Process

Sometimes I'm so sick of being in my building at RISD I could scream. I could run down six flights of stairs out onto Weybosset Street and never look back. We spend a lot of hours there. A lot. Under flourescent lights, on painfully uncomfortable stools, hunched over computers, with no fresh air. Sometimes its too much.

But sometimes, even during finals, I see something that is so incredible I remember to thank my lucky stars I'm there. Sometimes its a classmate helping me when we all could be using every precious moment to help ourselves. Sometimes its seeing the work of an undergrad, one bay over, infinitely more talented than I. And sometimes its something like this poster.

Seem silly ? It's for two reasons really. For one, I love the validity it's giving Foundation (read freshman) student's work. "triennial exhibition ?" I'm pretty sure I had nothing close to this for anything I took as a freshman. And announced on this awesome poster. And you know what ? They deserve it. Sometimes I come in at 7 am, and the only other worker bees in the studio are undergrads. When I read in the alumni magazine about the incredible things graduates are doing I can see why--they weren't just pushed and worked, they were also celebrated and revered. Their work is given importance.

But my second point before I digress too much... Is the graphics of this poster. I love it. I love that cheap greyish paper on a roll, that every art student in America has used, peeling off a critique wall, that every art student in America has pinned up on. I am standing in this room so easily. The textures and smells are so familiar.

And it is all, after all, process, right ? Whether a foundation student half way through year one, or Zaha Hadid choosing her next commission. We're all in Process.

So guess what ? By the time you read this I won't be in the States. Im with RISD folks, in Northern India. New surroundings, new (old) medium (photography), new language, new professors, new class. The beginning of another process that will lead me to my next.

I am hoping to post from there. But if you don't hear from me for a couple weeks, its because Im meandering around a religious pilgrimage town -- snapping photos, writing, and soaking up as much of this new place as possible.