Greetings!

     Hi friends! My name is May Garvey I'm a junior here at Lawrence and I'm a Viola Performance major with a French minor. I have to say that I am extremely excited about discussing art since it is a vast activity of which I love to dapple in many ways. Before I get into some of those projects, I think it's a good idea to introduce myself a little more.

    I am a half-Hmong, half-Caucasian woman and pride myself in being mixed race. It's not often that people can tell what my ethnicity/race is and it sets me apart from even my full-Hmong or full-Caucasian family members. For those who may not know who Hmong people are; they are a stateless nation that are mainly found in the mountains of Laos (they aren't Laotian). During the Vietnam war, they came over to America as refugees and mainly settled in states like California and Minnesota (where I'm from). As a minority woman, I love to reflect on my identity with the work that I do.

    Art (largely music) is arguably the most important aspect of my life and means the world to me. It allows me to express more than I ever could with words but also I enjoy simply creating things that make others smile. There is not a day I am not working on some sort of artistic project whether it's as simple as practicing my viola or drawing. First and foremost, I am a musician. I've been playing since I was four (the violin first and then switched to the viola several years ago). 

    I hated playing music at first, but soon realized how much I couldn't stand to simply go about my day without hearing the slightest bit of music. It wasn't until middle school that I truly discovered one of my greatest passions: composing music (and arranging too!!). I wrote my first complete piece (it was honestly very crappy) in 7th grade and my first full orchestral piece in my sophomore year of high school where I had it performed by our orchestra. We may not have been the best sounding orchestra, but I still felt proud of my accomplishment and the audience sure loved it. The most common comment I got from people was: "That was not what I expected". I'm still curious to understand what they meant by that. It could have been because of how I looked and who I was or perhaps it was quite different than the popular "norm" in "serious" Contemporary music of today.

"The Heart of War" - May Garvey : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-JhTJvlPQM

    Lastly, I think some of you might find it interesting some of the projects I'm working on at the moment. They are all, of course, still art related and if you guys would like, I'd be happy to provide updates throughout the weeks to come.

    First, I have been drawing a series of images to follow stories of my own creation which I hope to place in a sort of slideshow when I am done. These stories were created based on certain pieces of music that I listen to so I plan to play the music with the slideshow (kind of like a movie but not a movie? I don't know, I'm sorry I'm not a film buff).

    And second, I am also working on COSPLAY!!! Yes, that sounds weird, but I am working on a cosplay outfit of a favorite video game character of mine. Her name is Pharah from the video game Overwatch and she wears, no kidding, a full suit of armor. I've always loved crafting things since I was young. I've actually gotten in trouble a decent amount of times for cutting up paper in class or creating little duct tape figurines, but now I can work on greater projects like this, so it's been very fun!

I hope you guys have enjoyed this update and can't wait 'till next time!