My Thesis

Looking back brings on a glut of feelings. Just now, looking through pictures, I feel some of the excitement that ruled my life last Spring. It was so much work. And not just for me. I truly could not have done it without Steve. He gave me courage, expertise, brut strength and ongoing moral support. Many nights when I couldn’t sleep, he held me and told me that I could do it. Something about the weeks that we worked together reminded me of the very beginning of our romance, 25 Springs before, and I fell in love with him all over again.

Ely was infinitely patient - and really my biggest cheerleader. My committee in the Ohio State Art Dept. was key. Amy Youngs http://hypernatural.com/
for her technical prowess, positive energy and for pushing me to explore each option. Pheoris West http://art.osu.edu/people/pheoris-west for seeing so deeply into my ideas without over intellectualizing my process or products. And Charles. I often thought that Charles Massey, Jr. http://art.osu.edu/people/charles-massey understood my work better than I did. My committee meetings were the very most valuable experiences among dozens of formative ones in graduate school.

Thinking back on the weeks and months it took to conjure my thesis into life, I think of time in my Haskett Hall studio with Rachel Heberling http://uas.osu.edu/mfa2011/rheberlingheberlingand Susana Alvarez http://www.susanaalvarez.com/index.html. Their insights and understanding allowed me to surrender to the experience.

As the installation Understairs came into being, I met it like a series of old friends. I sit now on our enclosed patio. Cricket song keeping Ely and I company on the last perfect day of August. He is falling in love with the dictionary as he works on 5th grade homework. In March, I worked on this patio with Steve, sawing wood to build new basement stairs; the ones that came with the house were destined to become my art. It was Spring Break and the ground held snow in its shadows, now sprinkled with sawdust. The old stairs were damaged by termites years before. I had a vision of full sized stairs in my installation and our basement received a flight that could hold up to the next 60 years.

My studio space at Ohio State wasn’t even close to big enough for my ideas. Our living room became my studio. When we finally erected the stairs and built the platform, I thought, “You see! This is what I have been talking about!” It was so clear and without compromise.

Through editing 12+ hours of moth and silkworm video into a 22 minute loop I ensured that my precious pets would live on, though their short lives had ended many months before. In this image you can see a still of the moth footage being projected under the stairs.

When I pulled the intaglio print that would become the wallpaper, with over 20 chine colles, four different papers and custom mixed metallic ink, it was even more beautiful than I hoped. After many hours learning more about Photoshop and hundreds of dollars, when I went to pick up the wallpaper from Think Big Color http://www.thinkbig3d.com/Noel Travers had made another part of my vision a reality.

This link to Urban Art Space contains some images of work that led up to the thesis and also an exerpt from my artist statement. It may give you some insight if you are wondering what it is all about. http://uas.osu.edu/mfa2011/blombardi

Installing at Urban Art Space was an adventure of its own. Painful poetry readings, catty classmates and restricted hours were tempered by the amazing UAS staff, lots of laughter and coffee breaks with my girlfriends. I honestly loved how my project came together.

My second work for the show, Caterpillar House was a collaboration with the silkworms, my husband and my dear friend Jillian Harris Davis and her pre-school art students at Columbus School for Girls (CSG) http://www.columbusschoolforgirls.org/program-for-young-children/index.aspx. Steve built the structure to my specifications in June 2010.

Caterpillars and moths lived in it and left evidence. Jillian raised silkworms, out of season to live in it at UAS.

The 3 and 4 year olds came with their teachers on the second day of the exhibition. They sketched and toured while there, but more importantly, they delivered 27 silkworms to live in Caterpillar House. I went in and fed them every single day that the exhibit was open.

I was fortunate to meet with faculty, classmates and other trusted mentors, like my high school art teacher, Patty Krumm. Her response, as well as the thoughtful comments of Carmel Buckley http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-22116-two_good_shows_at_br.html , Ann Hamilton http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/hamilton/and Michael Mercil http://www.michaelmercil.com/home.html help me think about what will be next. I actually thought of Michael as my forth committee member. I know I would have never gone as far without his feedback. I nearly filled a whole book during the brief duration of the show with comments and my own thoughts about the work.

So many friends and family members came to the show! It was exciting to see everyone and to see their response to the work.

I returned to graduate school for the purpose of seeing how far I could go with my art. Now I see it was only the beginning.