For anyone interested...

Summertime: A Much Needed Break

So we're about a month and a half into our summer vacation and I hope everyone is enjoying it. For some, it's a great time to kick back, drink a beer, listen to some CCR, meet up with friends and family, go to shows, go somewhere far far away from the photo basement. For others, like myself, it's somewhat of a halt. Considering that most of the seniors from last year are graduating in January, there is undoubtedly a sense of a want to finish up and move on. This is how I've felt of recent weeks (living in my dad's basement, one can understand), however, realizing that only one semester (two for others) stands between you and graduation, it is essential to ease into a much needed break from academia.

I'm not saying shutting off your brain completely is the conclusive element, but rather taking comfort in knowing you got 2 more months before things start heating up again. We're so wound on school and finances that sometimes we forget about the recreational moments that we most wholeheartedly enjoy. So yeah, take a day to sit on your ass, go to the zoo, visit a friend abroad, take a walk with a family member, get to know others. Do something now because honestly it may be a long time before vacation time awaits us in the "real world".

xo George

I know it has been awhile

How does the summer get more crazy then school year? Whew, well it is good to be back on the blog, I hope all of your summers are going well, all the internships, the job hunts, the endless search for meaning!
I would love to give you a word for word description on all the fabulous art I've been making, but let's be honest... it has sadly gotten pushed to the side. It is painful for me to say it, but for those of you in the same boat-- feel no shame! That can happen in school. The rush of the deadlines and crits inevitably ends with a burned out artist. However, what I like to focus on is that creating and thinking are intertwined in every aspect of life.
Maybe my art is taking the form of a conversation, an outfit, sidewalk chalk drawings, or painting my butt wiped-haggard-transportation-device I like to call a car. It is everywhere my friends, it is in our blood. No matter what form you are taking at this point in your life-year-summer-day-hour you are carrying your perspective with you. Your life-lense does not just disappear. But that being said,
do something with it.
Take notes.
Write.
Tag a Do Not Enter Sign (but don't vandalize, it is against the law you know)
Read a book.
Watch people.
Watch yourself.
And then you take it all in, you carry it around and let it grow on you, this changing that we will always be going through. Look and see how you change.
Then show someone, not "reality", everyone knows that is a lie. Show us your own version of truth, because that is what I want to see, be genuine, the world will know. Or at least someone will.
Yours Always,
xoxo
Charlie

No rest for the wicked...

Hello! Greetings from Suburbia, I have officially left the basement, but my heart is still in the cold dark cage with my fellow photo neurotics.
The semester has ended, and it is past, in the past, past-tense. Which can truly be a beautiful opportunity. Remember all those things you needed tweaking? those skill sets you needed to brush up on? GET CRACKIN' and if you forget what they are... I am happy to remind you (only kidding, maybe)
I would like to share this thought with you
"Success is less interesting then struggle. There is great pleasure in the effort" -Willa Cather

And Pt. 2; 'why we make stuff'

Because nothing else I do gives me as much frustration or satisfaction upon completion, it makes it worth everything. (Megan Bogart)

So people can eat it. (Kelly Talbot)

I don't know how else to communicate; I create because otherwise I'd be mute. (Keristin Gaber)

Because dick drawings will always be funny... (Jesse Ruskap)

To make sense of me. (Steph Hedges)

My creations tell me what I'm trying to say. (Rachel Kotkoskie)

Because the world is stupid, some of my work documents the stupidity; some of my work, which I like better, is about the meditative process of creating...which allows me to escape the idiocy. (Bridgette Larson)

Because my ADD is way too bad to work in a cubicle all day (Ana Tamaccio)

It makes me feel sexy. (Brittany Beltramo)

xoxo

-Charlie

Katie Ames "I Am Not" BFA Thesis Show May 20th

Katie's Show will be opening from 6-9pm on May 20th. This year has been a constant struggle for Katie. Going back and forth with different images and concepts, we have had many discussions here at the photo department about her work. Needless to say, her growth as a visual artist has reached exciting new levels these past couple months and she has now produced what will be an outstanding show. I have had the pleasure of seeing her through this strenuous

process and coming out of it with a bold understanding of not only her work but also her own personality as well. Please come witness and celebrate with us on May 20th as we begin to kick off the summer.

Congratulations Katie,

xoxoGeorge

This is why...

It is just about that time, assignments are over, those intimidating class crits have (mostly) come to an end. Your professor won't be asking you that terrifying question ("how is it going?"). No more deadlines, for some this is a scary thought... for others, it is a relief.
The summer is a perfect time to play, there is no one peering over your shoulder, there are no expectations. After all, isn't that our true love of what we do? To create freely?
So I am here to remind you, and to share with you...why we all do that thing we do

Artist's in their own words...

- Because it's way more fun then writing papers ( Mike Perry)
- To express an inner thought ( Molly Dwyer)
- It's all I know...well, and how to communicate with whales; but only one of those talents has a place in society (Ashley Scriv)
- To process life (Christi Fail)
- To explore on the inside (Chelsea Mahaffey)
- The day I stop making art is the day I stop learning (Eunice Yu)
- Because a lot of the time I am too shy to say what I think out loud (Tiffany Shelly)
- How else would I be able to make giant paper airplanes just for the hell of it? (Matt Giacomucci)
- Because I forget how to follow guidelines, and keep losing the syllabus (Jess Stewart)

Keep it legit people. Graduating Seniors-- I will miss you all dearly, it has been an honor to see your work, and to work alongside you.

xoxo,
Charlie

Well, well, well

Juniors have received their portfolios today. Perhaps not the moment of truth we all thought it would be.
Someone wise said to me, "You have to know the rules before you can break them."
This, I think, is the artist's mantra. More importantly, people need to know that we know the rules before they accept the breaking of them. Maybe we have to fix some things up, re-do something else or maybe we are just fine. But let's keep it all in perspective.

It is hard for me to see rules, regulations, or (god forbid) assignments as having much merit or value. However, they are put it place for a reason (depending on what you make of them) and are tools to push us forward, or challenge us.
Truthfully, I have gotten some of my most exciting ideas from weeding through the "guidelines". Test the boundaries, you have to do this to move forward. Let go, lay it out there, and when it fails, or doesn't work how you want it to, try another angle.
This is how we learn.
Try for the sake of trying.

xoxo,
Charlie