familiar light

the people in fashion design seem to love vernisážes more than the members of any other ateliér, because s. invited me to another party in the spacious, beautiful studio in újezd.  except it was not the "table dancing to 1980s hits" kind we had hoped for, but another "standing around with a wine glass, kiss kissing on cheeks, while people spend ages announcing things we don't understand" party.  i didn't stay for long.  i was walking home in the twilight in a suddenly blue and self-critical mood, but then i saw a crowd of people under karlův bridge.  i came closer and from the center of the crowd a choir began to sing, surrounded by a small orchestra.  like golden, singing fireflies, under the bridge on a cold and wet tuesday night.

výstava klauzurních prací

illustration

my postcards on display.  i also included my sketchbook if anybody wants to see where this pattern business came from, and what i have been doing for the last few months.

architecture

product design

all of the studios were set up very beautifully, even though some of the work - mostly in the more conceptual studios - was of questionable craftsmanship.  it looks so good!

wolves in the latest sheep's fashion

the fashion ateliér's opening was lovely; quite a few pieces were inspired by slovak traditional costume, and the overall exhibition was very light an airy, and it took place inside the old building at újezd that faces the river from the kampa side. afterwards we moved back to the school's main building for the opening of the product design students' exhibition, which was a contest to design a new product/packaging for heinz ketchup.

it was here that i found out, because nobody bothered to tell me, that grades were being given out at our illustration studio. i was glad that i missed it, because from what i heard, the head of our studio showed a different side of himself and trashed the work of foreign and czech students alike. apparently he does this, apparently nobody really likes him, apparently nobody is really so friendly with each other there. how can he smile and nod all semester, and only at the end express his true opinion? that isn't how constructive criticism works. i know it was silly to cry at a vernisáž, but i couldn't hold it in when i heard this. you can't imagine the pain and disappointment. i didn't let it break me for months - not being told anything ever, not getting any translation, the students looking right through me when i said hello, not knowing what the teachers really think about my work, not being taught anything, feeling constantly like an inconvenience to the people that are, in theory, there to help me - i found some ways to justify all of their behavior, but all of this eats away at one's self confidence little by little, and last night was just too much.

i can't say i wasn't warned

all of the studios opened their doors these two days for jury and to give all of the students a chance to speak about their work. (above, jewelry). tomorrow is the official opening and until next friday, the school and studios will be open for the public.  i finally ran into MSC and told him that he has some 'splainin' to do.  well, he left his phone at his parents' house (for, what, two weeks now?) and he even said it like this is normal.  we agreed on tuesday of next week, but something tells me that i am an idiot.  if anyone was gambling on this, now would be a good time to bet against me.  assuming that my heart will finally break on tuesday, i have four days to not think about it and do something productive.  than afterwards i can tearfully eat all of the tubs of ice cream i want.  tonight is the opening of the VŠUP fashion studio, which is very very exciting!

moje praha

i finished my klauzura project, which is a set of eight postcards, featuring some patterns that i found around the city.  more details here.  i have to document them as much as possible because i think they might get taken away by the VŠUP illustration studio.   i wish somebody would tell me what is going on!

about my school

the academy of decorative and applied arts (or academy of art, architecture and design) was founded in in 1885, then being the first and only state art school in the czech republic.  since its founding, the school has been the center of many important artistic movements and in 1900 became the czech representative at the world exhibition in paris, where it was awarded the grand prix.  a staggering amount of famous czech artists and architects studied here, later taught here, and some went on to become headmasters of the school.  the school got so many makeovers with the cultural and political changes during the 20th century; it's impressive to think of the people that walked in the same dark hallways and used the ancient workshops.  

it's probably the only thing about prague that i won't miss.  it seems to me like it is so prestigious that sometimes it forgets that it is a school.  i never did take MICA for granted, but now i really appreciate it.

field below

the prague fringe festival started, and last night n. and i went to the jazz and blues club u malého glena in malá strana to see this scottish singer/songwriter, andi neate.  it was not really my cup of tea, but she did sing in scottish gaelic at the end, a capella.

there are poppies growing on letna hill!  i went for a walk today to clear my head, and there were a couple of old creeps on a park bench sitting around and being creepy.  i went home and now i am working again, with dry point, scratching away at some piece of white shiny plastic paper, so i can make prints tomorrow morning.  "time is a tease.  time is a tease - because everything has to happen in its own time."    

прихоть

that's the weather here in prague, and i have a mood to match. the rain makes it difficult to do anything outside of home and school, although n. and i did manage to go to a small exhibition of old european posters from the museum of decorative and applied arts. i have mostly been staying inside and working on my klauzura (final semestral work), and trying to not feel sad and abandoned, because even though i thought that after my fantastically successful attempt to become bffs with magical sweater czech everything would be easy as pie, i was very, very wrong. given that this is a rather hectic week, i will not begin to panic just yet, but so far i am under the impression that he has completely vanished. i seriously hope that he didn't frantically pack his bags and leave the country immediately after meeting me. if anyone thinks that this smacks of "he's just not that into you," i have already considered the possibilities and judged it impossible. so there.

мааамо! а ти ж менi казала: час як вода...

i am working on a set of postcards about prague for my final illustration project. i could barely hold back my tears yesterday when the master in the graphic techniques workshop refused to help me with etching, but i moved on to plan b, which means doing most of the work by drawing. but for variety i did two with linocut this morning. it's my own fault for being an idiot and going away for two weeks, but still, in let-down situations like yesterday's i can't help but feel rejected by an entire nation (stupid, i know). tomorrow the assistant will be there and maybe i will have time for one etching. tonight i am working well past two in the morning, and i am wondering how many people out there also have the song "mamo" painfully stuck in their heads.  primarily the first chorus, that's in ukrainian...

mildly molested

today in drawing class my model was one old man, for whom my not speaking czech and his not speaking english is apparently not an obstacle to his incessant talking to me and asking me whether i understand, and occasionally flicking the tip of my nose with his index finger.  when i came in to the classroom after a break, he approached me, flicked me on the nose, and told me something along the lines of - here my lamentable understanding of czech and my careful observation of his gestures worked together - that next time, if i don't close the door behind me, he is going to spank me.  yes, that's right.  and if i had only known the czech word for "spank," i could have spared myself - and the rest of the class - the demonstration.

in particular

i did not explain the "sweater" phenomenon as well as i should have.  i have learned that there exists a certain "czech boy look," which usually consists of something like corduroy pants, a backpack, endearing hurricane hair styled by pillow, and a button down shirt, the collar and tails of which stick out from under these mysterious "bard" sweaters that i noticed when i first came to art school here, where this type is especially common.  after much careful observation, i have concluded that most of them come from the architecture department.  these boys are rare and possibly a dying breed, but what is really great about them is that there is absolutely nothing ironic, styled, or affected about their appearance.  they seem to be outside of time.  hence, "magical sweater czech."

zelený čtvrtek (green thursday)

sometimes wine + strudel happens in the middle of the day.  yesterday there was a party in the fashion studio; people dancing like crazy on the table to 1990s hits.  it was so fun!  and the most interesting part is that this happens in the school.  people hold parties after hours in their studios and nobody minds.  well, the man at the reception desk came upstairs to tell us to keep it down a couple of times, but when his shift was over, he went home and we were free to continue.  imagine that, i wish MICA was so welcoming, but then again the student body at VŠUP is practically nonexistent, and sometimes it seems that the school is empty.

ladislav sutnar

since one of our lectors in history of czech graphic design is iva knobloch, the curator of the prints department at the museum of applied and decorative arts, we got an exclusive peek at the museum's private archives of printed material. due to a lack of exhibition space, the museum only exhibits one percent of its collection, and here were rooms piled to the ceiling with books, prints, and posters, and among the shelves and drawers were the employees' workspaces, also covered in papers, with other curiosities - like old typewriters - strewn about. a man was digging frantically in one of the square drawers, occasionally murmuring and gasping to himself.  i wish i could work with archives, especially in such a lovely old place. the incredible things that would pass though my hands!

the lecture was about ladislav sutnar (1897-1976), top notch czech graphic designer and pioneer of "information design." iva laid out his books and the work he is best known for, the technical catalogues he designed for american clients. he really is a master at visually organizing boring technical information in a very beautiful and clean way, but two hours of detailed dissection of successful design elements in every catalogue from the 1930s to the 1950s was quite tiresome. at one point something happened - i felt heat rise up to my head and the color drain from my face - and i thought i would faint. i was alright but that was very strange.

ça pourrait changer

yesterday morning the weather went through the extremes of all four seasons. i made too much semolina porridge and ate the whole lot and then, when the weather was sunny and skirt-safe, i went (well, ran; i was late again) to národní muzeum for the tuesday czech modern art lecture. when i came back outside, it was rain-snowing, and i looked like i got dressed in a different hemisphere than everyone else on the street. it was just that kind of day for me.

but then, i skipped my architecture lecture to go to a fashion show at café louvre, where our friend s. was one of the designers. the show was from students in the clothing design atelier at my school and featured sustainable fashion made from recycled materials. but equally important was the wine and lots of familiar faces in the circles of people. there was even one delicate-looking creature in fantastic shiny shoes, whom i will draw when i get the chance. and his face looked so much like yours, a., that i really missed you then!

illustrated stamps

i have picked my most favorite ones from the lot, the ones with the non-communist illustrations and nice colors. i think they are just the bee's knees and i love them. 

i will participate in the next assignment for illustration, which is a little flipbook. i have never done a flipbook before, but after the entirely english-free explanation at the film and animation studio this morning, it seems like it would be fun and not so difficult, just careful planning and a lot of drawing of the same thing over and over. the illustration assistant was kind enough to translate about ten percent of what was being said + careful ear-straining on my part, and i got the basic idea. except, i have no idea what to do. the theme is "love + hate." help, friends! it has to be a very quick little joke; it takes about 2 seconds to flip through it.

what does it take

about my illustration studio at VŠUP. foreign students are almost completely ignored by the other students and the professor and the professor's assistant.  the classes and critiques are in czech, which feels like i am trapped inside a foreign film without subtitles. normally i don't mind that much, but today was just plain frustrating because i waited three hours to get a useless five minute consultation, missing drawing class.  plus, the object of my dazzlingly unfounded affection was absolutely nowhere to be found just when i had made my mind up to be brave today, so an all-around unsatisfactory experience.  then i saw vincent gallo on a bus stop h&m advertisement, and felt a little better.

мо-жет-э-то-шкаф

semi-strange, possibly magical object on the horizon.  there is only one way to find out, one way with many variations.  i am devising a stratagem to approach said object.

czechoslovakian film poster design

from today's history of graphic design lecture. films often appeared in czechoslovakia years later than their first international premiere.  graphic designers often did not know what the film was about before creating the poster, and usually had a tight deadline and one photograph to work with.  the information on the poster was limited to the title of the film, the name of the director, and sometimes a brief description.  all of these factors had a significant impact on the design, and often produced a more interesting result.  above left, the original international theatrical poster for federico fellini's "8 1/2" from 1963, and right, the czechoslovakian poster from 1964, by bedřich dlouhý.

mansion in the mist

dear mansion on the hill, what are you?  i have not come close enough to figure it out yet.

popo cafe petl again on sunday night for live gypsy music.  we danced like crazy even though it was less balkan and more havana, the usual gypsy kings repertoire ("volare," "bamboleo...") until some real gypsies came down for two seconds and danced very quickly in a whirl of body parts, putting the rest of us non-gypsies to shame.  too bad it did not last very long.  

on tuesdays we meet with our guide at different galleries for czech modern art and art history.  last week, we came to the city gallery and there was no exhibition because the museum is being renovated.  this tuesday, we met outside the national museum of music and found out that it is open every day but tuesday!  this kind of thing is funny and happens a lot.  classes are cancelled, lectures are moved to a different time and place without notice.  i am always guessing what will (not) happen next.

drawing class

on thursday i was finally able to go to drawing class, which lasted about three hours.  there is a giant roll of paper in the corner and when i come in, i tear off a very long piece and attach it to a very tall easel, and draw the nude model full size.  i hate working so big, but it wasn't so bad at all...