Ketchup, Part II

MY ART SHOW & SOME MISCELLANY

So, my time in Deutschland came to a close and I made the looooong journey back to Naju, South Korea. It was hard leaving my Oma and Jurgen. AND WHAT WILL HAPPEN ON MY SOAPS? ALISA! GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER! On the plane, I read books about teaching and watched Harry Potter 6. And regarding Aych Peet's Romparound: who thought the concert-time-light-up-ya-lighter with wands would be at all cathartic? Show the funeral, pansies. But, I digress.
When I got back to my apartment, my brain was once again a'splatter. I bopped over to my neighbor's to get my key, a world-class hug, and to rattle off the emotional hills and valleys that were Deutschland withoutbreathingevenonetimeIdon'tthink. Whew. NTS: Get Alex  MOAR chocolate.

I went home, e-mailed my family to let them know I got back safely, and unpacked. Then, there was a pause. I had two days to finish 6 pieces of art. Stalling out of fear, I gave my e-mail a check. I had a reply from my mom:

I am glad you had a good time.
Even more glad that you made it back safely.
Now get to work on that art show.
Love you.
Mom

And that was that. I drank a Redbull (brought from Germany. I love those guys... it's probably for the best they're not in Korea [yet]), put on Golden Girls, and made art for about 30 hours. Then slept for a few hours, GOT UP (! ?!   !!), went to eat with Alex?, and made art for another 30 hours. Grabbed some 2 hours, finished some things up, tried to look like less of a crack addict, and took my work outside. Jihyun, the AMAZING intern from the Gwangju International Center (*where the gallery is) hired an ajushi (Korean man) to come transport my work (including a big ol' plastic children's slide) the 45 minutes to downtown Gwangju. I hate transporting art. Then I spent 3 hours installing in the gallery.

I love installing art.

After that I got and stored snackies, picked up some last minute hardware, grabbed a bus home and SLEPT. For about 7 hours. Then had to get back up, finish my lecture, go back into Gwangju. There, I met up with Lacey and Jen, who traveled 4 hours to my opening! AWESOMENESS. Artsy times commenced. My lecture went well, I think. I tend to ramble and I managed to keep that to a minimum and the content seemed to interest some people (who told me so afterward). I got lots of really cool questions after the lecture. MOAR REFLECTION ON EXHIBITION later. SHOUTING AT MYSELF, NOT AT YOU.

Then, me and the ladies, Miriam, Alex, and a dude from the GIC grabbed some shabu-shabu (crazy soup), a movie at a DVD room (Hot Fuzz, I do believe. I fell asleep). Then Lacey, Jen, and I went HOME. and SLEPT. And had a lazy Sunday and eventual TGIFriday's before they went back to Daegu.

And that, my friends, was the mad scramble of my first public art exhibition. I put up some pictures from my  art show in an earlier post, but there are more in this photo album [ here ], with lovely captions and everything.

Here's the blurb from our Facebook advert (oh, first time she's mentioned she showed WITH other artists, cough, cough, lookatmelookatmelookatme):

dwell·ing (n) – (1) a place to live in (2) a lingering thought

What does it mean to dwell in a city or community? What are the memories that dwell in all of us, in our personal space and in the public consciousness? Dwelling is a tri-part exhibition featuring paintings and sculptures by American visual artist Tamara Belden, drawings by Canadian architect Miriam Ho, and Gwangju University photographers Kim Sara and Kim Ye-Ji.

 And here's my artist's statement:

Schaden Freud: Chapter 2

The project is part of an ongoing, thematic autobiography by American visual artist, Tamara Belden (b. 1986). Schaden Freud centers on the impact of her mother's death (1990) and the results of forcing real life to compete with a ghost. Chapter 2 attempts to capture the substance of the artist's relationships with her past mentors. As an artist, Tamara enjoys linking different visual symbols and allusions to create idiosyncratic language. Borrowing from the visual language of comics, the chapter is a collection of seven “panels” in a particular order. Each panel is an illustration on a found object. The meaning inherent in the objects themselves combines with the added text and image, expanding the language of the story.

 *Didn't really mention how I got the gig. Not terribly exciting. Just asked one of the coordinators what I was planning on doing and if I could show. He said yes. I picked a month. I'm a member of the GIC and the artist's collective there. Anywho, I'll make that story much more thrilling when I try to get into grad school. ^^

NO LONGER ABOUT ART SHOW.

The following Monday (6 Feb), school started! But not really. I thought it was a new semester and I bounded in there with the class rules and a survey and my co-teacher's all "uh, it's the same semester." Cool, I thought. This semester goes until the end of February. Not so. By the time Wednesday rolled around, I was able to put together that it was some strange, graduation week limbo AND that I had TWO MORE WEEKS of vacation. Go'head. Glare at your computer screen. I feel quite sheepish about having so much time off.

I read my textbooks, worked on art, watched a lot of King of the Hill, and went hiking. I spent a weekend with Lace and Jen in Daegu and saw some awesome performance art in Seoul the next weekend. I had planned to go visit Seoraksan National Park at one point, but a window FELL OUT of my apartment. Now, it's my 3rd week back at school and my, things are different. My, so many more things to blarg about.

Also, I feel like it's worth noting that I bought two bags and a pink hair dryer this week. That looks miiiiighty girlie on paper. What are you doing to me, Korea?! Haha, I'm not really too terribly freaked out. There's a logical progression I can live with.

1. One bag is a murse and the other is to replace my school bag which is getting worn out. Sleek checker pattern on both.

2. My hair has looked super stringy lately (and I've never seen a Korean with stringy hair...that can get to you). My hair goop says "damage" on the container (that's the only English) and I thought maybe throwing a bunch on my hair before bed might help my hair not look so...uhm, damaged. And then I my hair magically became thick and shiny. I had been using the goop on my wet hair and there's NO WAY that I'd EVER get up in time for it to dry naturally, so I decided a hair dryer was in order. And while shopping, the pink was the cheapest.

Also, also, I've quit smoking. It's still terrifically early on and I'm feeling pretty high strung, but it doesn't seem to be too bad. I am feeling more feelings that I expected, though. Mostly, I'm amused that I've thought "hey, why aren't you smoking?" like 970 times in the last 6 days. Because there were about 15 occasions per day that called for a cigarette and now my brain is surprised by lack of response. Those moments aren't at all cravings (though I've had those, obviously...ROUGH), they're just a slight confusion. Also, I'm chewing on everything. I bought a ton of gum and assorted toothpicks to chew up. Woo! Wish me luck. ^^

And that's that for meow!

Tamz, Surveying the Great Youngsanpo