Claire Hoch Response

Claire Hoch, an interdisciplinary artist currently located in Charlottesville, VA, who works in several different media art forms as a visual artist. I loved the project that incorporated the local gossip into a newspaper-type artwork. It was one of the most original art projects I’ve ever seen and the originality of it was really fascinating.

I really loved the fact that she was so open about the fact that she really doesn’t have any idea what she’s doing when she begins a project. She began her talk telling us about her time at Carnegie-Mellon University where she constantly wondered what the point was of getting the interdisciplinary degree she was going after. I related to her in the respect that she is constantly questioning what she’s doing as artist and if she really wants to be an artist.

I often wonder if being a performing artist is really something I should be doing the rest of my life, but at the same time, I have a hard time dealing with the fact that I constantly question myself. This difficulty arises from the fact that I see other actors and singers and artists who know without a doubt what they want to do and I feel like I’m still in a transition phase in my artwork. It was inspiring to me that it’s ok to question your motives and what you want to do.

Another thing I really loved about Claire’s work is that it is so organic. I love that she is very open about the fact that she lets things come to her naturally. She came to the VCCA without an idea of what she wanted to do. I found this really exciting because that’s basically what I’m doing after college. My plan is just to move to Los Angeles or New York or some other big city and see what comes out of it. People usually look at me strange when I tell them that and it was refreshing and uplifting to hear that a working artist does this as well.