EMU Symposium (2009)

I've been talking about the great opportunity I had to display my artwork every year (and earn money doing it!) for the Undergraduate Symposium at Eastern Michigan University every March and today I'm going to talk about the one I participated in during the 2008-2009 school year, when I was a Junior.

At this point, I switched faculty mentors - not because I no longer wanted to work with my drawing professor, but simply because at that point I had officially changed to a Watercolor concentration, and it made sense to work with my watercolor professor, who I had classes with every week.

As I said yesterday, I went into this school year with the idea that I would use source photographs taken abroad to create watercolor paintings. In July-August 2008 I went on the "Mediterranean Cultural History Tour" which spent a several weeks in Switzerland, Italy, and Greece.

We were in Zurich for two "orientation" days, where were were acclimated to the program and met everyone else on the trip. Then, we headed off to Italy. Three days in Venice, four in Florence, five in Rome, and two in Naples. We then took a night boat to Greece, where we spent one day in Olympia, and one day in Nafplion. We traveled (again by night boat) to the island of Crete, where we stayed for three days. Back on the Grecian mainland, we saw Delphi (one day), Kalambaka and the clifftop monasteries of Meteora (one day), Thessaloniki (two days), and Athens (two days). It was a whirlwind trip, but a lot of fun. Prior to that trip, I had only ever been to France in Europe, so it was my first time visiting many of those locations.

I took a lot of photos during those few weeks, and created several watercolors from them. Some of these watercolors I have already shown in previous posts, but here they are together, as a set.

Because I had a precedent for combining writing with my artwork (as I'd done for the previous two symposiums), I also wrote poetry and included these poems onto my watercolor paintings, to help capture the emotion I had at that time. Some of the poems are written traditionally (one line at a time, straight lines, reading right to left), while others are more a jumble of (illegible) words; the way the words are written was also meant to give an indication of my emotion.

Some of the paintings took on an almost "cartoonish" appeal, when I used markers to define some of the muddier parts of the watercolor paintings. (I had only taken a few watercolor classes and was still learning the craft.)

"Siena" 11x15 watercolor painting (with marker outlines and poem)

"Naples" 11x15 watercolor painting (with marker outlines and poem)

From Rome to Delphi, I was suffering an eye infection. First it was my right eye, which started on our last day in Rome, and continued on to Naples and Greece. By the time our boat docked and we headed toward Olympia, my left eye was also infected. To make matters worse, I (stupidly) forgot to bring my glasses, assuming that my contacts would be sufficient for the duration of the trip. When my eyes were infected, I couldn't wear my contacts - so not only did my eyes look all red and gross, but I also couldn't see very well. I relied on my camera to help me see (I'm near-sighted, so while everything at a distance was blurry, I could at least take a picture of something I wanted to see, or point my camera at it, and then look at the digital screen close-up to see what I was missing).

The infection finally started to clear up on Crete, and when we got to Delphi I was able to put both of my contacts in for the first time in days. It was a relief to be able to see again.

"Delphi" 22x30 watercolor painting (with white paint pen poem, and white acrylic paint in background)

Detail of the "Delphi" poem, which alludes to the eye infection I was battling at this point in the study abroad trip

Besides my eye infection, I also battled some gross foot blisters (so much walking!), and (naturally) self-pity. I couldn't believe I was on this amazing once-in-a-lifetime trip and yet suffering through such physical ailments that made enjoying the moment difficult.

In Olympia in particular, I ended up missing all of the planned sights for the day. I had tried my best to attend everything, even if I couldn't see, up until that point. But when my second eye got infected and I had to go find a pharmacist (again), I had to prioritize my health over seeing the sights. I got more eyedrops, and then stayed in the hotel room all day while everyone else went out to have fun.

Walking around Pompeii in the hot sun was excruciating on my feet, which at that point in the trip had some nasty blisters.

And in Athens, I ended up tripping on a rock walking through the agora, and skinning my knee. Our hotel was also in a sort of shady part of town, where there was a lot of graffiti on our street.

I include these anecdotes so that the next several watercolors make sense. The following paintings were small - "postcard size" to reflect the "travel" theme - but instead of focusing on the beautiful moments, as postcards usually do, the imagery and poems reflect the negative aspects of the trip.

"Sorrento" postcard size watercolor painting (with marker poem)

"Olympia" postcard size watercolor painting (with marker poem)

"Pompeii" postcard size watercolor painting (with marker poem)

"Athens" postcard size watercolor painting (with marker poem)

An article about me and my symposium work for an EMU publication that year

-

I participated in the Undergraduate Symposium one last time as a Senior in 2010. There, I displayed my thesis watercolors (which I have already talked about in depth in several blog posts, and therefore won't get into again here). I used my symposium money that year on a nice, new digital camera (to take photographs of the "mutilated flowers") and on custom frames and mats for my large watercolors.