Senior Year; part 2

I was very anxious to get back to Iowa City in the fall of ’99 to start my senior year. If you hadn’t guessed it, Dan was the boy that followed me from camp. It was obvious to us that we were compatible and both really liked each other; however we had previously gone through some ups and downs. So we talked. Like adults. (It was crazy). I was surprised to hear the words come out of my mouth because I really, really liked him and didn’t want to, but near the end of the summer I told him exactly how I felt. I said that I liked him, but I was tired of the game. Simply put; I was moving on. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened. From that moment on, we were inseparable.

I have to admit, having a boyfriend came in handy when I moved into my new apartment. And that was one of the many reasons (after moving my stuff NINE times in THREE years between summer camp, dormitories, and apartments) my dad really liked him too. My new apartment was on the corner of Church and Dubuque Street and I shared it with two new roommates. A major benefit to my new place was the much shorter walk to and from the Art building. I would still look goofy carrying 18”x24” drawing pads of paper, art projects, my design tool tackle box and portfolios to class, but it would be much easier. My new apartment was also one of those places I mentioned in Part 1 that had parking spots available for rent. And by now, I saw the advantage to renting one. Why wouldn’t I want a VIP spot? Heck yes. Of course I also thoroughly enjoyed the adrenaline rush upon returning to my apartment to see some fool (probably some dumb freshman girl) parked in my spot, subsequently requiring me to call a tow truck, show them my signed lease and rightful ownership of the spot, and have her ass towed. Heh heh. I miss that. I do. I really do.

My art classes would include drawing, painting, and design. By this point I had eliminated all of the required puke coursework so what was left to finish up was my favorite types of art classes and gym. It was awesome. This year there was a married couple from Montana visiting as art instructors, and I am so thankful for them: Terry Carson and Sara Mast. Terry was my professor for “Life Drawing” and Sara for “Painting I.” In all my years of school they are the two teachers that stand out; they are the two that I will always remember. I’m sure they had a similar impact on all of their students, but I especially felt like when I was in their class they were teaching to me alone; they were speaking just to me.

In “Life Drawing” we spent our class period drawing the human body in the naked form. Yes, I have seen lots of people naked and drawn them. Yes, completely naked including their boobies and pee-pees. When I tell most people this first their eyes get all big, they gasp, and then snicker. It just seems ridiculous to most. The truth is that I owe a lot to those models. Without them I wouldn’t have been able to learn how to draw the human form. Through the semester I gained an appreciation for the human body and learned to see it as a work of art.

Terry encouraged me at each class, giving me constructive criticism when I needed it. I started to notice that when I tried to draw perfectly or like the others in my class, he didn’t approve. He liked it when I drew the way that I wanted to; fast, big, always with charcoal, smudging and blending with my fingers and an eraser. Through class discussions and reviews I gained confidence in my drawing abilities. I still remember the day back when I first arrived at Iowa and ran into a friend and talented artist who was in the Art Education program. We were talking about our art projects and he told me that artistic talent is not hereditary. I was shocked to hear that because I had assumed he was just born with the ability to draw. “You learn the skills, and you learn to see things differently,” he told me. That was happening to me.

“Painting I” was a totally new experience for me. Outside of walls, furniture, and some camp signage, I had not painted since I was a kid. Our primary medium was oil paints. We painted both on paper and canvases that we learned how to prepare ourselves. To this day I love to assemble and gesso my own canvas. For that reason I will never buy one that is “ready-made.” If you know me well, this shouldn’t come as surprise.

I was thrilled for the chance to use color in painting. None of my previous art classes involved color. For design we created black and white technical drawings, and for drawing classes we used black charcoal. Color was new and exciting. I found myself intimidated at first but it became empowering. I am the artist; I can use the colors I want to. I loved making my own rules; altering and replacing colors as I chose, using swift strokes of paint and understated lines to create form. Just as Terry encouraged me to do things with my own style, Sara provided the same type of encouragement. I noticed that of my paintings, the ones that I painted quickly (Maybe because I procrastinated on the assignment?) were her favorite. I soon realized that it was because when I painted quickly I didn’t over think it.

The freedom of loose expression in drawing and painting were balanced by rigidity and problem solving in my design classes. I needed both. My final design class was titled “Problems in Design: Form and Function.” My instructor’s name was Cory; I had him for a couple of other design classes already so I knew his teaching style well. All of my design classes presented a challenge of some sort; I particularly enjoyed the challenges he presented in this class emphasizing the necessity that a design not only be appealing but also serve its purpose. Make a chair out of cardboard. I knew fully well that he had to be able to sit in it. Build a bridge out of a single repeating block. The catch - it must support a bucket of sand hanging from it. The projects almost always required annoying trips to Menards for plywood, dowels, wire, etc. I had a slight advantage in the class having a boyfriend that worked construction! I would show Dan my sketches and he wouldn’t try to change my design or do (much of) the work for me, but he would help me find the best materials and tools that I needed.

At the end of each design class we were required to turn in a portfolio, which counted for the majority of our grade. You could skip every class if you wanted to, but you had to be able to complete the portfolio (which would be difficult even if you missed one class). It included slides that we were to have taken of each project created, along with absolutely perfect photocopies of the line drawings of the forms. It took a ridiculous amount of time, bottles of white-out, and many trips to Kinkos to assemble all necessary parts of the portfolio. They were so time consuming in fact that the previous year I made a little call to Bath and Body Works and quit my job over the phone because I didn’t have enough time that week to both work and complete a design portfolio. (I can still hear my manager’s self righteous voice “You will never work for Bath and Body Works or a Bath and Body Works affiliated company again!” Darn). The portfolio was a lot of work, but it was such a sense of accomplishment when finished. With this design class I felt that more than with any other as I opened my portfolio and saw an ‘A+’ scribbled in Cory’s handwriting. It wasn’t a grade normally given, especially by him. It was the frosting on my cake.