End of Decade Reflection Post

Coming to the end of the decade I think its only appropriate to note the difference these 10 years have made to my art, and my life. Because my art was fulled formed and developed in this decade. From when I found myself with a tendency to doodle and extra time on my hands from a swimming energy, to the amazing time I was able to spend in a “pre AP” class, which amounted to me being able to teach myself what I liked and didn’t like about different mediums, study human anatomy in a way I wouldn’t have gotten from any figure drawing class, and develop a relationship with color that was entirely my own. My teacher, the great artist who was never really taught to be an art teacher, Kate Trepangnier, gave me and the other students the room to make art that mattered to us. And then though Nancy Charpentier, blessing me with a week with her and her studio, I learned to use the medium I will always love more than any other. Oil painting changed what I could do with art and it is a love I hope I never lose. I learned to love it even more through the eyes of my professors and other students at my university, and then I learned so much from my internships in Berlin though art bound initiative with the Decad art gallery and the amazing artist, Erik Schmidt. All these experiences have brought me to 2020 with a renewed excitement about the gift I was given in this decade with which to explore myself and the world around me. In 2017 I lapsed a bit in my excitement because I realized the work I did for the AP class portfolio wasn’t all genuine, and I could not understand what paintings I wanted to be doing, because I knew many of those were simply me doing the work that was necessary to have a final product. I am still struggling with this idea of what work I feel is important and why, and I am hoping to figure it out as I go.