Graduation Show - READY!

Friday at 4:00pm was the cut-off. All the displays for MFA and 4th year BFA students had to be completely finished, ready for grading. It was a mad rush up to the very end for most. Vacuums were whirring, items were tweaked, but mostly people just stared.
     We just stared at our displays thinking about the years of hard work that went into the creations - the challenges, the highs, the lows...everything.
     It's bittersweet. It's such an incredible accomplishment, and yet, it signifies the end of an amazing journey. Gads, I'm tearing up just typing this. I have indeed learned what I came here to learn - how to extract my deepest emotions and put them on a page. Because this experience has laid me bare, stripped me raw and rebuilt me. I am so immensely proud of what I have accomplished. We all are. And in the end, we are sharing something truly special. Here is my space. (Some of these images can be viewed larger.)



Here is Boris' space. I'll get more photos from the opening nights coming up.It seems appropriate that the children's book people were right next to each other.
     I got the final moments running up to 4:00pm on video. I apologize for the poor video quality, but you can still get the idea of the energy in the room. It's tradition to cheer in that final moment as we are all ushered out of the studio, which will now remain off limits to us while VIVA interviews are held, internal grading, and external audits are carried out. Our tutors played it up - Jonny led a proper "HIP, HIP, HOORAY!" Astrid and Harvey created an arch for us to pass through. (Sadly, I didn't catch the tutor dressed all in white who ran through the building honking an enormous horn to call TIME!) Click the image to watch on YouTube.Afterwards, we did indeed go for celebratory cocktails at Footlights, one of the closest pubs. We laughed and cried and had a marvellous time. As we should have - because we were CELEBRATING! WASAI! (Taiwanese "WOW!")