My wish is that you all experience gratitude this week wherever you may find it. In a kindness during travels, the surprise of seeing an old friend, moments of laughter and moments of quietude.
Perhaps, as in the studio, we can be grateful for the creative process that is manifesting itself all around us. Just like in our studios, we make, we critique and we make again. Sometimes this process is messy and leaves us frustrated because gratitude can be difficult to locate, to authentically feel, and to make from in the face of our current times.
Gratitude is a practice, a way of being. We can choose to nurture it within ourselves or not. I find practicing gratitude makes me feel better, enlivens my mind and supports my emotional health. When we look to see the best in others, the best in the situations of our life and the best in ourselves we choose to see our experiences as a gift.
As we look forward to sharing expressions of thanks–here together as a community and with other family and friends–I am grateful for how lucky we are as artists and designers to have the chance to transform material and the material realities of historical forces into art and design, into kindness and its return.
Best wishes,
Paul Gebhardt
Dean of Undergraduate Studies