Hello again! A few weeks into the summer, I’m excited to share some updates regarding my creative research project. As I work through the development of my paintings and continue my research on both Colombian and Floridian wildlife, I’ve reflected a bit on the significance of this proposal. I am increasingly grateful for the opportunity to strengthen my professional abilities, many of which I expect to help me immensely in my future career and endeavors. Today I’d like to talk about a few of the specific skills I hope to acquire and sharpen over the course of this project.
Throughout the summer, I am eager to develop my research skills and adopt a more innovative approach to collecting information. My goal is to gather artistic inspiration from a wider array of sources, looking to scholarly media, conducting personal interviews, and seeking specific data from quantitative reports. I also wish to expand my visual vocabulary by becoming more familiar with the works of contemporary and historical artists dealing with similar themes of cultural fusion and exchange in their practice. Strengthening this ability will help me greatly in my time within the BFA, an incredibly research-driven program that requires its participants to create artwork based on thorough investigation and understanding of a particular subject matter. Developing my research capacities opens up new perspectives to approach and create my artwork, both within school and in my personal career. I also hope to hone my communication skills across the production of this series. Refining my communication abilities will help me greatly when presenting my work in the future, whether it be to my peers, instructors, or those unfamiliar with the subjects of my investigation. This professional skill will be incredibly beneficial as I go on to make a career of exhibiting and defending my artwork.
Communication with my mentor throughout the summer will also be valuable towards my academic development. Jiha Moon will be my major professor as I develop my BFA thesis next school year, so this prior experience working together will allow for a more honest and constructive mentorship then. Finally, I am aiming to expand my global fluency and understanding of social responsibilities through this creative undertaking. In a time of political unrest and uncertainty for immigrants within the United States, I want to create artwork that emphasizes the beauty of cultural fusion. As the daughter of two Colombian immigrants, I feel an increasing responsibility to portray these themes in my work. I will continue to explore such ideas in my BFA practice, and the work I create over the summer will guide me greatly.
As I work on this series, I will take also advantage of the many resources provided here at FSU, including access to a valuable database through our library and consultations with the reputable faculty within the College of Fine Arts and beyond. Sharing ideas and discussing my work with my peers and fellow Idea Grant recipients will also be incredibly helpful in the growth of my concepts and stylistic themes. I am grateful for the creative liberty provided by the support of the Idea Grant and access to the technologies within FSU’s Fine Arts Building, such as the Digital Media Fabrication Lab. I hope to experiment with this equipment in the production of my artwork this summer.
This project will serve as a natural continuation and expansion upon the themes I have begun to explore in my practice within the BFA program. Over the course of the past school year, I created works that dealt specifically with the concept of hybridity as a link between the cultural and biological realms. This manifested in the blending of traditional iconography, wildlife, and vegetation through painting and mixed media investigations. One of such works is titled Panthera Onca, a painting depicting a hybridized jaguar figure. This artwork was heavily inspired by the wooden animal masks of the Carnaval de Barranquilla, and features an arrangement of tropical Colombian vegetation. While this work begins to investigate hybridity as a concept, it focuses primarily on Colombian iconography. The paintings I will be developing over this summer will portray a blend of both Floridian and Colombian motifs to reflect the fusion of these cultures I feel is so important to my identity. I hope that the research and creation of these works will serve as an introspection into my identity and the sources of my cultural pride.
As I continue my research and begin to design compositions for my three paintings, I am faced with the difficulties that arise from a self-structured project, particularly in the realm of time management. While I am accustomed to the deadlines and enforcements of class assignments, I find myself struggling to organize my schedule and find consistency while conducting my research. I will work to improve upon this by designating specific times to work on my paintings in the mornings and following a more structured sleep schedule. Though it is still early in the summer, I hope to resolve this hurdle as soon as possible and develop a comfortable and effective routine for myself to create my series. I am looking forward to the rest of the summer and producing a body of work I can be proud of!
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