A night of photography, friends, tasty desserts and magic lights.
My capstone exhibition was all I imagined it would be, maybe even more.
So what is a capstone? This year I am a senior and graduating in a few weeks (oh my goodness it still freaks me out!). Every senior has to organize their own exhibition. We have a whole class dedicated to this, separate from the years leading up to it. Capstone was like the photo department boogeyman and if you weren't paying attention it would sneak right up on you and catch you off guard. So my friend and I were already scribbling and thinking about our capstone nearly two years in advance. I knew that I did not want to do something traditional, I wanted to make something magical. I wanted to create an atmosphere. It is a funny thing when you are an art student, you have one ear on your professors who are giving you advice and the other ear to your own voice. It is complicated, a tricky middle where you have to let the two come together.
After clearing all the chairs out of my church, I was left with a darling little building with a lot of history. I started collecting all my treasures from my room and elements from the outside. Borrowing moss from the backyard, giant pine cones and whatever else I could pick off my wall. We were building walls in my backyard, lighting up the forest so we could see where to stain. All the magic baking faeries made all these lovely things and even my prints made it to where they were supposed to be. It was pretty stressful, especially when things went wrong but I had to keep reminding myself to have fun with it. I loved seeing the talented people in my life come together and help me with LaRue.
I was most excited to see the people who came to support me, answer questions and tell the story of my art. I love people and I love what I do, so combining the two (plus a bit of yummy cake) had me bouncing all over the place. It felt wonderful to see people care about what I create, telling me what was their favorite and where they had traveled from to be there. It was an incredible experience and by the end of the night (even though I was terribly tired) I wanted to do five more. There were times I was deciding if this was even going to happen, a few road blocks that were just so dumbfounding I couldn't believe were happening to me! Thank goodness for God, sweet tea and supportive friends and family who helped me. All those marvelous things gave me strength and encouragement when I needed it most.
Through all of this I came to really appreciate the people in my life. My friends and my family who dropped everything to help me. From my parents out in the dark woods late at night staining walls, to my duo sister in laws who made magical cakes and cut edges when I was too freaked out to breathe. To my wonderful friends who baked or appeared early to help with last second emergencies, THANK YOU! I am just overwhelmed with the blessing that are people. Thank you to my parents who are truly super people and to Catoctin Bible Church for letting me use their space.
This was my second solo exhibition and it certainly won't be the last.
<3
Thank you Sarah Conway for the images!