Consider using this slideshow format in your posts...
Tuesday, March 31
La Specola--Anna's weekend
This weekend among other things, I went drawing at La Specola. Having taken anatomy last semester, the wax models of the people fascinated me! Here are all the things I couldn't understand in the book shown in 3d form! I ended up drawing a face and an eyeball, and I started thinking about the reading we were given, the one about Mr. Wilson's museum. I kept looking at this model of a head with all the muscles of the face and thinking 'okay, these muscles are what contract when you're happy, these muscles furrow your brow, maybe for confusion..." and so on. It would be really interesting to me to do an over-the-top diagram of very specific emotions, trying to pinpoint exactly what muscles work together to make our facial expressions. It just seems so interesting that the way we communicate with other people, through facial gestures, is controlled by whether the muscle cells in our faces kick out or invite in sodium or potassium ions. Sure, this is an oversimplification, but it just seems so strange to me the idea that something can be broken down that way. If I did a work like this, it would be with the irony (or lack thereof) of Mr. Wilson: "Sure guys, this is all there is to it! These (x number of) muscles are what make you smile!
Monday, March 30
Maramac specolates.
This week's theme for me: stuffed animals. The Specola had me running around like the 6-year-old I am, gawking at everything from the gruesomely impaled insects to the anatomically incorrect hippos. Multiple ideas began to take form in my head, elements I wanted to incorporate into upcoming projects.
Foremost was the idea of a field journal, something like what an 18th-century explorer might have kept. The watercolor pencil/ink combinations in my sketchbook reminded me of Audobon's illustrated birds, or some botanist's tropical fieldwork. I became interested in a sort of "Specola of a Specola," creating cutouts of these specimen-sketches and pasting them into another moleskin, much as the specimens themselves have been skinned and had their hides reassembled for display.
My latest development has been collecting receipts (a recent subject of interest), to create grounds from a commonly received but quickly forgotten object. And there are so many. A quick jaunt around the studio, requesting said unwanted objects, generated quite a handful. Considering their flimsy, "fluttery" quality, I decided to try doing cutouts or sketches of wings (insect, avian, or otherwise) upon the varying-sized papers. This morning was another spent in the Specola, where I tried to sketch as many differently-shaped wings as possible to try out on this new paper. Tonight's experimenting will hopefully show promising results...
Foremost was the idea of a field journal, something like what an 18th-century explorer might have kept. The watercolor pencil/ink combinations in my sketchbook reminded me of Audobon's illustrated birds, or some botanist's tropical fieldwork. I became interested in a sort of "Specola of a Specola," creating cutouts of these specimen-sketches and pasting them into another moleskin, much as the specimens themselves have been skinned and had their hides reassembled for display.
My latest development has been collecting receipts (a recent subject of interest), to create grounds from a commonly received but quickly forgotten object. And there are so many. A quick jaunt around the studio, requesting said unwanted objects, generated quite a handful. Considering their flimsy, "fluttery" quality, I decided to try doing cutouts or sketches of wings (insect, avian, or otherwise) upon the varying-sized papers. This morning was another spent in the Specola, where I tried to sketch as many differently-shaped wings as possible to try out on this new paper. Tonight's experimenting will hopefully show promising results...
felephants are good at remembering things.. like blog posts
j'ai oublie!!! ho dimenticato!!! wo wang le~!!
ANYWAYS. i'm still putting my faith in this notion of being okay with not knowing what you're doing. so, instead of illustrating something, like i did last week, i've been trying to recreate an experience or a sensation. i've moved on from ballpoint pen to ink and acrylic, and into larger pieces of paper, as well as fabric. i've also incorporated some stitching. while it is still unclear as to where i am going in terms of the final project, i am also finding myself going back to video and working with projection and installation, which surprises me a little. for a while i was almost going to install tons of little motorized elevators, enough to fill a room, but then decided against it, perhaps because it would've really be acting like my drawings from last week. but i've also been playing with a similar idea, though, using a projector to display a film on elevator-like forms..?? why and how, i still don't know. i supose those are the questions i should be asking myself about my project in general.
i'm sorry, i'm in the midst of many things and i'm not really sure what to write. also, my camera went missing for most of the week. but i guess the good thing is, there's a pile of work filling up the wall space in front of me.
until next week!!!
/edit/
PHOTONNNNNNNNNS
/edit/
ANYWAYS. i'm still putting my faith in this notion of being okay with not knowing what you're doing. so, instead of illustrating something, like i did last week, i've been trying to recreate an experience or a sensation. i've moved on from ballpoint pen to ink and acrylic, and into larger pieces of paper, as well as fabric. i've also incorporated some stitching. while it is still unclear as to where i am going in terms of the final project, i am also finding myself going back to video and working with projection and installation, which surprises me a little. for a while i was almost going to install tons of little motorized elevators, enough to fill a room, but then decided against it, perhaps because it would've really be acting like my drawings from last week. but i've also been playing with a similar idea, though, using a projector to display a film on elevator-like forms..?? why and how, i still don't know. i supose those are the questions i should be asking myself about my project in general.
i'm sorry, i'm in the midst of many things and i'm not really sure what to write. also, my camera went missing for most of the week. but i guess the good thing is, there's a pile of work filling up the wall space in front of me.
until next week!!!
/edit/
PHOTONNNNNNNNNS
/edit/
Rachel does exist!
Gah, sorry to all those who might have been awaiting an entry from me. I don't know if I can figure out how much is new news at this point.
So, update: I am pretty happy with where my work is going. I have this idea for an installation that's hopefully going to be pretty horrifying (only an art student, right?). I was going to work on it a ton next weekend but got back too late Friday to buy plaster and discovered that the mesticcheria where I buy it was closed all weekend. Definitely a letdown, and even though I guess I couldn't have done a lot to fix it, I felt like I had failed somehow. So instead of working on my installation this weekend, I tried to work on my earlier storybook-with-illustrations idea. Somehow though, I couldn't shake that feeling I had failed, so I kind of just wrote a bit more before slouching down and hiding on the internetz and in a book. I wish I didn't do that; it only ever makes things worse to run from them because then the consequences are bigger once they finally catch up to you. But now I think I am on a better track. It also helps (no offense, guys) that my family left and I can concentrate and work better. Just, with all the stupid little things I keep doing, like not being quite prepared for a class and, gah, losing my sketchbook, and showing up late to drawing perspectives, and unthinkingly using Sienna's mug to pour wax in, and being too busy hiding from the fact I haven't done anything to get anything done... I really hope that stage is over. Please, thanks, bye.
I guess I should describe my projects, huh? Well, my installation involves a lot of body parts (hands, arms, legs) cast in wax hung from the ceiling, with sutures sewn in and maybe sewing patterns cast in near the surface. Poles are supposed to go through these limbs from wall to wall, making a crisscross. The "wounds" in the limbs "bleed" to the floor, also in crisscrossing lines, and then become (variably legible) writing where they meet the floor. I am debating whether or not to leave a part of the floor clear to allow the viewer to travel to the back of the space and open a cabinet there with a journal of some of my freewritings in it.
So before you (cough, family, cough) freak out on me I would like to say that I couldn't really pinpoint for the meaning of most of the events in the installation. The whole idea kind of just popped into my head, fully formed. It also doesn't seem to want to alter itself overmuch, so we will see how cooperative my materials and the laws of physics are with it.
My other idea, the storybook one, is about a little boy who lives in a world where all little boys have doors in their stomachs, which they are supposed to never open. Of course, this boy does. What I have written of it so far can be found here. I feel a bit better about it now because I have a clear mental image of at least what I have written so far in its illustrated form (I would show you my sketches but I forgot my card reader. As the italians say, ops.
Anyways, I shall be posting again soon to make up for my tardiness here. Thanx, ciao tutti ^_^
So, update: I am pretty happy with where my work is going. I have this idea for an installation that's hopefully going to be pretty horrifying (only an art student, right?). I was going to work on it a ton next weekend but got back too late Friday to buy plaster and discovered that the mesticcheria where I buy it was closed all weekend. Definitely a letdown, and even though I guess I couldn't have done a lot to fix it, I felt like I had failed somehow. So instead of working on my installation this weekend, I tried to work on my earlier storybook-with-illustrations idea. Somehow though, I couldn't shake that feeling I had failed, so I kind of just wrote a bit more before slouching down and hiding on the internetz and in a book. I wish I didn't do that; it only ever makes things worse to run from them because then the consequences are bigger once they finally catch up to you. But now I think I am on a better track. It also helps (no offense, guys) that my family left and I can concentrate and work better. Just, with all the stupid little things I keep doing, like not being quite prepared for a class and, gah, losing my sketchbook, and showing up late to drawing perspectives, and unthinkingly using Sienna's mug to pour wax in, and being too busy hiding from the fact I haven't done anything to get anything done... I really hope that stage is over. Please, thanks, bye.
I guess I should describe my projects, huh? Well, my installation involves a lot of body parts (hands, arms, legs) cast in wax hung from the ceiling, with sutures sewn in and maybe sewing patterns cast in near the surface. Poles are supposed to go through these limbs from wall to wall, making a crisscross. The "wounds" in the limbs "bleed" to the floor, also in crisscrossing lines, and then become (variably legible) writing where they meet the floor. I am debating whether or not to leave a part of the floor clear to allow the viewer to travel to the back of the space and open a cabinet there with a journal of some of my freewritings in it.
So before you (cough, family, cough) freak out on me I would like to say that I couldn't really pinpoint for the meaning of most of the events in the installation. The whole idea kind of just popped into my head, fully formed. It also doesn't seem to want to alter itself overmuch, so we will see how cooperative my materials and the laws of physics are with it.
My other idea, the storybook one, is about a little boy who lives in a world where all little boys have doors in their stomachs, which they are supposed to never open. Of course, this boy does. What I have written of it so far can be found here. I feel a bit better about it now because I have a clear mental image of at least what I have written so far in its illustrated form (I would show you my sketches but I forgot my card reader. As the italians say, ops.
Anyways, I shall be posting again soon to make up for my tardiness here. Thanx, ciao tutti ^_^
Daniel Stephen Greenberg, Identity Denied
So after the tragic crashing of my computer and loss of my cell phone, my camera and several of my cards from my wallet were stolen last night. Overall, I can’t help feeling like I am loosing myself, even though these are only material losses. Along side with the article concerning creating a consciousness, which becomes G-d, I think I am becoming more interested in how people become mentally invested in/attached to mechanical or manmade things. In order to speculate the idea of something manmade becoming G-d, a sentiment concerning the remarkable power and societal importance of machine must exist. I am not 100% set on my idea for the (re)making of meaning assignment, but I am pretty sure it will involve things that define us through an individual lens, in which our sentiments become projected on objects. Essentially, there is an active individual creation of the world around us, and this is what I am interested in. But this is not to say that it is meaningless, but that our interaction with the world is actually an intimate one.
On a side note, lately in my sketchbook, I have been recording things a little more realistically, and taking more time, which I find a lot more fruitful, and allows me to get into a rhythm with sighting and drawing, which I have only been able to achieve previously when working in color. Although I still have a lot to aspire to in terms of craftsmanship in my drawings.
Also, I completed a large drawing using beats and blueberries to create transparent tones, and I am getting ready to tackle a full color drawing, and seeing if I can use color to project my individual experience with the subject of the drawing, in a legible fashion.
Oh, and I have been trying to keep up with my work with string and yarn, but I am still looking for more fruitful results.
Monica MC the Taxidermist
I think the thing that left the biggest impression on me this week was our visit to La Specola. I loved the animal collection so much: the hodgepodge way they are stuffed into the shelves, the strange, seemingly unfit expressions they have, and the grotesque stitching that stretches their skin over a frame. I think it made such an impression on me because, without realizing it before, I was doing just the same thing. I had spend hours sewing together my big blue whatchamacallit in a process that seemed similar to how these animals were stuffed.
After hearing all about the final project for our sketchbook class, I am compelled to make a number of these strange animals and create my own mini La Specola, playing on the collection theme. I really enjoyed the process of creating the first one, and after spending some time in La Specola I'd like to play around with different ways of scale and presentation (mounted heads, mounted on branches, etc).
Pictures here, including all the shots I got from the wonderful gardens this weekend.
As if
People sometimes wish that the others are in their shoes, you know, out of desperation, or expectation. Likewise, I sometimes want people to be in my position to wholly understand why I am, what I am and how that feels like. I was thinking that this is one of the reasons why a lot of people write because the words could set the readers up in position of the author. Not having been the best with expressing my self with words, I turned toward other method to communicate with people and that was the through image, a lot of them, in a consecutive form, or as it is often called, a video.
So, now I was set with what tool or method to communicate with people, I needed to know 'how' I could effectively share with others what I see, what I feel, and what I think. For the past few weeks I have been playing around with the idea of different perspectives or lens. Then, it came clear to me that if I use the lens of the camera as one or the other person's point of view, not as a wall that is in between the object and the observer in specific times and specific settings, what I record in camera could transcend those specific settings to speak with the viewers, at any moment, as if we are both in the moment and the ambient of that recording, which could also help reenact my experience of being incapable of communicating with words when I first jumped into the foreign world, America.
Now, I am getting ready to take my viewers to that awkward and not so pleasant moment or the ambient of my life, which a lot of people (I'm guessing) might also have experienced in their lives, but maybe in different forms of incident.
The part that I'm trying to figure out now it the healing part, since I do not want the viewers to leave the exhibition stuck in the awkward moment and uneasy feeling. I'm hoping the works that I produce would offer people the moment of alleviation.
-Soo
So, now I was set with what tool or method to communicate with people, I needed to know 'how' I could effectively share with others what I see, what I feel, and what I think. For the past few weeks I have been playing around with the idea of different perspectives or lens. Then, it came clear to me that if I use the lens of the camera as one or the other person's point of view, not as a wall that is in between the object and the observer in specific times and specific settings, what I record in camera could transcend those specific settings to speak with the viewers, at any moment, as if we are both in the moment and the ambient of that recording, which could also help reenact my experience of being incapable of communicating with words when I first jumped into the foreign world, America.
Now, I am getting ready to take my viewers to that awkward and not so pleasant moment or the ambient of my life, which a lot of people (I'm guessing) might also have experienced in their lives, but maybe in different forms of incident.
The part that I'm trying to figure out now it the healing part, since I do not want the viewers to leave the exhibition stuck in the awkward moment and uneasy feeling. I'm hoping the works that I produce would offer people the moment of alleviation.
-Soo
Sunday, March 29
in which grace tries to be creepy/scary
I am now thinking about common fears/phobias. Many people have a fear or an aversion to spiders or snakes. But why? I thought about how fears might connect us, might be a part of what makes us "human."
Last week I found this image from the movie Silence of the Lambs, and I found the placement of the moth over her mouth very striking. So I've been thinking about the relationship between an object of fear and the body, and the specific body part, etc., and I've decided to work with insects as a common phobia.
I am still working on the technical aspects of creating my moth/insect room. I've been working with photocopies and cutting out certain parts, or repeating an image to create a mass of insects, a la Hitchcock's Birds or the 10 plagues of Egypt as recounted in the Bible. I think there is a certain power in numbers where, although one locust might not be very intimidating, a whole swarm of them certainly is. My job for the rest of this week is to keep on with the cutouts to see what best produces the desired effect.
Pictures here.
Last week I found this image from the movie Silence of the Lambs, and I found the placement of the moth over her mouth very striking. So I've been thinking about the relationship between an object of fear and the body, and the specific body part, etc., and I've decided to work with insects as a common phobia.I am still working on the technical aspects of creating my moth/insect room. I've been working with photocopies and cutting out certain parts, or repeating an image to create a mass of insects, a la Hitchcock's Birds or the 10 plagues of Egypt as recounted in the Bible. I think there is a certain power in numbers where, although one locust might not be very intimidating, a whole swarm of them certainly is. My job for the rest of this week is to keep on with the cutouts to see what best produces the desired effect.
Pictures here.
Jennifer is still working with mirrors....and yarn?
So amidst trying to figure out what to do with my scraped up mirror and semi-mirror door, a crazy idea for a huge installation came into my mind. I, for whatever reason, decided I wanted to have a ton of yarn / string hanging from the window in the little back room with mirrors attached here and there and the floor and walls reflective as well. Then, I started to test this thing out and went out and got this really weird fuzzy thick yarn stuff and found that when I split it into smaller strings, it had a whimzy effect. I was hanging it from the ceiling and when I stepped out of the room and back in I realized it looked like the sky was dripping into the room, and I was like, "Cool". So...I want to play with this idea that with the walls maybe being reflective as well as the ground, it will seem like you are kind of in the sky.
Aside from this,...when I was talking to John about the painting, he pointed out the difference in texture in the way I had drawn the tree and the texture of the background. He said it would be more dynamic if one was textured and the other not, in order to heighten the contrast. I want to play around on a smaller scale what happens when I make just the background textured or just the tree. That's pretty much what I'm working on this week!
Ciao Ciao
Monfoo is sorry that the little back-room of studio smells like prosciutto
Yeah, it smells disgusting. Sorry Monica M., Alex M., and Rachel.
1. Ok, so I started out wanting to create forms that had what was supposed to be Miss Piggy's guts pouring out of them, but I'm finding that that's not really necessary, given that the mystery of seeing my little patches of prosciutto sitting around without an obvious source is actually more powerful.
2. With these patches of prosciutto, I'm making a reinterpretation of my family tree. Not a physical "tree," but so that each little island of meat represents a nuclear family and the number of pieces of prosciutto sewn together in that island represent the number of people in that nuclear family. How I will arrange these nuclear fams is still a mystery to me, but we shall see I guess.
Ciao!
megan&breakfast.
My ridiculous, circuitous path has brought me back to where I started... food and places. More specifically breakfast foods and world maps (as well as lots of other tickets/scraps/etc). There may also possibly be a ninja adventure involved...? We'll see. I'm trying out the Nike route and just doing it.
Photos under title.
Anyhow, I'm attempting to storyboard some of the scenes. And after thinking about it this entire weekend I've managed to complete...
ONE. Which is frustrating. But it's worth it to spend all that time now. I know from the test run that all the effort of planning makes the actual filming way easier. It also leaves me time to be spontaneous with the story when filming instead of wasting time fiddling around. I had hoped to get the first scene all shot and everything this weekend but I realized that I'm going to need a lot more preparation because it grew to be longer and more complex than I anticipated (i.e. I need to make fake eggs and toast). In the mean time, I've been looking up tips and programs to make the technical aspects of shooting/editing more efficient.
Photos under title.
code-name VC Jaureg
You are agent code-name VC JAUREG. It is your mission to create a blog post that describes the project you've been working on. YOU decide how you want to convey your thoughts.
Will you write the blog post in your new persona, or attempt to describe your persona instead?
(/end nerd). So, I finally figured out how im writing the narrative...heh. (agents, double-agents, code names...) It was a streak on inspiration: actually no, it was desperation. If the PBS video was funny because I was so seriously imitating it...then, if I'm writing a Choose Your Own Adventure narrative, why not write it to the same level of literary mastery as the books? The intro to the CYOA website told me I had the right idea. It's literally a spoof of itself.
Aside from that, I've actually written of few chapters of the story, I've been working on my Flash skills, and practicing drawing different expressions in prep for our drawing seminar thing Tuesday...
signing out- sshhhhssssshhh: VC JAUREG.
Will you write the blog post in your new persona, or attempt to describe your persona instead?
(/end nerd). So, I finally figured out how im writing the narrative...heh. (agents, double-agents, code names...) It was a streak on inspiration: actually no, it was desperation. If the PBS video was funny because I was so seriously imitating it...then, if I'm writing a Choose Your Own Adventure narrative, why not write it to the same level of literary mastery as the books? The intro to the CYOA website told me I had the right idea. It's literally a spoof of itself.
Aside from that, I've actually written of few chapters of the story, I've been working on my Flash skills, and practicing drawing different expressions in prep for our drawing seminar thing Tuesday...
signing out- sshhhhssssshhh: VC JAUREG.
Hollywood
This week I did a lot of thinking about where I wanted to take the things I was working on. I have a lot of different projects going on at once, which actually really helped keep me busy and producing. Once we were assigned our midterm project, I felt like I was so close to combining what I had been doing with my drawings, but I couldn’t put it together. I kept trying to figure out what it was that was there, but that I couldn’t find, and took quite a few videos at Il Giardino di Spoeri that interested me. At first I realized I had been taking videos of people’s hand movements. But I also took videos of water in a fountain, a bee on a tree, and bubble wrap flapping in the wind. I am still interested in capturing these brief moments in time. Ultimately, I looked up Morris Louis, as recommended, which took me to another artist’s blog. I was inspired by her work where she paired chairs with masterpieces based on their color, characteristics, and shapes. Somehow the chairs, when places next to the paintings, just fit. THUS, now I’m inspired to arrange groups of my own making….to start with: MY chair/throne.
I also have a really cool idea for what to do with my huge canvas that I just thought of tonight, but it might take some convincing and some time to actually complete. I’ve been frequenting this Cuban club across the river lately, and it is so energizing. I love to latin dance, and I actually shot all my pictures for my photo project there this weekend. I want to find a couple or two that would be willing to put paint on their feet and dance on top of the canvas! (I want to participate some too) So I need to become best friends with these people so I can have them participate!
Here are some pictures from the week.
I also have a really cool idea for what to do with my huge canvas that I just thought of tonight, but it might take some convincing and some time to actually complete. I’ve been frequenting this Cuban club across the river lately, and it is so energizing. I love to latin dance, and I actually shot all my pictures for my photo project there this weekend. I want to find a couple or two that would be willing to put paint on their feet and dance on top of the canvas! (I want to participate some too) So I need to become best friends with these people so I can have them participate!
Here are some pictures from the week.
holly g
Alexandria week...i've lost count...
Okay, so I still feel a little lost but I guess in a better way because i have lots of little ideas running around in my head and drawing and theme sequence are kind of getting mixed up but thats okay. I really like the idea of collections and all those taxidermy-ied/"stuffed" animals at la specola, (especially the millions of birds and amazing nests) I guess maybe because i spent half a semester making a form of stuffed stuff... So, this week i have been covering a lot of stuff white and painting over stuff with gesso and I'm kind of thinking about what we preserve or add back on top of things (like all the frescoes around here) or where pieces are missing out of them or one has been just totally transported or where one is found under a newer one. As well as making reliefs out of fabric and combining them with other drawings. Also, I was thinking of making the actual forms of the drawings on my dolls as little figurines out of white modeling clay (maybe cover them in fabric? some weird blob shape of a taxidermy doll?) thats a little creepy but anywho... and displaying them in a specimen sort of way and i feel like all the white has that museum/gallery feel (so its like that distance and attachment at the same time thing maybe?). i've also been making lots of little drawings/combinations of drawings out of the outlined figures but i'm not positive where those are going yet but i like them so i'll see...
// Laura Javier // 08
I started out this week with the plan to design "Reductio Ad Absurdum" packaging for a bunch of random objects. My first was a soup can label; I bought a can of soup, removed the label, took label dimensions, completed half of the label design, then... got hungry and ate... the... soup...
So then I was basically left designing around a piece of trash. Aaaand, I've decided to design packaging for trash.
The plan is to collect trash... or litter, really... at the top touristy sites in Florence (the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio, etc) and package them individually under the name of a line called 'Rejectables'... collectibles... 'Rejectibles?'... 'ibles' looks like 'mandibles' to me... anyway.
I think I want to put them into clear wine bottles to recall those 'ship-in-a-bottle'...s. Then I'd display them on their sides so they'd be more palatable as objects -- as opposed to upright wine bottles full of garbage that still suggest potability. Che schifo!
From there I can play with different types of bottles... maybe the Duomo and the Uffizi each gets a full blown wine bottle and Via San Gallo gets a small sparkling water bottle... or a plastic water bottle.
Then I'd present the collection under the guise of a window display complete with price list, posters, etc.
--- - - - - C L I C K - - - - ---
current classwork
tourist photos // past work
--- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ---
So then I was basically left designing around a piece of trash. Aaaand, I've decided to design packaging for trash.
The plan is to collect trash... or litter, really... at the top touristy sites in Florence (the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio, etc) and package them individually under the name of a line called 'Rejectables'... collectibles... 'Rejectibles?'... 'ibles' looks like 'mandibles' to me... anyway.
I think I want to put them into clear wine bottles to recall those 'ship-in-a-bottle'...s. Then I'd display them on their sides so they'd be more palatable as objects -- as opposed to upright wine bottles full of garbage that still suggest potability. Che schifo!
From there I can play with different types of bottles... maybe the Duomo and the Uffizi each gets a full blown wine bottle and Via San Gallo gets a small sparkling water bottle... or a plastic water bottle.
Then I'd present the collection under the guise of a window display complete with price list, posters, etc.
--- - - - - C L I C K - - - - ---
current classwork
tourist photos // past work
--- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ---
Noah's little boxes of heads
I am making a pile of heads, of that much i'm sure but i'm not entirely sure where we're going from there. I want to find a way of making these things interact with people, pigeons, cats, traffic and each other. i like the idea of taking 2 dimensional images and giving them a real physical presence. I'm also excited about trying to get other people involved in this project. I have made a facebook group requesting that everyone send me pictures of themselves to use as source material. we'll see how it turns out.
join the group! send me pictures!
Over the past few weeks I have been stressing over how I am going to move on from mid term. I was trying to find some complicated theory I could apply to my work. Then this week I realized why am I killing myself over trying to come up with something original at the expense of not making anything at all.
So I locked myself in studio and did whatever I wanted and ended up with a desk full of geishas? Right where I left of at midterm...
But I have to ask myself what is my attraction to geishas and their hair? Its not very deep but the only theme I got behind thiw work is geisha hair.
Geisha hair made out of plastic trash bags and an umbrella from Grace.
big Geisha head
experiment with acrylic and magazine
geisha work space.
Chapter 11: In which Sylva's objects overflow their shelves.
Reading the articles, I was thinking about wet verses dry mounting, and how in some ways wet mounting makes things more creepy/disgusting, but also more legit. Retaining their liquid, they seem to retain more of It's clear that a wet mount is not just a stuffed animal. Some of Specola's monkeys could be mistaken for children's warm fuzzies. Infatti, some of the animals seem quite poorly taxidermy'd by today's standards and then become either a) fake/stuffed animalish as the fill doesn't match a real body b) creepily gaunt and skinny as the flesh shrinks to the inner framework or c) frankensteinly disturbing with the obvious stitches and piecing together.
It's been a trying week for me, and I thought when I knocked my bottle of shampoo off the overloaded shelf in the shower for at least the 15th time this week, that I'm in the same situation emotionally right now, that when I try to set anything on the shelf, or I bump into a mental wall, some ofl the jars that have been piling up crash to the floor and break open and I'm struck with a nausea from the wave of fumes from the preservatives before I try to rebottle the specimens and put them back on the shelf to dissect later. I want to actually create this metaphor with physical objects, creating more of an old-school wunderkammer or cabinet of curiosities than a modern museum, all full of cleanliness and white space. (Blech!) I like the idea of dealing with this messiness, the way art works, natural objects, "freaks of nature," relics, etc. were all cataloged together rather than categorized separately, given boundaries and their own museums. I'm also interested in doing more book binding, and hopefully Susanna and I will get together this week so I can learn an alternative process for printing on cloth.
It's been a trying week for me, and I thought when I knocked my bottle of shampoo off the overloaded shelf in the shower for at least the 15th time this week, that I'm in the same situation emotionally right now, that when I try to set anything on the shelf, or I bump into a mental wall, some ofl the jars that have been piling up crash to the floor and break open and I'm struck with a nausea from the wave of fumes from the preservatives before I try to rebottle the specimens and put them back on the shelf to dissect later. I want to actually create this metaphor with physical objects, creating more of an old-school wunderkammer or cabinet of curiosities than a modern museum, all full of cleanliness and white space. (Blech!) I like the idea of dealing with this messiness, the way art works, natural objects, "freaks of nature," relics, etc. were all cataloged together rather than categorized separately, given boundaries and their own museums. I'm also interested in doing more book binding, and hopefully Susanna and I will get together this week so I can learn an alternative process for printing on cloth.
Siena X
A large part of this week was spent nailing a grid into the ceiling above my studio workspace. I essentially made a ground on the ceiling.
Originally I intended to hang dead plant matter. Sort of a pathetic canopy look. But I've been drawing with string on the ceiling and I like the idea of a drawing in flux. There's erratic line layering thanks to type of string I'm attracted to. Hooray.
In other news, I really like drawing now. I enjoyed messing around and making some good ol' reggalurr grounds ieri. (I even threw in some pinecone action.) Today I returned to La Specola and drew the pinecone animal for a long time. I guess that's a continuing theme. I keep coming back to the tactile allurement of wobegone sticks begging to be noticed.
WHOA....Jorie is actually posting on time....YEE HAW!!!
Score! Slam dunk! How, in the name of President Napolitano's most enormous Y-Fronts, did this happen? Perhaps I've attempted to put a new foot forward, completing all assigned tasks in a timely manner, and attempting to remedy my typical block-headed approach to work.
Ha..... well, I'm trying!!
In terms of art making and work, I've kind of gone back to the drawing board; basically, square one. Come come loves, square one is where it's at! Mad party- anyone care to join?
Lots and lots and lots of experimentation at this point- writing, making notes, sketching, painting.... basically whatever comes to mind. Painting has made itself a clear presence in my current process. Damn, it is an animal! Frisky frisky.... anyways, I've been painting on the photographs that I had used for my midterm project, and putting them in a context that solves the other half of the equation. My theme has been circling around the idea of vulnerability, but the unanswered question was always why. Why is this person vulnerable, what about her situation makes her feel particularly exposed, and why does she react to feeling vulnerable in this way? I have been working with placing the figure in different contexts with the paintings, and orchestrating a situation which might begin to answer those questions.
Alrighty chilluns, that's all I will bother you with for this week.
A dopo!
Jorie
Cat's post ....ops
La Specola is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, so I don't really know what I want to do....sort of.
I have two ideas which I think are sound but we shale have to see if either will work out. Oh well, never know if you don't try!
1. I am thinking of making a walking library (Reagen may grone but my primary reason is because I want to where it and act like a librarian) yes their are deeper things I have thought about but who deep down doesn't think that's a walking library is a little cool. Also it definitely is a transformation of a system. I am a bit leery though as it means I will have to make at least 500 books. I have 50 so far. And although I have enjoyed making many of them they can also be quite tedious. Still a skirt or whatever full of books would be cool. I have already started to make a biology section, La Specola, and a bibliography section.
2. Also I have been thinking about what John said about whats on the inside of my dresses and how do I want to present them. Do I want them to be central or part of something else especially as a sense of authenticity matters to me. I like the idea of giving the names behind the stereotypes. ( kind of what I was doing with the letters but hopefully with more finesse and meaning) I have been looking up women from the time period of my dress and have been writing their names on paper( tried it on the dress but it just looked weird) and plan on sowing them in. I Also made mini biographies for some of them. I am debating though if that is necessary of just a distraction. ( guessing the latter)
3, Sack it all and draw details of every animal or thing that interests me. Date and categorize them.
4. Sack that. finish a project that I started last year. (actually kind of serious about this one)
5. Sack that. Run away with a visiting German and become Angelina Jolie's tattoo artist.
6. Sack that become a traveling hanger salesman.
PS I my deviant will have allot of my pics. Striker313
Ok, so I don't really know what I want to do....sort of.
I have two ideas which I think are sound but we shale have to see if either will work out. Oh well, never know if you don't try!
1. I am thinking of making a walking library (Reagen may grone but my primary reason is because I want to where it and act like a librarian) yes their are deeper things I have thought about but who deep down doesn't think that's a walking library is a little cool. Also it definitely is a transformation of a system. I am a bit leery though as it means I will have to make at least 500 books. I have 50 so far. And although I have enjoyed making many of them they can also be quite tedious. Still a skirt or whatever full of books would be cool. I have already started to make a biology section, La Specola, and a bibliography section.
2. Also I have been thinking about what John said about whats on the inside of my dresses and how do I want to present them. Do I want them to be central or part of something else especially as a sense of authenticity matters to me. I like the idea of giving the names behind the stereotypes. ( kind of what I was doing with the letters but hopefully with more finesse and meaning) I have been looking up women from the time period of my dress and have been writing their names on paper( tried it on the dress but it just looked weird) and plan on sowing them in. I Also made mini biographies for some of them. I am debating though if that is necessary of just a distraction. ( guessing the latter)
3, Sack it all and draw details of every animal or thing that interests me. Date and categorize them.
4. Sack that. finish a project that I started last year. (actually kind of serious about this one)
5. Sack that. Run away with a visiting German and become Angelina Jolie's tattoo artist.
6. Sack that become a traveling hanger salesman.
PS I my deviant will have allot of my pics. Striker313
Alex is drawing a blank!
Ok so this entire week I've been experimenting making abstract expressions of mental states. I always somehow feel that I'm blocked, or can't communicate exactly what I want to say, or that people don't completely understand what I mean to say. Whenever anyone asks me (coughReganandJohncough) what my art means or what is my concept or theme or purpose, I draw a blank. I completely freeze up and the words somehow get lost in my mind. This is what I'm going to try to recreate in my art, a fuzziness, an emptiness, an uneasiness, a contained explosion.
I want to try to make some sculptures out of textiles. I've been really interested in these two textiles books I've purchased recently. I want to take wire and make this apparatus in which I'll situate myself in all black spandex, face paint, and the like and take a photo of it against a white background. Also, I was thinking of making this sculpture out of stockings so it'll be some sort of weird pattern in space that trap the viewer and dictate how he/she sees the "world" (or more likely studio 41).
Today I tried experimenting with ephemeral art and erasing and fleeting moments. I took some sheets of really durable watercolor paper and put them in the sink. Then I turned the sink on and preceded to pour ink into the basin. and watched the water do the work. What was left were the remnants of a few drawings in formation.
* * * - "secrets"
For some reason, I've been driven by this desire to make and make and make all week... but I still feel like I'm only at a process level.
Taking from the newspaper bouquets, I've been really interested in exploring emotion that doesn't get expressed and how it could be translated into visual language. So... I've spent all week scribbling down thoughts and secrets, cutting up letters, and generally trying to obscure all the messages I felt needed to be expressed but not able to share with others. I began by writing down these things down on little slips of paper - "secrets," but mostly just silly things I just felt uncomfortable making explicit or having other people read. I hoarded them on my desk, upside-down, then went through and censored everything that felt uncomfortable sharing. Next, I put some of these secrets, uncensored, in balloons with silver glitter and heart-shaped sequins... the balloon's thin skin acting as a fragile barrier between my secret and the rest of the world. I wrote three anonymous but personal letters and sealed them up in envelopes with the standard glitter/sequin mix (who doesn't love opening mail and having confetti or glitter serendipitously spill everywhere?); these were hung in a tree in Piazza dell'Indipendenza for anyone to open and find. I wrote a letter, but then cut out all the words individually, so as to obscure the meaning. In all these situations, the goal was to express the things I wished to make explicit, but, because I felt uncomfortable or vulnerable taking them beyond myself, never actually set them free - like censoring my secrets or never letting the letters reach their recipients.
Through this all, I find that I'm really fascinated by this personal need to sort of "hold back," or why I feel uncomfortable sharing certain things with other people, even if they're silly or trivial or beautiful or should be said.
In terms of moving forward, I've been reflecting, but I still feel as if the adjustments I can make are only minor and that I'm still in a making and making mode. I may set up suggestive narratives (in photo? video?) where the balloons have gotten stuck in trees or where i fill all these balloons with secrets and glitter and helium and release them off into the sky... I'm also kind of interested in opening this up to others, maybe creating a sort of secret depository, where people can add their secrets (censored or not, anonymous or not?), but I'm still not sure. I guess largely I'm really investigating metaphors for all this emotion that goes unexpressed... but, is it even expressible in words, verbally? The more I write all these letters, I begin to think no; the emotion only gets limited. Can it be fully expressed visually? Is the build-up of all this stunted expression just sad? Where am I going with all this?
P.S. really into these things from il Giardino di Daniel Spoerri from this last Friday (where I very elegantly fell into a ditch with the whole bus watching). big surprise.
Until next time,
Erin
[ more photos. ]
Saturday, March 28
Leah's week nine
Life is flashing before my eyes. And before I know it, I'll probably be wondering what I'm going to do after I graduate. Oh wait. I'm already wondering that.
Anyway, whoever revamped the design on the blog, it looks very slick. Mi piace.
///
I changed the background of my pomegranate painting yet again, after talking with John, and I think it does look much better as an ambiguous dark brown color. I'm now working with trying to dye fabric with natural dyes to sew a quilt (possibly a star quilt--something with a radial pattern, like the lovely radial bursts that kiwis and oranges have). I had fun experimenting with that today.
I am also thinking about the drawing assignment, and I had an idea about "habits." I've been collecting tea bags and the little envelopes they come in, cigarette papers from the streets, my best friend is entering the convent (and thus will be wearing a habit) and then at La Speccola, I was pretty nuts about everything, but I've always loved hares, and would love to draw some rabbits to add to the habits.
Not wanting to get stuck on an idea right away, I want to keep brain storming. Another one of my ideas is to make bees wax candles of saints. I have an image in my head of possibly 144 little lit saint candles. I think they would look beautiful all together and smell lovely, and although it might be a bit "creepy" when they were melting, it's quite theologically sound, which I like, and I should always consider, at least. I don't want to make art that goes against my faith. That would just be stupid. I haven't fully read "Julian Schnable Paints a Portrait of God" yet, but I have a feeling that Julian and I see things very differently in terms of art and religion.
PS. I truly felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be when I was at La Speccola. It's my childhood fantasy come true.
Photos
Anyway, whoever revamped the design on the blog, it looks very slick. Mi piace.
///
I changed the background of my pomegranate painting yet again, after talking with John, and I think it does look much better as an ambiguous dark brown color. I'm now working with trying to dye fabric with natural dyes to sew a quilt (possibly a star quilt--something with a radial pattern, like the lovely radial bursts that kiwis and oranges have). I had fun experimenting with that today.
I am also thinking about the drawing assignment, and I had an idea about "habits." I've been collecting tea bags and the little envelopes they come in, cigarette papers from the streets, my best friend is entering the convent (and thus will be wearing a habit) and then at La Speccola, I was pretty nuts about everything, but I've always loved hares, and would love to draw some rabbits to add to the habits.
Not wanting to get stuck on an idea right away, I want to keep brain storming. Another one of my ideas is to make bees wax candles of saints. I have an image in my head of possibly 144 little lit saint candles. I think they would look beautiful all together and smell lovely, and although it might be a bit "creepy" when they were melting, it's quite theologically sound, which I like, and I should always consider, at least. I don't want to make art that goes against my faith. That would just be stupid. I haven't fully read "Julian Schnable Paints a Portrait of God" yet, but I have a feeling that Julian and I see things very differently in terms of art and religion.
PS. I truly felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be when I was at La Speccola. It's my childhood fantasy come true.
Photos
Friday, March 27
Jorie is a big doofus....nothing new there....
Okaaay fellow theme-sequencers, the much-anticipated Jorie blog...
This week I have started anew, with refreshed confidence and a new approach. Sometimes we get so caught up in the process of "making"/ "doing" work, that sometimes just the basics feel like they aren't quite enough. This week, I brought myself back to my primary love, that reeled me in to the art-making process in the first place: painting. So at first, I was dancing around the "To paint or not to paint" question, and with my midterm project I was trying to push different ways of art-making than with my usual painting and drawing. It was a little bit larger and more revelatory and insane than I normally do things, and I'm working towards using the paint and the figure as a vehicle for expressing emotions in ways that aren't painfully and annoyingly literal. Ah, we shall see!
....Jana, if you are reading this...
*INSERT ENORMOUS CROUD CHEERING AND STRANGE NOISE MAKING AND A UFFIZI-SIZE GALLERY OF STICKS*
that is a big enormous shout out to you!!! I miss you!!! Hope things are going well!!!
Love and Peace.... sorry, I couldn't think of a better stoner saying.
<3 Jorie
This week I have started anew, with refreshed confidence and a new approach. Sometimes we get so caught up in the process of "making"/ "doing" work, that sometimes just the basics feel like they aren't quite enough. This week, I brought myself back to my primary love, that reeled me in to the art-making process in the first place: painting. So at first, I was dancing around the "To paint or not to paint" question, and with my midterm project I was trying to push different ways of art-making than with my usual painting and drawing. It was a little bit larger and more revelatory and insane than I normally do things, and I'm working towards using the paint and the figure as a vehicle for expressing emotions in ways that aren't painfully and annoyingly literal. Ah, we shall see!
....Jana, if you are reading this...
*INSERT ENORMOUS CROUD CHEERING AND STRANGE NOISE MAKING AND A UFFIZI-SIZE GALLERY OF STICKS*
that is a big enormous shout out to you!!! I miss you!!! Hope things are going well!!!
Love and Peace.... sorry, I couldn't think of a better stoner saying.
<3 Jorie
Monday, March 23
Chapter 10 In which the heavens open.
I painted this week, because I needed to. I was simply overwhelmed with a desire to push paint around with a brush, maybe because I think through doing, and needed some kind of focused work. I'm planning to work more with photos and video this week though, and work with this idea that the process of creating one work leaves vestigial objects which can sometimes move into other works. I have a lot of interesting negatives I haven't printed yet, and the first structure of a film which I want to flesh out and execute.
I'm excited about the work we're doing in drawing, working with natural materials. Burning things. Especially the burning things. That, I like that. Also, I made a Siena style sculpture on the beach.
A strange theme to this week? Things fallen from the sky. Birds, pots, hail. . .
I'm excited about the work we're doing in drawing, working with natural materials. Burning things. Especially the burning things. That, I like that. Also, I made a Siena style sculpture on the beach.
A strange theme to this week? Things fallen from the sky. Birds, pots, hail. . .
The Maramac is Back
Back at it after a simultaneously restful and exhausting week. Activities ranged from trying out my new watercolor set on the Napolitan sunset, to getting my ass stuck in an aqueduct in Pompeii, to getting soccered out of this world by an FC Barcelona vs. Lyonn (Champions League) match. Suffice to say, the last activity ended up replacing a probably less costly shopping spree down Las Ramblas.
As I return to a considerably more touristy Florence, it's nice to think about art without midterms breathing down my neck. This time, producing a work in a week's time for theme sequence is considerably less terrifying than it would have been in January. Even with a slightly different approach and subject matter, it's become easier to ignore the art police running around in my head--just like I've learned to ignore the guys that catcall you as you're walking down the street. Sometimes they actually are asking for directions, and sometimes that art idea I have is genuinely stupid, but never hurts to keep walking.
To wrap it up, I'm hoping to turn this semester's focus more on my impending decision between art and medicine. Since I'm dual-degree in the Art and Artsci schools, I'll be spending five years at WashU to pin down both schools' requirements. With an artsci major in Biology and on the premed track, I've got two quite different interests to reconcile. After the comments I've received during crit--that my "disparate" interests of fantasy art, soccer, medieval calligraphy, and science, to name a few--I want to address what seemed irreconcilable. I'm interested in literature about anatomy for both artists and doctors, as a starting point, the simple shared ground we have with eachother. For this week's work, I'm taking a Mucha painting of a young girl and photocopying it on a magnified scale, then taping the A4 photocopy paper together to form one large image. From there, I've sketched out her muscular system and intend to create a cut out (perhaps playing with the cut-out pieces later as well).
So much for now, here are some pictures from spring break and beyond.
As I return to a considerably more touristy Florence, it's nice to think about art without midterms breathing down my neck. This time, producing a work in a week's time for theme sequence is considerably less terrifying than it would have been in January. Even with a slightly different approach and subject matter, it's become easier to ignore the art police running around in my head--just like I've learned to ignore the guys that catcall you as you're walking down the street. Sometimes they actually are asking for directions, and sometimes that art idea I have is genuinely stupid, but never hurts to keep walking.
To wrap it up, I'm hoping to turn this semester's focus more on my impending decision between art and medicine. Since I'm dual-degree in the Art and Artsci schools, I'll be spending five years at WashU to pin down both schools' requirements. With an artsci major in Biology and on the premed track, I've got two quite different interests to reconcile. After the comments I've received during crit--that my "disparate" interests of fantasy art, soccer, medieval calligraphy, and science, to name a few--I want to address what seemed irreconcilable. I'm interested in literature about anatomy for both artists and doctors, as a starting point, the simple shared ground we have with eachother. For this week's work, I'm taking a Mucha painting of a young girl and photocopying it on a magnified scale, then taping the A4 photocopy paper together to form one large image. From there, I've sketched out her muscular system and intend to create a cut out (perhaps playing with the cut-out pieces later as well).
So much for now, here are some pictures from spring break and beyond.
Noah back at it
As the second half of this semester really is a continuation it would feel quite disjointed for me to start off with a blog entry posted successfully and on time. that said, this week has been fun for me. it's been nice to be back working but with a slightly less menacing deadline to worry about. that said my mindset right now is basically just to make, make, make and see what emerges. it's been fun for me to work in some of the ways that i did in my free time in high school but to approach it with a bit more seriousness. I'm doing alot of stenciling and layering paintings on top of prints on top of things that i find around. the nice thing is that i have the freedom to do generally what strikes my fancy but also the seriousness of purpose to come up with an idea and give it all of the time that it needs, be it 45 minutes or 12 hours. i've attached a completely accidental but i think sort of beautiful photo that was taken in greece over break.
ps. I got to watch the mighty viola sneak past sienna yesterday at the stadium. the pattern of playing 89 minutes of boring soccer punctuated by one ugly and completely undeserved goal continues. regardless, 3 points in the bag.
Sunday, March 22
Basta? Danny Greenberg
So coming back from the break the main issue that I am having is realizing when things are finished or require more work. For instance, I have built up some grounds in my sketchbook, and I think that I like them just as groungs. I am not sure if I should build up drawings over them. Similarly, for my theme-sequence work, I have started to make a three-dimetional head. Right now it is very simple. I like it as it is, but I am not sure if the sculpural element of this project is finished or not, so I am documenting the head in every stage so I can determine if it is being overworked or not. Overall I am in a good place right now, because I am in the zone, working pretty efficiently, so I will continue to do my work.
I will upload my photoswhen I can get them online, later today
-Danny
I will upload my photoswhen I can get them online, later today
-Danny
// Laura Javier // 07
Welcome back, everyone!
In an attempt to make some progress for this week, I decided a few things:
I want to want to work on the project in the upcoming weeks.
I don't want to completely start the project over, but I'm now also hesitant to return to video.
Re: fluency, I feel most fluent working in the Adobe suite.
I enjoy design-based projects - the kind that unabashedly fall under the 'minor arts' category.
So I started last week by creating a bunch of quick "B-movie" movie poster variations based on one image from my midterm video. From there, I thought it'd be amusing to branch out and do the DVD release/soundtrack/"the art of" book cover designs to go with it. And then, to continue in the vein of absolute absurdity, I want to add to the collection, retaining in some way either the title/image... ranging from promotional calendars and t-shirts to packaging for shoe boxes, wine bottles, milk cartons, cereal... toothpaste... detergent... kitchen utensils... packages of... toothpicks... and... things. A reduction to the absurd! And I'd have the opportunity to play around with embedding things in fine print, logos, etc.
Sidenote: the anthropology museum was ballerrrrrr.
--- - - - - C L I C K - - - - ---
current classwork
tourist photos
past work
--- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ---
In an attempt to make some progress for this week, I decided a few things:
I want to want to work on the project in the upcoming weeks.
I don't want to completely start the project over, but I'm now also hesitant to return to video.
Re: fluency, I feel most fluent working in the Adobe suite.
I enjoy design-based projects - the kind that unabashedly fall under the 'minor arts' category.
So I started last week by creating a bunch of quick "B-movie" movie poster variations based on one image from my midterm video. From there, I thought it'd be amusing to branch out and do the DVD release/soundtrack/"the art of" book cover designs to go with it. And then, to continue in the vein of absolute absurdity, I want to add to the collection, retaining in some way either the title/image... ranging from promotional calendars and t-shirts to packaging for shoe boxes, wine bottles, milk cartons, cereal... toothpaste... detergent... kitchen utensils... packages of... toothpicks... and... things. A reduction to the absurd! And I'd have the opportunity to play around with embedding things in fine print, logos, etc.
Sidenote: the anthropology museum was ballerrrrrr.
--- - - - - C L I C K - - - - ---
current classwork
tourist photos
past work
--- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ---
felevators.
Everyone keeps reassuring me that it's okay to not know what I'm doing, where I'm going with my project. So yes~ I don't know what I'm doing. Which is okay, apparently.
But what I HAVE been doing, however, is drawing a lot of elevators in a comic book kind of style (with panels), except without much of a narrative. I'm not sure what inspired this sort of image in my head, but I've thought of this kind of space where there are just tons of elevators, always going up and down, up and down, on ropes (NOT the hydraulic system, mind you. I've been doing some research on howstuffworks.com) However, I'm beginning to find that it does hold a relationship to the themes I've been exploring in the previous semester as well. I suppose there's this idea of interior versus the exterior, a compartment or a body or a vessel carrying us places, a skin. And this idea of a skin is really what I've been thinking about. So as I've been drawing more panels, I'm moving into themes of the body, something physical, and how it feels to be you.
After my talk with John Sarra last week, some issues were raised, which helped me understand my own work. With the my midterm project, it feels like I've been really stating the obvious and expressing my own personal perspective, how it feels to be in my own body. But I guess the real issue is, how to inspire others to have this sort of attention for themselves. How to do this, I don't know yet. We'll see.
Anywhos! photos ----> x
(contains pictures of that one day when it hailed while the sun will still out. amazing gold lighting)
felicia
But what I HAVE been doing, however, is drawing a lot of elevators in a comic book kind of style (with panels), except without much of a narrative. I'm not sure what inspired this sort of image in my head, but I've thought of this kind of space where there are just tons of elevators, always going up and down, up and down, on ropes (NOT the hydraulic system, mind you. I've been doing some research on howstuffworks.com) However, I'm beginning to find that it does hold a relationship to the themes I've been exploring in the previous semester as well. I suppose there's this idea of interior versus the exterior, a compartment or a body or a vessel carrying us places, a skin. And this idea of a skin is really what I've been thinking about. So as I've been drawing more panels, I'm moving into themes of the body, something physical, and how it feels to be you.
After my talk with John Sarra last week, some issues were raised, which helped me understand my own work. With the my midterm project, it feels like I've been really stating the obvious and expressing my own personal perspective, how it feels to be in my own body. But I guess the real issue is, how to inspire others to have this sort of attention for themselves. How to do this, I don't know yet. We'll see.
Anywhos! photos ----> x
(contains pictures of that one day when it hailed while the sun will still out. amazing gold lighting)
felicia
Jennifer reflects on mirrors
Sooo during midterm critques I mentioned that the reason I liked working on all of these walls in Florence was because they made such great grounds...and so of course the teachers said I should make grounds myself haha. My original plan was to photocopy a bunch of my 15 minute drawings, which I did, and apply them to some surface and paint and take away and what not to create some grounds. However, on Thursday I walked down to the antique market looking for some old photos to use in the grounds and on the way back I came across some mirrors that somebody had put beside the dumpster, and I thought, "well I wonder what kind of ground I could make with a mirror as my base. And so begins my mirror obsession. I saw that some of the back was chipping off and you could see through the mirror, so I started to scrape away at the back and kept getting confused about which part was the mirror and which part I was looking through, and I thought that was really interesting. So right now I am playing around with what kind of illusions I can make and how I can use these illusions to enhance my focus on the layering of history and weathering on all of these walls.
I also went a little crazy and found this awesome chrome spray...and I sprayed this door I found on the side of the road, and it's pretty cool but don't know where that's going yet either...and then I found a big piece of wood and thought that would make a good ground and started to paint and apply things to that. So now I have three things that may or may not come together but I'm just trying to break my usual habits and just DO things without necessarily knowing the end result...and so far it's turning out to be quite interesting! I can't wait to see how things come together. Pictures to come...
I also went a little crazy and found this awesome chrome spray...and I sprayed this door I found on the side of the road, and it's pretty cool but don't know where that's going yet either...and then I found a big piece of wood and thought that would make a good ground and started to paint and apply things to that. So now I have three things that may or may not come together but I'm just trying to break my usual habits and just DO things without necessarily knowing the end result...and so far it's turning out to be quite interesting! I can't wait to see how things come together. Pictures to come...
in which grace joins the dark side...
As much as I love them, I think it's time for me to take some time away from holes (what a breakup!). Since I don't think I'm working directly from my last project, I feel a little lost, as if I've started the semester over and started my gathering/collecting process all over again.
But looking back at my photos from spring break and this first week back, I think I'm interested in the same things I always was, but with a shift in focus. I was really struck by the gorgeous light and shadow in the Archaeological Museum in Naples, and I took more pictures of reflections in Lucca...What I'm fascinated by is the way light can completely change the atmosphere of a place, and I'm playing with that as I experiment with mood in my drawings, photos, etc...
I'm also leaning towards things with a dark/creepy undertone. I keep coming back to this monster from Pan's Labyrinth (isn't it great? isn't it creepy?):
I just find it bizarrely amazing that it puts its eyes into slits in its palms, then puts them up to its face to see...Hands and eyes are such powerful images, I think, that the juxtaposition of the two is jarring.
In terms of what I'm making, I have a million things going on - photos, drawings, videos, that empty birdcage that's just waiting to be used...For next week, though, I want to at least have my drawings sorted out. I'm using themes from my nightmares and trying to get at things people are universally afraid of...
But looking back at my photos from spring break and this first week back, I think I'm interested in the same things I always was, but with a shift in focus. I was really struck by the gorgeous light and shadow in the Archaeological Museum in Naples, and I took more pictures of reflections in Lucca...What I'm fascinated by is the way light can completely change the atmosphere of a place, and I'm playing with that as I experiment with mood in my drawings, photos, etc...
I'm also leaning towards things with a dark/creepy undertone. I keep coming back to this monster from Pan's Labyrinth (isn't it great? isn't it creepy?):I just find it bizarrely amazing that it puts its eyes into slits in its palms, then puts them up to its face to see...Hands and eyes are such powerful images, I think, that the juxtaposition of the two is jarring.
In terms of what I'm making, I have a million things going on - photos, drawings, videos, that empty birdcage that's just waiting to be used...For next week, though, I want to at least have my drawings sorted out. I'm using themes from my nightmares and trying to get at things people are universally afraid of...
Vivian Jauregui - disney always makes it look so easy; its not.
So, I originally wanted to continue the story I had begun in midterm by means of creating a Disney-esque ride. I would take on the person of an Imagineer, and present a proposal for the ride with a model and sketches, and whatever have you. I spent a good amount of time researching this and planning out the narrative of the ride, but I decided last night after much anguish that I didn't think that the whole ride idea was going to work, because the narrative becomes twice removed (once in that I can't make my audience ride the actual ride, and twice because it falls under the second facade of a proposal).
Stressing out, I called my dad and he mentioned the interactive books we used to read. You know, the choose your own adventure kind. In those books you read and introduction and then make decisions for the protagonist that develop the plot. The "choosing sides" theme created by this kind of interactive reading really works with the theme of divorce, and so I decided to make an interactive video. The video needs to be created on Flash and exported on QuickTime. I've read a tutorial or two on how to do this, and it seems do-able, the only catch is I don't have Flash; I did download a 30 day trial however. I want to save installing it for a bit in order to ensure that I'll be able to use it during crunch time, the last few days before crit. If that doesn't work I have a few other options at hand to create the video, but if all else fails I'll just create an illustrated book, just like my original inspiration (that's the ultimate back fall - don't want to go there).
I want the theme to be the middle ages; (lords, ladies, serfs..) and make this for a pre-teen audience; So far, I've been working on the illustrated versions of my family members; a task that is way harder than I thought; it's taking a while to get them right. The plan is to get the characters right; and then draw specific scenes that would be the visual component of the narrated story for the different chapters. I've been studying Disney films to figure out expression; but am having difficulty with the adult characters (how to render them as older simplistically).
photos
- Viv
Stressing out, I called my dad and he mentioned the interactive books we used to read. You know, the choose your own adventure kind. In those books you read and introduction and then make decisions for the protagonist that develop the plot. The "choosing sides" theme created by this kind of interactive reading really works with the theme of divorce, and so I decided to make an interactive video. The video needs to be created on Flash and exported on QuickTime. I've read a tutorial or two on how to do this, and it seems do-able, the only catch is I don't have Flash; I did download a 30 day trial however. I want to save installing it for a bit in order to ensure that I'll be able to use it during crunch time, the last few days before crit. If that doesn't work I have a few other options at hand to create the video, but if all else fails I'll just create an illustrated book, just like my original inspiration (that's the ultimate back fall - don't want to go there).
I want the theme to be the middle ages; (lords, ladies, serfs..) and make this for a pre-teen audience; So far, I've been working on the illustrated versions of my family members; a task that is way harder than I thought; it's taking a while to get them right. The plan is to get the characters right; and then draw specific scenes that would be the visual component of the narrated story for the different chapters. I've been studying Disney films to figure out expression; but am having difficulty with the adult characters (how to render them as older simplistically).
photos
- Viv
Dopo SB>>HG
So its been pretty busy getting back from Spring Break. I have been thinking about where I want to go with my next pieces and I am really still in experimentation mode. I started out on Tuesday with a painting in effort to evoke a calm feeling. I used a color palette relating to the sea I saw in Greece over spring break. Water in general fascinates me, and on the boat I just sat on the deck watching the waves for I don’t know how long trying to follow one wave. But they all merge together and it is impossible to hold onto one for very long. The fluidity of the waves really mesmerized me. After this thought, I actually went back to the idea of performance over the weekend, but not live performance-more like filmed performance. I have an 8 min film of one event this weekend that was very Calming and Relaxing—to go with the painting, and another that is more passionate, that I may also create a painting about.
But I also remembered how music changes the mood of a film drastically. I played around on Garage Band and ended up making a short beat. I really want to try and continue this and maybe use it as a soundtrack for a larger film or music video of sorts. Or, I was thinking it might be cool to project the film onto my painting (it would be better if my painting was bigger though). But I couldn’t get the projector to work, but hopefully someone can help me with that!...oh technology.
I realized that although I am taking a different turn after midterm, I still do have similar tendencies. I have realized that I like taking single, personal moments and putting them on display for others to see. I like to make people look at these brief, habitual moments in time to realize how beautiful, funny, mundane, crazy, or strange they are when singled out. I feel like when a single moment is recorded in time it makes people pay more attention to it and try to identify with it more. This may also be why I like photography! I love catching people in their every day routine, which is a really hard. I may just have to get a little creepier to catch more of these instances on video or in photos!
I’m excited to keep working because I feel like I’m doing things I really want to do.
Ta ta for now!
Here are some pics!
But I also remembered how music changes the mood of a film drastically. I played around on Garage Band and ended up making a short beat. I really want to try and continue this and maybe use it as a soundtrack for a larger film or music video of sorts. Or, I was thinking it might be cool to project the film onto my painting (it would be better if my painting was bigger though). But I couldn’t get the projector to work, but hopefully someone can help me with that!...oh technology.
I realized that although I am taking a different turn after midterm, I still do have similar tendencies. I have realized that I like taking single, personal moments and putting them on display for others to see. I like to make people look at these brief, habitual moments in time to realize how beautiful, funny, mundane, crazy, or strange they are when singled out. I feel like when a single moment is recorded in time it makes people pay more attention to it and try to identify with it more. This may also be why I like photography! I love catching people in their every day routine, which is a really hard. I may just have to get a little creepier to catch more of these instances on video or in photos!
I’m excited to keep working because I feel like I’m doing things I really want to do.
Ta ta for now!
Here are some pics!
-holly g
Monica MC Sews and Stuffs her Psyche
I've come back from Spring Break more refreshed and excited to get to work. I had a very wonderful and relaxing week in Florence with my boyfriend, eating gelato and lounging in the Boboli Gardens. I took an overnight trip to Rome as well, and was totally blown away by the city. I now see why people complain about Florence being so small!
Now that I'm back it's good to do some old-fashioned manual labor. I decided to continue with my stuffed animal theme, but this time I'm making them on a much larger scale. I decided to combine stuffed animal making with something I've always been interested in: representing psychological states, personality types, and the subconscious. That's why I decided to design and create representations of the Id and the Superego. The Id will be much more wild and unhindered, while the Superego is the responsible, levelheaded type. I will eventually document my encounters with both characters, either in photographs or some type of performance (I'm sort of considering stop-motion animation).
In our Sketchbook class we took a trip to the anthropology museum, and I have to say I think it's my favorite so far. I loved the miscellaneous way everything was organized, and the artifacts they had there were just amazing (especially the shrunken heads and mummies). I think I'll be returning soon to get a closer look at some of those amazing masks and outfits.
Pictures of the Superego, as well as some boots I painted on: here.
Until next post!
Monica McClain
megan&wanderlust.
Promise to keep it short! Anyhow...
Before break I decided that I wanted play with video as a new format for my cutouts and to further explore the light/shadow aspect which I think will, as suggested in crit, help me move away from the frames. But I also thought I might like to go back to manipulating maps again. So I decided to just make some things to get them out of my head and see where they go as separate entities as well as combined ideas.
After coming back from break and brainstorming a little, I realized that what the whole map thing comes down to is wanderlust. I love to travel. I feel the most myself and at home when I'm wandering all over the place halfway across the world. All of a sudden, I was ridiculously inspired and now have a million ideas in my head. I have a travel journal at home that is bursting at the seams with stuff... tickets, receipts, stickers, maps, etc. So I think I'm going to use all this to make my stop motion video which sounds vague but only because I have those million ideas floating around in my head and don't want to focus on only one just yet.
As I was playing with this, Regan sent me an email from an art contest which actually inspired the first little test run I did. I'm not sure I'll stick to just cutouts because I like the idea of having objects but we'll see.
Not only that, but there just so happened to be an international animated film festival going on when we were in Lucca yesterday. So I have a lot of thoughts/images/ideas to sift through in my head.
OH, by the way, photos linked in title.
the doors open-Soo
Chances are given for the ones who seek for it.
or I think. Over the springbreak, I was given a long time to think about what I would do with my future as an artist or even as an art student for the next couple years. In the end, I decided to follow my long dreamed desire for making films. Then, the first week I came back from the spring break (which was this past week), I found out that there was going to be a Korean Film Festival at Odeon for a whole week starting on the 20th. When I dropped by Odeon to ask for more information, I realized that it was a bigger deal than I thought because the whole thing was sponsored by Samsung and all, and the directors and 'important' ppl were coming including one of the most repected director, Lee Chang-Dong.
On the big night, me and Felisha went for the opening night to see the film, since the reception beforehand was for 'the invited' only. However, it turned out that we also need invitations to watch the opening film. The first denial never holds me back, so I tried again to seek for a way around, and one of the staffs brought a fortune over us. She discretely handed one of the invitations to us so that we could get in. Finally, we both got in and watched the film, and the 'important' ppl as well. I rode the tangent line here a little bit, but the point is, that Lee Chang-Dong is coming to give a speech before his movie, Secret Sunshine (a sensational, deep movie) next tuesday, and I could actually be there to hear his words. Those words at this point of my life as an art student, who is trying to experiment with the path of life, will be inspirational, effective, and hopeful.
As far as my work goes, I'm opening up a couple options for myself, experimenting with different ways of filming and on different subject matters. But still, it is quite vague on exactly what I want to do. I'll see..as I seek for the chance.
Here are the photos I've taken this week (after the spring break), showing a couple effects I would possibly use in my film.
or I think. Over the springbreak, I was given a long time to think about what I would do with my future as an artist or even as an art student for the next couple years. In the end, I decided to follow my long dreamed desire for making films. Then, the first week I came back from the spring break (which was this past week), I found out that there was going to be a Korean Film Festival at Odeon for a whole week starting on the 20th. When I dropped by Odeon to ask for more information, I realized that it was a bigger deal than I thought because the whole thing was sponsored by Samsung and all, and the directors and 'important' ppl were coming including one of the most repected director, Lee Chang-Dong.
On the big night, me and Felisha went for the opening night to see the film, since the reception beforehand was for 'the invited' only. However, it turned out that we also need invitations to watch the opening film. The first denial never holds me back, so I tried again to seek for a way around, and one of the staffs brought a fortune over us. She discretely handed one of the invitations to us so that we could get in. Finally, we both got in and watched the film, and the 'important' ppl as well. I rode the tangent line here a little bit, but the point is, that Lee Chang-Dong is coming to give a speech before his movie, Secret Sunshine (a sensational, deep movie) next tuesday, and I could actually be there to hear his words. Those words at this point of my life as an art student, who is trying to experiment with the path of life, will be inspirational, effective, and hopeful.
As far as my work goes, I'm opening up a couple options for myself, experimenting with different ways of filming and on different subject matters. But still, it is quite vague on exactly what I want to do. I'll see..as I seek for the chance.
Here are the photos I've taken this week (after the spring break), showing a couple effects I would possibly use in my film.
Anna's Week 6 (I think)
After having left midterms week for the (cough cough) relaxation of spring break, my momentum sort of got crushed (because I was thinking all the time of catching flights or trains instead of of my art). I was worried that when I got back in the studio I would have nothing to work on, but 10 minutes into the brainstorming, I stumbled upon a project that was interesting to me.
Before I left, I was thinking about what it takes to say you 'know' somebody, or understand them. This is how it got started: one morning at breakfast I was talking to my host mom about what we like for breakfast, and we discovered that we both like il pane nero, brown bread; we prefer the cantuccio, or heel; and we prefer solo burro instead of butter *and* marmellata. (I've always loved the sweet taste that I get when I eat something with butter along with a glass of milk.)
During midterms, I told her at dinner that I might stay at the studio until morning, so she had Leah bring me my breakfast for me. There was my bread wrapped up in tin foil, and an entire carton of milk along with it! "Even milk?" I asked Leah. "Maria insisted.
It was such a crazy coincidence, I couldn't help but think about it. What a difference there was between the "Maria Sabino, mother, teacher, good cook" who was listed on my homestay form and the Maria who read my mind that morning.
So when I was came across the newspaper article titled, "Un' anziana* muore," I couldn't help but think of who that woman might be to the people who knew her. Was she someone who packed milk with her children's bread and butter for breakfast, the friend who always snorted when she laughed, the beloved grandma? How strange would it be for these people who know her like that to read about the 'anziana' who died?
And at that point I realized that I did just lose my grandmother--I can imagine how that feels! And not only did I just lose her, but the situation was very strange, with me being here in Firenze. The way that I didn't believe it was like the way you don't believe something when you read it in the paper. It took me until I had to write a letter home to even cry about it-- I feel like there was something more real about deciding what to write home, what people were thinking there, that finally made me understand.
So this week I've been experimenting with different ways to format and write a newspaper article to represent what it felt like to hear over the phone that my grandma was gone.
*This weekend I asked one of my new Italian orienteer friends about the word "anziana," and he said that it's more polite than saying "vecchia"--just to clarify for any anziani who might be reading.
Alexandria week 8
So, spring break was awesome. My parents came to visit and we went to Rome and I got to stay in hotels and eat at a lot of restaurants, but anyways...I really liked rome, the streets are a lot bigger than here (haha) I enjoyed everything from the roman forum and the colleseum, the sistine chapel, but i really liked all the Bernini sculptures (they are literally everywhere), as well as the fountains - i like the water in the city, and the Raphael Rooms (it would be so cool to live in them). I also love the ancient history of Rome, there is just sooo much!
Now that I have to get back to work, I realized that my brain died over spring break and this past week I just didn't really know where to go at all with my work. I think that I spent so much time finishing my mid term project that it felt like it was all over. So this week in class, i came up with some random ideas about pillows or quilts but i don't know where that is going and I realized that im just not that interested in any of the ideas i had so I'm going to go back to my dolls and some of the comments from critique and revise/build on them. when i installed the dolls with the shelves and used the "happy accidents" like the small shelf in the corner it worked,but i think i want to revise some of the installation issues. I don't think i will use the original dolls, but definitely the ideas, the forms that i drew on them, and focusing on moments of touch/hands. I think i also want to possibly try to emphasis the idea of feeling attached and connected to something/one but at the same time far away, separate and distant, try to find that tension/push and pull and that in-between state of not being all of one thing or another.
well, i'll see how all this goes - here are some pics from Rome and this first week back
All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.- Da Vinci
I am trying to continue with the theme of race and identity in this second half of the semester but I am stuck on what it is I am trying to say. Going to the anthropology museum, I became extremely aware of the line between the viewer and the viewed. The idea of self and other and how that applied to race. How our perception of everything is shaped by the white dominated perspective. Half of me feels like what I am trying to do is the work of an anthropologist. I am an outsider trying to understand a culture. While the other half feels like everything I understand about myself is a result of what that culture has told me I am.
(So much art work and writing has been done on the subjects of race and identity, that sifting through them has just made me more confused. )
To try and get something done I looked back on some magazine clippings that I thought were pretty and realized I had a lot of images of people(mostly white) starring out directly at the viewer. I have been playing with a manipulating these images to play of this relationship of who is the viewer and the idea of the white gaze.
pictures more to come when flickr stops being so slow
(So much art work and writing has been done on the subjects of race and identity, that sifting through them has just made me more confused. )
To try and get something done I looked back on some magazine clippings that I thought were pretty and realized I had a lot of images of people(mostly white) starring out directly at the viewer. I have been playing with a manipulating these images to play of this relationship of who is the viewer and the idea of the white gaze.
pictures more to come when flickr stops being so slow
Monfoo Slices Open a Cultural Icon
Ok, sorry for the really dramatic title but I couldn't resist.
Over spring break I was really inspired by the aesthetic of Napoli in particular - the way that the entire city seemed to have been scraped from the bottom of a garbage can and viciously splattered onto any and every receptive surface, yet was as gorgeous as anything I've experienced while abroad in it's unique grit and violent honesty. As much as I've come to enjoy museums, Danny and I got sidetracked from visiting Napoli's Archeology Museum in order to explore further the side streets of the city, and I'm really glad that we did; our little escapades proved valuable in really dissecting Napoli's urban aesthetic. Walls, doors, vespas, all etched with tales of graffiti; and these elaborate murals birthed from spray cans were scarred themselves by the works of smaller stencils, secretive and nearly invisible at first glance, but once Danny and I stepped closer we could see everything. Phallic symbols, commentary on HIV, chewed gum, and things said about your mother were all revealed. It was graphic. But so honest in it's exposure and so beautiful in its layering. So from Napoli comes my desire blur the line between beautiful and disgusting and to make clear that this line is oftentimes quite thin to begin with.
So. Continuing on from midterms, I've launched off of what Jana said about cutting open Miss Piggy and seeing what is inside of her. My immediate thought was glitter on bacon, but this has subtly evolved (due to preservative purposes) into glitter on cured prosciutto sewed together piece by piece into larger sheets that I will then accent with ink and manipulate to become other forms. What those forms are, I have no clue. But the idea is to make Miss Piggy into lunch meat, basically, and then make it look cool but in an unexpected way. I also want to capitalize on the idea of juxtaposing two things that are quite different, that shouldn't be together but are, and that form something glorious when meshed together. Kind of like an affair or something. So - Miss Piggy, deli meat, and forbidden love. The samples I've created thus far are beautiful (in my twisted opinion).
And pictures are hopefully coming later on this week - I'm having my usual issues!
Monica
Alex's Fifth Post
So this week, I've been really engaged in creating marks with all of the random materials we brought with us to the Boboli gardens. I just decided that I would be really loose with my mark-making, and not try to capture what I was drawing exactly, but get the feel of it. I would sit in one spot for hours and draw the same sculpture 5 or 6 times with various techniques, seeing what worked the best and what didn't. After my time spent in the gardens, I went back to studio just exploring more ways of creating marks with water, ink, charcoal and other natural materials. I think I'm going to try to layer some of the grounds that I created or take shapes from some of my drawings and make patterns from them. I seem to always go back to design, but I don't see why I can't merge my frenzy of mark-making with my more controlled creation of pattern.
Yesterday I spent hours just seeing what taking the lighter to the paper would create. It ended up making these random, amoeba-like shapes that would make a great stencil or easily transferable to illustrator for further manipulation. I loved the way I could create neutral tones with how long I held the lighter, or how I could direct the way the flame burned by charring the paper first in certain areas.
I finished one more 3-D design project with my plastic horse-leg cutouts and then I decided that it would lose the desired effect if I made it large, so I just sewed the rest together and let it be.
Oh and a lot of the pictures I put up are of new grounds/found drawings I discovered that maybe I'll use later.
* * * - theme sequence, round II
It's 6 p.m. Sunday. I walked into the studio about an hour ago and it made me really nervous - so much work in process! and I still don't know exactly where I'm going!
After all the chaos of midterm and my midterm piece, I'm finding that I'm unsure how to continue. During that week, all the emotions I allowed to surface through that piece dominated my thoughts, and I could think of nothing else but following them to future work. However, after taking a week to mull things over and relax, I'm finding that's not so much the case. Or at least not as literally or directly as I had thought. The most interesting thing I gleaned from that experience of midterm is something of which I was entirely unconscious: my role in the piece. It wasn't until it was pointed out to me in critique that I realized how much I had distanced, if not completely removed, myself from the work even though it came from a very personal place. This is something I find myself doing often, even if I'm not entirely aware of it... and it led me directly back to the early newspaper bouquets.
Like my midterm project, the newspaper bouquets represented a lot of silenced or unexpressed emotion. As I made them, they became theoretical gifts - vehicles of what I imagined as this overwhelming feeling of love or gratitude that was beyond verbal expression. Shyly, it could only be manifested in this way, and potentially never even presented to its intended recipient. What I've been pondering over lately is how this emotion we feel unable or uncomfortable expressing could manifest itself in an art context. I'm still continuing with this theme of "gifts," but maybe not as literally as I had previously thought. They may have to found by the recipient. I certainly don't know if I could - or should - actually present them. But! it's that kind of vulnerability and/or protecting oneself that I'm interested in exploring. That anonymity. That shyness. That distance we impose to keep ourselves "safe."
I've had a few ideas, but I'm not entirely sure how to go about them... I keep getting this visual of a room full of red balloons, each containing a small, handwritten, fortune cookie sized message folded so you can't read it. and glitter. because glitter has become my metaphor, I think, for that sparkling, glorious feeling of being alive... maybe it's silly, but that's how it feels. it's that emotion; it's bright, sparkly, and even childish. simple and beautiful, like light sparkling on water. But, each balloon would carry a little message, protected in secrecy within the folded paper and the exterior of the balloon. However, balloons can be popped. That line between the things I withhold and the real world is very thin and very fragile.
I also keep seeing lots of little envelopes, all lined up in perfect order, all addressed to the same recipient. As if you walked out your door in the morning and were taken by surprise by all these little envelopes addressed to you, lined up perfectly on the wall across the street. I am unsure what to put in them that could express that emotion (more glitter? It feels right, but I don't know if it makes sense to anyone beyond me), but oh well. I am starting to feel a lot like Amélie (from the film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain), but I feel like that's a good place to start. I'm kind of at a loss regarding the logistics of these things: where and when am I going to be able to fill a room with balloons? What if the "gift" is destroyed before the recipient finds it? Will its only documentation be in the first-hand experience of the recipient and in photographs? Maybe I just have to plan well and take my chances. Overall, I realize I create all these things in my head by imagining scenarios and the way a recipient would feel upon stumbling upon all these little items, just for them... I guess there's no better feeling than knowing you are loved and appreciated, the way it just glows and sparkles in your stomach, and I want to give that to somebody else. I want them to stumble upon these things, be taken by serendipitous surprise, and experience that beautiful, pure feeling... Now, I think, I'm just putting myself into the picture, and considering more critically my role in all of this, whether I choose to give from a safe position or maybe throw myself out there. We'll see.
Until next time,
Erin
Saturday, March 21
Leah's week eight: wild and precious
The Summer Day
Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
.......
So while I was painting a pomegranate tonight, I had this last line go through my head. And then I said, "Dang it! what if I want to be a painter? huh? what then!"
I just had this sudden switch in me. Since freshman year in high school I've thought I wanted to do graphic design. If you had asked me last week what I wanted I would have said 95% vis com, 5% painting. But tonight, my friends, it's 95% painting and 5% vis com. The idea of being a painting major both excites me to the point of being ridiculously giddy, but also terrifies me a little.
I honestly feel like this is almost a religious decision. Not just a choice for my next two years, or even my career, but my life. It seems radical, and daring, and well, what I'm supposed to do. Really, it almost seems like it's what I was born to do. As much as I'm aware that I'm talented at graphic design, and as much as I enjoy the challenge of pleasing the person whom I'm designing something for, I realize that I think I am called to live a life not driven by what others think, but to show others what I think, and maybe change their minds too.
Learning about Blessed Fra Angelico and seeing his beautiful frescoes in San Marco on Monday really had a profound impact on me.
Too bring down this post to more concrete things, my work this week has been cutting apart fruit, photographing them with light coming from behind, and painting the pomegranate. I suppose it all originated with the halo, but also the kiwi and my love of fruit this semester. The pomegranate is a very complexly organized fruit, full of texture and a strong taste, a seductive smell, and a color that stains like no other. It seems like a good metaphor for me right now—a little bit confused and disorganized, but passionate—almost recklessly passionate--wild and precious.
other photos for this week can be seen here.
Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
.......
So while I was painting a pomegranate tonight, I had this last line go through my head. And then I said, "Dang it! what if I want to be a painter? huh? what then!"
I just had this sudden switch in me. Since freshman year in high school I've thought I wanted to do graphic design. If you had asked me last week what I wanted I would have said 95% vis com, 5% painting. But tonight, my friends, it's 95% painting and 5% vis com. The idea of being a painting major both excites me to the point of being ridiculously giddy, but also terrifies me a little.
I honestly feel like this is almost a religious decision. Not just a choice for my next two years, or even my career, but my life. It seems radical, and daring, and well, what I'm supposed to do. Really, it almost seems like it's what I was born to do. As much as I'm aware that I'm talented at graphic design, and as much as I enjoy the challenge of pleasing the person whom I'm designing something for, I realize that I think I am called to live a life not driven by what others think, but to show others what I think, and maybe change their minds too.
Learning about Blessed Fra Angelico and seeing his beautiful frescoes in San Marco on Monday really had a profound impact on me.
Too bring down this post to more concrete things, my work this week has been cutting apart fruit, photographing them with light coming from behind, and painting the pomegranate. I suppose it all originated with the halo, but also the kiwi and my love of fruit this semester. The pomegranate is a very complexly organized fruit, full of texture and a strong taste, a seductive smell, and a color that stains like no other. It seems like a good metaphor for me right now—a little bit confused and disorganized, but passionate—almost recklessly passionate--wild and precious.
other photos for this week can be seen here.
Siena IX
Three words:
Andy.
Goldsworthy.
Jewellery.
Collection title: Carbon is Forever.
I've been collecting natural materials and trying to piece them together. So far I've stayed away from any type of adhesive, relying on tension. I'm brainstorming a series of crowns, a series of "albatrosses" (Coleridge Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner poem allusion), etc. Apparently these adornments seem like they would translate well into photography.
Cats Post!
Wahhh! So much to write ! So spring break was Amazing. I saw Rome and visited with my grandparents. I got a ton of ideas as to where I want to go and allot of focus too. Midterm crit also helped with focussing and made me feal less scatered. I think Regan was right in alot of ways by saying my work in my grounding. I want to realy make a stable rock project to go withthat. I decided to role with an idea of making a series of period costumes and staging letters that supposedly belonged to the person who wore the cloths. It gives me an excuse to do historical research which I love, lets me sew which relaxes me and ties in with my first project, but less with finding myself and more in finding and discovering others. (Sort of though because in a way they are imaginary and thus still myself but reaching out to encompass a greater something.)
After making this dress (and seeing potential cost issue) and after writing the letter (and wanting perhaps a deeper connection with my subject ) I am debating how I want to continue this. I still really like my first atempt but I can see other potential ways of working this. (I like the idea of a doctor who jornal) I both like and dislike how little of the person's life and personality I can fit into a single letter. Its both frustrating and tantalizing. I look forward to seeing what John thinks.
On another note, I am also making miniature and a few just small books (some with found drawing YAY Regan!). In trying to fill them, I have started to write a princess story. It is fun because, like my letters, the fairy tail text really makes me pay more attention to writing stiles. Also the princess story has huge personal signifigance as my mom uses to tell me them every night before going to bed. Their is an intimacy and beuty to the handmade books. Their is both a joy from the intimate and small wit hthe miniature ones. I am dibating though how important filling them or the context of hte inside realy is. For now i will just play around and expiriment ^.^ I want this to stay at least for a while more of a project just for me because I want to have fun and no pressure with it.
Well ta ta for now! -The Percosious Cat
After making this dress (and seeing potential cost issue) and after writing the letter (and wanting perhaps a deeper connection with my subject ) I am debating how I want to continue this. I still really like my first atempt but I can see other potential ways of working this. (I like the idea of a doctor who jornal) I both like and dislike how little of the person's life and personality I can fit into a single letter. Its both frustrating and tantalizing. I look forward to seeing what John thinks.
On another note, I am also making miniature and a few just small books (some with found drawing YAY Regan!). In trying to fill them, I have started to write a princess story. It is fun because, like my letters, the fairy tail text really makes me pay more attention to writing stiles. Also the princess story has huge personal signifigance as my mom uses to tell me them every night before going to bed. Their is an intimacy and beuty to the handmade books. Their is both a joy from the intimate and small wit hthe miniature ones. I am dibating though how important filling them or the context of hte inside realy is. For now i will just play around and expiriment ^.^ I want this to stay at least for a while more of a project just for me because I want to have fun and no pressure with it.
Well ta ta for now! -The Percosious Cat
Monday, March 16
Chapter 9: In which Sylva feels closer to and farther from home.
It's been a whirlwind week; first all the museums of Florence, then Cinque Terre: hiking Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore, then Florence again before on to Napoli, Sorrento, Pompeii, Ercolano, and then Assisi before Venice, and back to Florence. Coming back felt so familiar, even after leaving my parents. Where is home?
Anyway, it was marvelous that I didn't miss my weekly Santa Croce tour; I took my parents and taught them some art history before we caught our train.
I'm still interested in museum displays, still would like to go on a date with the guy from Strozzina who gave us that tour. (J/k, Alex.) Anyway, I was surprised to see their museums in such a state of disrepair. . . dark dirt stains on the walls and torn and split carpetting on the floor. I understand that they have an incredible amount of visitors and remember the office inviting us to keep in mind the difficulties of taking care of places with way too many people, but I think they were in need of some curating interns or something.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30158590@N02/sets/72157615818687100/
Anyway, it was marvelous that I didn't miss my weekly Santa Croce tour; I took my parents and taught them some art history before we caught our train.
I'm still interested in museum displays, still would like to go on a date with the guy from Strozzina who gave us that tour. (J/k, Alex.) Anyway, I was surprised to see their museums in such a state of disrepair. . . dark dirt stains on the walls and torn and split carpetting on the floor. I understand that they have an incredible amount of visitors and remember the office inviting us to keep in mind the difficulties of taking care of places with way too many people, but I think they were in need of some curating interns or something.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30158590@N02/sets/72157615818687100/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
