Interviews by Basma Humadi, Lifestyle Assistant Editor
Photo by Allie Thompson
Bobby Yi, Faculty, Academic Advisor, School of Art
Where did you grow up?
I was born in Seoul, South Korea and emigrated to the U.S. in 1972 and lived in Northern Virginia most of my life. I would call McLean my hometown. Langley HS class of ‘86.
What do you do as academic advisor and what do you find rewarding about this work?
The purpose of my job is to guide students towards academic success. I try to do this by providing students with tools and resources that they can use to attain their personal goals. I am also the friend who is here to listen. The reward is when I witness students rise up, break through, and make their visions happen.
What’s something interesting about you?
I am a mutant. I was born with a condition called Bimanual Sykinesia or Mirror Movement Disorder. This means that I have great difficulty in moving my hands independently – they move at the same time. Last I heard, there is only 1 in 1 million people who have this condition. I look silly painting because the other hand is mimicking the painting hand. The cool thing is that I can write backwards without thought. I think Leonardo Di Vinci had the same condition.
You’re also an artist – what influences your work?
It used to be into politics and world events and at times it still interests me because I have always believed that as artists we have been blessed with the God-given ability to both document and dictate culture. These days, minimalist aesthetics have my interests. Got to clear the clutter sometimes.
What do you want students to take away from your teaching?
Rules are meant to be broken with better ones.
Photo by Allie Thompson
Rachel Debuque, Associate Professor, School of Art and Design
What do you teach at Mason?
I teach Sculpture and 3D Design classes. I am also the director of the Studio Foundations program which is all the foundational art classes first year students must take as art majors. Next semester, I am teaching an Art and Humor class which I am super excited for.
What kind of art do you create/gravitate toward (ex. sculptures, paintings, etc) and why?
I studied sculpture in undergraduate and graduate school but I don’t primarily make sculptures. I like sculpture as a discipline because it included it’s expanded forms as well. As an artist, I am completely media agnostic. I do performance, video, installation and digital work. I am also part of a collaboration called PLAKOOKEE with my partner, Justin Plakas. He works in mostly digital forms, so my art has evolved under his influence.
What made you want to be an artist?
I feel as if I didn’t really have a choice. I never felt a draw to anything like I did with making art. I have always had a material curiosity. I grew up living with my grandfather and he was constantly changing and altering the house. I loved watching concrete getting poured, and stucco designs being created. For some reason, every wall was stucco….so very 80s. If I didn’t flex that material muscle regularly, I felt really lost. I just feel compelled to make things. I think and meditate while I make. It is therapeutic sometimes and at other times a compulsion that can drive me a little crazy.
What is something you want your students to take away from your teaching?
I want my students to wash off their high school standardized tests and realize that failure is an essential part of learning. I have so many students who want to know how to do it “right.” There is so right in art making! You have to fail hard over and over until you get something that is interesting. Our brains will create, obvious, boring things until we allow our minds to open to the adjacent possibilities. That takes making duds to find. I think that this applies to all disciplines, if you don’t take chances, you will always make safe decisions, which will never lead to breakthroughs. So, fail hard, fail often and be proud of your failures.
What influences/informs your art? Are there any themes that keep reoccurring – if so, why do you think that is?
I have always been interested in themes of ambiguity and humor. The “in between” is such an interesting place to me because it has no concrete answer. It is far more interesting to observe things that make you think, “I don’t know.” This has always fascinating to me because I am mixed Filipino and Czech and grew up in a very white area. I was never easily categorized. My art often mixes and merges objects, imagery, and ways of making. People are often uncomfortable with ambiguity. We like things to be in categories, it is the way our brains work. But by flexing the muscle that allows for the gray space to expand, we are opening up to new ideas and possibilities.
Humor plays a role in my art because it is easy to disarm people with laughter. When we laugh, we let our guard down and more easily accept new ways of seeing. Humor has helped me survive every hard thing I have had to go through. It’s how I relate and forgive. It is natural to incorporate it into every part of my life. I am teaching an Art and Humor class this fall, which will discuss and make work based on the role of absurdity, parody, whimsy, and wit. We are going make a lot of weird stuff, I can’t wait!
What is something you want your students to take away from your teaching?
I want my students to wash off their high school standardized tests and realize that failure is an essential part of learning. I have so many students who want to know how to do it “right.” There is so right in art making! You have to fail hard over and over until you get something that is interesting. Our brains will create, obvious, boring things until we allow our minds to open to the adjacent possibilities. That takes making duds to find. I think that this applies to all disciplines, if you don’t take chances, you will always make safe decisions, which will never lead to breakthroughs. So, fail hard, fail often and be proud of your failures.
Photo Courtesy of Annabelle Anderson
Annabelle Anderson, Student, Arts Major
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Columbia, Maryland, so Mason is out of state for me.
Why did you want to go to Mason?
I actually didn’t want to go to Mason, mostly because I didn’t know anything about it. I originally had my heart set on VCUarts, but my mom made me apply to GMU because she must have had a good feeling about it. VCU ended up being out of my price range, and once I realized that, I toured GMU for the first time. And I totally loved it! I also ended up loving the art program much more than the one at VCUarts. I am a visual arts student, but I also have interests with theater and other forms of art. At Mason, I am not limited to just one category, which means I can take classes in and participate in basically anything I want, which would not have been the case if I had gone to a school that was strictly an “art school.”
What influences/informs your art? Are there any recurring themes and if so, why do you think that is?
I am currently working on a series of portrait drawings that explore the same theme. The best way I can currently describe this theme is, “using subtle body horror to vaguely expose a mental illness or ailment,” and I am only drawing people I am very close with who actually have these mental illnesses or ailments. Some topics I have dealt with so far are severe migraines, bipolar disorder, and having a stutter. Through these drawings I don’t think my main focus is necessarily to raise awareness or attention to these issues, or to put a real face to an ailment, but rather to make others who suffer from them feel represented. I have four more drawings planned out, and my goal is to have them displayed in a show.
