It 's Chili

Today is February 5th, 2010 and I am having my second snow day here at SU. The first snow day was during the 2nd semester of my freshman year. Classes were canceled after 12:30 pm and I remember finding this out AFTER I got out of my two morning classes. Today, classes are canceled after 2 pm. Guess what? I had one class today and it was from 9:30-10:50am.

That's right.
You are reading the blog of a diligent student.
I should write that on my resume: WILLING TO GO TO WORK DURING A SNOW DAY.

Luckily, work study students get out early today so that's a plus.
On my way to delivering something today, I stopped by a chili contest located in the pathway of the HBC building.

Charlotte, one of the workers at the recruitment office entered her chili recipe today and it was DELISH! It had the perfect amount of meat and wasn't too spicy. It was perfect to eat chili outside in a day like this. I got to enjoy the panoramic view of Narnia in our quad while eating a warm bowl of chili.

GOOD LUCK CHAR! I HOPE YOU WIN (***WAVEEE!!***)

Let's S L O W D O W N

The Winter Olympics have been really fun to watch. My personal favorite is the Men's Figure Skating. I was rooting for Plushenko (AMAZING quadruple axle) but I think Evan Lysacek really deserved gold. When he was chanting to himself, "yes!" after finishing his routine, I wanted to cry. Well deserved. Though women skaters can be more sensual and fluid with their bodies, I found that the men skaters are better performers. I don't know why that is. Something about their weight on ice or something.

I feel that all my assignments and exams have been nothing but a countdown to graduation. I really want to learn how to be prompt yet feel challenged and enjoy the things that I am doing. In my advanced illustration class, we now have the liberty to do a 5-7 series of paintings of our CHOICE! For the first time I was thinking about what I actually like to illustrate. Until the end of last semester, I always felt that I am a fine artist and that I should stick to painting. Painting is still my first love but recently, I've really grown fond of collage, graphic art and design. Regardless of my medium, I never had a subject that I was in love with. I enjoy problem solving and just doing whatever is given to me.

I decided that I want to do a series of the top psychological disorders. It is a dark topic but I think there are a lot of emotions that can be captured. Something like obsessive-compulsive disorder can be very whimsical. Of course, I have do this very accurately according to the symptoms, without being offensive in anyway. I'm pretty excited. This is well linked with my psychology minor.


-g

McQueen, Art and the Fear of Losing Creativity

As many of you may know, last week, designer Alexander McQueen passed away. I didn't know how to react other than repeating, "oh my god" every other minute. My roommate is a fashion guru and McQueen happened to be her favorite designer. She wore black and mourned for the rest of the day. Of course other things ran through my mind such as, "who is going to take over his company," "how much will his clothes cost now," and, "will his last collection in Paris be displayed to the public?" I think what concerned me the most was that, McQueen's avant-garde designs that were already changing the world will soon come to an end and perish.

Yesterday, I talked to one of my close friends back at home (we'll call her Chloe), who also happens to be a fashion fanatic, and asked her how she felt about the death of this international prodigy. What she said changed my whole view on this artist's death.

Surprisingly, Chloe wasn't upset at all. She claimed that she was, "just okay." Then she explained that McQueen had a lot of "shadowers" that worked diligently next to him and learned a lot about his techniques, craftsmanship, and flamboyant designs. I was comforting for me to hear because it assured me that McQueen's designs and creativity will not go to waste but be farther expanded in the future.

How does this effect me as an artist and illustrator? When my roommate first told me that she was bawling in her room, I initially thought it was a little extraneous. The only way I could relate to her was to think about my favorite artist or illustrator dying. The death of McQueen made me realize the beauty of artists passing along their creativity and influencing the future creators. Not that we should all mimic or imitate current artists just in case they die but it really is important to make sure that "good art" spreads like wildfire.

I've become really appreciative of internships and jobs that work under different artists. I know a lot of my friends and I complain about internships and jobs because many of them are non-paid and they end up becoming an humbling task. Now that I think about it, it's really a blessing in disguise. Especially when you are working for or under an artist, you could only learn and stimulate your creative mind.

I'm looking forward to see fashion going to the next level. Not that clothes should necessarily look like McQueen's but like McQueen's, they should change, shock and disturb. He definitely brought wearable art into the fashion industry.

R.I.P Lee Alexander McQueen.


-g

Juggling

I've never felt so busy in my life. On top of studios, assembling a portfolio, and exams, I have interviews to prepare for. If I had all the money in the world, I would buy time.

Good news: I finally have a website domain! Yeah, I know, many visual art majors already have a website but this is a big deal for me! I only bought a domain name in class. I don't know how to function a website but I will soon. When I finally make everything, you can check out my stuff at www.ginakimart.com. Unfortunately, "ginakim.com" was already taken. It's sad because the gina kim from ginakim.com sounds sooooooooo cool. Apparently she's a famous film maker and won many awards for her accomplishments. I want to be Gina Kim.

Speaking of films, my friend Shane shared a cool film in class today. It is called, Civilization by Marco Brambilla. It shows different spiritual realms, starting with hell and ending with hell. Brambilla's interpretation of hell is pretty cool. If you watch the film carefully, it is a collaboration of many different clips and scenes collaged together. Check out Civilization on his website, http://marcobrambilla.com/home.html.
-g

You Know You're A Senior When...

1. Your next assignment is to make a postcard for the illustration portfolio postcard book.

2. You're not getting enough sleep AND no longer have time to do experimental artwork.

3. Your professor is not getting enough sleep because of his or her senior class.

4. Going on back to back interviews.

5. Your classmate asks a question about what name to use for a publication after you get married. (That just means you're getting old)

6. When parents start talking about marriage.

7. When your upcoming birthday plans do not seem interesting because your 21st birthday was last year.

8. When you're filling out applications for Lubin House.

9. When you hear your senior friends saying, "enjoy this moment while it lasts" while treading through snow.

10. When you find yourself wishing and dreading Mayfest at the same time. Wishing because of the great weather and fun times... dreading because the end is near.


MUST ENJOY EVERY SECOND OF MY TIME. JUST WASTED 10 MINS WRITING THIS LIST. I just wasted 10 mins of my senior year.


-g