I majored in Crafts

I have a BFA in Crafts.  I am not lying, under this I studied jewelry making, stained glass, wood working, & ceramics.  I chose to concentrate in ceramics.  So, the long & short of it is I have a BFA in ceramics.  Our art department was very small leading to only one ceramics professor, one jewelry & stained glass professor, & one wood working professor who also taught graphic design.  Meaning there wasn't enough faculty to make all of those their own department.  Graphic design students had 3 professors, Crafts had 3 (sharing one with graphic design), Print & Paper had 2, and Art History had 1 + an adjunct, Photography had 2 (one shared with graphic design).  We were tiny.  Which made for a well rounded artist.

Being an art major was the best decision of my life.  I got to explore being creative, finding my voice, and most importantly I got to create.  Every day I was surrounded by ridiculously awesome print makers, graphic designers, paper makers, etc.  It was amazing.  I haven't even begun to learn the things I wanted to learn once I graduated.  It was like falling into the rabbit hole. 

I am excited to be taking a ceramics class at the community center where I live.  In college I focused on hand building & sucked at wheel throwing.  At one point, I believe I did throw (against a wall) a piece of clay.  (Don't tell any one.)

My parents' hated that I changed my major. At first I changed it to graphic design, because I wanted to do something creative that could pay the bills.  Then I sat in front of a computer all class with nothing tangible at the end & decided that I'd learned enough about Illustrator & it was time to get to making.  Changing my major to focus on ceramics meant I wanted to do something creative & I'd learn to pay the bills.  

Right now, I am not actively making & selling ceramic works because I feel I am not as qualified as I'd like to be, especially in the throwing department.  I have a new found love for thrown pottery & am excited to be able to develop my skills. I am getting there.  Hopefully with in the next few months I'll be taking another grand leap of faith & start to offer some pottery up to the masses.

The point of this post is to prove to you that I'm not making it up!  I now offer my Senior Show in May of 2011

So there you have it.  I made garden gnomes that look like gang members.  I made them to be funny.  I made them to explore the deeper issue of how we confront societal issues& how we are more similar to our fellow man than we are different.

View my artist website, statement, & other works here.