Chelsea Margaret

So as a disclaimer, I wrote this on Saturday, but managed to make it a page instead of a post. Here it is, in the right place. 

 As you were.

Yesterday, was B.F.A. Certification Day. For me, like Judgement Day, only I’m not going to be given the option of being thrown in a fiery hell, or launched up to a place where Seu Jorge writes my everyday soundtrack.

Not TOO terribly different I guess.

My scheduled time was for ten AM, down in the sculpture room. Which is dirty, covered in plaster, and not catered to the 2 D artist at all, but hey, it was a room. I was happy.

Woke up at seven to get a head start on stressing myself and poor Andy out ( I say poor, because he could have easily slept in that day, but he got suckered into helping me load, fix technical problems, and listen to me freak out about where to hang things. A hero for that. ). So, after a fair amount of basket case moments, and some coffee, we headed to the art building to start setting up the room. Swept, moved tables and chairs, found a SWEET beat up coat rack from who knows when, chipped sea foam green paint and missing hangers on it- it was perfect for a series of black collages I did. So I used mounting tape to hang them evenly, and pushed it up against the wall with my other pieces. I wish I had taken a picture, because I was terribly impressed with the way the show looked.

In a nutshell, let’s just say it rocked and move on.

Ten o’ clock hits, and they slowly start to trickle in. Asking questions, making comments……..they seemed to be really impressed with all the work I’d been doing, all unprompted by classwork. I tried really hard not to take thier enthusiasm too seriously, because that happened last time, and we know how that turned out.

The thing about artists, I’ve noticed, is that they like to talk. A lot. And they want to help you by referencing obscure artists and books and theories. If not to help you, to perhaps indicate their vast knowledge base. And another thing I’ve learned with time, is that, if you let them talk, and really listen, they’ll think the world of you. So as we all stood in a circle in my little gallery, I barely had to speak. There’s something about making eye contact with someone and really listening to them that wins them over, and I definitley used that to my advantage. They of course had wonderful ideas and new tangets for me to go on, and I am oh so glad they continued to talk. The great part was, that even if I didn’t feel like they really heard my two cents, I had my artist statemtent ready for them to take along with my cd of images. Perfect.

I felt like a real artist yesterday.

Finished that, then promptly got the supplies to make jell-o shots, made them, and went to blues band rehearsal.

Finished rehearsal, sampled the jell-o shots, then it was off to see Jackass 2, which happened to be playing at the 3.00 theater downtown.

All these things kept me distracted for long enough- until I knew the names were posted on the art office door.

So, on the way to the movie, I made a dramatic entrance to the art building, driving my jeep through the courtyard and parking right in front of the main doors. yeah, I felt like a rebel, even though I knew no one was going to get really worked up over it. There seemed to be some sort of Alumni banquet in the gallery, and I nearly tackled the girls working at the name tage booth which happened to be directly in front of the list.

And guess what.

I GOT IN!!!!

I totally freaked out, attacked Andy who was waiting in my illegally parked car, jumped up and down, all that celebratory business.

And I’ve been in a great mood since!

Now all I have to do is make up for all the classwork I shoved to the back burner because of this.

But let me tell you, I’m sleeping well tonight.