presentations and critiques

Every Friday morning I have a biology lab meeting; and at least once a semester every member of the lab has to present on their current research.  As artist in residence in Dr. Ashley Seifert's lab, I usually treat my presentations as practice "artist talks".  I presented this past Friday and have found it helpful in preparing for this weeks crit in Grad Seminar.  As much as I hate sitting down and trying to write an artist statement (let's be real- everyone hates it) prepping for last Friday's presentation helped me get my thoughts organized for this week.  I'm still hammering out the statement - and some of the work - so I'll post those things tomorrow.




However, in the studio this week, I have felt so very productive.  Normally, I tend to work in 4 hour stints, but this week they have been 6 to 8 hour sessions.  One reason, I think this is, is because I have multiple pieces going at the same time.  They're all within the same series, they relate aesthetically and conceptually, but I don't think they all will be equally successful.  (These days, successful correlates whether or not I think they could be in the MFA solo show next spring.)




Today, I worked for a solid 6 hours.  I decided to call it a day when I thought I might be over-working a particular piece that I've been having trouble with.  I'm eager to see how this piece looks when placed next to the others that are more towards completion.  I like setting the end of my studio days up with something to look forward to the next day.  Usually this means, waiting for a piece to dry; however, tomorrow I'm looking forward to just seeing how it relates to the other pieces in the series.