MELISSA GRANILLO, PART 6

It looks like I’m a little late on this blog, but I have a good excuse! I’ve been swamped with homework. Last week in my computer assisted graphics class our project #2 changed into a real client based project! I’m excited about this one because I will be contributing my design sense to a poster, catalog and invitation. Two graduate exhibition design students are holding a show next fall that includes the work of seven women from in the states and internationally. For those of us taking this class for the second time, we get to create a poster for the exhibition. We will all be competing for the best one. The great thing is that my friend and I are going to be creating the catalog this summer so it will be a great addition to my resume and portfolio. So, if my poster doesn’t make it, I’ll still be working on the catalog.

By the way, I read last week's blog entry titled “Why Apply for a Scholarship?” posted by the Assistant Dean and I wanted to comment on my experiences on this subject. I can actually apply the importance of trying to get a scholarship or grant for my current situation in class. For our poster that we will be creating, we are going to use a process called silk-screen and in order to do this we need the funding for material such as ink and paper. With the assistance of one of the graduate students and my teacher, I wrote a 1,500 word grant proposal explaining the importance of funding for our project. If we get the grant, we won’t have to worry about funds.

In the past I have applied for financial aid through the FAFSA and I received a nice sum of money to afford my education at Cal State Fullerton. As for scholarships, I was fortunate enough to be awarded the John & Flora Olsen Scholarship for BFA students last fall. I really didn’t think I was going to win and I sent in my works of art and surprisingly received a congratulations letter and $600 in the mail! I always thought and worried about college expenses because I have to pay for a lot of them. My parents try to help, but with todays prices on everything it’s tough.

As Dean Harris writes, it’s so important to apply; don’t ever doubt yourself!

PS: the images attached to this post is one of my scholarship application submissions.

-Melissa :)

DANA TUSKEWICZ, CERAMICIST, PART 4

Last week about eight of us from ceramics took a trip to Louisville, Kentucky. Now why would we voluntarily sit packed like sardines in an airplane for hours to arrive at a place where all Starbuck’s close at 5 PM? Because of NCECA of course. NCECA stands for the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. It’s an annual conference that lasts for about four days. It involves a lot of visiting galleries, buying tools from venders, trying to score freebies from venders, getting information about grad schools, schmoozing, partying, dancing, not sleeping, partying some more, looking at more galleries and listening to charming and witty speakers (well they are usually charming and witty, but you can’t win every time right?).

I think I took a lot back from this trip. I feel very happy to be involved in such a friendly and supportive group of people known as potters, also commonly referred to (lovingly or not) as mud people, clay people, dirt people, etc. I think we really were able to bond with each other, and our professors and I think that it shows in the studio now that we are back. The environment is much more mellow and I feel as though there is a greater level of appreciation towards one another. Either from those that are happy we are back because the studio was so lonely, or from those of us that had to hang out with each other for four days straight!

As far as the conference’s influence on my work, I have mixed feelings about that. I think initially it left me feeling very disappointed and jaded and trying to point fingers at what was making me feel this way. I realized though, all this is in my control and I’m the one that needs to inspire myself to make work. So I guess it’s fair to say I’ve been pretty productive since I got back, and I guess I owe that to NCECA.

Oh, and by the way, the campus partially funded our trip. Yahoo! It wasn’t a lot, but every little bit helps.
NCECA

LOST, FOUND, AND/OR STOLEN VIDEO

I've uploaded the video from the two-man painting show in February. Chris Mancuso and Michael Nikolas exhibit their converging sensibilities and styles in this show, even showing a large-scale piece they collaborated on. Chris describes the working relationship near the end of the video. Working partnership. Collaboration. Synergy. Whatever you want to call it, it's here and it works.
LOST, FOUND, AND/OR STOLEN

WHY APPLY FOR A SCHOLARSHIP?

I hope that my earlier prompt to review the Office of Financial Aid's scholarship link clued you into an important source of funding for your education: scholarships and grants. If you did review the list then you undoubtedly came across the Myrt Purkiss scholarship for first time freshman, and the Community College Transfer scholarship for transfer students--two scholarships I coordinate specifically for art students. Well, the deadline for both is soon approaching (April 23), so I guess
it's time to share the application with you.

You should have received a copy of the appropriate application in my weekly email. If you didn't email me and I'll send one off to you.

The application is self-explanatory so I won't review the requirements here (email me questions, however). What I want to say here is why you should channel some of your precious time into applying.

So, why apply for a scholarship? The number two reason to apply for a scholarship is the money. Both of these scholarships award students $1000. Now, if you win, you're up $1000 you didn't have before. Cool. On the other hand, you might be saying, $1000? That's barely 1/3 a year's worth of tuition. Why bother?

Indeed, why bother. Furthermore, the campus has all sorts of additional awards in
the $100 - $500 range you'll be able to compete for. $100? Again, why bother?

Glad you asked. The number one reason to apply for scholarships? Self promotion and seriousness. Another way to put it: winning--no matter the size of the check--looks great on a resume, and, it shows you are serious about your work and your ambitions.

Each one of you is pursuing art because your mom, a teacher--someone whose opinion you respect--thinks you are the world's next Rodin, Picasso, Cassatt--whomever. That support is a great confidence booster. However, that's not the sort of support you can place on a resume. What shines on a resume and what future employers like to see is that you are serious enough about your art to have applied for a scholarship or submitted work to an art competition and a group of impartial judges chose your work as the best. That's the sort of recognition that gets you additional awards, freelance jobs, and employment. The more acknowledgements of your talent you can collect, the better.

Lastly, I'll tell you that historically I don't get a lot of applications for
these two competitions. I'm hoping that based on this little speech, this year will be different. A very bad reason for not applying (and unfortunately, it's a common one) is the tendency of young artists to dismiss their ability. No matter who your are, and how talented you are, there's always going to be someone who's more talented or grabs more attention. The best way to respond to that, in my mind, is to work harder, continue developing your craft, and get your work out there in competitions and exhibitions. You'll eventually get noticed.

To bring this sermon down to Earth, in the applied arts--graphic design, illustration, animation--sheer talent will take you far. But talent + a strong work ethic will take you even farther. Think about it: if you are producing an animated feature and a deadline is drawing near, you're going to hire the freelancer who will put in consistent 16 hour days for a month than the flaky star animator who had the ideas that launched the project, but who may or may not
show up for work.

Okay, enough already. Just apply. The money's good: the job and art therapy is better.

MELISSA GRANILLO, PART 5

Busy, busy, busy! I’m in full swing with classes and projects galore. My graphic design class is my favorite even though we always have a lot of work. As I was talking about last week, we have to create a 3D design. For our homework we have to construct two of our best ideas using cheap computer paper--sort of a mock up of what the final would look like. I have this really cute idea of creating a box that’s in the shape of a bumble bee. The box will be constructed with black paper and the yellow stripes on it I’m going to cut out and put a transparency behind them. Basically, when a person looks at the box they can see yellow jelly beans inside the container. My idea is to call them “Jelly Bees.” I figure, there are gummy worms out there so why not candy bees?

For computer graphics we haven’t started our next project yet, but we will be constructing a website that will focus on music. It’s a group project and the few people who are taking the class a second time are going to work on it together. It will be good experience to focus on a team effort. I’ll fill you all in on how it’s coming along. Eventually it should be up and running by the end of the semester.

-Melissa :)

REFRESH VIDEO

For those of you who missed the art department's faculty show last fall, you can catch it here thanks to my entrepid videographer, Ami. The show's title was Refresh--an apt title in my opinion. Not every faculty member exhibited work, but every area is represented. Enjoy.
REFRESH

DANA TUSKEWICZ, CERAMICIST, PART 3

Every Spring semester we take the same field trip in ceramics. We do the following, in the exactly the same order, every time: see the AMOCA show in Pomona, walk around the corner to the Armstrong gallery, drive up to Claremont, see the Annual Scripps College show, and go out to dinner. This year was better because we finally got to see the Marer collection that’s in the basement at Scripps. For those who don’t know what the Marer collection is, allow me to enlighten you.


Fred Marer has a huge collection of art, mainly ceramics, that is now housed in the basement at Scripps college. It is the greatest thing in the world because you can actually pick up the work. There are literally boxes and boxes of ceramics. You open a filing cabinet drawer and there is more ceramics. It’s crazy because you can dig through a box , pick up a huge Peter Voulkos platter, and not be kicked out like you would if you were at say, LACMA, or any other such place. To be honest, I kind of, sort of, almost dropped the lid of a Phil Cornelious piece. The guy that was taking us through the collection wasn’t even mad, he just laughed and said something along the lines of, “that’s exactly what Phil has done, turned a piece over to look at the bottom and forgot there was a lid on it.” Seeing the Marer collection made my day, possibly even my week. Go see it. It's worth the drive.

Until next time
Dana

SCRIPPS COLLEGE GALLERY
FRED MAHER COLLECTION
AMOCA

MELISSA GRANILLO, PART 4

Well, it finally got to me. Everyone around me was getting it and I thought I could avoid it. I got sick! I’m almost better now, but I missed a class and work this week because of this cold. It just so happens that this week has been one of the busiest yet and I wasn’t feeling up to par. For photo class we have to shoot and get our film developed by Monday and I was thinking, when was I going to be able to take my pictures, let alone develop them! It’s really difficult to go to school and work part time and I’m amazed by those who work and go to school on a full time schedule. Kudos to them! The thing with photo, for any of you out there interested, most places that develop film are closed on the weekend, which makes it more difficult for we students. But hey, I improvised and I’m going to be okay.

In special studies class my teacher liked the book I created to hold my logos. I just have to take out a few logos and add some in and then I’m good. For our next project we can chose between a postcard, a poster or a 3D design. I’m going to do the 3D design and work on a candy box. In the beginning stages, we have to work on our concept by choosing words that describe our topic. For my candy topic I picked gooey, sweet and tasty. From those words, we have to formulate at least 25 good ideas. I was having trouble with this, but I think I might just be getting the hang of it so I don’t have to stress out too much this weekend.

Till next time,
Melissa :)

CHRIS ALLISON, PART 4

Howdy Future Titan folks!

Just this last weekend we had an exciting event! It was the BOMB, an event
put on by the Pencil Mileage Club. The bomb is an event where lots of
students from the animation department (and anybody else who is curious)
come together to create a short collaborative film. We all cram into the
animation room the whole weekend, working in cramped spaces with little food
or water… Just like the pros!

How it works is that everyone turns in cards with arrows showing how they
want the bomb to enter and exit their animation. Then we string these cards
together so that the bomb will look as though it’s sequentially going from
shot to shot. What happens in the middle is left up to each artist! Some
are funny, some are action packed, but all of them are pretty fun to watch!

Traditionally, the officers animate the beginning and ending to the bomb
(the explosion). I worked on the introduction this year, and it’s been a
tradition that every year the officers come up with something new and
interesting. I can’t wait to show it off, it’ll be exciting!

The BOMB is shown at the end of the year film festival, and people really
look forward to it. I’ll keep you guys updated on when the film festival is
in case anyone would like to come out!

Adios banditos!

Your pal,
Chris