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.
Regrouping is an incredibly necessary part of figuring out what you want to get out of your project, what you want to do with it, what you want it to say to others. It's great that you were able to recognize your need to step back and reassess instead of continuing to make things that you aren't finding fulfilling. I like the idea of cabinets as one avenue for you. Consider if you would want people to physically interact with the work (try to pull open locked drawers, pull out scrolls to read) or if you would it to be seen and not touched (having one drawer closed to imply a closed secret, scroll cascading out of a drawer). The interactions of these objects could create a great story. The type of cabinet you use could guide various narratives: a kitchen cabinet, a bathroom vanity, a bedroom dresser, a curio cabinet, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnd the clothing sewing project could be great too, depending on where they were sewn together and why, what patterns or type of clothing were used, what ages they depict, etc. We encourage you to keep making to make sure you don't get stuck in a mental rut of mulling through idea after idea and picking apart why they couldn't work before trying them. The process of making is a way of visually thinking through ideas. I get frustrated making things that I consider experiments too. I tend to not take them as seriously which can feel like a waste of time and energy. Remember that in crits you can show something in process. Take one of these ideas that you are discussing here, something that really resounds within you, and finish it with the same gusto as if your show was one month away, enough time to breathe and think, but with a need to finish something polished. See what you come up with. I