June 17, 2003 : I'm not dead, I'm a graduate
Today is the day of my jury for Transmedia. I have spent the last two weeks or so preparing myself for the next two weeks. Talk about exhaustion!
The schedule goes something like this; from 10 to 1 the jury (art people) walk around and ask you questions and see your work. From 1-3 we have a break. rom 3-6 they deliberate and can call us on our mobile if they want to discuss things further with us. And then around 6 we find out in a somewhat formal meeting with 7 or 8 people around a big table where the victim sits at the opposite end feeling small.
This time last year was the same as this year. Everyone begins getting nervous in the afternoon, even if you think that you're going to pass. Somehow it always ends up convincing me somehow that I'm not going to pass. It's not that I'm overly confident, it's just that sometimes you feel good about your work and at the moment I feel good about my work. But still I was there sitting at the end of the table dead-nervous, out-of-breath because of the stairs, nearly unable to say anything and almost forgetting to say, "thank you" on my way out.
During the lunch pause, Agnes and I took the speed-boat/little Debbie (something was wrong with the muffler/exhaust which is a story that happened on Monday) full of her painting back to her house and were going to settle in for a beer and lunch before heading back on the Metro to school. (She lives over in the area where my exhibition is currently going on.)
She got an SMS from her mother telling her that her grandmother had taken a turn for the worse (she found out a couple of weeks ago that she's got colon cancer) and she had to go to Hanover as soon as possible. I was crushed for her, as distance always makes these things difficult, as I imagine she had wanted to go the previous weekend but couldn't due to getting her stuff together. We called Steven (the director of transmedia) and told him the story and I headed back to be nervous along with my fellow students.
Back at the ranch (former monestary turned Sint-Lukas Hogeschool) we waited in the atrium for our names to be called. One by one we passed...and then one didn't. No news on Agnes either. It was only later that I found out that she didn't pass, something which saddened me quite a bit.
What a release to be done with school, however. I waited for Eva to show up and when she did, I used a tool that Agnes had let me borrow and underneath the hood of the car, I tightened and untightened and tightened again the spot where I knew the exhaust/muffler thing was wrong. (a bolt had fallen off, and I had stolen a bolt from a "don't park here sign" last night)
What do you know, it worked like a charm. It's completely fixed! No more speed-boat or souped up 18 year old hot rod sound anymore.
We celebrated at a skanky Chi-Chis (Mexican restaurant in Brussels where I used to eat with my mother's family when we went to Indiana for Thanksgiving) and then headed over to the exhibition spot for a night of slide-show presented on the windows next to the objects themselves.
Funny how the only negative comment I got was that my current exhibition wasn't really "strong" and how it took me back to Missouri Southern when I received negative comments much the same like, "I don't like the color you use in your paintings. They are too bright." Whatever. I am so pleased with how the exhibition is turning out that I can't help but disagree...and the responce from the exhibition has been wonderful.
They also sided with Eva that my next round of "art" should take me out of the deadly personal and self-self-self context, so I guess that I should. I agree to an extent, however the personal is where one starts, right? Though I am so exhausted at the moment that I think I just might rather drive a FedEx truck then be an artist. Art is hard work! (and of course for no money!)
But the day was successful. I now have my Masters. I came home and left a message for my parents on their answering machine and called and tried to instant message a wide range of people I knew would want to know about it.
Two years ago I entered as a graphic designer, and two years later, I've ended up with an exhibition in the center of Brussels with two/three more versions on their way...now it just comes down to getting a job. I'll start working on that portion tomorrow.
IN THE NEWS:
I graduated from school today, though it becomes official next Monday.
ALSO IN THE NEWS:
The Canadian government signaled its acceptance of gay marriages on Tuesday, deciding not to appeal a landmark Ontario provincial court decision that opened the door to such unions. The government plans to draft legislation to legalize same-sex unions and ask the Supreme Court to rule on its constitutionality before allowing members of Parliament to hold a free vote on the bill, he said.
