It’s 1983 and I’m a junior at Hunter College. I’m an English major but I decide to take an introduction to studio art class. The first third of the semester I study sculpture, the second third drawing, the final third film. Each third had its own teacher.
Perhaps you’re thinking, “Ah! This is where the filmmaker discovered his love for filmmaking! The thing on his corkboard, it’s a strip of negative from his college days!”
Nope. I remember very little about this class, but pinned to my cork board is a three-page critique the drawing teacher wrote about my drawing projects. Here’s the final paragraph.
So why is this pinned to my cork board?
I have confidence in my ideas. I think I have unassailably good ideas. When I tell people about them, they seem to respond positively and want to hear more. They say they can’t wait to see the ideas turned into something concrete–a film, a short story, a multimedia project, whatever.
But I don’t always have confidence in the execution of the work. My execution. I’m not always confident I can pull it off. If I think a certain work doesn’t live up to my expectations (and this is just about all of my work), I think it was a failure on my part, that if I had focused a bit more, had had more patience, had tried a little harder, the work would have been better, and maybe I would have been pleased with it even. Maybe.
So this critique reminds me to concentrate harder, to follow through, to put more into it. And that’s why it’s pinned to my corkboard.
Please tell me that I’m not alone in holding on to stuff like this. If you have a similar story to tell, I’d love to hear it.