week 12 conclusion

The good news: I've begun sewing the actual materials I am going to use in my final piece...experimenting is good and all but I'm really diving into the real thing now.

The bad news: I don't have as many handkerchiefs at home as I thought I did...in fact my mother informed me that we don't have any (other than the ones I had already brought to school). This means I need to go out and get some - which is fine because Adrianne reminded me that using other people's handkerchiefs just opens the piece up to include the collective heritage of many different women and families - but it is bad because I will have to spend money on handkerchiefs which I thought I could get for free :(

just incredibly cool...

Beautiful save the dates printed on antique handkerchiefs - check out the website here.

week 11 conclusion

This week our section visited the Fine Arts Library in Tappan Hall, one of my favorite spots on campus. In searching for some books on textile art I came across the work and collection of Jack Lenore Larson. He created textiles but was also a collector of many types of art. Larson was a close friend and mentor to the great glass artist Dale Chihuly, and many of Chihuly's works were in Larson's collection. One work in particular struck me - Chihuly's "Tabak Basket Set with Black Lip Wraps" (seen above). It was place on the same page as many soft, fabric sculptures and I was mesmerized at how similar the glass behaved to the flowing fabric. This gave me the idea to begin sewing wire into the edges of my textile forms, in order to create further extensions into 3D space.

Adrianne Finelli, the fantastic instructor of my "Home" course last semester, paid our section a visit this week as well. We held a small critique and I got some great feedback as well as encouragement. My biggest question for Adrianne and the class was whether I should stick with the handkerchiefs (and therefore changing patterns of the squares) or if I should shift and use just one pattern in order to let the form shine though. In the end we sort of came to a compromise - I would continue to use the handkerchiefs (because they are important to my concept) but I will group the patterns and colors together so that they flow and are not sort of splotches of color here and there.

What's next:

I will need to gather all the handkerchiefs from my home over Thanksgiving, then begin putting them together into true-to-scale works. I think my mock forms have served me well but it will be time to move on to the real thing after Thanksgiving! (The use of wire is still up in the air, I think if I choose to add wire that will happen next semester when I am exploring installation of the work).

week 10 conclusion

This week has been a great continuation of on my new concept - textile installation. I've been working on new forms, which were very much inspired by the class' trip to UMMA. I spent some extra time looking at the Sam Gilliam piece and really began noticing the negative spaces and cavities created by the fabric (which I hadn't really realized before). So, I tried to incorporate that more in the experiments I continued to make this week. I will continue making more forms and experimenting with shapes. The other factor I'm beginning to grapple with is one fabric/pattern vs. a collage of different fabrics/handkerchiefs...something else to consider...but as Janie suggested, I'm not worrying about that too much - I'm really just going to keep plugging away with my sewing.

Also, I applied to get access to the fibers studio today :)

(Should make my experiments go a little faster).

week 9 conclusion

I made some great progress this week, feeling better about my project than ever before (which tells me I'm headed in the right direction). I've really started to dive into the textile installation idea, using fabric as a means of expressing collection. I was originally thinking of working with clothing - shirts, pants, the whole shebang - but now am thinking of working more with handkerchiefs and scarves. I really like the square format and the interesting forms that can be made from such a simple shape. The very feminine quality that little handkerchiefs have is also another reason I might work exclusively with them.

I had a few of my grandmother's handkerchiefs, so i loosely hand-stitched them together, but didn't want to take that too far...so I decided to being using scrap fabric and start sewing mock forms that way. I made a few tiny ones, but with squares that small you really didn't get much in the way of draping. I found that four or five inch squares worked great (easy of size, but still allowed for some movement, you can see this in the blue and red patterned form).

I'll continue to build upon these shapes, experimenting with different ways to fit the squares together. I also hope to assess my collection of handkerchiefs fairly soon, and possibly go searching for more if need be.

This week:

Tuesday - sewing...

Thursday - more sewing!

week 8 conclusion...new ideas?

I'd like to say I'd be hard pressed to think of a time when I was this stressed, but unfortunately it happens to me quite often. Sometimes it is for good reason - a test, a big project, too many hours at work, other times the anxiety comes with no triggers at all. All the same, it's something I continue to struggle with and this week, is one of those instances.

That being said, I'm worrying about IP and the progress I have/have not been making. It seems as though many other students have things much more figured out than I do - though I'm sure that's not necessarily the case. Either way, I'm feeling very pressured to "make" something every week, and I don't think this type of experimentation is working for me. The things I've been making just have not been to my liking and I feel as though I'm just going in circles.

So, per Amanda's advice, I'm taking time to reflect on my ideas, think about what isn't working, figure out why, and change my plan of attack.

I've been thinking of possible revisiting the idea of the cabinet as a container for a collection - with drawers that held vignettes of a person's (maybe Doris Duke's) life. I love the idea that text may be included in some drawers...maybe a scroll with a story is pulled out of one of the drawers. I also think that one or more of the drawers could be locked, keeping part of the piece a secret.

However, I've also been thinking more about taking a step away from others (like Doris Duke) and doing something more personal. I think I was afraid to do something personal after my pretty rough semester last year (I did many projects about my grandmother in the midst and after her death). But looking back to the doll dress piece (seen here in the past) I like the idea of working with fabric - a collection of fibers - as a means to talk about family, domesticity, relationships, togetherness, and tangibility. Which led me to think about doing an installation more along the lines of something by Sam Gilliam (seen above). By sewing together and "collaging" clothing I've collected (or my family has collected) over the years I could create a piece that really said something about the inter-connectedness of my family and its history.

This week:

Tuesday - sketched, freaked out.

Thursday - talked to Amanda and Seth, regrouped, wrote, looked back on my previous work, thought about new ways to look at collections.

What's next:

Try not to freak out. Draw. Write. Take a look into fabric and clothing and how those materials could be used to convey the idea of collection and family.

week 7 conclusion

After a difficult yet fruitful trip to my grandma's house, I have more supplies than I know what to do with. I brought back boxes of ribbons, thread, books, buttons, fabric, hats, matchbooks, and other knickknacks. I used some of them (mainly matchbooks) in a small study on Doris Duke. This piece shows Duke herself, as well as objects and elements that indicate more about her life. Duke was a relentless smoker, which makes sense considering her vast fortune came from her father's tobacco business. I painted Islamic designs on the frame; Islamic art and patterns were a passion of Duke.

This week:

Monday - 3 hours collecting

Wednesday - 2 hours making

Thursday - 1.5 hour making, 1 hours reading and blogging

What's next?

More research on Duke in or to create more experiments/studies which explore different aspects of her life (maybe next I will tackle her trouble with motherhood and the painful loss of her only daughter, Arden).

week 6 conclusion

This week I found a concrete direction for my assemblage - an object based piece based on the life and collections of Doris Duke. She is an incredibly interesting person and I can't wait to find out more about her. I just need to find a way to express my passion for her story through my work. I'll be collecting things this weekend when I go home, but I will also be experimenting with creating - in order to have a physical exploration done for Thursday.

This week:

Monday - 2 hours reading in the Curatorial Research Center at UMMA.

Tuesday - 1.5 hours watching Art:21 video clips, 0.25 hours talking to Amanda, 1.25 hours researching Doris Duke.

Thursday - 2 hours writing midterm proposal, 1 hour watching clips from "Bernard and Doris" (one of the biographical films about Duke).

freaky!

joseph cornell's work, dedicated to the actress lauren bacall, gave me the idea to create a piece dedicated to a famous collector. i'm doing my piece about doris duke. who played doris duke in the biographical film "too rich: the secret life of doris duke" ??? .....lauren bacall.

FREAKY.

snippets + new ideas

I spent some time reading from the Curitorial Research Center library today at UMMA. I picked up Stephen E. Well's A Cabinet of Curiosities: Inquires into Museums and their Prospects, as well as a book on each Joseph Cornell and Betye Saar.

A Cabinet of Curiosities had some great discussions of what a collection actually means - I loved the story of "The Renowned Kelly Sock Collection," where a young boy decided that his sock drawer can in fact be a collection as long as he establishes it as such. Here are some additional snippets from that chapter:

-"what actually made a diverse group of things into a collection...was not any thing-in-itselfness but a specific outside viewpoint"

-the idea that a collection is simply "temporary togetherness" of objects (it is fluid and may change over time)

-things in a "transient conjunction"

-collection as a relationship between objects rather than a thing in itself

While the book on Betye Saar gave some great imagery, I feel I gained more from taking a look at the book on Joseph Cornell. There were many works in the book that I hadn't seen before. Here are some more snippets:

-"chests, cabinets, and museums fulfill man's need to preserve, classify, and display specimens, documents, mementoes, and treasures"

-looking at northern renaissance altarpieces

-creating reliquaries dedicated to historical figures or fictional characters (medici slot machines, penny arcade portrait of lauren bacall - seen above)

What does this all have to do with my IP?

I was thinking more about what excites me when it comes to the idea of collecting, and I know objects excite me, but their relationship to their collector is just as important. I also find famous collectors, and their stories, incredibly thrilling. I remember reading about Doris Duke and her amazing, yet in many ways tragic, life. Joseph Cornell's pieces which serve as sort of altarpiece-like dedications to people got me thinking - maybe I could make a collection-based altarpiece dedicated to a great collector. So, this is an avenue I'm going to begin to explore. Wish me luck!!

week 5 conclusion

I honestly can't believe it's been five whole weeks already. I feel as though I've made some great strides, yet my work is still unclear - but I suppose that's why they give us an entire year, right? This week I completed the small assemblage I began last week. Though it was a good experiment and allowed me to get started with my hands, it really isn't what I intended. I began with a personal photograph but quickly got too broad and conceptual, instead of focusing on a specific story. After speaking to Seth and Janie, I realized I just need to try a couple of different paths until I find the one that feels right. A couple options I want to explore are: working without a photograph as a guide, and working with a photograph and creating a very specific story.

This week:

Tuesday - 0.5 hours reading about Marianetta Porter's work, 2.5 hours finishing assemblage.

Thursday - 1 hour looking at artists (I liked Mark Dion's work a lot), 0.5 hours watching some Art:21 video clips, 1.5 hours writing fictional review.

week 4 conclusion

This week was both fantastic and troubling. First the fantastic part - I spent much of my time collection object and materials, picking things up at the ReUse Center, the Scrap Box, Found, and the Salvation Army. All in all I was really just reminded why I love objects and digging through them. So much of the fun is just spending time uncovering dusty bits of this and that - I loved looking at all the antiques at Treasure Mart and I didn't even buy anything. Now for the troubling part - I began working on an assemblage using some of the things I purchased this week as well as some materials I happened to have (my big black trunk in my studio houses tons of odds and ends perfect for such occasions). Using a found photograph from 1937 as my inspiration, I've just been having some issues getting my narrative across. Seth and Erica came by and thought I was maybe working a little too abstract - that my audience may not be able to read the kinds of things I was putting together.

So I guess the next step would be to really establish a concrete story or atmosphere I'm trying to create and then use my materials in a bit more focused way. Overall, I've really enjoyed getting to work with my hands as well as clear up some of my issues with content this week.

Time Spent:

Monday - 2 hours collecting.

Tuesday - 0.5 hours blogging, 0.5 hours talking to Amanda and researching.

Thursday - 3 hours collecting, 0.5 hours talking to Seth and Erica and seeing faculty show again, 2 hours working on assemblage.

previous work

This week we were asked to post some of our previous work, especially pieces which relate to our interests for IP, here you go...

This box was created for my "Inside Small Containers" course sophomore year. I really enjoyed working with delicate materials. The piece was based on an original fairy tale which I wrote on a scroll and placed inside the box.

Inside view, scroll.

This work, described in my very first written assignment, uses a doll's dress made by my grandmother along with text stitched on by me. Holding a piece of history in my hands and giving it new life and meaning was really important to me.

This print was the final stage in my first series of etchings. It takes an object, a sewing machine, and pushes it to its limits - eventually causing the piece to burst into a sea of threads. I think the abundance of the threads and chaos they create was successful.

This print was a combination of stone lithograph and digital media. The connection between stories and personal relationships was a large part of these piece - based on my grandmother.

Books have always fascinated me, in this work I carved an intricate tell/cell-like pattern into the pages of a book about deforestation. I loved working with the repetitive form and motion of the cutting tool.

thrift finds

I didn't have a lot of hope when I set out last night in the rain. I wanted to stop at a few thrift stores in Ann Arbor before I did my usual grocery shopping for the week. To my delight, I came away with four fantastic pieces. At Value World I found a doll dressed in beautiful Indian clothing - this doll made me think about a person who is a world traveller, someone who picks up interesting items wherever they go. I also purchased a small framed print - a photograph of a flower that just felt very sentimental and sweet to me. At the Salvation Army I found a mirrored vanity tray as well as an amazing antique telephone. Overall, some great collecting. I'm not entirely sure whether I will use these objects in my final project, but I think it was a good start to just pick up things that really peaked my interest.

small assemblage for today's class...

meet your [print]maker

non-linear exploration/week 3 conclusion

This week:

Tuesday - 1.5 hours researching artists for influence post, 1 hour blogging, 0.5 hours reading the article Seth gave me, 0.5 hours hanging more inspiration in my studio.

Thursday - 2 hours making a small collage/assemblage, 1 hour reading and researching, 1 hour reading the class blog, as well as taking a look at other students' blogs, 0.5 hours blogging.

What I accomplished/discovered/encountered:

This week I've spent time looking into other artists and doing some reading. The class blog had a post about Dario Robleto's incredibly collage/assemblage work. I really appreciated his intricate layers as well as the unexpected details such as dust from bones, or melted vinyl records. The multiplicity of meaning and deeper concept is beautiful.

The chapter Seth gave me, "Tradition and the Individual Memory," was another fantastic resource for me this week. The text explores Christian Sanderson, a man who was "not simply a collector, [but a] compulsive memorialist - an individual who seemingly felt a need to turn every object he came into contact with to the task of remembering." I very much connected with this story because I find myself holding on to things which really just serve the purpose of remembering. When my grandmother passed away this year, my mother began to empty her house and toss out old useless things. I found myself extremely upset over the loss of newspapers, jewelry, clothes, kitchen utensils - I really didn't want to see anything go. Every little object was a piece of my grandmother, pieces I was losing. It's incredible to feel the connection between objects and human relationships - it really is quite powerful.

I was also sent a great website, which reviewed "A Permutational Unfolding" by Eve Andree Laramee. She filled a gallery space with artifacts from the 19th century. With no wall text, one reads the contents of the room...unfolding visual clues. I loved Laramee's idea of non-linear exploration. I plan to incorporate that idea when making my own installation.

What comes next:

After presenting my first three-dimensional experimentation this coming Tuesday (image to come), I plan to build my "library" of materials and objects. The first step towards my project will have to be finding a photograph which excites and which I can build a collection off of. I'm sure I will have to start with a few photographs - perhaps many - in order to find the story which best suits my ideas and ambitions.

influences

UMMA has introduced me to some amazing artists in the past couple of

years. I almost always find myself stumbling upon artwork that

really strikes me; whether it's a new exhibition of a contemporary

artist's work such as Jakob Kolding, or experiencing a master in a

whole new way, such as James McNeill Whistler. However,

there are two artists' work which I've seen at UMMA that

completely changed the way I looked at my own work.

Betye Saar is an assemblage artist who uses items which

draw on various cultures, reflecting her own mixed heritage -

African, Native American, Irish, and Creole. This view into one's

history and ancestry is what initial drew me to Saar's work.

In the 1970s Saar explored ritual and tribal objects from Africa,

evoking magical and mystical atmospheres, but after the

death of her great aunt, Saar began to work more with

family memorabilia. In the 1980s Saar moved toward larger

installations - alter-like shrines. These more sculptural works

are similar to my ideas for my IP project - something rather

substantial and incorporating three-dimensional objects.

I was delighted to learn from Janie that Betye Saar's

daughters are also artists. Alison Saar uses the female

figures in conjunction with natural forms. She is said

to enjoy building beauty from cast-off objects.

Betye Saar's other daughter, Lezley Saar began her

art-making with books - using them as containers and

canvases for paintings. Her work fixates on duality

and contrast. Generational connections interest

me as well because both my mother and father

are in the art field. I also spent much of my semester

last winter working on pieces about my grandmother

and her influence on me regarding fiber works, as

she was a talented seamstress.

The other artist that really influences me is

Christian Boltanski. His work uses found objects and

photographs as well, often in quantity. Boltanski's

work plays with memory, intimacy, and humanity.

His works are both haunting and incredibly spiritual

at the same time - he has been known to exhibit his

installations in churches, a very interesting context

in my opinion. Boltanski said he wants to make "art speaking

of the humanism of a religion freed of a powerful

God, to make way for each individual." I really can't

decide whether I like his view on afterlife or religion,

but I know that it's intriguing and I think that's the most

important thing. Christian Boltanski often seeks to

memorialize the anonymous - the direction I head for IP,

so I'm very excited to look at his work further.

week 2 conclusion

What I accomplished/discovered/encountered:

After visiting the faculty show, Creators Collect, I discovered that almost anything can be a collection if you put effort or worth into it. I surprised to see the lint traps in the exhibition, but such quantity, the traps really did become valued art.

Although I'm sure I'll change my mind and say this many times over, I think I have a plan! (a collection of found objects, along with creating pieces to assemble a fictional narrative for a stranger).

The third thing I determined was that my ideas will work! People have been responding positively to my sketches, so I just need to develop them further (decide what type of story I want to tell) and try not to doubt myself!

What I'll do next:

I really need to research artists such as: Allison Saar, John Carin, Dieter Rot, Kay Walking Stick, and Christian Boltanski. I'd also like to take a look at shrines from different cultures. I think beginning to write some stories and create some characters (as practice) would also be a good idea.

Creators Collect: faculty show, slusser gallery

"For a collector...ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to things. Not that they come alive in (us); it is (we) who live in them." - Walter Benjamin.

The gallery gods are shining down on me this week because at the same time I'm contemplating the idea of collections for IP, Ed West curates this amazing show called "Creators Collect." This show is filled with a wide variety of little collections from different professors and artists.

How perfect is that?

Some pieces that really spoke to me were Michael Rodemer's Lint Traps, Jim Cogswell's Encyclopedia Britannica, Ninth Edition (1894), and Susan Crowell's Family Photos. The lint traps were great because I liked the idea of "valued material transformed into valueless material" (though I think the opposite can be just as compelling). This

also brought up the question for me, does a collection have a definite value? While things may seem worthless to some, might they be the only thing that matters to others? I thought Jim Cogswell's encyclopedias were just simply beautiful. All that history and information, sitting there ready to be absorbed! (but I'm partial to books). The family photos immediately transported me back to a different time and place, Susan Crowell's words described it perfectly - "the photographs activate in me a highly elastic sense of time, as well as the s

heer pleasures of looking and imagining."

IP Studio Weekly Summary:

Tuesday - 15 min speaking to Amanda, 60 min sketching, 30 min research, 30 min working on studio, 45 min faculty show.

Thursday - 15 min scanning sketches, 45 min hanging things in studio, 60 min taking pictures and notes at faculty show, 30 min writing, 30 min sketching.

sketchyy

Above are sketches of a few ideas for my IP project that combine found objects in an interesting way. The first is a hollowed out book with smaller objects held or suspended within. The second is a shrine-like assemblage which begins with a photograph of a stranger, who I then collect possessions for - creating a narrative for this fanciful individual. The third is working off the concept of a "cabinet of wonders," with different objects being put into context with one another and then put on display.

After discussing my ideas with my small group on Tuesday afternoon, it seemed as though everyone really responded positively to the second sketch. This idea of a fictional story and character created through three-dimensional objects is something I'm very interested in.

studio 54...or 5B rather

"The only thing I know is that if I get to my studio,

that means I'm alive today."

- Robert Farber

the studio so far:

a HUGE desk, open shelves, a black rug, a chair (rather tall, to accommodate the desk of course), a trunk for supplies, a lamp, a small table (with my painted designs added), a few of my old paintings, an empty frame, curtains (lace and sheer).

thanks mom and dad!!

IP: the first week

After meeting with my section for the first time on Tuesday, I've been thinking more about the type of project I want to do. I came in with a pretty polished idea - I planned to make a textural collage with an emphasis on layers and history (possibly my family's history), but when I started talking about museums and found objects, Seth made me realize I might be better off focusing on that.

At the moment, I'm just really trying to work on concepts and themes that bridge the collecting of found objects with the aesthetic I was originally going for. I think this is definitely doable, some of Betye Saar's pieces (which are posting above) do just that.

betye saar = pure genius/new obsession

i found this work in an old catalogue from an exhibition. it amazed me from the second i saw it and i just can't stop thinking about it. the texture and richness of color is so beautiful. the fact that we don't know who these women are, but at the same time can feel this incredible connection to them and a feel of their story is beyond art. to me, it's a story, it's a memory, it's a song. a copy of it is currently pinned up at my desk. i want to make something this inspiring!

a new chapter: IP

as summer comes to an end, i find myself beginning to contemplate IP.... the exciting, yet terrifying year long senior project. while collecting ideas and inspiration, i'll be posting some of them here.

i first saw jakob kolding's work when his exhibition opened at the project gallery in umma (UMMA Projects: Jakob Kolding). the moment i saw his unusual display i knew his work was going to change the way i approached my IP. his overall aesthetic is beautifully simple, while still incorporating some amazing layers and complex details.

Printmaking-a semester's culmination

individual final project

(stone litho scanned, photoshopped,

digital printing, hand coloring)

photo/plate lithograph

(not particularly my favorite)

metamorphosis project

(1st copper etching proof)

(5th copper etching proof)

(10th copper etching proof)

Printmaking was the most intense course I've taken thus far at A&D. It was labor intensive and had a severe learning curve. So, after having survived

one semester with the fantastic Endi Poskovic, why am I enrolled in

another printmaking course in the fall? Madness! Insanity! Yes,

printmaking is a ton of work but the results are SO worth it. After having

produced so much work that I am so proud of in just one semester - I've

never felt so accomplished at the University of Michigan. For the first time, I feel like every ounce of sweatand tears - yes, there were tears - made my

artwork even better. While lithography andintaglio were amazing and I

learned so much, I'm stepping into woodcuts next semester -

a whole other beast.

A beast I am ready to tame.

Pike Comedy Night 2010 T-shirts

I designed these T-shirts for Pike's Comedy Night this year. Stephen Lynch was fantastic and Pike raised nearly $17,000 (even before all the donations we brought in) for Wyclef's Helping Haiti fund. Congrats you guys! (especially Nelson, Andrew, and Kyle for putting the whole thing together)