Hi, Ornella here! :)

Hello all,

I am Ornella Plialis, a Greek/Brit who moved to the USA just 4 years ago, one of my main goals with this fellowship is to absorb and meet as many people in the art industry as possible, I am only just starting to touch on the huge network of creative individuals and environments that this city has to offer.

I have been entering with the fabulous Kay Healy this summer, a immensely talented textile artist. I am a international transfer junior majoring in Illustration and minoring in Printmaking and Book Arts. My goals for this fellowship are to master large scale fabric screen printing, tackle using a sewing machine and thinking about innovative way in which I can incorporate these new processes into my own multi-media work.

Also, we will be doing a group project funded by CFEVA working with a group of senior citizens in the German town New Cortland facility! We will be doing a group project based on the senior's memories of this childhood home and making plaster molds of their hands holding an object that they have lost and wished they still had. Again so looking forward to getting the opportunity to work with another medium and participate in such a great rewarding project.

I'll be getting the opportunity to work in an artist studio and see the behind the scene workings of what its like to book shows, pack work to be sent all over the country and what kind of discussions go on between artist and curator when planning big shows from afar. The administrative process of booking and prepping for shows is not something that is heavily taught but definitely a vital part of being a freelance artist so I know I have so much to learn from just being in the studio.

I strive to be a freelance artist and one of the scariest notions is being your own boss and having to self motivate and telling yourself you have to "go to work" when work could just be in the next room. As an artist I feel so privileged to get the opportunity to do what I truly love but it is the business side of things that feels scary for me. Hopefully being in an active busy studio with Kay and her illustrator husband Greg Pizzoli gets the gears going on what it mean to be an artist after I graduate Uarts! Hope you are all having great experiences in your fellowships and I look forward to reading all your different adventures!

Will be posting lots of photos of process and experiences very soon!
Till we speak again!