Blog Archives - YARI J MENA

Check out my interview in Canvas Rebel!

6/18/2022

oopsie. I think I've been using the title text for everything.

Oh well.

Anywho, if you don't know me very well, you can check out my Canvas Rebel interview here (or click on the picture below) to learn a little more about my recent life and thoughts: canvasrebel.com/meet-yari-mena/

I would love to know what you think! Chat me up in person or email me!

adventure in the west : first time camping

6/12/2022

Two other intern friends of mine and I visited Moab, Utah to visit the Arches National Park.

There were a lot of red rocks and a lot of sand. They were just a bunch of rocks, but damn where they nice, beautiful, hot rocks. The views were unbelievable.

Mads also sold Mary Margaret & I some color film to take pictures with in the desert! Can't wait to get those developed.

We walked in heat advisory temperatures on Saturday through some of the trails at the national park and went back to the campsite on the Colorado River. Then, Mads made some dinner, after everyone struggled with the knives while trying to cut the sweet potatoes, then we went BACK to the park after dark to try to stargaze and see the Milky Way (but there was a bright moon and clouds so no milky way that night). The moon was so bright (and with no light pollution), there were shadows that night. A nice photographer man from Canada was there trying to capture the Milky Way as well, but no luck.

The next morning we skipped the sunrise hike, packed up, grabbed breakfast at the Jailhouse Café, previously a jailhouse, and went to the information center for souvenirs.

Then we drove back to Colorado, saw a Mystery Machine, a gas station inviting aliens to land there, and got back with an hour for Mads and I to spare to get ready for our shift at work.

I thought I would be so tired and beat, but after I showered and got back in to the swing of things, I felt so refreshed. I did get to sleep on the ride home, though, and I did have some caffeine afterwards. So. That may have had something to do with it.

In fact, I was so refreshed, that after my shift, I visited the other intern's housing situation and while Zeke and Tara were giving their tour, I walked straight into the screen door :') The residents taped around my forehead mark and labelled it "Yari 2022".

I facetimed my family after work and my dad said I looked a lot happier.

Other notable occurrences:

-A light flickers in the basement pro-shop a little too often. Sometimes in response to questions. Cat says the ghost's name is Frank.

-(a couple of days after the trip) I made some drawings from the pictures I took and had a small brain dump in my sketchbook about being the eldest daughter in an immigrant family.

week 3

6/9/2022

We finished training last week!

This week the workshops began.

One of my professors from GSU, Lauren Peterson came to teach a workshop this week and my fellow intern, SIlma, assisted in her class. Meanwhile the third intern in our group, Gilberto, and I assisted the master printer, Brian and his assistant, Amy with hand printing a large woodblock print by John Buck. Our director Liz came by to help too.

Other notable occurrences:

Silma asked us daily questions like :

If you were an animal what kind of animal would you be? Answers were:
1) a buffalo
2) a cat or a whale
3) an apex predator / great white shark
4) a roadrunner
5) a lizard
6) a dinosaur

What genre of music would you be?
1) heavy metal or reggae
2) death metal
3) a Jimi Hendrix song
4) country

Gilberto threw a one person dance party to Shakira’s Waka Waka this week.

Cat bought us chips.

Liz brought me an apple and cheese when my lunch wasn't ready.

I was informally coached in hitting the volleyball this week. I played a little bit better afterwards :')

two lists

6/8/2022

Things I miss:

-my family (obvi)

-really pink sunsets - the sun just kinda goes away behind the mountains like in the Teletubbies from where I am. (Except when I walked further down the valley, documented below)

-my dog, who doesn't understand why I'm gone and that I'll be back :(

-not having to drown my face in Aquaphor bc my skin would otherwise get super dry

Small things I'm really digging:

-reasonable DRY heat! I don't feel like I'm melting anytime I go outside :')

-beautiful drives to and from work (and anywhere)

-the chance to either play or watch volleyball immediately after work? unmatched! unheard of!

-the possibility of seeing a bear (from a safe distance ideally)

carless in CO

6/7/2022

some images from a walk through a nearby trail :)

the beginning

6/6/2022

Hello friends! I will be blogging about my adventures, thoughts, feelings in Colorado while I am away from home. Not quite in real time, but close enough. Visit this page to stay semi-caught up on what I’m doing!

To start: I both don’t know how this came to be, but I know exactly how it did.

The town is small, mountains and hills can be seen from virtually anywhere, so the walks and hikes here are amazing. The landscape is beautiful, the food is amazing, I get to live in a nice house - this opportunity is a dream come true. I’ve already gone on hikes with other interns, went rafting, and visited the John Denver Garden, the Aspen Art Museum, and a couple of local art galleries, which had art from legends like Anish Kapoor and Helen Frankenthaler. There is inspiration to be found everywhere- whether in nature or in the thriving art world here.

My department worked hard the first couple of weeks resurfacing tabletops and palettes, repainting the painting studio walls, and some of the office floors. I’m sure I will become a little more comfortable with power tools and interior painting while I’m here.

Within the first week interns were already connecting almost seamlessly. I truly feel like we were all destined to meet each other. Some of us even had eerily similar life experiences before arriving. The art talk happening here already is amazing: processes, ideas, past works. I am amazed at the work and experience my fellow interns are walking in with and am just as excited to learn from them as I am from the staff and visiting faculty. I’m even more excited to be around other artists who also think about memory in their work and also manipulate photographs :’)

On Memorial Day, my roommate and I saw a couple of meteors and a magnificent starry sky. Hundreds of stars. Back home, I’m lucky to see five.

The dreaminess and magic may wear off of course as we settle into our routines, whatever. I'm enjoying it as long as it lasts.