Dear graduating Goddard MFA-IA students:
So I was gonna send you a package, or at least some goofy cards. Then I thought, hey, I'm gonna go up there and see your final presentations! I want to see where you ended up taking this whole crazy Goddard thing. And I want to honor and thank you. I'm not sure you guys have any idea how much your support meant to me in my last Goddard days, and your ongoing support afterward as some of us have kept in touch.
Your willingness to participate in, and create for, the Easter Island Project meant so much to me. That whole process, my portfolio, dealing with the biological clock, trying to remain biologically childless, doing the Project... I hoped it would lead me to some peace with my situation. Instead, it brought be to a different kind of peace, the kind you feel when you really do what you really, really gotta do.
I'm about 12 weeks pregnant. That's why I can't make it this weekend & I'm doing this pale online blog-graduation-card instead. I'm having a very tough time physically & can't make the whole drive & everything. I'm sick but happy. It's the generosity of spirit and creativity of my community---yeah, including you troublemakers---that enabled me to get through these four years of grief, and that helped me move past that grief to a new realm of creation and being. Thank you. You guys rock.
(And I'm *still* curious about who made which "seeds," so if you wanna email me & tell me what you made, magdalen23 at gmail, please do!) These photos were taken by Motoya Nakamura of The Oregonian newspaper. The bottom one shows me holding a painted egg with wings that Deb brought as a "seed"... and I still don't know who made this beautiful kinetic acorn sculpture. oh! i just made a video, your seeds might be in here too: http://www.vimeo.com/9739652
Some samples of those "seeds" will be coming to Easter Island with me in April... let me know if you want to see photos.
Amy, may your paper airplanes fly high & may you keep giving the kids of Portland what they deserve: smart teachers, art education, & a sense of humor.
Alaina, may you continue to help others with your unique vision and ability to work with 'em one on one, even when someone freaks out that you don't have the right "working one-on-one with people" certification or whatever. I think you're amazing. xoxo
Richard, the title "Quantum Seeing" reeeeeaaaalllly makes me wish I could be there in person. Wow. Your work and your gentle humor were special to me during our shared residencies in PT.
Jessica, I hope you can send me some DVDs of the work cuz I really wanna see it. One of my favorite moments at PT was the day you and I bookended a video presentation, your work about motherhood, mine about not-motherhood. I saw the pieces as being similar, not different, and I liked the misgivings you expressed about getting into baby-mama imagery in your work. (Maybe you can help me with that!) Thank you again for being the "Seeding Easter Island" tour guide, too. People loved it.
Ann! My lovely nature-mandala-maker, grad seminar advising group friend, soothing gardener of sand. Congratulations. You're actually graduating. Like, right now! I wish I could be there. Thank you for providing a great example of how to disagree in a graceful rather than pushy manner. I learned from you...
Deb. Oh Deb, dear Deb, WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO WITH YOU? You're running around in the world with an MFA in your hand. THE WORLD DOESN'T STAND A CHANCE. You will improvise this world into a state of ecstatic weirdness it never knew existed. And thanks for singing to me "Don't take those eggs to Easter Island." Now I'm taking a fertilized one.
Greg, you wildass wildcard of the wilds surrounding Portland... I hope the Goddard experience rolled out wonder and weirdness and good things for you. We live in the same town, so maybe I can actually see you soon? Congratulations!
Kristine, carrier of deep invisible thoughts that pop to the water's surface with a bang: I would love to see where your work has taken you these past semesters, but I'm busy growing my internal mother. :-) Thank you for sharing your mystery vision with our Jackie group and with the Easter Island Project. I'm still not sure exactly what you did in the blackberry-lined trail that day, but I like to wonder about it.
Nancy G, I have been privileged to become well acquainted with the personal, "real" Nancy (thanks to being roommates with lots of red wine! wa hoo!) (and giant spiders!). That's a big ol' gift. Thank you. And also thank you for being supportive of my flailing-around life, my troubled decision making processes, and the artwork and study I undertook in an attempt to make better sense of it all. I have a graduation present for you, too. It is the graduation present you gave me. A shaman friend of mine played that pipe, and played it beautifully. He infused it with a blessing, a spirit, and I knew at that moment that the instrument was meant to come back to *you*, with this new spirit and blessing. So I saved it 'til you graduated.
Congratulations and love to you all!
Tiffany Lee Brown
Mistress of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts
Goddard College, Port Townsend, 2008
magdalen23 att gmail.com
www.magdalen.com
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