Trucking Along

My first few months of graduate school have been as intense as I thought they were going to be. At first, It felt as though things here would be much simpler then undergraduate school, but boy was I wrong. I am constantly growing and extending my boundaries through new learned process and experimentation. My studio time has been doubled from undergraduate school and I am excited by it. My studio work has begun to progress in directions that I did not expect, for instance, using iron casting. I have also begun to divert from my conceptual ties and focus on the materiality of objects and forms that I deal with. My new focus on material interaction has been greatly beneficial and I look forward to further growth. I am building friendships with the other graduate students that seem to really foster creativity and constructive critiques. I am feeling very fortunate to have Kyle Blalock and Zach Dietl around for company and constructive criticism. Also, I have some pretty incredible professors and their skill is astounding! I have started to dip my toes into the world of printmaking and have been developing my own techniques for inking up the plate. This new process yields very interesting prints. I have also been taking cross sections of my prints and blowing them up on a computer to exemplify certain areas. I find this particularly alluring being that I rarely use the computer in conjunction with my work.

I went to SAW in late September and enjoyed the group appeal of working in an iron casting community. I was able to cast four molds and two turned out, initially I was a little disappointed but I learned a lot during the process that I could take with me. In the way of iron pours, RIT just had a small school pour that I directed and skimmed for the first time. I feel so empowered! I am quiet excited to continue in this view of ironwork as long as it lends itself to my work.

I feel so fortunate to be here, I am internally always worried that I am going to get caught here and kicked out as if I don’t belong and that its too good to be true! More and more though, I have found myself belonging here at RIT and am happy to be settling in. I am working on fixing my computer so that I can update my portfolio!

Until the next time,

Make good choices,

Jacquelyn O'Brien