As I’m sure you’ve noticed…

I have not been posting to this blog faithfully, as I should. I’m currently going through a rough patch, family wise, and not living at home. I will be back in Atlanta on Monday (the 13th) and will begin a new version of the physical portion of this project as it will be too expensive for me to ship the current canvas. I will post every day, from my phone of computer, of the adventures of this project when I return.

 

In other news, two Saturdays ago while I was sitting at Starbucks, I met a wonderful woman named Eva. As it turns out, she was an Auschwitz survivor. Her amazing story touched me so deeply that I was in tears by the end of it. To hear the horrors from a person who witnessed and lived through it was absolutely honoring. She has recently been in the news for bringing to light some German, four part harmony, cantor music that was nearly a century old. You may find an article on her HERE.

 

I can’t wait to be back in Decatur and begin classes. I wish I were able to continue with my current plans for the project, but as with most things in my life, I’m just trying to roll with the punches. I know I’ll come up with something better and get my creative juices flowing.

So I screwed up…..

I accidentally added two posts two my Art blog rather than this blog, so I’m going to post the links to the blogs Here and Here.

Next time, I’ll make sure to actually post on the right blog! Oops!

PLOG

What is a PLOG?

In art, I was required to create a blog on which I was supposed to post about my processes. Just a little something to keep track of how my work in Visual Thinking was progressing, what I learned in the class. Nothing complicated, but something to watch my progress. With this blog I plan to do the same.

I recently took a trip to Germany with my school. We stayed for two weeks and visited several cities, including Berlin, Köln, and Weimar. During these two weeks, each student (there were 12 of us) was required to come up with a final project to present to the group (and the student body at large ) in September of next semester.

I decided to create a photographic series in which I photographed people around the cities we visited. I had to ask their permission, explain what I was using the photo for, and compose the photo in a similar fashion to the rest of the images.

I decided to do this because it involved two areas of interest: photography and the German language. But what I discovered as the trip went on is that this project also allowed me to explore my anxiety. 

I have been struggling with severe anxiety disorders since I was young. In this last semester, I had a lot of problems related to my disorders, and ultimately was prescribed medication to help calm my nerves and allow me to function better on a daily basis. I knew medication was not the “cure-all” for anxiety, but once I had been on it for several weeks, it seemed to disappear completely.

With this project, I was able to explore my disorder after medication. I had good days and bad days, which I could see through the number of people I was willing to ask, and how upset I was at their rejection. My ability to speak German was severely lessened on bad days, and I got flustered easily. 

I pushed myself to do things my disorder had never let me do before, and I have to say it is very validating to know that, with some internal convincing, I can do anything I want to, even if it scares me. 

So, to wrap this post up, I will be using this blog to comment on my process for this project. I intend to create a solid art piece as well as a smaller journal to present in September. I will be posting pictures from the trip (but not the photos that will appear on my piece sorry Herr Graml!) as well as pictures from the journal I am creating. Bits and pieces will come together and culminate in what I hope to be a successful work.