Every Tuesday I have a full day class with one of my favorite professors, Paul Stopforth. He is an incredible mentor and individual. He pushes my skills and challenges my concepts in a way that I truly respect. The class runs on a half critique, half work basis, so students get a lot of perspective feedback. A couple weeks ago, the class started on this found object project which we were to formulate into a drawing investigation, and eventually a series of paintings. The class is very much about the artists creative process, so it usually turns into a chaotic event.
The project requirements were specific – find 3 objects: 1 along the way, 1 from the location, and 1 under $2. I went to Chinatown Boston and collected a broken stick, a dirty crumpled caution sign, and one package of Chinese Joss paper from the local grocery mart. In the end, I chose to work with the Chinese Joss paper because it had a fragile quality that I liked. They almost reminded me of newsprint sheets, so I decided to use them as paper maché on top of the aluminum foil molds I created from my body parts. I wanted the project to relate to my current exploration about personal identity, so it made sense to work from my body. The final product was pretty noteworthy. The signage from the paper was assembled into such sporadic compositions and the fragility of the molds gave an overall transparent tone.
For the next step, I wanted to transfer the molds into a set of drawings, but I was unsure of how to start. I had a couple of ideas but they felt very overworked. Then Paul started an interesting discussion about the passion for art which made me evaluate the creative process in a different light. He indicated that artists too often get mixed up with the exploration, derailing from the main objective. The initial root of all creative processes lie in the passion – true curiosity for the subject matter. Understanding this fundamental context becomes an anchor for the remainder of the investigation, which is about shaping the idea and establishing a process. Accompanied by persistence, one is then able to render a concrete piece of work.
hilitehead 
elaborate?