The Start of Summer
Finals are done. No more last-minute touch-ups, no more discussion posts. …for at least four weeks, anyway.
I feel really great about this last term. I worked really hard to absorb as much of the class content as I could - and not in a wrote-repetition-spit-it-back-out kind of way.
My instructors were excellent. Course content was thorough, engaging, and challenging. And feedback was always helpful, and encouraging.
My portfolio should have several new pieces worthy enough, as a result. I realized half way through the term that I should really be doing my homework with this in mind. While that realization didn’t change my level of work, it did change my approach to the assignments. I tried to make sure that my color choices and design coherence was at a level that could translate well across various situations in which others might see my portfolio. I still have a lot to learn in terms of how to develop such a body of work, but this term was a step in the right direction.
My upcoming term will be very challenging. Summer courses are accelerated: fifteen weeks of work in seven and a half. I’ll be taking two classes instead of three, thank God. One of those classes, my advisor communicated, is really difficult. When I asked her why it is difficult, she didn’t have a great answer, just that other students have reported as much. Who knows what that really means. I’m gearing up for a challenge, though, just in case.
I also will be participating in my thesis workshop - a period of guided study geared towards the development of one’s thesis concept and intentions around it. …I really have no idea about my thesis yet, but it’s exciting to think about putting a lot of effort and intention around one, large-scale project. I have a feeling, knowing me, that the hardest part will be choosing one idea to commit to and work with for rest of my graduate studies career. Whew.
Yesterday, my hubs, the babe and I went to Powell’s Books, which, if you haven’t heard of or visited, is really what I’d call one of the great wonders of the world! :) It’s a full city block of new and used books, covering essentially every conceivable topic. And it’s all done in a very Portland-rustic-coffee-drinker-glasses-waring-contemplative-underground-academic kind of way. Ha. It’s great and glorious.
In any case, we went there and I already picked up a few of the books I need for next term’s spacial studies class. I can’t wait! The books are full of drawing techniques and spacial design theories, layouts and questions. It looks deeelightful. Enthusiastic, fuzzy camera-phone shots to come!
Probably the best thing about looking ahead is that I could not feel more encouraged that my classes thus far have lead me to this point in my career development. It’s amazing to feel like I will know how to approach this class, and the others that follow, but that I will also be in a perfect position to be challenged. …like the other day when I was looking at a designer’s blog I could see that I can do a lot of what she does, already. And I can see how much I will appreciate the remaining half of my studies I have ahead of me to be able to do what else she does, and everything I have in mind as a designer. I could not be more grateful for my schooling, and those that help to make it a productive, enjoyable, encouraging experience. Go AAU!
Well, with four weeks off, there will certainly be much adventuring around the NW, catching up with friends over home-made gluten-free goodies, or while basking at our favorite sauna spot, drooling over design blogs while my little lad naps, backyard toddler pool parties, trips to the Children’s Museum, and attempts at “sleeping in”…whatever that means when one has an eighteen-month-old’. And, I will, of course, be daydreaming of magical oases such as these:
HAPPY SUMMER!
