My Art and My Name
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| Me, my mother, and my dog Fred at home in Austin |
My name is Madeleine Corum (they/them), but most students on campus know me as MJ. When I first started exploring my gender identity, a friend gave me the name Jamie as a neutral alternative to Madeleine. Eventually that friendship started to hold me back from growing into myself, and I had to let go of Jamie. “Survival is not possible if one approaches [their] environment, the social drama, with a fixed, unchangeable point of view—the witless repetitive response to the unperceived” (McLuhan 10). In college, I dubbed myself MJ, in honor of both my childhood name Madeleine, my past relationships, and the self I’m still becoming.
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Self portrait with light, Fall 2019, Waller Creek Art Show Austin, TX |
In many ways my journey with art mirrored the journey of my name. I always had art in my life, but in high school I spent more time on the craft and perfectly copying images in 2D painting and drawing than on exploring my own inner world. I also took film classes, but had similar problems of trying to create perfect narrative stories that were inevitably disappointing. Since taking my Intro to 3D art class at Lawrence, I’ve taken the pressure of perfection off and just started to have fun and explore.
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| Painting in the park, July 2022 |
What I find most inspiring in art are installations, interactive pieces, and immersive experiences. My favorite pieces from my Intro to 3D class were my piece of raw clay exploring time and my interactive performance art where I had people fling paint on the walls with their hands. I hope in this class to continue my exploration of my deepest artistic impulses, and to start using technology to blur the lines between our perceptions and reality itself.
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| Before "The Scream", Fall 2022 |
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| After "The Scream", Fall 2022 |
"Footprint", Fall 2022
I love the connection you've made between your art and your name! Our names are a piece of our creative expression. Discovering what kind of artists we want to be is the same process of discovering our own self-expression. "The Scream" looked like so much fun and I wish I could have been there. Keep at it with the self discovery and good luck unlocking more of your artistic potential. I can't wait to see what you do in this class!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved hearing about your world and your journey through art. Art has had such an impact on my life and after reading your post, I can see how much it has impacted you, your name, and your identity. One thing I’ve found out through art is that it is ever changing, so is the world around us, and if you let it, it will guide you in ways you never knew possible. I loved this opening post, and I can’t wait to see what the world of art has in store for you!
ReplyDeleteI really like your installation "The Scream". I am reviewing a lot of installation art for my research and might make one by my own in the spring. I like how you make the interaction happened in the art between the audience (or participants) and the work.
ReplyDeleteI really like the overall layout of your blog, clean, clear, and crisp. I have also made many mistakes in my drive for perfection. As I have discovered in the process of creating my work, regrets are impossible to avoid. There is no perfect piece of work in the world, and it is this regret or mistake that is the most crucial element in making a perfect piece.
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