Although Bill Viola is like super famous, I have to admit that he was quite the let down after the Lynda Barry Convo. I guess that was to be expected though since she was so darn good and entertaining. Anyways... I will sum up my thoughts on his convocation in two words: commencement speech. It totally reminded me of the oh-so-typical talk I heard when I graduated high school, and I'm sure what I will here when I graduate from Lawrence. He kept addressing us, students and talking about our "future journeys." He gave us a lot of life advice as well, such as learning from our enemies. To me it was all just a little too much and kinda weird. I also thought he was kinda corny, for he used phrases such as, "we are all artists because we are all creative."
Fire Woman (one of his works presented at Convocation)
I don't know, maybe I am just being a little too harsh because in the end I really enjoyed the message he was portraying. I enjoyed his insight on what creativity and inspiration are, and it was neat that he informed us on what inspires him. In addition, I was attracted to Bill Viola's work, and his video that he opened with, Fire Woman, was pretty impressive. In the end, I was able to get over his cornyness (I don't think that's a word), and focus on his message and his artwork. He truly is, as Rachele stated, a leader of artistic innovation.
Here is a link to his website.
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