Well. Today is the first day that I've actually been coherent enough to blog. But what a day! We met up and headed to the Nature Lab at RISD, where I'd been (briefly) before, but this time, we met up with Kate & Andrew, who work there, and were able to give us a full tour.
We met Netop (above), an amelanistic (sherbet colored!) corn snake, who, for the first time in my life, made me want to own a snake. We bonded.
But first: the show last night. This was Claire's final show for Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design [ risd ] and I was absolutely thrilled I got to pop up to Rhode Island to see!
It consisted of 7 total artists, and while I knew a few and was familiar with their work, I was still blown away at their newest projects, or even looking at the art I'd seen a second time. It was just so perfect. The works all had these unintentional parallels, which were neat to follow, and it was great to be in that environment where everyone was so excited about the art.
(I haven't posted lots of pictures of the art, because their websites do a much better job! See bottom of the post!)
It makes me contemplative, and thinking back to my own senior year, when I had things pretty much nailed down in March. I knew what I was going to do, and in retrospect, I worry I picked that too quickly. But it's done nothing but benefit me, so I should be grateful for that path.
Dad and I were talking to Claire's professor, Shanth -- who, incidentally, is amazing & we've sat in on classes that I still think about -- and he was talking about what he tells graduating seniors about where they should go. The idea coincided with Dad's idea of "go where it's scary," with this thought of "go where you can grow." I really liked that. I like that idea of going to a place that you're still terrified of, but knowing that you'll find your feet, and the only way is up. It's a good thing to keep in mind, especially with that on my horizon again.
But back to RISD!
The Nature Lab was great. Kate fed chameleons, I hung out with a snake, we met turtles, saw doves, and ogled an albino Madagascar hissing cockroach. Also, there is metric tons of taxidermy there, and it's just a great space. Very Victorian Natural History Museum-y.
How beautiful is that?
Beetle Love Tank. My favorite part.
More of me and Netop.
And finally, we went to one of Claire's classes on Character Design. We love the professor -- see above: Shanth -- and just sat and watched. It made me miss college (and relish that I'm going back!) and my mind is boggled by the fact of just so much creativity there.
Claire made this orca for her protagonist, and her sketches later of it are quite possibly the most adorable thing ever.
For more pictures of the show, see my flickr album or Mom's post about it.
- Claire [ shoomlah.com ]
- Kate Walsh [ oliveselkie.com ]
- Beth Zaiken [ bethzaiken.com ]
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