Reflection: “The mundane has become the extraordinary” 

Myself and 4 others met up in C.06 studio to have a socially distanced, student-directed crit. Just like the ‘good old days’. Except entirely different. ECA studios lie empty and uninhibited. The sculpture court, holding three dull sofas in attempt to fill the space, is being used meerly as a functional area to eat. In a place where we should all walk freely, hammer, drill, construct and so on, I now find myself jolting at any abrupt sounds and obsessing over which direction I have to walk. Can such a restrictive environment play host to creative learning and expression? ECA is now but a shell of the community it once use to be. While our creative space exists in pixels on virtual platforms, an empty building with the ghosts of optimistic young artists remain.

The crit on Friday morning provided a taste of normalcy amidst the ongoing irregularity we now face. I have to admit, I used to dread critique and never held the energy for it. However, this time around was the exact opposite. On the lead-up to Friday, I somewhat embodied the energy and excitement of a child on Christmas eve. We all did. This is a textbook case of not knowing how good you’ve got something, until it’s gone. The crit discussion was honest, genuine and insightful. I received constructive feedback on my work that has influenced my artistic direction, which I will discuss further in upcoming blog updates. Escaping the confinements of my own artistic creative endeavors, I jumped at the opportunity to immerse  myself in someone else’s practice, if only for 15 mixtures, to listen and give feedback where appropriate.

It occurred to me that this crit, seemingly simple by task and nature, represented something much bigger. The once dreaded, has become the desired. The regular has become the irregular. The mundane has become the extraordinary. This shift in life perspective demands speculation and comment.

Peer Crit – 30.10.2020 / Tara.A.McCullough Art by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0