On Friday, a wonderful friend of mine took me to The Getty Museum. Laura Henry, my acting teacher here in L.A. and at UNCSA, is always telling us in class that the way a person breathes in art is exactly the way a person should breathe in an acting partner. My favorite are the Impressionists, and as I stood in awe of Degas' ballerinas, Van Gogh's lillies, and Monet's cathedrals I understood completely what she meant; I wasn't questioning or making stabs at what I thought these pieces meant....I was simply letting them work on me, and responding to what I saw.
Something that suprised me was how much I love love
LOVED the busts that were in The Getty. (Here is my favorite, Messerschmitt's Vexed). I've always enjoyed sculpture, but had you asked me how I felt about busts before Friday I know I would've said, 'eh'. But these busts would've made fantastic mask characters. I couldn't stop going up to them and giving them voices. With each new bust I discovered, I could instantly feel a spine of movement developing inside me. A part of me began to regret that I hadn't given myself the opportunity to be inspired by busts like these before I started doing mask work with Bob Francesconi at UNCSA, but then I realized that without the work I'd already done with him, these busts would've meant nothing to me. I happily remember what Bob tells us: That acting is a process that is not linear. And I appreciated my path.
--Jasmine Anne Osborne
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