Monday 2 February 2015

374. Wishes you a good February

Among clothes and books in the new uni bedroom

Hello January (Goodbye.) Hello Readers. This time round I hope to briefly engage you in some happy narcissism. It feels as if I haven't really wrote about  my life in a while and so lets call this a worthy update on the past year. In the first half of the year I studied art whilst I revised for a resit of an English exam. I knew I wanted to study English literature at university at this point but I still relished in the art making and the creative surroundings of college. And sure, there was a lot of painting, thinking, sketch-booking, growing, artsy people but there was also all the seemingly unromantic stuff- chatting awkwardly with new people, sharing biscuits, sitting in an ugly canteen, being alone at lunchtimes and procrastinating. These mixed but fulfilling months culminated in a surreal examination and final exhibition in which I showed these three pieces of work...

     A pencil and thread 'geographical map' of my relationships with loved ones

Two paintings alongside prints commenting on childhood exploration of sexuality (irl this is at least 3 meters in length!)

Acrylic painting on board about the comfort and terror of habits

This resulted in adults smugly laughing, art tutors questioning and praising, peers complementing, my mother (who I rarely show my work to) throwing wild friendly critique and a friend handing me a letter with his interpretations of the work. I was lucky enough to feel the exciting tactile reality of using art to provoke conversation.Talking about conversation ('scuse the pun), summer also had me finally letting close ones know I was dating my best friend and that whatever I am, it's not 'straight'.

With some snazzy grades under my belt, I moved out to study at Newcastle University and am now tenderly taking on semester two. Among many things, semester one had me tentatively writing poetry and finding a new creative venture to nurture. A new way to say unsaid things. Here's just two poems I wrote...


























If you are at all interested in the things I've done/ am doing 'creative wise', then you can look at sofie scholten art. My less narcissistic pursuit (though isn't everything imbued with narcissism and is this a bad thing?) is you are too cool for school were I like to post links to interesting things I'm reading, seeing and watching. It's an online bookshelf for myself, but hopefully also a useful resource for others. The content is generally about gender, sexuality, fashion, art, artist advice, writing, life advice, literature and erm, like everything else...! Let's have a conversation about it! And so I end this bout of narcissism, and wish you a good February, especially if you're pushing through with resolutions.
Love Sofie

4 comments:

  1. You're such a talented artist aaaah wow!!! And I'd totally be keen to have a conversation about all those rad topics :----)
    Also omg that "pushing through with resolutions" was so good to read I'm trying so hard to keep some even though everyone seems to have forgotten about doing so by this point so ! thanks

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  2. your art is so beautiful and inspiring, i love the geometric map, and "black stone"! also re: your mention of everything being imbued with narcissism, i agree-- when you're presenting your opinions, your art, anything that's a reflection of your *self*, there's the assumption that it (and you) are worthy of the time it takes the viewer to read/look at/think about it. i don't see it as a bad thing, i think it's something that you have to learn to harness, the ability to place yourself at the center, to insist that your voice be heard.

    // kani

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  3. Your art here is extraordinary Sophie. Going to head over to the art link you've given too. Also agree with Kani's brilliant comment above about narcissism - yes to celebrating and harnessing the impetus for our voices to be heard.
    Was sooooo delighted that you recognised Reckless Ruby homage just from a photo - and that you're a lifetime fan of the book as well.

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