Greetings Summer II Sculpture Students: I am really excited to meet all of you and get to know you over the upcoming years as your TA. I have prepared a short slideshow about my work and life to introduce myself and work to you. My work has a few common themes: it typically starts from a narrative about my personal experience. You'll see work based around my dating experience, feelings of loneliness during my service as a Peace Corps Volunteer, and about homesickness. While these all sound like negative themes, I try to create a twist of humor and a splash of beauty to my work to make fun of myself and add lightheartedness to my situation(s). I typically gravitate toward using insects as the subject of my illustrations and sculptures. For my illustration series, "Crush," the bugs represented my feelings about dating by comparing my experience to the absurd fear humans (and myself) have of these tiny creatures. In "Moth's Wings" I use scale to create abstract sculptures based off of the microscopic view of a moth's wing. These sculptures are then suspended and caught in an intricate web. I try to utilize all repurposed and recycled materials in my sculptures. When I display my paintings I repurpose frames that are donated to me or bought at second-hand stores, giving a second life to the display. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave a comment on this blog post or email me at [email protected]. I am always available to brainstorm and critique work or answer general questions. Kind regards, Jahni
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As I look forward to becoming an Islander in January 2021, I would like to share my goals for study and corresponding portfolio images. Jahni Ittel
7553 Jones Road College Corner, Ohio 45003 January 23, 2020 Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi Recruitment & Admissions 6300 Ocean Drive, Unit 5744 Corpus Christi, Texas 78412 Dear Faculty of the Department of Art and Design: I am reapplying for the Texas A&M Corpus Christi 2019 MFA program in Studio Art with a concentration in sculpture and an interdisciplinary focus to investigate sculpture, painting, and printmaking, with a conceptual interest in integrating biomedical research in my studio practice. In 2019 I was accepted to the TAMU-CC MFA program but unfortunately needed to postpone enrollment while filing a visa application for my husband. I am more hopeful for a positive visa review this year. When my undergraduate senior thesis installation (Portfolio # 17-20) became a group effort to collect wasp specimen, the process developed into a community-based engagement project. Following this experience, I gave more direction towards community engagement in a later painting series titled, Crush (Portfolio # 7-10) where I created opportunities for story submissions and title suggestions from my audience. From 2017-2019, I served in the Peace Corps in the Republic of Georgia creating community engagement through extracurricular activities. One particularly successful activity was a mural project (Portfolio # 6) that I facilitated at my school. Prior to coming to Georgia, I volunteered for an art outreach initiative in the small town in Ohio that I grew up in doing fundraising, planning, and promoting community art events. One of the reasons I am applying to the Texas A&M Corpus Christi MFA program is because the website emphasizes that the program fosters community engagement. I believe I am a strong candidate for the MFA program because I plan to continue focusing on socially conscious, community driven art throughout my master studies and career as an artist. From my service in the country Georgia, I have first hand experience that the combination of health, education, and creativity can foster an environment for underprivileged children to thrive in. Some of my most successful projects in the Peace Corps involved combining art with medical or socially conscious projects. For example, I brought in medical professionals to do dental demonstrations on how to have proper oral hygiene. Following the presentations, I helped my students to create a poster campaign for the community to inform adults about oral hygiene, and reinforce what the students learned in a creative and fun project. I am particularly interested in TAMU-CC’s nursing grant to incorporate arts into medical care and can see the massive impact combining art and healthcare can bring to a community. ( https://tamucc.edu/news/2019/05/hrsa-nursing-grant-art-and-ipads.html#.Xionki2ZNBw). I hope that my combined academic experience with art and science will make me an ideal fit for the Texas A&M Corpus Christi campus. Another successful project I worked on with my students during my time in Peace Corps was a giant litter clean up and education project for litter prevention. Reducing my carbon footprint has always been a focus in my art and life, so I was excited to share my practices in cleaning up public spaces with my students. In all my work, I utilize materials that have a low environmental impact. I always use recycled frames to showcase my paintings, and my sculptures Moth’s Wings (Portfolio # 11-16) are made from repurposed paper products such as grocery bags, coffee filters, and newspapers. An additional reason I’m applying to Texas A&M Corpus Christi is to work with Leticia Bajuyo due to her use of environmentally minded material. While at Corpus Christi, I want to explore ways to transition Moth’s Wings into more permanent forms. Another aspect I aim to further develop is the dynamic relationship between realism and abstraction in my sculptures and paintings. I concentrate on abstraction through scale with my sculptures. Moth’s Wings are large scale paper sculptures modeled after a microscopic view of a moth’s wing. In my paintings, I try to achieve realistic dimension and shading but abstract the color pallet to create ethereal portraits (Portfolio #1-5.) I can see similarities in my color abstraction in portraits to Ryan O’Malley’s Stencil Portraits, and hope to explore this abstraction and practice of portrait painting further while studying at TAMU-CC. In summary, my goals for exploration in graduate school include: to produce community engaging art that has a biomedical focus, to transform my sculptures into permanent structures, and to examine and develop a balance between realism and abstraction. I am interested in the interdisciplinary option for the MFA to build a more cohesive interdisciplinary studio practice that is conceptually driven and social practice in nature. After completing the MFA program, I plan to pursue exhibition opportunities around the globe and to work in developing communities around the world. I also plan to combine my creative and scientific interests to build a career for myself both in the art and medical fields. My experiences with sculpture, installation, and painting, in combination with my ambition for creating community engaged and socially conscious art will help me to be a strong candidate for, and future member of, the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi MFA program. I am looking forward to a positive response. Kind Regards, Jahni Ittel Easy American Recipe Put flour all over your counter top or cutting board Take pizza dough put it on your counter Fill with refried beans Squeeze the edges of the bread to cover the top to create a quesadilla out of bread dough Put some flower on top of it Roll it flat with a rolling pin In an non-greased no stick pan cook over meadium heat about 4 minutes per side until browned. More Complicated Georgian Recipe Dough Ingredients 3/4 Cups warm water 1 Envelope active dry yeast 2 Cups (plus more for later) all purpose flour 1 Teaspoon sugar 3/4 Teaspoon salt 3 Tablespoons oil of choice Process Dissolve yeast in warm water (about 5 minutes) Add dry ingredients + oil Cover and store in a greased + floured bowl in a warm place for one hour Beans Ingredients Salt Pepper Oil 2 Cups beans (of choice) Directions Put beans in a covered pot and cover with water by 2 inches, remove anything that floats to the top Cover with a lid Bring to a boil Turn off heat Let beans sit for one hour Drain beans Cover with new cold water Bring to a boil Reduce heat to low Let cook for 30 min-2 hours Or use your new instapot and follow its instructions After cooking mash beans together Putting the lobiani "bean bread" together put flour on your countertop/table/cuttingboard put a fist sized dough on the table roll flat put 1/4 cup beans in the middle sprinkle flour on top fold the edges of the dough on top of the beans and squeeze the edges together until the top is formed sprinkle with flour roll flat with rolling pin fry in a non-greased no stick frying pan over medium heat until browned (about 4 minutes) flip and repeat Saute in a covered soup pan on medium heat
Oil One large chopped yellow onion Half a cabbage finely chopped and rinsed One large shredded carrot One large potato peeled and cut into french fry size rectangles Fill pot with water to about 2 inches above sautéed vegetables and boil on medium high heat until potatoes are fully cooked In a separate sauce pan bring to a boil a cup of tomato juice (or freshly juiced tomatoes) Add a teaspoon of oil (optional) 4 cloves garlic shredded 3 whole bay leaves Add about half a bunch of each of these herbs rinsed and chopped Celery leaves + celery stalk Cilantro Parsley Dill Bring to a boil Add this mixture to your soup mix, bring that to a slow boil Add one peeled and shredded beet and one chopped jalapeño or pepper of choice 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (or more to taste, I usually add a little more to my individual bowl of soup) Salt and pepper to taste Remove from heat Serve with a garnish of fresh herbs and sour cream. I really like to add some hot sauce too! (photo not mine, no copyright infringement intended) 2 eggs
6 heaping table spoons sugar Punch of salt teaspoon of vanilla and baking soda 400 gram plain yogurt (I think this is about a pint) 2 georgian wine glasses of flour (about a cup and 1/4) - i think its 2 parts yogurt to one part flour i realized i have no interest in keeping a blog.
check out my art. I have two weeks left until I leave. I practiced packing. Each of my two suitcases are 4lbs over the TSA weight limit. This weekend I'll go back through and see what isn't going to make the cut. Honestly, I'm not too stressed out about packing or leaving.
The best part about waiting to leave is that I've made a point to spend more time with friends, family and HBO go. Every week, I have a standing dinner date with my best friend, Erin. We realized we should have instated this weekly tradition before I accepted the position with the Peace Corps. There are some downsides to leaving such as trying to navigate student loan deferment, saving for spending and travel money, selling my car, and finding a new home for my dog. Despite these hardships, I am eager and excited to see what is in store for me in Georgia. I accepted the position to serve as an English Language Teacher Volunteer in Georgia (the country, not the state) with the Peace Corps! This is a 27 month commitment that begins in April.
About the Peace Corps: "Changing lives the world over." The Peace Corps is a service opportunity for motivated changemakers to immerse themselves in a community abroad, working side by side with local leaders to tackle the most pressing challenges of our generation. One of the signature achievements of President John F. Kennedy was creating the Peace Corps, a new agency and a new opportunity for Americans to serve their country and their world. For more than five decades, Peace Corps Volunteers in 140 countries have demonstrated ingenuity, creativity, and grit to solve critical challenges alongside community leaders. The Peace Corps mission is to promote world peace and friendship by fulfilling three goals: 1. To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women. 2. To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served. 3. To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. About the position: Volunteers co-teach with local English teachers in a formal classroom setting and conduct extracurricular activities for students aged 6-18, the United States equivalent of grades 1-12. The goals of the project are to improve the English language proficiency and critical skills (teamwork, gender sensitivity, critical thinking, and confidence) of students; enhance teaching practices and other professional skills of English teachers; and work with your counterparts, school, and communities to increase access to English teaching, learning resources, and opportunities, including new technologies. About the U.S. Government Let Girls Learn Initiative: Educating girls is essential to healthy and thriving communities but, globally, 62 million girls are not in school, and barriers to adolescent girls completing school are particularly significant. In some countries, fewer than 10 percent of teenage girls complete secondary school. Since the launch of Let Girls Learn, Peace Corps Volunteers around the world have responded to the call to make a difference in their communities of service. Donations can be made to the Let Girls Learn innitiative for Peace Corps Georgia: https://donate.peacecorps.gov/donate/project/glowbuild-gender-conference/ I grew up volunteering in many different organizations, such as 4-H and Girl Scouts. Philanthropy became a common theme in my extracurricular life. In high school, I was a member of the student council, class treasurer and president of both the art and drama clubs, and captain of the soccer and color guard teams. I volunteered as a teen for the local library, helping to create community outreach programs. In college, I joined Best Buddies, an organization that creates opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I also volunteered as an English tutor for Spanish speaking community members. After college, I moved to The Netherlands and became an Au Pair for a year. In this year I cared for two young girls, teaching them English as a second language, while learning enough Dutch to communicate efficiently with the girls. Two years ago, I became the volunteer Community and Outreach Coordinator for an art initiative in my hometown. The purpose of Maketank Projects is to bring art and entertainment to our small community. After volunteering in that position for two years, I organized and taught art classes for the community members. Because philanthropy has always been a major part of my free time, I have decided to pursue opportunities that allow volunteering to become the full focus of my attention.
A term in the Peace Corps will not be easy. I understand and have experience with the difficulties of culture shock. A difficult aspect of the Peace Corps will be earning and retaining the respect of the local people I will be working with. To overcome this challenge, I will be respectful of their culture, professional, friendly, and patient. I realize that within my time in the Peach Corps, I will face many challenges that I have yet to imagine. Being a well-adapted individual, I have overcome physical and emotional hardships in the past. I am ready and eager to apply what I learned through these experiences to my volunteer time with your organization. An assignment in the Peace Corps will be an immensely rewarding life-changing experience. This volunteer opportunity will allow me to help strengthen a community and bring my volunteer and leadership experience into the focus of my time. |
Jahni Ittelis an artist residing in Tbilisi, Georgia after serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer. She has a BA in Studio Art from Hanover College (2011), She is available for custom portraits, murals, invitation design, and other art projects. Archives
July 2020
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