Stella Arbelaez invited to go to the UCF Mid Term Critique. She was very busy getting her thesis finished, but it was great for me to meet the graduate students and talk art. Artist Zoe Nestlie had invited me once before, but at the time I was recovering from a COVID-19 infection.
Zoe had two paintings on display. Both were self portraits. In one a clown in white face had red rings around her eyes and a painted on smile while she face reflected sadness. An extra triangular canvas sat on top extending the blue clown’s had upward. Actual blue pom poms adorned the hat. Above the painting was a round canvas painted red representing a balloon. One professor advised Zoe to use an actual balloon while another advised against the idea. It is up to Zoe to figure out what would work best. A second self portrait titled Facade, had heart shapes rose colored glasses. On that piece red orange and yellow flowers acted as a physical bouquet. Her work is about the psychological impact of emotional abuse within an intimate partner relationship.
The previous time I had sketched the the UCF Critique, Zoe was showing off her first painted explorations. She is still a first year student and this is her third time showing her work to the School of Visual Arts and Design, (SVAD) faculty at large, for a formal critique. I happened to do my sketch quite close to her work. All of her work had been digital at the first critique. She had done a very consistent series of digital paintings of large eyed girls in uncomfortable positions. I asked Zoe if she preferred working digitally or traditionally. She still does some studies for paintings in the digital medium but now prefers to work larger on canvas. She likes the physicality of working on large paintings that have three dimensional elements. It is interesting to see her work progress as she moves through the masters program.
One female artist was talking about how women artists have been marginalized throughout the history of art. She followed up with the fact that she was in the masters program and that meant that the tide had turned. There are 3 men in the masters program, but only one guy made into my sketch. He is looking at his cell phone.
As I was sketching, Anna Vic Webb asked if I could stop back and visit her studio when I was done with the sketch. When I got back to her studio, she was just wrapping up with several professors. She had a self portrait on display. The eyes were a disturbing red but impossible to avoid looking at. As I was talking to Anna. I kept glancing back at those red piercing eyes in the painting. Sections of the painting vibrated with florescent brightness. Hair was painted on the legs in a spiraling pattern similar to Van Gogh’s nigh sky. A lone wolf was peaking printed on her tee shirt in the painting. We had a long talk about art which was quite rewarding. I didn’t really critique the work but instead offered suggestions on techniques she might like to try to tie all the elements together. I lost track of time getting to chat about art. I finally slipped away when a professor came in to offer her critique.