Nigel Ewan enjoys life.

What I did this week (19 apr 2012)

Reunited with all my friends after my time away.
Did probably my worst drawing of the semester in figure drawing. To quote Boryana: “It isn’t your best drawing ever…”
Watched the movie version of A Streetcar Named Desire for the entire duration of my American lit class, which I consider a new low.
Had a typically glorious time in M-Tabs’ team class. She entered the classroom and said “How is my favorite class doing today?” and she also bought every team a big oatmeal-raisin cookie. These are special times.
Visited Ohio State University’s historic costume collection and got a little tour from the curator, Gayle Strege, who is an instantly-likable person. Also saw an exhibition of girl scout uniforms which were all really neat.
Spent all of wednesday’s Illustration class making a little figure out of Sculpey clay.
Took a make-up History of fashion quiz during my wednesday lunch break.
Spent the rest of my wednesday lunch break in Mr. Burleigh’s office talking about what I missed last week, which was a really really nice time.
Had small-group peer crits in Burleigh’s class, which were rather unhelpful.
Took a make-up art history test on thursday afternoon. I used my laptop to write so I ended up with 2,000 words, which was entirely too many.
Suffered through the whole week because my wisdom teeth are coming in and I can only open my mouth about 1/2″ without pain. This makes eating lunch difficult, so it’s a good most of my lunches this week were eaten either alone or in the dark of my art history class.
Made plans for a friday team-class meeting. Our project is due in just over a week and things are getting very serious!

Our History of fashion class visited OSU’s costume collection this afternoon and got to look at a bunch of cool stuff. The collection also had an exhibit on Girl Scouts uniforms, which was beautiful and great. Here is a picture of Amanda and me blocking some of the items in the exhibition.

What I did this week (5 apr 2012)

Had a crit in figure drawing. Made fun of Boryana for moving like a breakdancer while she teaches.
Went to see the visiting artist, who showed slides with a dim, grimy slide projector and refused to use a microphone. Interesting but annoyingly postmodern.
Did literally no classwork during the Worst class of the week.
Watched more of that movie in my American lit class. Another poor use of time I couldn’t help.
Had tuesday art history class off because our teacher was sick. Spent the time on the quad with Amanda, Ian, and Dorian.
Had another really intense, action-packed team class. Most of our discussion centered around exactly how humanoid should a siren look? It was very serious.
Bonded with my History of fashion teacher over millinery and the sorry state of historical education at art school.
Had wednesday completely off: my illustration teacher had to cancel class due to a family funeral.
Gave a mini-presentation about 1950s politics with some other people in my American lit class.
Spent all of thursday’s art history class looking at architecture, which was kind of a fun break from routine.
Went to visit the print lab and got to talk to Kathy, which was really nice. It is good to visit places you normally don’t go.
Did that thing in Burleigh’s class where we all sit around and talk to each other about our sketches. I ended up having a great conversation about Obamacare with Theresa and giving advice to Anna on her package design. Talked a little about my actual work, too.
Grew to love and respect Mr. Burleigh even more than before, which I did not think was possible.
In general: spent the whole week making plans to be gone next week. Looking forward to the break!

What I did this week (29 mar 2012)

Stayed up late sunday night to register for classes; had some problems with my account and didn’t get into a bunch of stuff.
Spent most of monday trying to fix registration. Also: tuesday, wednesday, and thursday.
Skipped the visiting “artist” (read: contemporary poet) lecture and had a good old-fashioned friendship lunch.
Left my laptop at home on tuesday morning and had to go the whole day without it. It was difficult, but my bag was definitely easier to carry around.
Looked at paintings by the Pre-Raphaelites in my 19th century art history class, which was, as you can imagine, super great.
Talked to Julie Taggart, who turns out to be pretty cool. Even though she crushed my dreams of taking a screenprinting class with Dana in the fall.
Used all three hours of my team ad class to talk about board games in great depth. It was intense and helpful and headache-inducing and great all at once.
Spent of wednesday working in Corel Painter with a tablet. Non-messy and fun.
Was compared to Richard Aschenbrand and Artie Isaac by two different people in the same day. I can only take that as compliments.
Watched some of the Revolutionary Road movie in my American lit class (it is not very good—Meryl Streep isn’t in it at all). While this was going on, I started swatching for a new, ten-color fair isle jumper.
Presented finals in Burleigh’s class and got info on our last project of the semester. We made a word cloud in class during which I was mocked for having no friends (in a friendly way, natch).
Went to visit Mr. Felton, the copywriting teacher, who graciously let me into his class. Phew.

What I did this week (15 mar 2012)

Started a new team project with a new team, comprising people I enjoy and respect. I’m excited.
Listened to M-Tabs explain the entire plot of Battlestar Galactica to our team class. This only very loosely related to our team project, but it was charming and entertaining.
Went shopping with Evan—a topic which deserves a post all to itself. We drove all over town to a bunch of vintage clothing and antique stores, trying to find specific items and taking a bunch of pictures. This was in lieu of a normal History of fashion class, and it was much more fun. Also, this was the first time I had ever traveled in a Hummer.
Wore a polo shirt for the first time this year. Spring’s a-coming.
Took hilarious reference photos for a new illustration project inspired by pulp fiction book covers.
Enjoyed a long crit, during which Mr. Mahan suggested that two girls should have a jello wrestling contest to determine the winner of a poster with zombies harassing a geisha.
Got Polish food with Jason for his birthday.
Went back to Illustration and finished the day even though it was 76°F outside.
Finished the week with a knit-n-crit which was surprisingly robust, considering everyone is punchy and slap-happy and ready for some time off.
Began spring break!

The bulletin board from Burleigh’s class this afternoon was very full today.

What I did this week (8 mar 2012)

Drew portraits with Boryana and talked about basic frame.
Didn’t have any normal classes on tuesday or wednesday!
Got sophomore-reviewed by Matthew Mohr (who was great) and Steve Gabor (who wasn’t as great). Passed.
Wore my traffic-cone orange trousers and bonded with Mr. Aschenbrand, who I am growing to love.
Studied art history with Dana and Dorian in the Crane Café on wednesday. Prepared less than usual.
Took a perfunctory “liberal arts progress assessment”, which was a bureaucratic waste of time.
Enjoyed delightful sunny weather on wednesday and painfully rainy weather on thursday.
Watched clips from the 1961 A Raisin in the Sun film from YouTube instead of doing any actual classwork, causing me to question why I even showed up.
Took my second art history test, which was extremely fun.
Learned a fun fact about Mr. Burleigh, who grows cooler with every successive week.
Turned in my American lit midterm, which is seven pages long and full of things my teacher probably won’t agree with.

What I did this week (1 mar 2012)

Had a crit in figure drawing! Turned in my first homework piece, which is not terribly good and which I will probably end up re-making.
Skipped friendship lunch to see one of CCAD’s liberal arts teachers talk very seriously about Harpo Marx. It was more interesting than I’d expected.
Had presentation day in team class! My team didn’t go first for the first time all year, but it was a great time nonetheless. Literally everyone did a great job.
During our presentation: performed an elaborate skit in which John played a character called Joff. We made M-Tabs laugh until she cried.
Took a group photo after our presentations, which is destined to become one of my most prized e-possessions.
Had a history of fashion midterm! Roughly one-half of the test was accidentally not included in our printed materials, so the teacher had to write all the questions on the chalkboard. I think I did well on it but I really have no clue.
After the midterm: did a mini-presentation on 1890s fashion. I covered men’s hats.
Drew a cartoony t-shirt design wherein a family flays a person using knives. It was supposed to be a “scary Halloween design for teens”, so I’d say I did a pretty dang good job.
Besides the t-shirt design, my wednesday was pretty boring. The upside: I didn’t bicker with anybody all day.
Did not say anything critical about people’s unflattering Warby Parker frames.
Had lots and lots of conversations about sophomore review during which no consensuses were ever reached.
Was late to Burleigh’s knit-n-crit because I was in line for hot water at the Crane Café. But it was okay because half the class was also down there buying goitered-looking muffins.
Got to go into Mr. Burleigh’s office and get all my old work from last semester. I had to sign a make a list of everything I took so he can get it back.
Went home and assembled all the things I’m going to take to sophomore review. (spoiler: it is like 50 things.)

Nigel Ewan