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December 16, 2007
I'm Not Making Any Promises...
... but I think I'll be finishing up the grading today.
At least I saved the best for last. I'm grading student artwork. So far, the stuff I've seen has been passionate, interesting and beautiful. Even the one student who doesn't like to present things that aren't perfect and so always turns in art that is highly polished but all surface took a risk. I don't know whether he realizes it, but several things in his piece suggest that his rigid control is slipping. Textures, shapes and the stuff that he usually keeps tightly under wraps is all starting to poke through. If he comes back to our class next semester, I think he'll have an amazing breakthrough. He's right on the edge of it now.
Speaking of breakthroughs, one of our toughest nuts, a student who adheres to the strictly intellectual whenever possible, turned in a drawing in oil pastels that was so personal and passionate and alive that it made me cry. Had you asked me at midterm whether she would be capable of it, I would have said no. I didn't think she'd let her guard down enough to dive into the deep emotional places. Something changed right after the midterm, though, and she's been taking more and more risks in her work. This final piece is absolutely gorgeous. I'm tearing up again just thinking about the power of it. I can hardly wait to show it to my teaching partner. I only wish that student was coming back to our class for the spring. She's not. Scheduling conflicts within her major won't allow for it, which is a pity. I hope she can keep exploring on her own.
I spent the morning sleeping in and doing some artsy stuff. Nothing exciting, just going through Christmas catalogues for images to stick in my files and going through my files for images to stick on a book cover. I think I found some useful stuff. Not exactly what I wanted, but I'll deal. Maybe I'll have a creative breakthrough myself as a result of the restrictions. That happens sometimes.
Yesterday I finished grading exams and then cleaned my office. It was so nice to have it back to the tidy cozy space it began as, rather than the crazy, messy cave it had become over the past few months. Last night I bought some office supplies so I can update my filing and organize things a bit more. It's really annoying to me that Office Despot has such limited assortments of things like bookends. They're so much more convenient to get to than Staples (where I almost always end up anyway, I should just go there first), and now I have to make a second trip.
I also need to go to a building supply store. My office is so hot most of the time that the front 1/3 of the formica has peeled off the top of my desk. I need to bond it back down. I figure that will be one of the last things I do before leaving it for several days, so that it can outgas and cure while I'm not there. That will be Monday's project, I think.
Right. Time to shove the cat off my sweatshirt, put on my boots, gird my loins and head off to campus to finish the grading. I'm actually looking forward to it. In all honesty, it's really a sweet deal. I'll put some Zelinka on the laptop, make myself a mug of tea, and pore over souls put to canvas and metal and paper.
Posted by sally at December 16, 2007 11:06 AM
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