Catch Up -- Back in Savannah

Hello Everyone,

I have just finished up the fourth week of class in my second year at SCAD, and it’s hard to believe that I’m already two fifths of the way through the quarter. Things have been busy, as usual, and I’m sorry I haven’t been more consistent about writing. (I know I owe many of you individual emails.) It’s definitely not because of a lack of things to write about. There have been several significant changes to my experience at SCAD this year, and I want to take a minute to catch you up with them.

Most significantly, I have moved into an apartment. It’s close to the Illustration building, and it’s on one of the lovely downtown streets of Savannah. The apartment was pretty disgusting when we moved in (we suspect that the previous tenants not only didn’t clean once during their stay here -- they actually sprinkled dust and dirt in every possible nook as part of some sacred ritual we haven’t yet figured out). We spent the first few days scrubbing every surface we could find, including our walls.

Meanwhile, we needed furniture. I had many Craigslist encounters, some more rewarding than others. We rented a U-Haul truck which I drove around Chatham County successfully after an initial stressful moment when I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t keep from reversing. I eventually determined that I actually needed to turn the engine on. Imagine that! And people say automatics are easier than manuals! By the end of the day, I was even able to park without leaving six feet between the curb and the front of the truck. Slowly, we gathered pieces of furniture and managed to haul them up two flights of steep stairs. We are settled in quite nicely now, and aside from the occasional cockroach slaying, are finding the place peaceful and comfortable.

The best part of the apartment is that I get my own room but also have great housemates. In my room, there’s lots of light and I’ve managed to hang up all of my South African mud with clothes pins.

Some of my South African mud.

I have my art supplies organized with a whole drawer dedicated to adhesives. Mostly, I’m loving having my own space.

My bedroom, which has a nice little nook with a window which lets in a lot of light.

I’m living with my friend Qian, who lived in the same suite as me last year. She’s a Graphic Design major from Shanghai and is hilarious. She is incredibly talented and often gives me good advice about my work. I’m really enjoying living with her again. My other housemate, Becky, is, believe it or not, also from Spokane. And, believe it or not, her parents work at Whitworth. And, believe it or not, her grandmother was my mentor in high school. And, believe it or not, we live five minutes away from each other. And we hadn’t met until this summer! Becky had been teaching art in China for four years and decided to go to grad school in art. We emailed for a while and I was very excited when she decided on getting an MFA in Illustration at SCAD. We decided to live together and she and Qian have been chatting in Chinese and comparing cooking tips. Becky and I have been having lots of fun realizing how similar our childhoods were (NPR shows featuring prominently, our fathers talking about being “good stewards of time,” enjoying frozen yogurt at Didier’s, etc.). We laugh together a lot and in my opinion, at least, that’s the main requirement for a good home.

Becky, Qian and me at Becky's birthday dinner.

Over the summer, I was becoming wary of coming back to SCAD for a few reasons. For one, it seemed like I was quite adrift in many of my classes -- there wasn’t a whole lot of cohesion to my work, largely because the professors were stretching us in divergent directions with different projects. But it’s different this term, due to an increased flexibility on the part of a the professors and an increased confidence on my part. I feel like I’m finally doing what I want to be doing the way I want to be doing it. This is exciting. My studio classes are Illustration Markets (where we explore the various markets available to us as illustrators) and Children’s Book. Both professors are encouraging me to continue using mud, for which I’m grateful.

I was also wary because I felt like art school seemed so insular. It seemed like very few people (apart from my closest friends) wanted to talk about the outside world. It seemed narcissistic and lazy. It was hard being in South Africa this summer, where I got to revisit the places I’d worked in 2008 and where I’d felt relevant and at least mildly helpful. Grad school provides a rather luxurious and closed environment in general, and the nature of art school only exacerbates this. Several things have made it better this year, though. For one thing, it helps to be living with Qian and Becky. I think about half our sentences begin with, “In China . . . ” or “In South Africa . . . ” We’re constantly reminding ourselves that there is a world outside of downtown Savannah. Also, the professor of my other class, Art Criticism, takes a global view of art history which is essential and unfortunately rare. We’re required to subscribe to the New York Times, and she has an entire class period devoted to art criticism in Africa! I am continuing to tutor ESL students which brings me in touch with a number of people from all over the world. So although I’m back in the SCAD bubble, it doesn’t feel nearly as stifling as I’d feared it might.

And there are great benefits to being in art school which I’m remembering. Aside from seeing my friends again, my favorite part about being back how naturally quirky everyone and everything here is. It’s good to be back in the land of lectures with titles like, “Is There Any Depth in Flatness?” It’s great to get emails from friends with advice about the best glue to use in various situations. In class the other day, one of my friends was looking at our peer’s work on the wall. He sat there holding his hand up in front of his face for about twenty seconds until the professor said, “What are you thinking?” It’s good to be in a place where what might look like insanity to others is actually a sign of thinking. For my friend’s independent project, she is crocheting images of punk rockers. I’m still where I need to be, and that’s also exciting.

I hope you are all well, wherever you are.

Have a good week,
Sarah/Mouse