<p>..........bonjour</p>
<p>halfsorry,
that was elegant. passionate, sincere...and elegant.</p>
<p>Thanks! yeah, that Taxguy could have said things a little nicer, but he got his point across, and now we're all here; all for the better.</p>
<p>Thanks for this new thread. :)</p>
<p>yesss.. I also thought that the thread was dead except for our discussion. I figured that when someone had another art college question they'd make a new one. </p>
<p>well, so that's done..</p>
<p>HEY, next we should post our application essays!</p>
<p>--must.. kill.. time.. until April..!--</p>
<p>Well, to "kill time," I purchased myself a new sketchbook because I got way too attached to the one I sent Cooper. I miss that one so much. It wasn't even filled all the way, but I thought out each and every page. I made it a point not to have junk pages ... and I plan to never have a junk page (i.e. a scribble) here on out. I'll have two sketchbooks: a well thought out/excecuted one, and one solely for junk (smaller and more compact of course). </p>
<p>I learned so much through the Cooper hometest process, it's ridiculous; things like: time management, quality not quantity, pacing yourself, staying true to this mantra (well for the most part) ... "Whatever comes from the heart, goes to the heart",
etc..</p>
<p>Yes....i'm honestly suffering from sketchbook separation anxiety.... i want to buy a new one ...but it just wouldn't be the same...though i suppose i'll have to somewhere down the line.</p>
<p>and as for taxguy---he should realize that at least half or maybe a quarter of cooper applicants are this passionate...we're just the type of people the school attracts.</p>
<p>how much thought went into your essays?
mine were not ...bad...but looking back i wish i could have spent more time on them...it was very hard for me to answer the what do you plan to do with your life after cooper questions....usually i say something like...o i'll be an art teacher or go into advertising ...or something along those lines...but i felt that cooper was looking for something more....but it's so hard to say "i want to be a famous artist" without sounding idealistic and ridiculous...</p>
<p>this patheticness is what i came up with at three thirty in the a.m. the day the test was due.</p>
<pre><code> Like every starry-eyed aspiring artist it is indeed my dream to show my work in distinguished galleries and become world famous. However, it is not my goal. On the contrary, my goal is to make a man say oh I see! My goal is to make a young girl think I can feel this painting. My goal is to affect lives through art.
I will do this by any means. I am open to selling my artwork at auctions and galleries. I am open to illustrating for childrens books and newspapers. I am open to working in advertisement. I am prepared to sound my creative cry in wherever and whenever there is someone to hear it.
</code></pre>
<p>eh o well</p>
<p>o and i meant to ask....weile ....where are you reading posts from cooper acceptees...i'd love to get a taste of what it feels like. sigh.</p>
<p>angelina- I went to livejournal.com and looked up 'cooper' to find the cooper community there.. though I think you said you had seen that.. but i also went to google and just typed in 'cooper union + accepted' or just 'cooper union.' a lot of people's deviantart galleries came up, and some even had hometest stuff posted.</p>
<p>heh, every time I saw one that said they were accepted I tended to brathe through my teeth really hard, make a SHHHSH noise and mutter, 'ahhhh! they got in, so jealous they got in!!'</p>
<p>I saw that you udated your photobucket gallery when I went to look at it again today. I have come to the conclusion that if they do not accept you then I hate them and they are INSANE. I mean.. I really can't envision there being a whole other plane above where you are. you always think of there being a whole other hiiiiigher segment of people but really, they are all just high school students or people around that age.. what could people possibly doing that's so so much better? I saw a really impressive continuality (as opposed to lockjawed 'style') through all of your stuff, including the sketchbook pages. If they were to accept you and not me (which seems like the most likely thing) I could make sense of that, because I am definately less further along as far as my direction and how solid of a body of work I have. not that I couldn't make up some time in college, but they've got so few spots that they're bound to pick whoever's developed a bit faster. Now like I said, if on the other hand, they were to not accept you, I would start the 'i didn't want to go anyway!' rationalization. because then I'd think.. okay, this is twisted, they must only want obtuse conceptual crap, so screw it!</p>
<p>so those are my thoughts. well, I'll also put in some parts from the questionarre while I'm here.</p>
<p>Writers are automatically thinkers, and the best ones are philosophers in their own right. A good artists innate sense of composition and space is profoundly refreshing, but I like when an artist can step up to that high-floating writers circle and speak articulately about art. Not that all art should require a spoken explanation to be understood that is one of arts best qualities, innate understanding but I think that artists should make an effort to connect their work with the work of artists of all types. The most effective art is bound to its culture and interconnected with all other arts. </p>
<h2> Now and again I get a vague feeling that artists are not as generally respected for their thoughts as writers or serious musicians are, apparently because they dont communicate primarily with words. My art history book quoted Picasso as saying, in essence, Artists dont make pretty pictures artists are thinkers. But besides the regrettable common assumption that the point of art is to make pretty, I think I sense a feeling of indifferent stoicism from other artist types. Ive been told Im paranoid, but I have a hunch that writers and thinkers eye artists with saccharine irreverence. They see us as free spirits of some sort, but they assume that we have never had a thought about the whys and hows of things, that we could not possibly grasp the philosophies that we sit upon ever so innocently.</h2>
<h2>My parents gave me a record player for Christmas and now I actually understand why Ive heard people sing the praises of vinyl so often. There is a certain pretension to it being a vinyl fan seems to be chic right now but Neil Young sounds about a hundred times better when the hum of the air around his guitar hasnt been erased. I think that is essentially why I like the vinyl records you can sense the thickness of the air and things moving and shifting. On CDs you hear the breath of the musician suck in or puff out but on the record you can imagine that air coming out of the lungs warm, like the person is sitting where the player is.</h2>
<p>..i forgot to add in the 'trivialities in which you engage' question that I like smelling all of the spices in our spice cabinet and feeling the flour and sugar and oats! Man I love the way oats get powdery in your mouth! i fricking love oatmeal. even thinking about oatmeal gets me in a good mood. this post is ending before it gets stupider.</p>
<p>wow...alright...for a second there my ego got just a big too big- and then i read your essays.
It's obvious you love to write. Actually i usually do as well (though i'd say we're on different "levels" haha -mine lower (duh))
in retrospect i really wish i had had more fun with the essays...many of mine are dry and dull...not to mention short...i was completely drained when i wrote them. Actually they're realllly reallly inconsistent...one question i'd write a really conversational assessment of ...i dunno...my summer activities...and then when asked "in what trivialties" i engage i'd feed them the textbook "i like museums and libraries. I like art. i'm not a real person with real hobbies. i've spent my entire life prepairing for cooper union. pick me." ah well i can only hope they won't spend toooo much time on my B.S.says</p>
<p>and honestly...don't be so sure about my work.....heres why</p>
<p>i've been to two coooper union open house/ portfolio reviews
for the first i was a a naieve little junior (sigh- good times). This was probably the happiest day of my life. At this time my style and work was really...well rough...i didn't show the man (lorenzo clayton- yes i know his name haha) much painting or finished illustration ( i didn't have any) and nothing from the sketchbook on photobucket (as it was not yet born). Upon arriving i became certain that i was going to get shut down...just completely shut down....i honestly almost didn't get in line...
but i did and somehow, by some miracle lorenzo liked my work. really liked it. He faculty refered me and asked me to apply as a junior...i was beaming....it was that sort of harry potteresk feeling--when you don't expect to be good at soemthing and then somehow...majestically you are. ...ok now i'll get to the point</p>
<p>so i went back this november...with a muuuuuch more established portfolio of work and a sketchbook i was proud of. to be honest i really expected to get a good reaction. or at least to be faculty refered once again. But this time i was reviewed by an older woman (stephany something or other)...who told me that my work was not "Bad", that i hadn't done anythign "wrong" ...however that i had to watch out because i was becoming "trapped" ...apparently all of my work is frustrated. I havn't done enough experimentation with smiles and positive or i dunno neutral emotions.
apparently i need to break away from exaggeration somewhat....I was told to come back...to come back with more work... work inspired by this woman's suggestions...i was told that i would be better off completing more work and applying regular d....so for about a week after this day i worked night and day trying to complete work that i though this stephany character would like.... but then i realized hey...i'm applying to ten other schools and i havn't even started one app essay.....so then i got swept away in the insanity of applications and never had the opportunity to return and show her more work....the piece i was working on is the unfinished painting of a girl wearing a hat; shs seems to be resting her head on a man's shoulder...it's supposed to be a social satire of the parent artist relationship but it's obviously not apparent as i never finished the piece...sigh.........so anyway point being....i never really did any of the kind of work this woman wanted to see. ( and actually i think i saw her in admissions when i was dropping off this test- so she must be important)</p>
<p>but the smiles and emotions shown on ur deviant site honestly seem like just the type of thing this woman was talking about. You really have a great shot....plus ur work will be paired with ur creative essays so that will def help</p>
<p>ok i must stop being nocturnal and go to bed now </p>
<p>P.s. it's funny ur into oatmeal...because i am litterally addicted to cereal...no joke. i must eat at least 3 bowls of honey nut cherios everyday!</p>
<p>some more b.s. (though it's actually embarrassing to post now) hah</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Do you think that its important that artists speak or write about their work?</p>
<p>In my opinion it is imperative that artists speak and write about their work as often as possible. Good artwork generally stems from ideas and observations that are expressible both visually and verbally. Artists should fully explore thoughts through discussion and written evaluation before transferring them to canvas. Speaking and writing about artwork allows artists to further assess and develop ideas and visions.</p></li>
<li><p>Describe any work experience which you feel relates to your artistic goals.</p>
<p>Last summer I was bound to a hiccupping swivel chair behind a cityscape of stacked computer paper. Interning at the Joe Schmoe (i'm paranoid haha) Museum of Art was not always exciting. My sole duty as the intern was to write thank you notes to the hundreds of donors who contributed to the museums cause at its annual masquerade ball.
I was to look up phone numbers in prematurely biodegrading phonebooks, operate incompetent computers, and brave an unending influx of paper cuts. But it was all worth it. It was all worth it because one day Leigh Macurio, my supervisor, asked me to aide her in leading the sculpture garden tours, a series of outdoor museum sponsored tours for sixth graders.
Perhaps explaining the profundity in Alexander Calders work to distracted, prepubescent middle school students does not seem terribly exhilarating, but believe it or not these sculpture explorations were the highlight of my summer. I will never forget the pseudo-intellectual conversation I had with Jane Persico about the texture and angle of Reuben Nakians Moonlight Goddess, or the way John OConnell pointed out the mysteriousness of Allen Bertoldis Wood Duck.
This experience inspired me to consider a career in artistic instruction or curatorship.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>what I'm most woprried about is the admisisons people not knowing that I have much more in my head than I've actually put on paper. I'm starting to know where I'm going, but it's really recently that I've figured it out.. pretty much the last six months. I wish they could somehow know that if they give me a chance, I could catch up.. or that this next year is when I'm really going to get better at a quicker rate. (can sort of sense that this is about to happen..) but the thing IS.. that could be a reason I don't get in, assuming they like the 2 or 3 things that are linked in the way I want now. it may not even be my fault (just a developmental thing, I think..) but how else do they choose, you know? if there's people who are further along, like I said, they'll choose them. That does make sense. (even while it is kind of depressing.)</p>
<p>when I was a junior I went to portfilio day (actually I did it all four years, for some reason.. not like they took me seriously before junior year, hah). i didn't go to cooper until this year (didn't know about it!) but I went to RISD and others.. anyway, they were positive, but I know now that I new NOTHING about myself as an artist. just nothing. cooper would have nailed me. I had vaugue ideas about how I liked lines to look, that was about it. the reason for this was that I didn't really know much about who I was in general (compared to now, anyway.) it took me all the way to age 17 to get anywhere, so I sort of resent the fact that you're supposed to be so mentally developed at this age. but ahh well, can't change it.</p>
<p>anyway, what I thought was interesting was that Ithey told me the exact same thing that they told you at your second portfiolio review with them. The guy didn't give me an ED packet, but I think he thought I was expecting one. I actually wasn't, probably because I didn't know enough about how that all worked.. I forgot about it until he brought it up. he told me that I had a 'very competitive' portfolio, but that I needed to develop it more. he said that more time to work on it would do me more good than applying ED. he really was quite positive, but like I mentioned earlier, I'd had that nasty, indifferent review just two days prior. THAT guy was practically sneering at me. He didn't say much outright.. at all.. he gave me a few little technique tips but I was upset that he had no comments beyond that. i'm not sure why it went like that.. I'd forgotten my sketchbooks and I was sweating like a nervous idiot, I couldn't even talk. he was so intimdating! other guy was nice though.</p>
<p>as for writing, i.. sort of like it. I enjoy writing about art, that's true. not so much other things.. I have a complete genius writer friend, so I've always known exactly where my shortcomings are with writing. it used to frusterate me a lot. not as much now though. i think my essays were more consistant than my art, heh. but I'm not sure how much that really.. matters.. as compared to the art. I dunno. i'm sure there's so many smart, good writers who can't translate their thoughts into art.</p>
<p>anyway, I must add that I am also addicted to cereal! I didn't mention it in my oatmeal speech but I've loved it for a long time. Last night I ate.. um, seven bowls of special K. seven or eight. kind of sick. favorites are Honey Bunches of Oats and Life. I just eat bowl after bowl and at all times of the day. god, it's so good.</p>
<p>more essays!
. My favorite subjects are people. I have always been fascinated by the expressiveness and individuality of the human body, and I simply enjoy drawing it. In the past year, I have discovered the work of artists whose work is figure-based and expressive in the ways I like. Looking at those works helped me find the general direction I wanted to go in with mine. The first artist I admired was El Greco and his loose and luminous painting style, and I particularly liked his elongated cheekbones and hands. As I was discovering that I liked hands and their gestures, I conveniently came across Egon Schiele in a little book called 1000 Self-Portraits. I liked his intense, linear style and the fire he threw into the expressions and gestures of his subjects. One of my self-portraits is a direct result of my sitting at the bookstore and looking at the Schiele book for an hour. I think it was Schieles work that really drove me to be more forcefully expressive in my works. Previously, I had been frustrated that what I was thinking never seemed to make it onto the canvas or paper all of my self-portraits had, up until that point, turned out unsatisfyingly passive. Then I remembered liking a work by Alice Neel in my Art History class, so I looked her up and ended up getting a book of her paintings too. Neel is subtler and compared to Schiele could be considered a more traditional portrait artist, but she is a master of character. I like her painting style and the sure way she layed down her colors, which were always spot-on, even when they were off. </p>
<h2>My other source of inspiration is my English class and books I read by myself. Recently we read Grendel by John Gardner. I had read one other Gardner book before that, and even though Ive only read two, I would cite him as my favorite author. I also like Italo Calvino and Aimee Bender but both of those authors are more writers writers. I find Gardner to be more open and less discerning. The Gardner books and my English class provided me with a giant pile of philosophies and ideas to think about. Ive noticed that these things are shaping my thoughts and actually emerging in my art. I like the idea of the art I do absorbing those literary themes.</h2>
<ol>
<li> I have a ukulele. I have a fantasy of taking it to Central Park and playing it while sitting in a tree or on a rock. Central Park is my favorite place. I have to admit that one of the major perks of living in New York, for me, would be the opportunity to go to the park whenever I wanted. I like climbing and jumping I was a (very average) hurdler on the track team two years ago, which did a number on my shin bones but I am still most happy running around the less crowded areas of the park, which makes it feel rather like hiking. Hiking is also one of my favorite things to do. I run regularly because I like to have energy when I get to do something like visit Central Park. I could say I run to be healthy, but its really so that I can have more fun in parks. Running around in a park is one of those things that allows me to forget any complications I am dealing with in that more serious Real Life. Art is the only other thing that can do that (and the only thing that can temporarily cure fatigue). I hate to say it, but sometimes I want to be in the park more than with my friends. But the friends and the park would be ideal.</li>
</ol>
<p>ah thats SO weird with the cereal....and u know what else...i am...or was a runner also. Except i was hard core long distance (went to states and the whole shabang). I was supposed to take it to college- use it to get into some big name school or something. But then before winter track in junior year my art teacher showed me the "cooper union tape"---just amazing....it inspired me to quit spending my time running in circles and to start painting and illustrating ect....(and also the fact that it was litterally making me insane had just a bit to do with the quiting)</p>
<p>actually i used this for one of my essays....8. Describe an event or idea that has been very influential in your life.</p>
<pre><code>Ill never forget the day I chose. I can still recall the way my sweat turned cold as my tongue sounded the final syllable of the phrase that had taken me a month to compose: I quit.
It was a powerful feeling. Yet, I did not stand tall that day because I had told my coach off or because I had performed an act worthy of soap opera glorification. I held my chin high because I knew I had made a judicious decision. I wasnt quitting track because the workouts were too hard, because the meets werent fun, or because my teammates were unmotivated. I was quitting because I was ready to move forward. I was ready to devote my time to my true passion. I was ready to devote myself to art.
My feet now support my body before canvas for the hours they would have been circling an endless asphalt path... ect.......(gag)
</code></pre>
<p>also....don't worry about ur "development" ...above all cooper is looking for "teachability" ....they said this over and over in the info session. I suppose that means potential and not being trapped, but i'm not really positive.</p>
<p>o and cinnamon life is to DIEEEEE FOR ...haha (try it!)</p>
<p>ahahaha I have, I like it as much as regular Life! There's aanother type that's good too. Honey bunches of oats has also banana, strawberry, and almond. There's peach, but it's gross!</p>
<p>I like your essay bit about the quitting.. the description of how you weren't quitting because it was hard, that it was so conscious a decision.. (reminds me of a book I read by Aimee Bender, about a girl addicted to quitting things she was good at, running was one)</p>
<p>I stopped doing track after the first 2 years of high school, mainly because I don't like that kind of competiton, it's too fast, it doesn't represent what you can do.. (especially with hurdles because that's what I did. could be nerve-wracking!) also there were problems with me wanting to go the art room after school and work on a mural with my art teacher. the track coaches were always mad if I was 20 minutes late, even with a pass.. annoying that they were so hard-core about it. as if I couldn't have another thing going on. oh yeah, and I got THREE STRESS FRACTURES. both years. (..was BAAD.)</p>
<p>for a little over a year I've been doing it by myself. I do distance now (even though I'm not talented in that really, was better at sprints) But I do do six miles on average, seven if I actually get to bed on time. when I get to college I want to find a group of people to run with, that would be cool.. I'm tired of doing it myself because sometimes it gets so boring!</p>
<p>six miles a day! wow i'm impressed!!! i've been sooo idle lately, i keep promising myself i'm going to start working out .... but yeah now my excuse is that i don't have running shoes. anyhow i just found out i got into syracuse and cornell. which i guess is encouraging even though i really want to go to cooper. i guess at least i have backups. /;</p>
<p>also i don't know if it's just me ....but after cooper do you feel at all uninspired. i was working so hard and really looking forward to taking a break so that i could work on my own projects and what not....but now i'm just being a bum- watching t.v. and what not</p>
<p>also i've had to reestablish friendships ---because for about litterally two months (one for cooper, one for other apps) i didn't go out or see my friends at all. It's weird being a normal teenager again. sometimes i like not taking myself or my life seriously...the way my friends do...but lately it's just hard--esp after thinking so much about my life and future and all...
it's almost conceded and i don't want to be that way..gah</p>
<p>I've actually been more inspired to do things after cooper ... I've been drawing/collaging in my sketchbook a lot more, and have been devising video shorts in my head ... haha. i'm a lot more organized now after that hometest. weird.</p>
<p>oh, and I knew someone who went to Cornell for their art program, and they said it was "iffy" ... not sure what that meant.</p>
<p>yeah i dunno about cornell...i'm flattered that they accepted me, but it's not really my scene...the middle of no where atmosphere, the excessive snow, and the microscopic art program...it's funny one of the things that made me like cornell is that my interviewer said taht he had taught at cooper...and that he actually went to graduate school and (for a time) lived with one of my favorite artists (currin).</p>
<p>though it's going to **** my dad wwwwwwaaaaaaaay off i'd easily pick cooper over cornell</p>