By Thomas Thorspecken
After attending Ilenia Colón Mendoza‘s Talk titled, From Paret y Alcázar to Bad Bunny: The Puerto Rican Jíbaro, I went to the Visual Arts building to see a wall of student work assembled by my friend Stella P. Arbelaéz Tascón. She has been teaching an experimental painting class as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and the student work from her students was on display.
What set this display of work off were articles written by the students that described their experiences in doing the assignments. The rest of the student work from other teachers were strictly paintings and drawings. Since I write articles each day about my experiences sketching, I was intrigued.
For one class, the assignment was Sumi painting using Japanese inks on rice paper. One student expressed how excited they were to try the technique. It was their first time using rice paper which is delicate requiring a gentle touch with the brush. Different values of ink application produced atmospheric perspective. The student found the use of the Japanese brushes to be calming. Another student found Sumi difficult, however she loved the result and plans o use what was learned in future projects. Projects pushed students beyond their comfort zones and that is where progress is made.
In another class, students worked in watercolor out in the UCF meditation garden. For most students this was there first time working in water color plein-aire. In the visual arts building undergrads are set up in tiny cubicles where they are tasked to create their body of work. I always find getting out of the studio refreshing. Sometimes the big concept can take the back seat to simple direct observation. One student noted that working with watercolor was challenging to start. With practice she began to understand how the medium worked. She began to use delicate layering of washes. Allowing the white of the paper to shine through was the biggest challenge. Though challenging, the time flew by and she found painting in watercolor to be therapeutic.
I loved reading all the students thoughts. It grounded me to the simple joy of what if feels like to create something, every single day.
In the sketch above, Stella was working on labels for the wall display. She gave me a quick tour of the undergrad painting studio area. There were some very talented painters working in that area. A critique was about to start so we had to get in and out fairly quickly. Then she got to work adding labels to her student wall just as I had to hit the road, so I would be available for my online students back at the Lake County studio,