Final Exhibition!

So as I said before this past week has been solely dedicated to setting up for our final exhibition. It was a pretty sad week watching everyone clean out their studios, but it got exciting once everyone got everything up. I'm not going to lie, I got a bit stressed at some points working around a bunch of other stressed out people. Conclusion: artists should avoid being around other artists during an exhibition hanging haha. Aside from all of that, everything went up pretty smoothly and we were ready for the opening! Before I get to that, here are some photos of the setting up process:

Erica chillin' in mine and Casey's work space

Empty drawing studio!

Me sitting in my almost finished studio space

So we got everything all cleaned up (including as much of the floor as possible, haha) and we were ready! Here are the pictures of mine and Casey's finished studios (minus the chairs):

Hannah's rock quilt!

The opening started at 5 pm and it was so nice; there were tons of people there and some of us actually sold some work! I didn't sell anything but hannah sold three of her paintings which is pretty impressive, I think. It was really great to see everyone all dressed up and to see our work hanging all nicely in the studio spaces. It was also really nice to see the MFA's work and how they set up their gallery (they had been working on it for a good couple weeks before we started getting ours together). Anyways, it was fun, and here are the pictures =)

Kate coloring in Casey's coloring book pages

Studio mates!

Me, Casey, and Hannah with Hannah's rock and hair quilts.

Some of Hannah's paintings

Casey's main works.

And mine.

Erica's studio

And Mandy's rubbings.

Here are some photos from the grad students' works:

Maurice's Confessional. In one side was a bathroom that you could walk into, not sure what was in the other side but there was a peep hole in which you could look into. The door with the peep-hole is labeled private.

Beka's interactive art. Her work is participation based and she goes out into the city and involves the public in her activities and records the reactions and interactions she gets.

Above and below: Emily's work. Her paintings are mostly about the human condition, focusing on the woman.

Angelalynn's performance art piece:

and below are the fragments of her other performance pieces.

Above: More of Emily's paintings - these dealing with human intimacy

Simon's paintings

So those were some of the works in the grad students' gallery. I was very impressed with the work they showed and how they displayed it, I thought it was very successful and I very much enjoyed viewing it.

After looking at all those I set out to wander around our own undergraduate exhibition including the barn, the fishbowl studios, and then back to my own upstairs studio.

Maggie, my lovely roommate, and her giant painting

Above: Emerson's painting and Erica's choice portraits

Below: Emerson's portraits and paintings

My friend Tilly had some works that I thought were thoroughly interesting. Her art this semester was task based so she designed tasks for herself to do for 20 days and then afterwards she designed a month long task project that involved all of us! Those two books are the collections of all of these tasks.

My friend Sarah in her very colorful artwork display

My friend Meghann and our sculpture professor, Onya, in Meghann's studio

Above and Below: different views in the barn studio

Once getting some of those shots I finally went outside to hang out with everyone. It got really cold though after a while and we were all about ready to go home and get ready for the celebrations at Logue's later!

Kendal, Alyssa, Meghann, and Me

Top Row: Sarah, Loretta, Meghan

Bottom Row: Kendal, Alyssa, Meghann, and Me

Erica, Me, and Kate

Everyone outside!

Hannah coloring her FIRST coloring book page, EVER!

After all of the exhibition opening fun we found out there was going to be a disco at Logue's. Obviously we all went, what better way to celebrate our opening!? It was a lot of fun but got a little crazy towards the end so Mandy and I left a bit early (and by early I mean around 1 haha). It was a lot of fun though and overall that day was really wonderful.

Alyssa, Maggie, and Me

Hannah, Me, and Casey

Erica, Hannah, Me, Casey, and Meghann

So yeah, that's about it for that day. This week is the final stretch and it's SO SAD. My friend Kate is leaving today, my friend Alyssa is leaving on Wednesday, and the rest of us are out of here by Friday or Saturday! I cannot believe it's almost over! Today I'm mainly getting stuff done. I had my final critique this morning and it went REALLY well. It was very helpful for the future and gave me some great input on what I've done since I've been here as well as what I should consider as I continue on with everything. I really do think this semester has prepared me for moving on and I'm really excited to start doing some new art next semester.

It's such a beautiful day outside today I can't even STAND it. I'm really hoping the weather stays this nice for the rest of the week! I'm going to TRY and make it out to the Cliffs of Moher sometime before I leave because how could I not, it's right down the road! Other than that, I have to finish up my Irish Studies paper that is due on Wednesday. I'm going to be spending the rest of this day working on that, organizing my things, packing my giant suitcase, doing laundry, and writing a few last post-cards. Also I'll be going to my friend Kate's house to say goodbye. There is a lot to do this week, but I'm ready to take it on. I'll be leaving for Dublin on Friday and I'm really excited to start my traveling adventure! Other than this, I'll update a bit here and there, but I probably won't do another big update until I get to Scotland, or maybe Paris, since I won't have a charger or a lot of time to be wasting on my computer.

Anyways, I need to get back to work. Until next time!