It is time to start Part Two!
Over the winter break 2009-2010 I continued to play around with the concepts and images I had discovered while working on the self-portrait for my third portfolio during the fall. I really liked the look and functionality of Maya codices, particularly because I love to work with books, both making them and altering them. I also liked the idea of playing with my self-portrait. A lot of the Maya art we had looked at during my fall class was portraits of people turned in that very distinctive Maya profile. I took both ideas and created my self portrait as a cover page for a full codex.
After this first drawing I started to do portraits for my roommates. The codex is designed to be a screen fold book (as Maya codices are) and each page is about 9ins high and 4ins wide. I chose colors that are important to Maya culture, and all of the hieroglyphs are real glyphs deciphered by scholars.
This project, this codex, became my obsession over the winter break and then into the spring. During the spring semester, 2010, I did not take a portfolio class, but continued my studies of into ancient Mesoamerica by taking a 400-level (or major course) called "When Worlds Collide" also taught by Professor Turner. The class looked at the cultures of Mesoamerica before, during, and after the Spanish Conquest. This course brought the ancient Mesoamerican world into a modern context for me, and solidified my interests in these cultures as an art historian and also, surprisingly, as an art educator. My final thesis paper for the class (which is still being worked on and perfected) is a synopsis of Mexica education through the lens of modern pedagogy.
During this time I continued to work on my Maya codex , which got the name "The Boston Codex" as a commentary on the naming process used by historians for ancient Maya Codices.
Because I did not have a "portfolio" class, I was really able to figure out on my own what I wanted the Boston Codex to be, and how I wanted it to grow. Once I had a plan, and really knew what I wanted the codex to become I was taking a summer portfolio class through MassArt and my whole Maya Portfolio blossomed. With the help and support of my summer classmates and my teacher my codex expanded, and the ideas and content started branching into pieces and even new media.
My Maya Portfolio has grown into 10 individual pieces, three large family portraits, four self-portraits (two of which are carved in wood), and three books including The Boston Codex, which is currently made up of 40 individual portraits.
The next turning point for this rambling story happened after the summer semester 2010, when we all came back to school and I got some very exciting news.
I'll get Part Three done as quickly as possible! XD
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