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Senior Artist Profile: Laura Nash & Noah Johns

ARTS

THE PIONEER LOG

APRIL 19, 2013

BY LINDSEY BOSSE
STAFF WRITER

L aura N ash Why are you studying art, and why did you choose your specific medium? I decided to study art in order to balance my academic life. I am a double majorEast Asian studies and studio artand I thought that it would be a good idea to balance a language and text-based major with a visually-based major. As an underclassman, thinking about my art projects helped me fall asleep. That is not true anymore. Thinking about [my] senior project does not help me fall asleep. I chose drawing mostly because of Debra [Beers] (our drawing teacher and my senior project advisor). I knew that my focus wouldnt really affect what project I chose to work on. In the end, I just really wanted to work with Debra. What is your favorite part of the process in your art? My favorite part of the process is conceptualization, because everything always comes together in my head. It doesnt always work out in practice. Whats it like preparing for a gallery opening? Stressful. Art made merely for class assignments never has to be perfect because mistakes are part of the process. And once you finish an assignment, no matter what it turns out like, good or bad, you can move on to the next one. With [my] senior project, mistakes were still part of the process, but resolving mistakes had to be part of the process as well. What does it feel like when you make something youre proud of ? Redeeming and validating. What/who is your inspiration? I am often inspired by the things that I read. A young adult fantasy series called Abarat has figured into a lot of the pieces I have made over the last four years. The author, Clive Barker, also illustrated this series with extremely vibrant paintings of his bizarre characters and settings. If you could wake up tomorrow as a professional artist, with

any and all resources imaginable and absolutely no limitations whatsoever, what would you make? I want to come up with a really good answer to this question, but it is Spring Break, and it is sunny outside, and I just raced twice, so my brain isnt working very well. My boyfriend suggested that I take a spaceship to the moon and paint a giant picture on the moon that can be seen from Earth. I cant top that. Please explain your senior project, what youre doing, how you got there, and a lil summary of what itll be like installing it in the gallery this week. I made and altered art books. I have known that I have wanted to do something involving language for my senior project since I declared my art major. Originally, I was planning on majoring in English but changed my mind when I realized that it wasnt possible to major in creative writing. I also decided that if I want to write in the future, I want to have educational experiences in areas other than English, so that I can write about something other than writing. So instead of writing about writing, I chose to make art about writing. So I have cut, painted, pasted, illustrated, etc. seven art books and two boxes, all illustrating my experiences of reading as a child. I was the kid who constantly, and I mean constantly, had a book. Sometimes I got in trouble for reading in class under the desk, because I was too enthralled to put it away for the length of the school day. Do you think youll continue to pursue art in the future, and if so, how? Definitely. I have always had the urge to make things. I get sort of twitchy if I dont make anything for a while, so even if I dont pursue it professionally, it will still be part of my life. Right now I am thinking about illustrating as a career. Maybe technical illustration. But well see. Final thoughts? I am so excited to be DONE with my project and happy with the

final product. What a relief! N oah J ohns Why are you studying art, and why did you choose your specific medium? Im a studio art major, English minor. Technically, Im a ceramics focus, but I probably consider myself more of a sculptor at this point than a ceramic artist. I didnt really do any art in high school, and I came here thinking I would study ENVS. I took Ceramics I my second semester sophomore year and really enjoyed the process: beginning with some kind of abstract idea and then physically rendering that idea. Its cool; as an art major I can do kind of whatever I want. I like the tangible gratification that I get from making something physical. What was your piece for the senior show? My piece for the senior show is called Obsession Is a Word I Know. Its a big installation/performance piece in the back. Its about art and being an art major and trying to figure out where I can go with that. Can you elaborate on the feeling and experience of having a gallery opening? Its really overwhelming. I spent my entire Spring Break in the gal-

lery building and my room. Seeing it all come together was scary. Its hard to know when something is done. Usually I just show stuff in class to my peers, but this was different. I wanted it to be perfect. I did/am doing an ongoing performance as a component of the piece, which was the weirdest part. I wanted to be able to hang out with my friends at the opening, but I gave myself this obligation to perform. I was really nervous. What does it feel like when you make something youre proud of ? Thats kind of hard to answer. Id like to think that everything I make and show to people is something that I should be proud of, but it doesnt really work that way. I look back at the stuff I made three years ago and its so embarrassing. I have all these ideas that seem profound or important at the time, but as I learn more and do more they begin to seem kind of trite. I want people to

understand my thought, but that doesnt always come across. I think the piece in the senior show is the best thing Ive ever made because Im not trying to force some idea on my viewers with it. I want people to be able to interact with the space and form their own conclusions, have their own experience. It feels good watching people go inside and come out with some kind of opinion. What was your favorite step in the process? Well, my piece was kind of a onestep process. It was fun seeing the book come together and making the early decisions about the piece, but that week of building was awesome. I had a great group of friends that would stop by and hang out, had people to help me when I needed it and got to have the gallery to myself for a while. I went a little crazy and I got frustrated a bunch, but I had fun. Final thoughts? Big thank you to Carlos for helping with the lights, door, etc; Sam for helping me put on that awful roof; Jenny for helping make the book and anyone and everyone else for stopping by and checking out the show! Congrats to Spencer and Sam on Blackfish Gallery and all the other art majors for a great year.

PHOTOS BY SARAH DODGE