New Year's Artists Resolutions
BFA Communication Design student Ariel Ronayne interviewed PCA students, staff and faculty to know about their New Year’s resolutions and give us all ideas for 2021.
As artists and students, it often feels like time slips away from us before we have the chance to make the best of it. It is difficult to find space in our lives for personal projects, especially while juggling between school, work, and other commitments.
New Year’s gives us the chance to wipe the slate clean and refocus our attention on the things collecting dust in the back of our mind. Whether it’s reinventing yourself through a new haircut, or looking for fun recipes to try for lunch, it’s always good to take stock and set some goals for the year ahead.
As I considered my own resolutions and what I look forward to in 2021, I thought I’d see what my fellow PCA peers, staff, and faculty were hoping to achieve this year.
Here are their artistic New Year’s resolutions for 2021.
Yoshiko Shimada – Student Life Office
I’ve been gifting people artwork made by young illustrators and graphic designers for presents last year, and I want to continue to do so as long as I have the budget. In general, I want to gift more experiences and moments instead of “stuff” since we all have TOO MANY THINGS! But when and if I do, I’m sure folks would appreciate a beautiful piece of artwork rather than something they’d never read, wear, nor use. And, I’d rather spend my money on up and coming independent creators instead of feeding giant corporations and chains.
Sara Krauskopf – Admissions & Communications Office
Keep playing and having fun, and no second-guessing myself.
Chloe Briggs – Chair of Foundation
To share! I have seen over the past year since lockdown last March how my work as Drawing is Free has been a positive force for people. My goal for 2021 is to invite more people into my ‘Drawing is Free’ space in order to reach and inspire more people from all over the world. I am more than ever convinced of the quiet, magical power that a practice of drawing together can generate.
Kirsten Franks – 2nd Year, BFA Photography
For me to integrate my practice into my everyday life more, like always carrying a sketchbook and always being ready to take a pic!
Nora Link – 2nd Year, BFA Communication Design
I want to eventually, over the course of the year, create something that I’m really proud of. It’s been a long while since I’ve worked on a personal art project, long-term, at my own pace and at my own indulgence. I’m more of a sketcher and a planner, and then I’m usually lacking in follow through. So the goal is to create either a large work, or a large body/collection of works, that reflects my skills adequately but is also just fun, just for me, a creative outlet that I can look back on and still be proud of. One of those works where you look back and think “I can’t believe I made that. I’ll never top that, it was my peak.”
Amy Rapp – Certificate, Communication Design
In 2021, I look forward to expanding my knowledge of graphic design. Last semester was my first time officially studying communication design after changing careers, and I was instantly hooked. I realized a few things. One, this is exactly what I want to be doing in the future. And two, I have a lot to learn. It’s both exciting and terrifying all at once.
Aria Kwok – 3rd Year, BFA Communication Design
I want to complete my art projects outside of class and be consistent with it.
Wu Heng – 1st Year, Foundation
To be less afraid of trying and failing at new things.
Lauren Burnam – 3rd Year, BFA Communication Design
Find an internship. Make an Instagram for all of my work. Make a portfolio website. Advance my knowledge with all of the Adobe suite. Stop procrastinating so much!! Take advantage of the free time that I have. Start brainstorming for my thesis topic.
Kymberly Reid – MA Design for Social Impact
I want to work on my portfolio and a website for freelancing.
Meredith Chadwick – 3rd Year, BFA Communication Design
This year I want to focus on my digital matte painting skills. It’s weirdly specific, but I enjoy the mix of photo compositing, 3D rendering, and the final film output. Matte painting is something that awes me when I watch movies, and I’d love to get better at making them.
Valentina Facchinetti – 2nd Year, BFA Fine Arts
I would love to experiment even more with techniques I yet haven’t tried. And maybe go bigger in format since the lockdown made it harder to do so. I would love to do more installations that are also interactive as I did for my final; I found out that I’m really interested in testing the viewer’s interaction with my art and I would love to go forward in that direction.