When I first saw her I thought for sure that there was no way I was getting into Saint Rose. Her eyes beamed down on me with a strong intensity and I knew that she was not going to pull any punches in her critiques. We went into the review very quietly and listened to me very intently as I described my work, taking notes and offering bits of advice as it went on. I was nervous as all hell.
When we finally got through my portfolio she gave me all sorts of constructive criticism, and then turn and stared me dead in the face with her intense eyes and asked "Why do you want to do art?"
I explained how it's always something that I've done and that I wanted to get better at it. It is a part of me and to neglect it would be to ignore a part of my very soul. Granted at the time I wasn't so fluently poetic about it, but I still went on about how I wanted to learn what I could in order to get better and to really produce the art that I wanted to make.
I saw a glimmer in her eyes for a brief second. We continued talking for almost an hour about different artists (and at one point or another about how it could be applied to video games I do believe...) and at the end she told me that I was in.
She then led my parents and I on a personal tour of Picotte (the art building), but the whole time I was just in awe of how connected she was with the other students, referring to all of them by name no matter what department they were working in and asking them what they were working on. I could tell she really cared about her students and their work.
Flash forward a few years to Screen Printing I and the less than stellar year I had with Karene. I, being the 18 year old snotty self that was indestructible and could produce only perfection, vehemently refused any suggestions that she or any other faculty would make. I wound up doing mediocre in the class as a whole, but it wasn't the grade that got me down as I had held onto believing for almost 2 more years: it was the fact that I felt like I had let Karene down.
It took me a while to realize this fact and made my silent apologies. In retrospect, I probably should have made them more verbal, possibly put it down in writing a bit sooner.
Part of me feels like Karene always knew that I should have been a Studio Art major instead of a Graphic Design or Art Education major and kept trying to push me towards it in subtle ways. Granted, to me at the time her "subtle ways" came across as instant hostility whenever she saw me and very terse criticisms of works in process...but sure enough: once I changed over to Studio she brightened up around me and the criticisms became constructive.
My superior senior year was a bit of a cluster-"effe" between deadlines not being met by certain individuals and classes that should have been taken years prior being crammed in at the last minute...(a whole other story that I shall not get into at this point): Karene was there for me every step of the way.
She called me up during the summer prior to help me plan out my remaining two semesters. She filled out paperwork in March that should have been done in November and immediately had it processed, bypassing all the ludicrous red tape that colleges seem oh so fond of. I could tell that she really wanted her students to succeed and wanted to give them every opportunity to do so.
It came as a shock today when I found out that she had taken very ill, and an even greater shock when a few hours later I had heard she passed away. I wanted to write her a letter telling her all of this, but unfortunately time hasn't given me that opportunity.
So this is for you Karene. May you rest in peace knowing that you have touched the lives and hearts of hundreds of students: both artists and non-artists alike. You will always be in my heart and thoughts.
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| Rest in Peace Karene. |
