By Dustin Seelinger

So, at the end of last semester, I received a conditional pass into thesis. This meant that I was tasked with expanding my body of work over the summer and following up with faculty to meet before the fall semester starts. I had that meeting yesterday. It went ok. I’ll spare you all the details, but I did pass into thesis. I don’t know if I completely agree with this whole process, but I will say that I love where my work is going right now.

Would it be traveling at this speed and trajectory had I not gotten a “conditional” last semester?

I don’t know. But here’s what I did. You guys know that I spent a month with my family on the coast at my parents’ house. Part of that was a full submersion exercise of remembering who I rebelled against all those years ago. Part of it was because we were broke and needed a change of scenery. Whatever the motivations were, it was where I needed to be to recoup. I may not have gotten as much actual work done as I had hoped while there, but I came out with a new vigor and perspective.

Since being home I have been cranking through new projects in new directions. Turning trash into drawing surfaces, rehabbing my old guitar to be an interactive “sculpture” that kids can play with at my show, and booking a band from Wales for a video performance for the thesis show. Now I’m about to turn a plastic kids playhouse into a version of Black Flag’s Church as something for the kiddos to play in and get a little punk history and cultural lesson. New zine projects are happening with colleagues in the zine community. Speaking of collaborating, I’m in the process of making a Post-Punk Parenthood coffee and a home brew beer collaborating with colleagues and family, respectively.

So yeah, I’ve got a LOT of balls in the air right now. A big hurdle I’m facing with all of this is mostly explaining how all of these threads connect. I know how they do, I just need help with the articulation. I know what you’re thinking, “but, Dustin, you write so beautifully for this blog.” Thank you, that’s very kind. It’s more that I need to back up my research and projects with theory and that’s where thesis comes in. From what I understand, aside from planning for the big extravaganza that is the thesis show at the end of the year, thesis is about writing about your work. I just received confirmation from the thesis advisor I was hoping to work with and I can’t wait. To get to work with him on solidifying my practice. It’s going to be a crazy year with lots of changes happening all,around campus and I think this is a perfect time for this mildly chaotic father and artist to finally figure it all out.