In the Homestretch

In a few weeks (not that I am counting down the days or anything), Nicholas will be receiving his MFA in glass from the #1 school in the nation. There are a lot of things that he has left to do, though.

On May 14th from 6-8pm there will be an opening at the Convention Center for the Grad Thesis Show. Most of the graduating graduates will show work in this show. Nicholas will be showing some of his glass pieces and photograms that he has been making for in the darkroom. The good news is that this is the work he has been making all semester, so he doesn't have to make all new work for the show. He will have some clean-up work to do on some of his glass pieces to make sure there are no sharp edges (for safety reasons, not because he is trying to make the pieces clean and pretty). He also has to redo a few of the photograms that are horizontal prints because he wants to use only vertical prints in the show. He is responsible for delivering and installing his work in the show. He will have to build some kind of table to display his glass pieces. He also has to upload some images to the RISD 09 grad website.

On or around May 15th, Nicholas will have another show opening with one of his peers, K. An assignment for graduation is that every student has to organize a show outside of campus. This means that Nicholas had to find a location to rent for a month, pay the rent, and curate the show. Nicholas and K will have to decide the best way to display their pieces, paint any walls that need painting, build any walls they think need to be built, and arrange to be in the space so they can keep it open for the public to view. Nicholas is making all new work for this show which involves making plaster casts of his torso and lots and lots of glassblowing. The week of May 10th will probably be his most hectic with all the installing and finishing work for two shows.

And then there is his written thesis. His completed thesis has to be turn in for binding by May 20th. Before that time, he has about 2 more rounds of reviews from his 3 thesis advisors. He also has to schedule and hold one more meeting with his 3 thesis advisors.

The good news is that Nicholas will be finished May 20th, but he has a lot of work to do in the meantime. Please keep him in your prayers!