My project is a narrative-based artistic engagement, focusing on issues of memory and identity unique to me. I reflect on the memories and physical relics (photos, drawings, pieces of writing) of my past to synthesize into a new body of artwork. The art itself is mixed media in nature, using techniques like watercolor painting, printmaking, drawing, etc., that is ultimately combined into a combination 2D/3D installation exhibit. An open studio style exhibition at the Creative Space Gallery following the start of the fall semester will allow the my process to be as central to the work as the product itself.

As stipulated by my initial proposal, the culminating moment of my summer work was an exhibition at the Creative Space Gallery, showcasing the projects of myself, Kaylee Warner, and Marilyn Marketch. The exhibition ran from September 1st through the 3rd, with an opening reception on the 1st from 5-7 PM.

In addition to physically making all the artwork, this part of the process involved negotiating the space of the gallery to decide how to best display the pieces, making decisions on placement and spacing, hanging and installing the work, and making the gallery look presentable. Since the content of my work is so directly tied to its form, the week of the show was the most intense part of the summer, as I scrambled to ensure that everything looked just right and coveyed what I wanted it to. Designing an installation is a real crystalization of the movement from process to product so central to the spirit of art and the Summer Scholars Program.

The results of the exhibition itself were as humbling as they were encouraging. So many people, friends, family, students, and strangers alike came out to support myself and the other summer scholars. After working on an installation alone for over two months, having viewers with no prior knowledge of the work tell me how meaningful it is to them was an incredible experience. It's so easy to get stuck in your own head and become your own worst critic when it's just you with the work. But communicating artistic ideas to those outside of my discipline is at the heart of what the Summer Scholars Program is all about. And based on what countless people have told me, I feel like I've succeeded in doing just that.