Rebecca Bullen, Perpich, 5 hours
I was very sad to come to Perpich for the last time, as I would miss it so much. I really loved getting to know Rebecca and her incredible students. I was very lucky to have TA-ed for such a wonderful group of people at a great school. I was touched by the reactions students had when I told them it was my last day—most of them seemed sad and said they would miss me, and I felt exactly the same way. Luckily, I will get to see them for their final show, and hopefully if they can make it, they’ll come to mine as well.
Rebecca and I started as always with the darkroom class. Students were already well into working on their final. We talked a little bit about people’s projects, but it was very much a loose work day. I talked to one student in particular about their upcoming shoot—she asked about techniques for emulating Man Ray’s studio lighting styles. I talked briefly about cookies, but was honest about never having used them in my own practice. Nonetheless, we went through some of Man Ray’s images and talked about how they were probably lit. I talked about harshness of lighting, following where the shadows went, and other techniques. As always, the darkroom class ended quickly, as it is a short class. I was able to say goodbye to everyone, and thank them for such a lovely teaching experience.
Moving on to the Narrative class, today was a critique of the rough cuts of their documentary assignment. Their assignment was for students to partner up and each do a documentary on each other. I was very impressed with how interesting the students made their films with this very simple prompt. What was even more impressive was how students were able to represent each other as artists, and integrate their work and passions into the short film.
The rest of the class, students spent the time editing for their final cut of the film. Rebecca and I assisted students and provided help when needed.
Eventually, the class period went by and it was time to say goodbye. I invited everybody to my final show at MCAD and thanked them for such a great time at Perpich. I will dearly miss working with Rebecca every week and being around her incredible students.