(#12) I Graduated
I'm finally done with school! After what has felt like a four year long marathon, I graduated magna cum laude with a BA in art and Italian studies with departmental honors. I don’t think I’ve ever smiled as big as I did at graduation. I feel so relieved to be done!!
Since I last posted a blog, I’ve been busy. I turned in my senior thesis, displayed my art thesis project in a gallery show, designed and painted the class mural for my class, and, most importantly, I got my diploma!
One of the most unexpected feelings I’ve experienced is the pride I feel for being an alumna of Scripps College. Scripps is a tiny women’s liberal arts college, but anyone who has been there will tell you it’s a magical place. I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to study there. At Scripps, I found my passions, made lifelong friends, and grew as a person and a scholar. If it weren’t for the supportive community I found at Scripps, I probably would not have pursued art.
I cannot believe my thesis is finally done (at least for now). My thesis is called “Women’s Work with Wool in Fairy Tales: from Baroque Text to Textile Craft.” I wrote half of it in Italian and half in English. In it, I analyze Giambattista Basile’s Pentamerone and Giovanni Straparola’s The Pleasant Nights and the ways in which they depict fiber crafts. I started this project two years ago with funding for a summer research project. I wanted to learn more about the textile industry in Italy during the Baroque era after taking an Italian fairy tales class. I was disappointed to find that much of the historical discourse relies on guild records, which results in the loss of the humanity of the textile work. By turning to fairy tales with close ties to Italian culture, I argue we gain a better understanding of who the laborers are, their living conditions, the ways society treated them, and the type of work they performed. In an effort to familiarize myself with textile work, I made my own tapestries. One tapestry depicts a worker from the story “La Faccia di Capra” while the other is a self-portrait in studio. I could go on and on about this project. If you want to read it, click here. I am very proud of it. (All the hard work paid off because I was awarded the Sara Ladwig Prize in Italian Studies for it from the Italian department!)
Me with my two tapestries on the opening night of the senior art show. They were each nine feet tall!
On top of writing my thesis, I created two needle felted tapestries. At some point I will write a blog dedicated to my art thesis experience because it was transformative. We had a gallery show at the end of the semester. Seeing my work hung in a gallery was a significant moment for me. I am not only proud of the work that I did but also in awe of the work my fellow art majors did.
The biggest joy of my final semester was painting the class mural. Scripps has a tradition in which each graduating class paints and signs a mural on the graffiti wall. My design was chosen and I got to paint it with my fellow senior art majors. I’ve wanted to have a part in painting the class mural since I toured Scripps during my junior year of high school. As you can imagine, this was a dream come true for me. I had never painted a mural before, but I learned along the way. You can read about the mural here!
Me with the class mural I designed and painted.
So, you’re probably wondering what’s next. Well, me too. The plan is to go to Italy (I’m not sure when this will be posted but by then I will either be on my way to or already in or have returned from my first trip to Italy. I’m so excited. I’ll probably write about it. Ahhhhh!!) and then spend time with family and look for jobs, residencies, funding, and post-bac programs and then go back to Italy again. I plan to keep writing blogs regularly and get my art business going. This is the first time in my life when I don’t know what my life will look like six months from now. It’s oddly exciting. So many possibilities!!
