so my capstone this week had an interesting activity that i've taken on a few times since being an art student at the mount. Natalie Goldberg is an author who is known for her book 'Writing Down the Bones'. the concept that my teacher tonight had taken from her book is to pick a piece of art or information to think about and then write. there are rules however: you cannot lift your pen off of the paper (this means you cannot pause between ideas). and you cannot scratch out errors (this includes punctuation, spelling, run-on sentences, etc.) you have to continue to write for the length of time set. and you can't be afraid to get a little off topic because that could be when the best ideas come spilling out.

in class today then, i decided to focus on a photo i've shared in this blog in the past, of my favorite place in the world - the buckingham fountain in downtown chicago.

this is what i wrote in class today:

beauty in this world is defined by love and devotion. eac person has a story to share in which a sense of pride is expressed for their own lives. this place expresses beauty in family history and a sense of what home really brings to the individual. this place shares memories of monumental pride as well as pride of kinship and love. as a member of this place you bring individuality, hope inspriation, and above all, love and pride. pride of successsing form its original keepers so the children of our future can grow to love it as well and spread the memories on forever as they continue to devleop their own with their love and commitment as the developers created their own stories in to every inch of dedication for the future audience to admire for centuries and with hopefulness of an eternity of a civil difference. my love for this monumental moment grows s my love for it is dhsred with my hopefull soon to be forever spouse. my love for him will then forever be enbedded in this place as it holds our combined memories of the day we become/became one. my love then will grow with beauty for an inspriational future.

that's a mouthful --> i know!

to give a little background on some of the information in this piece. the reasons why this picture is of my favorite place in the entire world is because it is right by the lake michigan bike path that i have also grown up on with my family - also! because my great grandfather was a plumber for this magnificent fountain when it was originally built and my grandmother was on his shoulders as a little girl on the day that it opened.

also, it has been my dream for years now that i get proposed to at that fountain and i would love for this place to be just as important to my kids as it is to me with the memories i have held there and plan to share.

Hey everybody! And Hello again from the Mount! I can’t stay to talk too long today, I’m working tonight at the thesis opening for the Interior Design majors. As an artist, it’s really wonderful to see what the older students are capable of doing, and it’s awesome to see the stuff they’ve put together!

It really is moving almost to see the displays. What these senior students are showing is the culmination of four years worth of hard work, and it’s a condensed project showing all the skills they’ve learned. And after this, they’ll be leaving us, out to either continue their education elsewhere or to move on to work in the real world. I wish them all the best of luck!

It’s coming to the end of the year! Just one more school week left, a few exams, and we’re outta here! Thankfully, as an art major, I have a lot of final projects, and a big portfolio review in design, but not too many exams. At least, not too many this semester. : D

At this time of the year, when I’m watching all the senior students working on their final work here at the Mount, I start looking forward to working on my own capstone.

The capstone program is something unique to the Mount. It’s a culmination of everything you’ve done here at the Mount. It’s not really supposed to focus on the core curriculum, but also not entirely on your major. It’s a complete representation of yourself as a person, and what you’ve learned here at the Mount.

The exact definition of what are capstone is can be found here. http://inside.msj.edu/departments/acad_affairs/ccep/capstone/

A capstone project is really versatile, it can be almost anything that a student thinks of, as long as the student can demonstrate how it integrates disciplines, and shows the learning outcomes of the college.

Brand new this year was the first phase of the recycling program here at the Mount. For the first time this year, the College has recycling receptacles in the Seton Center, and they’ve given a recycling bin to each of the rooms for the residents to use for recycling. This entire program was suggested in a presentation that one of the graduating seniors presented last spring. He laid out a several year plan for making the College a recycling campus. And so far, I think it’s worked well.

Well, most of us art majors won’t be creating recycling programs for the Mount. The art majors create a culmination of their art skills. But you’d be surprised if you come down to see what these art students have done, you’d be amazed at what the students come up with. I’m really looking forward to seeing the interior design majors’ work up tonight for the first time!

P.S. Folks! Just thought I’d add in a little extra! Here are some pictures I took at the Thesis opening on Friday night! The place was paaaaaaacked! We really filled it up with people. I was so glad to see so many people in our art gallery!