I opened an Etsy shop!

When I was younger and decided that I wanted to live a life of creation, I thought that getting an art degree from college would guarantee me a spot in the Museum of Modern Art or at least a solo gallery exhibition at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. However, I apparently have no concept of what the real world is actually like because, as I just graduated from a prestigious four year university with not only a degree in art but a minor in art history, I am still a wildly undiscovered artist. 

Shocking.

So I decided to put my artistic talents to good use. If someone isn't going to notice me, I might as well get noticed by preppy youngsters like myself who like Lilly Pulitzer and monograms. 

I opened an Etsy shop! 

My shop is full of monogram goodness and is expanding (slowly) as I think up cool new ideas and take the time to create them. I recently made my first sale - a graduation cap. Each item is entirely personalized to the way that the customer wants it so I got to collaborate with a this sweet girl about how to create the perfect cap for her graduation. I think it is a great way to learn business skills and free-lance collaboration through something that I am really interested in.

I am officially a business bitch. 

Check me out. 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MaurasMonograms

I create graduation caps for $40!

Monogram plaques (that come in all different shapes and sizes) are only $35!

Watercolor pieces are only $20!

And personalized sorority paddles are $40! 

Graduation from Loyola Marymount University!

In the words of an idol of mine, Dora the Explorer, "Lo hicimos! We did it! Yay!" 

On May 9, 2015, I proudly strutted my graduated stuff across the stage at Loyola Marymount University. I shook the hand of President Burcham himself as he handed me my
(empty) diploma (folder). It was awesome. I was pretty stoked about the entire thing but it's really hard to tell because I look pretty unimpressed on the photo that the jumbotron captured of me.

On the walk from the gym where we gathered to Sunken Gardens where the graduation was held, I called dibs on sitting next to two of my favorite art people - Steph and Jojo.  I got so lucky with the fact that we got to choose where we sat at graduation so I didn't get stuck next to shit heads and I got to sit next to the art homies. We had a whole, kick ass row, making it very easy to not pay attention to any of the serious trash that was going on and have one last college hoorah with my friends.

I am so beyond #blessed to have met the people that I did throughout my experience at LMU. On one of my first days at school, some random guy in the DRN 4th floor lounge loudly yelled at me "Fuck Don Bosco!" That was the moment that I found my first best friend at college who became my best friend in the world and my flawless boyfriend, Cole. He has been by my side every single day for the entire 4 years of my college experience - helping me, challenging me, and (mostly) pushing my frickin buttons. (Mostly the off button on my computer because of the inconvenience game). He is the reason for so much of the happiness in my life and I know we both ended up at LMU for a reason. I honestly don't know if I would've survived the four years without him. 

The art department is full of people that are near and dear to my heart. On the left, my graphic design friends, are the first people that I met in my major department. They were there as I failed all of my graphics classes and needed to entirely change my future plans, they were there when I was drunk off my ass in an alley in desperate need of some gelato in Italy, and they were there when I was trying to figure out what the fuck the difference between all the Buddha paintings is. They are the best kind of people and a guaranteed fun time. We are Kappa Pi, til we die. And I would not have it any other way. On the right is part of my senior thesis class. There were eight uniquely talented and hilariously fun people in that class. They were the ones that I found after I had to change from graphics to something that I would be better at - fine arts. We drank wine with our priest professor and met up in the studio to cry about (and not really work on) our thesis projects in the wee hours of the morning. The chemistry that we had as a group was apparently unheard of for a senior thesis class and, because of this, we made a killer show. Because of them, I have one of my fondest memories. They were all apart of the proudest accomplishment of my college career and life thus far - the senior thesis show. 

I am honored to have shared the last two years of my college experience living with these wonderful ladies - the OG roommates. After having some far from ideal living situations, it was nice to have such amazing, drama-free ladies to live with. I never had to dread coming home to them and will miss the "roommates" chant every time we see each other in public. I don't know how I'm going to function without Gaby, specifically, teaching me how to be an adult and coming into my room, drunk, at 3am to wake me up and tell me things that I do not care about. She is a gem who keeps me sane and living with her for three years has been a blessing. 

Most importantly and above all, I am grateful for everything that my family has done for me. My parents made my dreams possible. I am too beyond fortunate that they allowed me to come all the way to Los Angeles to attend the college of my dreams. They are full of constant love and support. I don't know what I would've done without my mother responding to my 3 am stress texts about how I'm dropping out of school and ending my life in a calm cool and collected manner, letting me know that the hard times will pass. My father is still convinced that I don't know where the library is but I'd like to wave my 3.51 GPA in his face to let him know that I didn't need a library to bring home honors. That's "whats haaaapppeninnnn, dude." I could never thank them enough for all that they have provided me with but, mostly, the money for food so that I never had to try ramen. 

Then there's my diva sister, Fiona, who was always the first to jump at the chance to tell me when I was being dramatic or when I needed to change my profile picture because it wasn't cool enough for college. I'll never forget her first piece of college advice that she gave to me at my freshman orientation - she told me that I had to eat the bun on my hamburger because, if I didn't, I wouldn't make any friends. It was tough, but I learned how to eat buns on my meat and I would've never made this step to adulthood if it wasn't for her pushing me and threatening me with a lack of friends. She has been my best friend and motivator since day one of my life. She is my ride or die. Womb to tomb. Squad goals. I am lucky to have had her by my side throughout this crazy experience. 

 

So that was that, we fucking did it. 

I mean, I graduated with honors from an amazing university... but like, it's whatever.

OOTD: BEST DRESSED.

I bitched.

I moaned.

I fucking NAILED IT. 

On April 20, 2015, as the Parliamentarian of Delta Zeta took the stage to announce the best dressed award I squirmed in my seat. Before chapter, everyone had been quite loud about how flawless I was looking. I had just gotten a brand new ombré and had done my make up to match my outfit. I was wearing a brand new neon pink and white skirt with a shiny, J Crew blouse, neon pink beads with diamonds on my necklace, and new pointed-toe heels that I had literally gone to buy that morning to secure my spot as best dressed. Let me tell you, it was worth it. She looked around the room, holding the sash and tiara high for all to gawk at, and announced "the best dressed award goes to Maura Oates."

I screamed.

Everyone around me screamed.

It was a Christmas miracle! 

I ran to the stage to accept the award that has always been rightfully mine. I took the sash and tiara out of her hands and put it on before even returning to my seat. Everyone was cheering for me, knowing how badly I have always wanted this. "Give us a twirl!" the president of my sorority shouted from the stage. I gave a twirl with the fattest smile on my face and responded "I'm never giving this back" while holding on tight to my tiara. Everyone laughed, as if I was joking, but I would've worn that plastic piece of trash every day of my life if I could. 

Senior Thesis: Process

It all started with an idea.

I wanted to create a thesis around something that had been very personal and close to me throughout college. I though long and hard about what that could be - Culture? Family? Going to college far away? An interest? A club? I thought constantly, day and night, trying to come up with something that would not only be meaningful to me but meaningful to others who saw it. I wanted it to be close to home while being broad enough that others could understand it and be affected by it. 

I settled on social anxiety. 

In my art history classes, I love learning about conceptual pieces - pieces that are based around an idea. I love learning about pieces that explain an idea to people visually. I am a visual learner, so I love art that can teach me about something I don't understand through something that I do understand.

So I chose balloons.

Balloons, commonly seen at parties or social gatherings of a lot of people, are something that everyone understands. When filled with helium, they float; however, after they have been floating for a couple days, they begin to deflate and fall. Eventually, they fall to the floor, empty.

This was my metaphor.

People who suffer from social anxiety are the balloons at social gatherings. The level of deflation symbolizes how draining these events can be for people that suffer from this crippling anxiety. As someone who struggles with the irrational fear of social events, I know how draining it is to be in large groups of people, even long before I arrive. People who don't understand think I'm being stupid and dramatic and, while I know that most of the time I am, I cannot stop it. There is something different in my brain that makes me anxious in the face of social situations and there is nothing that I can do about it. The balloons are covered in phrases that are commonly said to people with anxiety by others who do not feel the same way. So I made this piece to translate this anxiety to people who don't understand using common items that they could understand. 

To those who suffer, it is comforting. For those who do not, it is educational.  

The original idea was to create each balloon out of clay so, when fired, they would demonstrate the fragility of anxiety disorders. I figured out a system of how to make plaster casts of a balloon and was later going to fill them each with clay and fire them. WRONG. Wanna know something funny? Balloons float. Plaster is thick. Plaster leaks. Plaster SUCKS. 

So after several long hours in the studio and an entirely ruined floor (thanks, plaster) I gave up. I decided to seek the guidance of a ceramics professor.

Well, too many weeks deep into the semester, the ceramics professor told me that I couldn't do that, essentially, because there was not enough room in the kiln for the volume of my project. COOL. 

It was on a bad day as well. One of those days when absolutely nothing was going my way. At the time I was 6 days off my anti-depressants which was making me real unpleasant and incredible amount of uneasy. I was off them because I had found out that they were newly $800 so that was not making things easier. It was the day before my painting was due for painting class. It was the day I was supposed to drive all the way to my dream grad school to sit in on a class and try to be pleasant enough to make them want to accept me. It was a day when A LOT was going on. Too many assignments and too many life things to find out the news - "you need to start your thesis from scratch." As if I hadn't already spent hours of my life and weeks of my semester and plenty of my dollars on this project - it was all in the trash. 

So I drank.

And then I came up with a much cheaper and easier solution - papier-mâché.

For a solid three months, I entirely took over the living room of my house to make a gross mess of glue and stolen newspapers. 

 After the paper was all properly mâchéd, I would gesso the balloon. After that, each would get sprayed in silver (until I ran out... then they'd get sprayed in another color. Silver was the goal though.) 

 After they were sprayed with silver, I would cut out tape and mark off shapes or letters on each balloon and spray them again with a fun, vibrant color. 

I probably (definitely) lost a ton of years off my life spray painting in my backyard. 

 I was constantly covered in spray paint and freaking out over my deadline. 

Times were tough and time was tight.

But I finished on time! I even had a few days to spare! So as soon as we got access to the gallery, I put my piece in immediately. I got the perfect spot - exactly where I wanted. 

As originally planned, I spread the balloons all over the floor so that people would be able to walk through the project. However, I felt pretty 'meh' about the arrangement and really bummed about the giant white wall behind my piece. I wished that I had created a painting or something to go on it. But I was done... or so I thought... 

Of course I wasn't done! But of course my teacher did not tell me until the day before my thesis gallery opening at 2 pm. Yes, 2pm doesn't seem so bad, but its pretty bad when you have to babysit at 5pm and wont get back until 11pm and have to go to Home Depot to get materials and learn how to install a ton of shit and basically live a friggin nightmare. 

So my teacher agreed that the wall was too empty - we decided that it would be best to hang cascading balloons down the wall. This is an idea that I had had many times but couldn't figure out how to get it to work while I was too stressed about creating the pieces to begin with. I couldn't hang anything if there was nothing to hang, you feel me? 

But I went to Home Depot and got some dowels and clear fishing wire and hung each balloon by creating a small hole in the back. 

I created a wall of cascading balloons based on how much air had "deflated" out of them. I  kept a few on the ground to make the piece feel as if it was coming out into space. It was a piece that you could walk through and be apart of. 

In the end, after a very long, stressful night, my piece was ready to be shown. The gallery opened and there was an incredibly positive response. I felt beyond proud of how my piece came out. Similarly, I was proud of all of my classmates. Everyone created such outstanding, unique projects that were individually and collectively astounding. I, to this day, feel honored to have been able to work with this group of people and get their feedback and support throughout this stressful process. We were all on the same level, freaking out, so it felt incredible to be able to share this journey with funny, intelligent, and crazy people. "Reflect," our Senior Thesis show in the Thomas P Kelly Student Art Gallery, was a perfect reflection of my final semester as a senior at Loyola Marymount University and I doubt I will ever stop being proud of the piece and friends that I made along the way.