Thesis COMPLETED!

I haven't been writing very much lately, because as I said in my recent post, most of the stuff that I need to work out had been worked out and it was just a matter of production. I thought that I would do one final post to tie up loose ends in case anyone runs accross this.

I presented my thesis in the downtown studio at 3:30. I was one of the last people to go, which meant that I missed almost everyone's... not because I wasn't there, but because I couldn't sit still. I got downtown at about 10:10, just in time to see ELeben's presentation. Although JWo said that her perspectives were 'too humerous' and he couldn't consider them (since when is an Ewok NOT appropriate for a render of a farm?) I enjoyed her presentation and was glad it went well.

The other one I paid attention to was KS's. She was happy with her presentation as well. Her boards looked great and she spoke very well for having worked on her model all night. I was sorry but unsurprised when she didn't come out drinking with us Saturday night.

I was able to pin up my boards at lunch, so Team and I took our time to make sure everything was square. Although the sectional model was a smidge too close to the site plan everything else worked quite well: I showed the 2-D matrix of interpretable sections, the 3-D matrix of ambiguous spatial conditions, some diagrams of the site, the model that I made after mid-term, a site plan, small medium and large focus diagrams of the site and details, three perspectives and a sectional model of the site. It wasn't a lot of information on the boards, but I was happy with it and thought it was enough: it explained what I wanted to say without too many distractions. I was also really happy that Team worked out a way to bolt the models to the wall so they could be part of the presentation boards instead of sitting on a table.

I wrote out cue cards before I went down in the morning, so the presentation was mostly a matter of reading them: not too much ad libbing because I wanted to be precise about what I was saying. They were great because I was able to consider exactly what words said what I meant so there would be less confusion. There was about one card for every powerpoint slide.

I was happy with my presentation and felt I described everything, although I haven't mastered endings yet and there was a HORRIBLE silence after I finished up. It took about a minute for anyone to speak and I was a little concerned. Luckily, when they did talk they said:

"mature"
"successful"
"from the first class you have always loved to draw"
"congratulations"

It was the best crit I have ever had.

There were a couple of quibbles: JBass said that he wasn't convinced I had placed the ambiguous spatial conditions optimally and someone else had questions about the materials, but I was delighted with how my presentation went. I've got my fingers crossed for a thesis award. I've always felt really average at the school so it was nice to get a little validation.

I was also very happy that I was able to thank everyone properly. Team, ShortBus, Mr. Clean and the Vegan were all amazing, and Coach Scap was an unexpected addition. Team Fun ended up being huge: last Thursday I had 7 people building my final sectional model and while I was extremely stressed, they did a great job.

This week I've moved out of my desk at school, written my thesis book, cleaned house and tried to get used to spare time again. It feels weird and I miss having the single focus, but it was great to play soccer in the sun yesterday (even though I now have funny tan lines from my shin guards.)

Next task: find a job. This means putting together my portfolio... blech.