"When I came into the MFA program I found myself in a state of major culture shock. I had been living in Bangkok Thailand, where I applied to MECA from. I came pretty much straight from Bangkok to Portland to start my first summer intensive. I had taken off about 5 years in between my Bachelor's degree and my Master's. During that time I traveled extensively and worked at a variety of jobs (library, coffee shop, auto auction, scrapping, etc.). I'm really glad I took time off between degrees because the life experience I acquired clearly influences my work/practice.
I was drawn to MECA because I was interested in a school that was going to both challenge my work and provide an evironment emphasizing critical studies and theory. I also wanted to be on the East Coast and Portland seemed like a great place to be—especially in the summers. The expansive list of visiting artists also attracted me as I wanted to study with practicing contemporary artists.
When coming into graduate school I thought my work would mature and become technically more astute, little did I know how completely my practice would change. When I came into the program I was almost exclusively an oil painter. Now I do performance, dance, video, drawing, painting,--virtually anything. I’ve also realized how important research as a practice is to my process. Reading, writing, watching films are now as integral to working as creating an installation or drawing. |