibition with these
two amazing artists in a year or so
physically in our space and have so
enjoyed the collaborative efforts that
brought this new brand new body of
work together during the past year.
And I'm really pleased and proud
to introduce Aunna Moriaty.
Sorry, Aunna Moriarty and Vian Nguyen
to you, so thank you two.
For joining us,
it's really a pleasure to be
hosting you today.
So we have a handful of questions that
are prepared, but this is intended
to be a conversation that's a little
more casual between our artists,
and so I will start off a question
and and then we'll just kind of see
as the conversation goes, whether we
get to our prepared questions or not.
If that sounds OK.
So the first question that I have for you two.
How was the collaboration affected
by the pandemic?
Were there challenges were there benefits?
Do you like me to go first Vian?
OK, I'll kick this off. OK, uhm,
no we were super affected by the pandemic.
It's yeah I think everybody was in
like you know, a very unique sense.
But yeah, when it came to actually
collaborating, uh, you know.
I think Sarah you approach this.
I think the beginning of October in 2020,
and so we were in, you know them.
It's like the thick of the pandemic
where there are so many unknowns and
I'm just trying to limit contact
and take precautions to stay safe.
And all of that. So be it.
I just decided to stick to,
you know, contacting each other
virtually and collaborating that way.
Uhm, so we did FaceTime meetings every week.
uhm, for quite awhile. It's uhm.
Yeah the first couple.
I don't know.
I'd say it's hardly the first month or two,
is just really getting to
know each other and uhm,
talking about our day-to-day
experiences and challenges,
not just necessarily creating
virtually but creating under these
like stressful circumstances.
Yeah, I think the pandemic
and just unfortunately like a
highly politicized pandemic.
Also, like really drove the work kind
of in an indirect way. I think it.
Provided a jumping off point uhm?
To talk about, you know family structure
is and our stresses day today.
And you know, maybe having different
belief systems or different uhm
living conditions or lifestyles and.
And yeah, just talking about the
struggles with their family and friends.
You don't share the same beliefs as us.
You know during the pandemic so.
Yeah, and it's just kind of like rolled
into our theme of growing pains, you know.
And being independent thinkers and.
Uhm, and being OK with that,
you know, and not necessarily, uh.
Yeah, being following suit I
guess you know we were all.
Yeah having independent thought so.
Yeah, it was just the pandemic really.
Put things into perspective I guess.
Uhm, yeah, I don't know Vian?
do you wanna add anything?
Yeah I mean all that's true.
In the way like with the show,
we did everything through
FaceTime and the phone,
and we talked once a week,
so we were kind of just like live reacting.
What was happening through like the six
months that we talked and within the
six months that we were talking a lot
of political things were happening.
A lot of boundaries being built within
families because of different views.
And things were starting to come up
and I think that's also what kind of
led us in this direction we talked about.
We got to know each other and shared
stories about family and come.
Came up with this theme about growing pains
in the root of all these conflicts or.
Support systems rooted in.
Through moments in childhood
and things like that, so yeah.
Yeah, I think, uhm, just to add to that
real quick like talking about this just
to bring politics into a little bit.
You know there was a.
I mean it was crazy, you know,
I think we can all agree with this last,
not just the pandemic,
but this last like election year was
insane in many different ways, uhm?
But yeah, in the little show
description you know we wrote up a.
It's like ignorance is bliss,
but knowing can be a burden and we
were learning all of these things
about our family and friends.
Where it was like OK, whoa,
like you believe this like like
uncovering you know new things about
friends and family members that
you know we didn't know before.
You know, it's yeah,
you believe in this or you
don't believe in this, uhm?
Or yeah, just uhm.
Yeah there is some like I guess,
shock factor uhm.
That kept coming up and realizing that, uhm.
Yeah, you don't know everything about.
You know either your parents or
grandparents or other family members.
And, uhm, realizing that you
don't have to think the same.
You kind of agree to disagree
or agree to draw boundary.
And yeah, I think drawing a boundary
was like so or drawing boundaries.
In general is like so important, you know?
Uhm?
Yeah, it doesn't always work.
Well, that does that always work.
I'm just looking down terms
of did people come together or
did were people pushed apart?
I think. I think both for sure.
You know, I think, uh.
I can speak on my behalf, uhm?
I think my partner or my husband
and I we just got married recently
so husband is still new to me.
But my husband and I like,
I think it really grew us to be
closer because we were struggling
with our family members not agreeing
with certain things. It's uhm.
You know people not necessarily having uhm.
Wanting to follow the same guidelines,
even like with the pandemic,
you know it was so hard 'cause
you know some people.
Yeah, it's they didn't want to respect you.
Know the six foot different distance
or they didn't agree with the mask
thing or just the long list of
you know issues that we've been
seeing pop up in the news and uhm.
Yeah, so it's, you know,
brought us closer and just like trying
to bond and you know be safe together
and support each other and drawing
boundaries with you know whoever
around us that has differing opinions.
And yeah, there's other family members
and friends that we've had to disagree.
Like, OK, let's not hang out for a while.
You know, let's just give some space.
Uhm?
There's also been some healthy debates,
you know, I think that's something
that I valued over this last year.
Year and a half is just trying to figure out,
like.
No.
Why somebody thinks differently
than what I think, uhm.
So yeah, I mean it's been a spectrum of, uhm
Yeah, yeah,
definitely a spectrum of good and bad.
Yeah, Vian, like what you know,
you have similar experiences.
Yeah,
I guess it's similar to bonding
the relationships that you already
have in a trusted partnership,
but also.
Signing, I think a lot of people can
relate in during this times where,
things have to be addressed
because it's so like opaque in
our society right now of politics,
racism and moral stance on
things like Cove in.
And it was just something that was
kind of unavoidable with setting
up boundaries with some people,
whether it be family or friends.
And that's what we like,
talked about almost every week is.
Finding out like our aunt's own so
or my uncle so and so, and kind of.
Seeing them in a different light because
you saw them as you're younger this way,
but becoming an adult yourself and
creating your own opinions and identity.
It's becoming a little separate from
what you might have grown up from.
MHMM yeah I kept her a hearing.
This terminology is term self
preservation and I think that is so
relevant to this last year and a half.
It's yeah, it's a matter of surviving
and like saving your energy.
You know to.
Tackle this just.
Yeah,
chaotic situation that we've been put into.
Yeah, so I think just it's
been a learning experience of.
Who to keep in the circles that also
supports that idea of self preservation?
uhm versus the people that are just
going to suck all the the energy
vampires is what I call them.
You know, the uhm.
Yeah, it's it's been a learning
experience, you know, yeah.
What are some lessons learned
from practicing self portraiture
in the context of both painting
and drawing and photography?
So just kind of diving right into
the media now and I guess I'm can.
I add to these questions.
I know we kind of talked about them before,
but I'm wondering just in the context
of what we were just discussing
about the pandemic and how that might
have impacted your initial vision.
For the media,
for the choices that you were making as
the show started to develop as well,
just how did it did it actually start
to change your work in any way?
A little way. I mean, I I do perform in
my work a lot already, but it kind of.
Like was comical how it worked out because it
didn't require me to work with anybody else.
So when we were trying to come,
you know, stay safer under lock down,
or you know whatever term you want to use.
Yeah, I I wasn't working with any of
the models that I typically work with.
uhm, 'cause everybody was.
Yeah, staying safe and you know,
uh, limiting contact I guess.
So yeah, self portraiture kind of like was
conveniently conveniently worked out for me.
Uhm? But yeah Vian,
yeah even in our our work because we
uhm took honest thing about and like
investigating our own growing pains.
It just actually became biographical and
then self portraiture added to that.
uhm telling the story of our our own
journeys and. So then the pandemic.
Kind of for me limited,
and I'm sure a lot of people,
especially now space,
to create a lot of people have studio space,
their school or studio space in general.
But then the pandemic and the
lockdown kind of made you paint
in your bedroom sometimes and.
Either like.
Not being able to experiment with
your work and other spaces so you're
kind of limited that way, but uhm.
With the materials that I use in my work,
they're kind of always accessible
and that they're like paper or foam
core or on things I already have.
But space was kind of the thing
that the pandemic rocked for me.
When working on this project.
Just to go to fold in the biographical
and COVID you know it's interesting
that's come up a lot in the other
talks that we've had this year is
talking about how the pandemic has
created space for creative thought.
So there's this really interesting
way that it's fed into how artists
are considering.
How they work and the context of the
environment that they're working in.
So, like you mentioned, you know,
being forced to turn your bedroom
into your studio or your kitchen
table into your studio,
and the same thing goes for you,
know,
kids working at home on their
computer that their classroom has
become their kitchen table too.
And kind of redefining the
spaces that we're living in.
And so I imagine in terms of
portraiture because you guys are
thinking very much about locations.
In space and lots of imagery,
even what's on the screen now of homes.
And neighborhoods showing up in your work.
How that contributes to the image of self.
Definitely.
I guess the places and spaces that we
occupy always have influence on self,
and that's kind of the part that
I'm I go into with the work that
has the home involved in that.
Uhm, these places kind of help influence you,
but also the spaces that we're
all currently living in,
especially as a student.
I was just I'm a.
I'm a student and was a
student during the pandemic,
so working at home you kind of have to also.
Think quickly on your feet of
how you can convey these ideas,
but also kind of having to
leave some things behind,
like maybe like you don't have
extra wood shop or a print studio.
Things like that and so it's it kind
of helped this the pandemic and being
remote kind of helped push well.
How can I convey ideas with the
things that I have around me
and similar and honest work?
Trying to remember which artists it was,
I think it was John Cage that
ran out of money for paper and
started doing drawings and phone
books and use the resource.
Fullness of materiality and creativity.
And so I'm curious on it because
your media is is a little bit more.
Nuanced in terms of the combination
of literally acting out the
scene and photographing it.
And do you do all of that yourself?
Do you have somebody helping you
behind the camera? How do you?
How do you capture these moments?
Yeah, it's all me.
So like this series that
you're showing right now, uhm?
My phone acts as a shutter,
so my camera has Wi-Fi unpretty crazy, uhm.
Uh, yeah,
so my camera is Wi-Fi that hooks up
to my phone and so I can see on my
phone what my camera screen would look like.
You know, if I were to look through it,
uhm, so in the dollhouse images,
my phone is actually.
Probably in a lot of the shots in the house.
And so I click the shutter and
then I do my thing, uhm.
In past series, it's yeah.
It's so funny 'cause I can tell like,
OK,
my phone was in this boot or you
know behind this object you know
we're under the blanket somewhere
in that pile of blankets is my phone
where I click the shutter and uhm.
Yeah, so it's all me, uhm?
Yeah, I've been doing this for a long time.
It's it's taken some practice and when
I first started there was no like.
There's no Wi-Fi shutter thing,
so I would have to run up to my camera,
press the shutter,
and then run and do my thing in front.
So yeah,
we've come a long ways just
in the last you know, while.
There's something I want to add.
You mentioned the phone book
saying it working under, you know,
running out of money, uhm
and making do with what you have,
it's uhm, during the pandemic?
Yeah, it's it's very real.
You know,
a lot of people lost their jobs
and I lost all of my work, uhm
And all of my gigs so.
Yeah, I was working under,
you know a tight budget,
but my neighborhood has a buy
nothing group and I think a lot of
neighborhoods have something like this.
It's it's a buy.
Nothing group on Facebook and it's
just people in a certain neighborhood.
Just giving things away for free.
Borrowing things trading. I don't know.
It's just the whole idea is to not buy
anything and just to utilize what you know.
Yeah, your neighbors have and see
who's in need of what, uhm Yeah,
so somebody posted that doll house looking to
get rid of it and I was like I'll take it.
You know it's on during the series that yeah,
it's about growing pains and carrying,
you know, the weight of, you know,
just the morals. You know,
experiences that you had as a child.
It's all those experiences are carried
with you, right as an adult, so.
And actually, the house that I
grew up in is was actually yellow,
so it worked out so well.
Uhm, but yeah.
And also the blankets grooves
like locks and keys.
And this this image that you're seeing now
and all the doll house furniture the clock.
I mean there's like all sorts of
things that I shot with that.
Yeah, I obtained through this buy
nothing group and some of the things
like I passed the doll house on the van.
Play with and now my son hasn't.
So so awesome so that as an artist,
that group is just so amazing to have.
uhm, especially yeah,
when you are working under budget.
Yeah, so that was a cool.
uhm yeah,
little aspect of this project was just.
Yeah, working with that available.
So again,
I'm I'm gonna click ahead to your uhm,
you had some house imagery too,
so I'm curious about this one.
Then in the relationship of the
collaboration and the development
of that was did this piece feed into
her dollhouse at her dollhouse feed?
Into this piece?
I'm curious how those conversations
came about.
I think it's really funny that you
in applying for this that you saw
overlaps in mind and honest work,
and this wasn't a piece that I'd
shown in my application,
so this was like an idea that I've
been working with and I didn't have a
place for it mentally or a body yet.
So when we both were coming up with ideas.
It just happened, coincidentally,
that we're both going to do homes
in that I've been working with this
idea and then auto is jotting down
ideas while we're having conversation
and she thought about the idea that
you see the with the homeowner back,
so I'm like that's perfect.
'cause I also have this one idea
that I've been wanting to use and I
think it'll fit perfectly in this
so we kind of.
Had these thoughts that overlapped and
we just executed them differently,
but they still stay in conversation
with each other, because, uhm.
Her house is yellow and then the
light that I used to my work was
like kind of like mirroring her
yellow home so it just all it just
all smoothly worked out.
Yeah.
So that brings us to the next question.
What was it like working together in
two different mediums then to just maybe
build on what you were just talking
about being with the similarities
that were there but the media itself?
I'm just curious how I I know you all
were talking weekly right throughout
the course of this exhibition,
which it's interesting when when I've
been apart of many paired exhibitions,
sometimes where the artists don't talk
at all and they just know that the
other artist is out there working.
Then work will be what it is and
we put them side by side and things
happen organically.
You two had a little bit more planning,
but you're so different in terms
of the media that you're using and
the approach that you're using,
so you still have your own direction.
Your own way of working,
but you're talking a whole lot,
and I think there's some really interesting
things that came out of that itself,
but that piece of the conversation
just being you know, a photographer
being and drawing and painting.
In terms of your media,
as you're talking through it,
how?
How did that part of the conversation evolve?
I had a really hard time.
It was so funny.
I it was such a learning process.
Of course, for all of us.
But as a photographer and a digital
photographer, I'm used to images.
Being like, you know, they're out.
You see them immediately,
and so anytime that I did a shoot,
it's like it won't take me too long to edit
them and have them up and ready to go.
But I forget that painting takes time.
And I'm so just not used
to working with that.
So uhm, yeah, that was new to me.
uhm so yeah, VN with was really awesome
just about showing me sketches and I
mean I think that's why talking every
week was so helpful for me at least, uhm.
Because it, you know, gave me an idea of
just the timeline and discussing the work.
Even though it wasn't necessarily
finished yet. Uhm, yeah.
So that timeline of working with a painter
and sculpture artist was really new to me.
It's I I don't paint so that
whole time thing is so different.
You know, in both mediums,
yeah.
Yeah, and then seeing honors work,
vice verse that where I'm used to
it takes weeks to make something and
then let it dry or I like really
calculate every step so I don't.
Take too much time if there's
a mistake being made,
but also time to embrace it if there is any.
So we're always talking the two weeks,
so that's kind of the consistent,
like the constant in both of our
thinking is that we have time to
think about the themes or the words
of the concepts that we want to get
out while working and then but still
working in our own paste on this side.
So discuss, like our discussions were.
Just more honing in on how we
want to discuss it,
and also because our our medium choice.
We bring in different perspectives that way.
So we kind of have this double layering
of perspectives with medium choice
but also different perspectives
in the journeys that we've lived.
Even though we live cities away,
we both have different lives,
lives that we've live live lives
that we've lived.
So then they also come through
our work that way too.
I have a follow up question about that,
so let me scroll ahead.
Back to the image I'm thinking
of for you Vian.
So on these because you you're painting.
And I have a couple questions actually.
First, are you actually doing
drawings and on these papers and
then painting them as a still life?
Yeah, you're you're getting pretty close.
A painting from still life reference.
So I do fold this and then
print out my own image.
So that's my I print it out and then
kind of glue it onto this fortune
teller and then set it up as if it were
still life and paint from reference.
So yeah, it's a very like.
A skill as painters,
that you're kind of always learning is
like still life painting and accuracy
with your alive object in your eye.
So the second part of my question,
this is where things got kind of interesting.
As you've been working with Anna and
looking at these sculptural pieces.
And scrolling ahead specifically to this one,
it's a very photographic and so
one thing that happened which I
don't know for better or worse,
shifting to a virtual format.
The work is all digital now,
so on a benefit from the fact that
her work is already photography yours,
you're having to convey,
convey the experience of a 3
dimensional piece as a photograph,
and I'm fascinated by some of
these pieces that I would.
I would frame this.
Right,
this is as a photograph of the
sculpture that you're then using to
draw from to make 2 dimensional art.
Just the play of the 2D to 3D
to virtual and back again.
Business is really fascinating to
me and I was just wondering if you
could speak to that a little bit.
Yeah, thanks, it's.
It's something that I guess,
like all 2D artists,
kind of had to be pushed to do this
year as a student or an artist and practice.
You have to document things really well,
but documenting sculpture you
always get that.
That feeling like this could
stand alone as a photograph,
so it's really interesting that
we kind of exchanged in that way
like an A on his work could be
even seen as performative.
She can perform her dollhouse
one day if she wanted to,
so then that could go from 2D to 3D and then.
So in this way of working in the pandemic and
knowing that it's all going to be digital,
I really had to bring out that
these are sculptures in an image,
but also flattening it.
Can create like a different read for a two.
So it was a little like enjoyable to do.
And these,
if I recall from my childhood,
are kinetic, right?
They move.
Yeah, you fold them open and close up.
And like it kind of comes with that
game of like writing things inside.
And that's the point that I was getting at my
work is. I mean, it could be different
for every generation to or different
cultures of what's written inside,
but I know specifically for me growing
up the questions inside were about more.
About your future being a woman,
but in a different way of who will you
marry and how many kids will you have?
What kind of house will you own?
How many cars really you have?
So it was very materialistic and and
domesticated domesticated in that way. But.
While there's nothing like those aspirations,
it was just in a time where
you play this game and you're
like developing self identity.
If those kinds of questions
are so limiting to a female,
a woman's goal,
a future woman's goal.
So that in and of itself is an interesting
connection to honest work as well,
because this is almost performative mean,
you almost could sit here and
act out the the actual action of
hitting each one of those unknowns.
Agree, yeah, it's.
Going from an 2D3D.
They always have the possibility
to be performative too,
and creating another read.
So it's like endless possibilities
like different iterations of all but.
So the last question that we have prepared,
but we're again taking questions too.
So if you have any,
feel free to add them to the Q&A as we're
shifting into a bigger conversation.
So though the work speaks
to individual experiences,
history and different mediums, how do you?
How did you land on a mutual theme?
And I know the pandemic plays into that too,
so I'm curious if that even changed that
conversation as the year progressed.
So it'll take this one.
sure uhm. Yeah, I think, uh yeah,
kind of what we talked about.
The first question was really
like a jumping off point, uhm
And just talking, like, uh,
you know, beyond the pandemic,
when we are talking about becoming
independent thinkers and uhm,
becoming independent from our past, you know,
and are the conditions of growing up, uhm
Then am I getting out here?
Uh, we're also talking about living.
As a vulnerable, you know population,
it's me, you know.
Growing up in a family you know
with hereditary mental illnesses and
you know her living as a minority.
You know we're both living and
kind of vulnerable positions.
So I think that was also a bonding moment.
I've just yeah.
I mean the end uses used
the word biographical,
which is just a great word.
uhm, because they're really about
you know our own experiences.
But both dealing with yeah,
sensitive topics of uhm,
just being vulnerable and finding
your own way within a system that
doesn't necessarily give you the
same opportunities or the same
resources or even education.
Unlike how to you know,
succeed or whatever success means, uhm.
So yeah, I think just.
Uhm yeah.
The pandemic really like inspired
talking about.
Uhm, differences you know and
differences within a family system.
Uhm, and it just kind of grew from there.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I mean,
it's just all these things that
we've been talking about are
and also how we kind of just.
Uhm, what we came in with with our
work before and like the things that
we're investigating and our work
before just bringing them together.
They kind of like would support each
other or like bring in more to some
things that we've been talking about.
But also creating a larger umbrella,
even though.
The things that inspired us to
make the work are very specific
to moments from our childhood.
We hope that it could still
resonate with others.
With our point of views by point of view,
being the minority in a Community
and then honest with her dive
and investigating her Lydia Edge
and mental health in that way.
It's really interesting whether or
not the events of the year came into
the conversation, how they come into
our lens of looking at this work,
and I see in it in terms of the things
that have happened culturally for us.
George Floyd, a lot of violence
towards Asian Americans, the mental
health component of being isolated.
And being home and I it's.
It's interesting how all of these
layers of societal issues have been
intensified as a result of the pandemic,
but it shows up in your work
as very intense too.
I think for the viewers,
to relate to all of the things that
we are hearing and things that we
are experiencing that makes this
show somewhat timely in how we're
reflecting upon those issues.
I'm talking about what it is to
grow up and how do we relate to
others in our own families and
our own societies and communities.
And so I'm kind of curious.
In that over the course of the year,
all of these events were happening
while you guys were building this show,
so it didn't happen beforehand.
It happened during and I'm curious
how did or if that played,
played a role in the development
of this new work.
I I think you've got it right.
The uhm, those connections that
you're seeing in our work and.
We're just reacting.
We're in conversation.
Live what's happening.
But then kind of.
Maybe trying to find a route in it in
ourselves of why reacting this way,
or why we weren't aware of some of these
things come just kind of investigating.
In ourselves,
to make it not happen or
perpetuate in the future,
with being aware of our mental
health and not have like having that
conversation not be a taboo in the family.
And then then this conversation about.
Uhm, diversity.
Inclusivity in the community to then not have
someone feel like another or a different.
So I think it's just the back and forth
of like what's currently happening is
isn't just something that happened overnight,
it's been something that's been rotting
the system for many, many generations.
Yeah,
I think working with current events, uhm?
I mean, it was really.
The year of investigating.
We're just constantly investigating,
you know, in all different aspects,
yeah, within ourselves,
but also these injustices around
the world that are really bringing,
you know, brought to light.
And I think as artists we.
We we take something and we
need to like we did create.
You know there's all this intensified energy
of stress or fear or depression or you know,
whatever we're feeling angry,
scared.
You know all these intense emotions
that I think a lot of us have
experienced over the last year.
And as artists like,
what do we do with that energy?
And so I feel like the current
events really just intensified.
Or creativity meeting a space to
put all of those feelings into.
And.
Yeah, so I think yeah,
just dealing with that.
I mean,
I think it's just intensified
or drive to make the work.
So I will open it up to questions,
and if there's nothing more that
the panelists would like to discuss.
I haven't been paying attention
to the chat, you guys. I'm sorry.
One second let me get on there and see.
If there was any question there first.
OK, so I'll go into the Q&A and I do have
one tweet from Cindy in this past year.
Plus we were all feeling the need
to connect and relate on a deeper
level than when we may have.
Then what we might have had access to.
It seems the quarantine might have
actually created more of an intimate
collaboration for this exhibit than
what otherwise might have happened.
Not saying you were starved.
Our connection but may be hungry for it.
I know it's difficult to project what
may have happened without the quarantine,
but just curious how the show may have
evolved had we just been on our normal
trajectory in planning this show.
Right, I think. I don't know if
it wasn't during the pandemic.
Maybe we would have met each other once a
month because we live a couple cities away,
but I think since we're so used at at
that point we're very used to only
seeing our friends through FaceTime or
zoom or phone call that we just quickly
defaulted to face timing as something
simple typing before the pandemic.
It was an inconvenience to get like a
phone call out of nowhere, but now.
Over like time we're like we're stuck in
our own homes and we're just like ready
to have a new conversation with someone.
So on and I were really calling each
other or pandemic pen pals because.
We would just.
We knew we would have a scheduled
conversation together once a
week and be able to connect.
Yeah, no, it's really nice. It's uhm.
We usually met like every Sunday whatever
I'm like 10 or 11:00 AM and it was like this.
Nice thing that I started
to really look forward to.
uhm, 'cause yeah we weren't going out and
socializing with strangers, you know?
Or making new friends really and?
And yeah.
So it was nice to talk to somebody
like fresh slate.
You know this or a clean slate just
to get to know somebody and and to
create of course was just magical.
Just despite all of this chaos.
But yeah,
I have never faced time so much in my life.
And I thought my parents had a Skype
over the pandemic, which was awesome.
So yeah,
I have a whole new appreciation
for technology after all this.
So I should add,
if you missed the introduction we
are talking about doing another
show down the road in a year or so
when ONA has some opportunity to
develop new body of work through
her MA program and VN who's just
coming out of her MFA program.
No doubt just having experienced
that wide open feeling of Oh my gosh,
now what is going to have some
amazing stuff too.
So it will be really interesting I think.
Well I will have to talk.
About like what next?
What happened from here to there
and I think that feeds into your
idea of growing pains and growing
and community and childhood and
relationships because there's a lot
of that happening right now where
you are in your career careers as
emerging artists and what what changes
will come about as a result of that
moving into your careers as artists too.
And so I think that in and of
itself would be a very interesting.
So there's so many little nuances
here in topics that we've hit
on today that could blow up into
something brand new altogether.
And I anyway I'm leaving the door
open for that because I would
really love to actually get to hang
your work in the gallery for one,
and also just to see where this goes,
because I think that there's
definitely a spark there.
Are there other questions out there?
Go ahead and feed them into the Q&A.
Or if you want to stay anonymous,
you can put them into the chat and
they will read them from there.
Just double checking.
Looks like we answered
Jesse's question already.
Give it a second. See if anyone
else has anything more to add today.
Well, that's happening.
I want to take an opportunity to say
thank you so much for this incredible
body of work and I know it was not
ideal in terms of how we were being
able to show it and what we had and how
we had intended to show it virtually.
And it definitely adds a lot of levels of
just the experience of art and what that is.
And how do we communicate
with people visually.
And we definitely hit on some of those themes
in terms of the media itself photography,
whether it's digital,
whether it's dimensional,
whether it's going from
digital to dimensional to.
Three to two D to virtual again
and it swims back and forth.
It's just really.
It does open up some interesting
opportunities for the collaboration of media,
though potentially and and
where that can go visually and.
And that's where I'm excited
about the follow up with you too,
and I hope that we have that opportunity
'cause I think it would be really important,
particularly under the umbrella
of what we've been living under
here with with this show.
So I would like to also say so.
We are moving into the college,
starting to reopen,
and so the very next exhibition that
we have in the fall is right on the
cusp of that as things are starting
to open up but not fully open yet.
And of course there's a lot going on
with the new variant and the virus
and masks are coming back out and
who knows what the future will hold,
but as of right now we have Becky
Freeze showing her tone poems.
This father,
a series of paintings that she's done
based on music and at the moment we
will be open face to face in the gallery.
But we're following the libraries open hours,
which are somewhat limited so the
show will have limited access.
But we will have a virtual version
of that show as well and the artist
talk will once again be over zoom so
we are not doing a live artist talk,
but if you're on campus for any face
to face courses this fall stopover.
By the library and the hours,
like I said,
are limited,
but we will have them posted once we
figure out what they will be on the
website and if you just can't wait,
you can of course see the show virtually
and hopefully by winter will be
starting to shift back into normal routine.
We will see how things go,
but I really appreciate what
you guys have done this year.
It's not easy as an artist
to make a body of work,
and especially when you're working
towards a show over the course of a long
period of time you want to have a show.
Right when it comes down to it,
but this,
in and of itself though is art.
It brings about conversations
it brings about connections.
It reaches out to the
community and to our students
and gets them thinking and personalizing
what their own work is about.
And how do you make art
under different conditions?
Does it stop you? Does it fuel you?
And that's a very individual
question for each person who
works with material to consider,
you know what does that mean for you?
If you are a sculptor and have no access
to account for a year which is happening
in our department quite regularly,
what do you do?
Do you find objects?
Do you get out some glue and
caulk and other materials?
If you don't have the money,
what do you do?
We are resilient where artists
were able to push past some of
these boundaries and sometimes
it fuels us in such a way that it
actually makes our work better.
When we go back to our normal routines.
And I think this show really helps.
To accentuate that,
like when two artists get together,
what happens dot dot dot right and so.
Thank you guys for this.
This has been an incredible year
and and I again I know a little
bit of a let down in terms of how
the show was actually presented.
But this right now this is really
the art and this is where it has the
power to really grow into something amazing.
So thank you very very much.
Questions or comments out there?
Double check if there is one actually.
Did this body of work inspire
what you were going to do next?
New projects that you are working on.
I yeah it. Well The funny thing
is working on this simultaneously
always working on my thesis since
I'm graduating this year and they.
Kind of they overlapped and that I was
coming to these ideas over the last four
years of doing my graduate studies, uhm.
Where the work that I'm current that
I did for my thesis and there's still
exploring and further exploring was
about the space of the suburbs and the
place that I grew up and currently live
in and kind of examining it through.
uhm, the history and the origins of
the suburbs being created to segregate
black families and white families.
And then my parents come to America
during the Vietnam War and wanting
to buy this American dream life and
then landing in the suburbs and how
the suburbs have changed overtime.
So I'm continuing that.
More exploration of the space and
that this work was really exploring
my growing up in this space I guess.
Yeah, uh, yeah I am entering grad school
this fall so I will be approaching some,
you know, thesis questions.
Just kind of what I want to explore and and.
I don't know, I'm definitely some
themes that I want to continue
researching and working on,
such as hereditary traits and
within my own family system.
Thinking about how the environment
affects your mental health,
whether this be like, you know,
within a home, or also within nature.
You know my entire family has
grown up in the Pacific Northwest.
And my grandpa coming from Ireland.
But yeah, my whole family has been
on the coast their whole life and
so I wanna research just how far
back does that coastal life go.
And and yet I'm moving to a landlocked
state with no ocean around me and it's
been a really emotional rollercoaster.
I mean, I, I think I totally picked the
right school and it's the right decision.
But yeah, it's weird to go from like.
Drastically different environments?
Uhm, yeah,
I'm just thinking about my family history.
uhm, always being raised around
water and removing myself from that.
It's.
I don't know,
so I'm just playing off of those ideas
of environment and mental health and
just yeah researching my ancestry more.
Yeah,
and one of those you don't
know what you don't know yet.
Kind of questions, right?
I just remember graduate being just
such a Graduate School of being such
a life changing just kind of ****.
You know things that come into the
conversation and things I hadn't
considered and just the growing
nature of what that experience.
Is and and how much my work
changed from before to after.
That's that's the exciting
part for me watching you.
What's gonna happen right when it comes in?
All of these experiences,
everything that we do is artists
feed into our creative selves too.
And and then something comes out of that.
And so it's hard to predict.
Yep, exciting times ahead.
And hopefully hopefully a little bit more in
the studio and less at the kitchen table,
I think is is as productive as that was.
I heard putting that behind us and
getting back to the business of
studio work would be fantastic.
Yeah, thank you. Yep.
We have no further questions.
I hope you all will join us on October
20th at noon for the next gallery
talk with Becky Freeze talking
about her tonal columns, tone poems,
excuse me and her exhibition opens
right at the beginning of fall quarter.
So on September we had to look the
September 20th and it will run until
November 12th and after that we will
have our student exhibition of the
portfolio class work that will be
showing and that's going to be an
interesting exhibition too because
it has a hybrid.
Situation we don't have the work
in the gallery,
so we're going to play around with some
screens and virtual and digital stuff,
and once again getting back into
this conversation of what it is to
make a drawing that is presented on
a screen or a or dimensional piece
that's presented with multiple images.
And how do we experience art?
So it's seems to be my going 3 theme
for the whole year and the gallery.
How do we experience art and
learning from that?
So thank you so much,
being an honor for all of the work.
That you've done and thank you
all for joining us today and I
hope you enjoyed the talk.
Thank you,
thank you.