view of the Golden Gate Bridge
from a recent trip to visit CCA before I made my decision
I'm going to grad school and, finally, after a year of thinking, applying, and deciding, I am ready to share my news with all of you. I am going to California College of the Arts in San Francisco for sculpture, installation, and interdisciplinary art in the fall! I will be moving in early June. I am simultaneously excited and scared, a mixture of feelings that I know is natural and reasonable. This is a huge step for me and a lot is about to change. I also know any amount of planning is not going to prepare me for what lies ahead. I just feel very deeply that this is the right next step for me. I feel a shift within me regarding my work and I am ready to focus on figuring it all out. Grad school will give me the time, space, and guidance I know I need to make it happen. I am looking forward to the challenge I'm sure it will be, and to seeing what happens in the next two years.
Back in the fall I prepared my application and I am very proud of the writing I did for it. I worked for several months almost every day and chose to hire an editor because I felt this writing was too important to go it alone. I needed a professional, outside voice and eye to help. I worked with my friend, writer Katey Schultz, and it was one of the most rewarding processes I have ever been involved in. Katey helped draw my thoughts out of my head and onto paper in a clear, simple, and heartfelt way. I feel my statement expresses my interest in grad school and commitment to my work in a way that is true to who I am and I would like to share it with you now. I know it may look long, but it only takes a few minutes to read, and I truly hope you will.
In the near future I will talk more about grad school and about my experience with Katey.
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Amy Tavern - Personal Statement
"I have
been a full-time artist and metalsmith for nearly ten years. My practice
involves production, custom, and conceptual jewelry as well as the recent
addition of sculptural objects and installations. I have taught workshops and
lectured in the United States and Europe, and celebrated four solo exhibitions
since 2012. My career is propelled by hard work, tenacity, sincerity, and
deep-seeded motivation. I feel incredibly grateful for my successes and am
emboldened to take a major step by applying to graduate school for sculpture,
installation, and interdisciplinary work. California College of the Arts’
unique program suits my creative needs, ambitions, talents, and desire for
growth.
I
am a sensitive observer, striving to deeply understand
what I do and why.
I have always been this way and have memories of acknowledging each dilapidated
barn as I rode to my grandparents’ house. As a young girl, I carefully arranged
my collection of delicate rabbit figurines in my room and spent playtime making
furniture to fill dollhouses. As a teenager, I grew curious about interpersonal
relationships and felt acutely aware of slight changes between friends. I
remember the moment I realized what it means to miss someone--I was 17 and
had just finished reading a letter from a relative. As an adult, I earned two bachelor’s
degrees, the second without financial assistance from my parents; I moved
across the U.S.
and back,
occupying 25 different apartments since 1992. I have dealt with divorce and
excruciating heartbreak and experienced career triumphs that made me leap with
joy while also challenging me to
push further. I
see incredible beauty in everything I encounter, from a breathtaking
moss-covered lava field in Iceland to a derelict factory in my hometown, from
suffering through a break-up, to watching my father with Alzheimer’s forget my
name. I remain positive, hopeful,
and steadfast, and continue to learn. I see life as a work of amazing opposites
and I embrace it with open, delighted arms.
In this short
decade between the completion of my second bachelor’s degree to returning home
to care for my dad, my work has grown: from formal production designs to
one-of-a-kind, sculptural jewelry; from abstract narrative pieces about
memories, to complex, multi-dimensional works combining jewelry, objects,
ritual, arrangements, and installation. My career has put me in touch with a
diverse range of people in places around the world and provided opportunities
for personal research and critical influence through direct experience and
extensive conversations. I have made work with native materials, taught
Icelandic children to embroider, and answered questions about my life as a
stranger in a strange land. My critical influences include Ólafur Elíasson for the way he uses atmosphere
and light; Ragnar Kjartansson
for his ability to create sculpture out of sound; Sophie
Calle for her keen observation
of daily life; Sol LeWitt for his belief that the idea is paramount; and Dario
Robleto for his sensitive manipulation
of found objects.
My work is rooted in memory and this
began when I catalogued and studied all the jewelry I own or have memories of
owning. This careful studying became an essential part of my process and
deepens as I observe my father's Alzheimer's. I focus on
memory recall, fabrication, and loss, but what further parallels exist? I would
like to expand my concepts at CCA by examining connection and solitude,
displacement and migration, and by deconstructing the ephemeral. I’m also interested
in using memory to create
experiences rather than objects. I believe anything
can be a material--from light to video to emotion--and wonder how I can treat
memory as such.
Most recently, my work took a huge turn when I spent two months
in a remote village in Northwest Iceland. I made textile-based pieces that
allowed my mind and hands to work in different ways than metalsmithing. I
created four works there, some composed of multiple pieces, and gave myself
room to think. I took long daily walks, thoughtfully looked at every detail
around me, documented my observations in thousands of photographs, and
contemplated my life as I stitched Island of 14,264 Days for hours on
end. I am thrilled with the work I made there, but what I’m most excited about
is the shift
that took place in heart and mind. This body of work, 11 large-format textile
necklaces and one embroidered abstract self-portrait, made it clear that I was
changing directions. I
am compelled to follow this path and I need critical challenge and guidance,
community and independence to allow these ideas to manifest and grow.
Contemplating my life as I work allows me to understand
my experiences and draws me closer to people and surroundings. It heightens my
sensitivity to the human condition and ties me to others through commonality.
My most treasured moments are ones in which time seemed nonexistent. Now, I want to make immersive
installations that recreate this experience, if only for a moment, and I want
to connect this work with as many people as possible. I believe this work will establish connections
that cause viewers to feel embraced. This relates naturally to my work as a
jeweler, where I am always concerned with the body as a site. How
can memory translate from objects worn on the body to larger works that
surround the body? What will change? My
current work solidified my determination to go to graduate school and gave me
confidence that California College of the Arts’ MFA program absolutely suits
me. I will be a hard-working, open-minded, sincere member of your community and
look forward to working with you."
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Thanks for reading.
