I’m at that totally surreal point in my college career where everything is my “last ________” as an undergraduate college student. My last Saturday. My last research paper. My last art critique. My last exhibition. This Friday, just hours after my last final exam ever, I’ll graduate from my university with a BFA in Drawing and Painting and a minor in Japanese. After a few breaks from classes, a stint in Los Angeles, and several changes in my major, I finally made it.

I’ll be so sad to leave this community – my colleagues, my professors, my coworkers – people who inspired me, pushed me to work harder. People who encouraged me to do things I’d never tried before, for better or for worse. I only hope I can continue to find the same inspiration and the same motivation to create art without all of this invaluable support that I have been so privileged to have for the past few years.

When I graduated from high school and registered at Loyola University Chicago as a computer science major, I never guessed that several years later I’d be graduating from the University of North Texas, Denton with an art degree. If there’s one thing I learned from college, it’s that nothing is ever set in stone. Plans change. We change. We must remain open-minded and ready to adapt to our ever-evolving futures.

I’m still trying to orient myself to the post-college life: applying for jobs, looking for new apartments, looking at graduate schools; however, my biggest priority when all of this is over is to recover all of the sleep I’ve lost this semester. I seriously pulled four all-nighters the other week!

But since it’s not over yet, I’m going to sign off from this last post as an undergraduate to go work on my last art pieces and study for my last final exam. Wish me luck!

Although I’m sure the stress and amount of all-nighters I’ve pulled this semester have taken years off of my life, these past few months have been very rewarding. Although I formally study oil painting, I’ve dedicated the past semester to exploring different mediums, particularly photography, relief print, fibers, and sculpture (found), and I’ve been so lucky to have a couple of amazing painting professors who have been incredibly supportive of this transition.

My latest series (part of which is pictured above) explores what Simone de Beauvoir calls “The Lolita Syndrome” in her famous essay on Brigitte Bardot (I highly recommend it, though it’s pretty difficult to get a hold of). According to Beauvoir, the Lolita is a sexually-liberated female archetype who embodies youth (whether or not she is technically underage) through her unrefined mannerisms, tousled hair, bare feet, and indifference towards morality. Although Simone de Beauvoir argues that this image is empowering (she was writing in a time where women were expected to conform to very strict codes of behavior), the idea of Lolita can likewise enable problematic behavior. The sexual health of young women is a taboo subject, and even talking about it is nearly as difficult as actually navigating puberty. My art is interested in exploring the tension between good sexual health and bad sexual health in young women, as well as exploring the language with which we raise, describe, and treat them. The above dresses, titled Insolence #1 and #2, are constructed out of tulle and satin to emphasize the ephemeral and vulnerable nature of youth.

Even typing this entry I’m setting myself super behind on a project that I have due tomorrow, so sorry if this seems rushed – I just wanted to check in before April ended! I graduate in two weeks, so it won’t be long before I pick up posting regularly again.