One of my favorite things that has happened last quarter was going to a lecture by artist, Liza Lou, at the new SCAD museum. The lecture hall is on the smaller side and the intimate setting immediately made me feel like I was listening to someone I already knew. It was so refreshing to hear what has been going on in Liza's mind the past few years as she read from her journal the whole time instead of making a regular "speech". The mood was relatively melancholy (right up my alley), but ended on a hopeful note. It was truth. In short she talked about dropping out of college because she needed to explore the possibility of what her art was and where it fit into this world. She never liked being critiqued so harshly, so she decided to do her own thing. She worked on creating a kitchen made entirely of beads. It took her five years to complete.
She soon gained attention because of her large scale light-hearted works (the backyard included).
However, her aesthetic wasn't as light-hearted as the critics thought. She started to create "darker"works. She wanted to understand and challenge the limits that she and her surroundings had set for herself. She wanted to better understand the material that she had worked with for so long. She set out for South America to work with a group of women who knew/know much more about beading than she did/does. She was taught many things along the way and now has a permanent residence in South America. She has come to love the process and the material of the beads. She know longer looks at this material with complacency but truly loves it.
Even though this lecture happened a while ago, the things that she has said have stuck with me. I urge you to look her up and see the amazing things she is working on. Love the process because there is a whole lot to look forward to.
