Photo and artwork by
Dustin Seelinger
Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts MFA

I did it!! I graduated with my Masters in Fine Arts! It’s been a hard fought three years, but it’s over and I am so proud of myself and my cohort.

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. We had a week to install our projects into the gallery. I was feeling pretty good about how things were looking in my space by the time of our pre-opening faculty walk-through. I was a little surprised when the overall reaction was to add more. Well, sort of. My initial vision was to have the space cluttered and busy, recreating a punk loft space. So for the next 24 hours I was in nonstop motion.

I went home from the walk-through, made a list, had a couple of beers and regrouped my brain. The next morning I grabbed stuff I needed from the store, and went to town checking things off of the list. At 4:45pm it was pencils down for our soft opening. If I thought I was happy the previous day, I was elated during the opening.

Leading into the graduate showcase and Manifest openings the following week, I did some minor tweaks to the space, like adding some cutout pictures of punk parents (famous and not), wrote on the walls in marker, and hung up colored pages from my coloring books. I was surprised by the crowd that came through during the Graduate Showcase. Having been in this program for the last couple of years, I have noticed that it’s usually the same crowd that comes through that night, but this year was different. Columbia College Chicago had created an event that was designed to put the spotlight on graduate studies, something I am very excited about in the new direction of this college. Previous years, this night had been known as the VIP night in our department. This time around it felt more open.

Manifest was amazing. The gallery was flooded with children and they added life to my installation. Markers were in the hands of each kid that came through my space adding their voices to the story. It was more than I could have hoped for. I am pretty bummed that I have to paint over it all in the coming days.

Then it was commencement. Commencement at Columbia College Chicago is a unique adventure. Not a lot of pomp and circumstance, but a lot of energy. Josefina Lopez of “Real Women Have Curves” fame received an honorary degree and delivered an amazing speech reaffirming a message I had heard several times in the days leading up to the ceremony: don’t settle. I don’t intend to. That message was in my head before I even set foot into his school, in fact that’s mainly why I’m here. I didn’t want to settle.

Now it’s over. I’m staring at adult life square in the eyes and I am excited. And terrified. But I’m not settling. It’s been so much fun sharing my experience with you. Until we meet again…