BFA Opening.

This post is a long time coming.

My BFA show was in the Hyrum Manwaring Center of BYU-Idaho, which is like a student union building. The space I chose was perfect because it gets excellent natural light during the day, and gets a lot of traffic from non-art students which I thought was important for my series.

My display to the left and my treat table to the right. 

The school's gallery sets out treats, but they were on the other side of campus. I thought I should reward those who treked all the way up to my show.

Jason has a gluten intolerance so I set out three of his favorite gluten-free treats: puppy chow, potato chips, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

Next to the treats I set out bubbles (Jason loves them) with tags that had my website and "Different But Not Less" on them so people could remember Jason and me.

 The whole show.

Left: The beginning of my display had my artist's statement, pictures of Jason and me with mini biographies, my book, a book of Jason's paintings, a book of photos of Jason, my mailers, and three mini composition books for people to leave comments in. I also matted an original version of one of Jason's paintings and my photographs and hung them to the right of my artist's statement.

Right: I had to use movable walls because there were no hanging strips in my area. They worked out really well, and the custodial staff was really nice when helping me set them up.

The amount of anxiety I had about my show was very high. 

Mostly because I'm a nervous person, but also because I wasn't doing straight photographs and was worried I would get backlash from graphic designers especially (I am in no way a graphic designer and I'm sure I broke a lot of typographical rules). But I got a lot of positive comments from friends, family, art department heads, random people, and people who had loved ones who have special needs. (And there were only two negative comments in my comment books and neither of them made sense.)

It feels really good to have the show done. It was especially awesome to be able to talk to people who have interacted with individuals who have autism. The show was just as personal for them as it was for me. The comments people left Jason about how amazing of an artist and person he is usually made me tear up. Those are the type of things that made all the work feel worth it.

I'm looking to hang it again now that I'm settled here in Indiana.

My younger brother Jason is
a three time gold medal winning bowler, abstract painter, 

heart breaker, pro spin jumper, avid potato chip eater, 

lover of hats, comedian, farm animal enthusiast,
nonverbal, and has autism.

I have learned so much from Jason.
He has taught me about humility and service.
He has taught me about patience and unconditional love.
He has taught me about gratitude and happiness.
I have also learned that people don't always treat Jason 

like the amazing person that he is.

While we are making great strides
in efforts to treat those of varied races and lifestyle 

choices with respect, there is a lot of prejudice and
ignorance against people with mental, developmental,
and emotional disorders and disabilities.
I do not think this is okay.
People are naturally afraid of what they do not know,
but I do not think that ignorance
is a good excuse.

These collages of my photographs and Jason's paintings 

are an attempt to show how he sees the world.
His paintings are really his only commentary on what is
happening around him.
His perspective of the world is different,
but not less.

We are all different, but not less.

 Captions can be found on my website.

A book of this series can be ordered here.