Trying Something New

So my boxes are just about done. Waiting for my big F to go away and my boyfriends pinched neck nerve to subside so we can put the last three backs on and I can paint them. Hopefully, we will get them done tonight.

Since my boxes are done I decided to try my hand at an idea for a ceramic anchor sculpture. I used a 20lb anchor and about 32lbs of plaster. It is the biggest heaviest thing I think I have ever made, and it was not 100% successful.

Turns out all the poking and prodding to remove the anchor from the plaster left huge gaps between the mold pieces. So I tried building the clay body like a slump mold and sticking it together with tons of slip and clay chunks. My Frankenmold is now drying. In a few days I will know if all of this back breaking work and money was worth it. I'm feeling like it probably wasn't, but at least I've tried. It has also made me realize that I physically cannot handle such large objects. So back to the drawing board with that idea. I think for now I will stick with my necklace boxes.

Next week is Thanksgiving and the last week of studio time for school for me. I've been busting my butt to get everything done for shipping, as well as, a few weeks time to rest my poor beat down body.

Seven Boxes in Five Months

The work I have been doing for the last six months is almost complete! At this rate I will have it done by my deadline of December 1st with corrections as well. The boxes were surprisingly difficult and time consuming. The backings look great but they each had to be tailored to the specific box it would be attached to. Overall, I'm really happy with the end result. There are many future possibilities for this series as well, but for now I need a break! So here it is, 7 boxes in 5 months...

The colored glass beads have writing on them, but the picture is too small to show that detail

flash so you can see the crushed velvet.

same box different lighting

crochet

cross-stitch

Quilt. I restitched with thicker white so you could see the quilting.

Land of the free.

Weave

Scrapbook flag has had a few reworks and it is at a stage where I'm going to start constructing and completing it.

Once The Paint Dries!

Well I'm surfacing for air finally! Papers are done and projects are coming to completion! So it's time to put some pictures up. I was planning on completing 5 of the boxes today, but my dog had a medical emergency that has taken my whole day. He should be back home tonight though and I can complete the 5 boxes tomorrow before seeing my mentor on Wednesday.

My third paper was about how the work of Rosemarie Trockel and Elaine Reichek use feminist art to create institutional critique. Studying these artists as well as some basics on semiotics helped me come up with the text in these pieces. Some of the writing is much more subtle, but every word was researched and decided upon very deliberately.

I may display the boxes on the floor in a similar manner. They all have holes to mount them on the wall as well.

The rebar is labeled, "honor, courage, commitment" 3 Navy Core Values

The centerpiece complete.

crochet stars (still needs to be ironed so the star centers show better)

Cross-stitched forget-me-nots and a common military phrase with loaded meanings

quilted star complete.

The centerpiece, a pillow with the medal and ribbon attached and iron on transfer.

close up. If you look closely "land of the free" is quilted into it.

Beads. See below for explanation...

 So I had a major meltdown with the ceramic bead box. Specifically, the beads. I fired them without thinking about the shrinkage rate of the stringing holes. Once fired the holes were too small to stilt again for the second glazed form. Fixing the problem would take too many man hours and I had already spent over 80 hours making the 2,140 beads. So I did research and chose Czech drop beads. They have a long history of disrupt due to wars, but continue to be made in Czechoslovakia despite the adversity Czech bead makers endured. Not only that, but they are the exact shape and size to match the ceramic beads I had initially created. 

That's all for now...

Seattle Art Museum

Last weekend I drug my boyfriend to the Seattle Art Museum to see the exhibit Minimalist Moment. It was small but filled with some interesting art. I got to see a piece by Daniel Buren, which surprised me due to the nature of their small collect. There was also an interesting piece by Robert Morrison and an interesting collection of curatorial pieces by Lucy Lippard.

Another great surprise was a room with three artists dealing with identity politics through African American art. Rashid Johnson, Glenn Ligon, and Carrie Mae Weems. It was like having a slice of pie and realizing you get ice cream with fudge too! If you read my second paper it discusses identity politics through the influence of Adrian Piper. I really enjoyed the piece by Weem's and all of the tricky little symbols and meaning openly displayed as well as under the surface.

Glenn Ligon

 I really just wish the museum was bigger. Going to New York City really did spoil me :(

Furthering My End Game

Paper II complete and now working on paper III. Research for paper III is helping my concept progress in the studio. I started the semester thinking about institutional critique and identity politics AND semiotics. Fia and I decided my third paper should be on institutional critique, but as my process and research has progressed I feel a paper on semiotics would be most helpful...which way it will go is still to be seen.

I had a meeting with my mentor last week. Claudia has been very helpful clarifying concepts I struggled with while working with Susan. She is working with me to continue removing the literalness from my work, as well as, developing new ways of thinking about the process. I have realized my current flag box project may have a singular manifestation for the next residency, but there are many new tangents it could potentially branch off towards. I am thinking multiple projects focused around these flag boxes. We also discussed the use of language and words in art, and she gave me a few more artists to research in the direction of semiotics.

Since my last post I have eight flag boxes constructed, prepped and ready for paint and one box with the steel rebar installed.  Below area  few pictures of that. The rebar installation was a bit of a mental and physical challenge, but once my boyfriend and I figured it out I think the other seven/15 boxes will come together much easier (if I decide they all need rebar).

We used two of the boxes to hold up the one we were working on.

Complete and ready for paint. I've decided to keep the rebar in its natural color state

I have also begun to explore and develop further the contents of these boxes. Below are the starting points for the contents. The cross stitched piece will be based off of a plan I drew out on Thursday (forgot to photograph it so I'll just surprise you) that utilizes the catchy Navy recruiting phrase, "Accelerate your life!"

One Forget-Me-Not done, and one petal almost complete

I'm pleased with the pace I am keeping with this part of the project. I thought the cross-stitch would take me forever, but I find it enjoyable and it's interesting to see my drawing coming together in thread and fabric so I think I should have this done within the next two weeks. I also decided to reduce the size of the overall piece and center it in the flag box with a plain but elegant white velvet background (yes, a certain level of cheesiness is implied).

Today I worked out my quilt star. See pictures below. I decided instead of three stars to just make one star with radiating white velvet as its border. I am then going to back it with batting and hand quilt it together with potentially another Navy phrase thrown out of context.

This is where it started

This is the half-finished product

So it is all starting to come together. This project has been a huge undertaking and I've found myself wanting to flit back and forth never really completing anything. I think of making sculpture in the same way I was taught to make paintings. Don't complete one area and move on to the rest because that will create imbalance in the piece. Work the whole thing with shared enthusiasm to make the entire piece one cohesive composition that naturally flows together. I've been really taking my time to get the craft right as well, which means my usual short cuts of not measuring and calculating are not going to cut it.

Concept drawings and tedium

Since my last blog post I have created full scale concept drawings. I've also done some extensive research into identity politics. I've come to find a lot of my work speaks to gender inequalities. The dominant culture in the US is very much a patriarchal society, and the military is an extreme subculture of this dominant culture. Being a part of that as a female was a constant uphill battle. When I was retired I thought things would be more equal as a civilian. Wrong. We speak about equality, but will there ever be gender equality? I feel like people are so worried about minority discrimination (as we should be) African American, Native American, Gay, etc. that the gender issue gets swept under the rug, and will continue to be swept under the rug. The constitution American's pride themselves on states All MEN are created equal. Isn't it time for a rewrite? Shouldn't it read all mankind are created equal? What about the other gender? Anyway, here are the drawings.

The piece as a composite is 5 ft by 6 ft.

ceramic beads

This one will be cross stitched with the actual ribbons attached. It will be the center piece for the entire composition

Ceramic plate

Crochet 5 point star granny squares

Embroidered 5 point stars

Quilted 5 point stars

Woven

I chose the 5 point star for a specific reason. Not only are they representational of the US flag, they also represent multiple awards. When a service member receives more than one of the same award they get a small bronze star to attach to the ribbon. It is also used to signify admiral and attached to high enlisted ranks like senior chief and master chief. It's a symbol of honor and accomplishment in the military, and I want to discuss the women that serve and are forgotten as a form of accomplishment and honor.

Besides the concept drawings I have completed the crochet granny squares, the ceramic plate as greenware, 1700 ceramic greenware beads, and a plaster mold for my rebar posts. I have a test piece poured in the rebar and I am ramping up to fire my kiln by hopefully the end of the week. I am struggling with figuring out my shrinkage rate so this fire will probably be a test fire. I'm really excited to be getting close to completing my greenware beads (what a painful tedious process!). Working in ceramic is time consuming, but I think in the long run it will have a better affect then the polymer clay.

Finally! An Update...

I haven't updated for family reasons. I took a personal mental break. I needed it and now I am back. Although I haven't been updating my blog I have been working in my studio. After my first paper I have been thinking about identity politics. I first started with institutional critique but I keep coming back to identity politics so I guess that is what my second paper will tackle.

I had my second mentor meeting yesterday. We discussed where my work was going and what it was trying to say. We discussed gender politics in our society as well as other examples and it got me thinking about what is really lying underneath in my work. I also have been doing some stream of consciousness writing which I think is helping to clear some things up for me.

Anyway, here is what I have been working on. I'm working on a project of military flag boxes. Each box will have a flag of the national defense ribbon modeled from various feminine crafts. It is a very slow process. I've been struggling with visualization so my mentor suggested I do a life-sized drawing of the completed project. So I'm doing that and I will post it here when complete. For now here are the bits and pieces:

Woven piece finally sewn together.

Ink transfers that will probably be removed in the long run.

 This is the first box in progress. It will ultimately have three ceramic bars in the front that emulate rebar. It has been rainy and too damp for me to pour my plaster outside so I am waiting for a break in the weather.

Poured ceramic beads for the beaded flag box.

I started pouring beads from my first mold and soon realized it would take too long to get enough beads. So I made two more plaster molds holding 25 beads each. It will take me 13 days of 3 perfect molds a day to get enough beads. Since I never get 3 perfect molds in a day I am going to be doubling the number of days. Plus the molds need time to rest to prevent deterioration.

There are also the ribbons cast as well. I started those for a different idea that I may work on during this semester. It has to do with the adornment aspect of my work. However, the flag box project is my first priority and it is taking way longer than I thought it would.

First star granny square. This square will be multipled until I have enough to make a flag.

Ceramic insert for my ceramic flag box.

There is something lovely about the cast ranks. I may decide to do something with them by themselves in the future.

I made some rope using the colors of the national defense ribbon. It isn't translating very well right now though so I will need to work this out further. This is in an attempt to work a side project for my chocks and cleats idea. Eventually I will make a second strand to wrap with this strand to make marline line.

Last, I am working on a batch of color studies of an apple. They are in the under painting stage. Since they are more of an exercise for me and not really part of my project I am not posting them at this time.

I Made A Plaster Mold!

I'd like to dedicate this post to Deb Todd Wheeler. She told me to go home and smash some clay into a shoe box and pour plaster over it. I haven't made plaster molds in the past because they are heavy, mysterious, and I've never slip cast in my life. So when Deb made it sound so simple I thought, "I could do that."

So I shaped my original forms from clay first. Then I took a cat food box and cut it up and glued it back together into the size I wanted my cast to be. I lined the bottom with clay and inserted my handmade forms. I had some ideas I started with, but with sculpting and molding some of them had to morph into something I could manage. I initially thought I would use plastic army men and sculpt onto them, but I soon found that would not end in the way I wanted. I've been studying the history of adornment and most of these small cast pieces are going to be for my necklace phase of my project.

I had to do some research on how to measure my plaster. I hate math so this was the most painful part. I had to do math though or I wouldn't have had the correct amount! I slathered the form and box with Murphy's Oil Soap, made my plaster and poured.

 

It came out near to fabulous! I didn't even have to break my box to get it out. So it was really easy to correct bleed through and carve out my keys, set the plaster back in the box, oil it up again and pour the second half.

I picked it up and dropped it on the table a few times and sprayed the bubbles that surfaced with alcohol. So both sides came out nice and clean. I had a little trouble getting the ribbons out without breaking the side walls a little. Note to sell to space them further apart in the future. The clay in my vagina pendant got stuck too. I don't know if that is indicative of future mold issues so just to be on the safe side I carved it out a little.

Now it's ready to be poured. If only I had the slip here. It's on order and should arrive in a few days. I think I need to let the mold dry a few days anyway. I'm not really sure how these are going to look as finished products but I'm really happy with the way the cast came out. I really enjoy the sculpting aspect of my work. I don't think I would be as happy with just paintings. I actually think my future paintings will be sculptural in some way.

I also painted my prepped flag box. Should be ready for inkjet transfers when I return to my studio next. I've also been giving some thought to how I'm going to install the rebar into the front of the boxes. I may end up making them and my chocks out of ceramic. Metal is so heavy and I have no desire to learn welding at this point in my schooling. Ceramic always adds an interesting aspect of delicateness and hominess to the work...I think at least.

Finishing up my first paper and doing a lot of reading. My next post will be more insightful and less about process.

Weaving Complete!

Toiling away in my studio! I finally finished my weaving! I have one flag box prepped for paint as well. I'm still working on sewing everything together, but I am very happy to be at this stage. Weaving is a therapeutic methodical process. It's very repetitive and it gives you lots of time to think. I thought a lot about where the project was going, where the holes were, how I am going to approach the rest of the project, and how I'm going to make plaster molds. I also thought a great deal about color and my use of color. I kept thinking back to the book Chromophobia I read in my first semester. Why can't I use a very minimal color palate, and what are the sacrifices to my meaning by making the color more "interesting". I haven't decided where this will end up...

I did add some interesting colors to my weaving, and attempted pattern. Turns out you can't do a lot with pattern when you only have a basic two part loom. So I got creative. Here's a picture of the progress so far...

 

The wood box is made of pre-primed pine. I'm going to have to prime it again though since it has a bunch of wood filler and black marks on it. I found last time it was easier to cover the dinks if I primed them first. Otherwise I go through a lot of expensive white spray paint. I put a 24" ruler between everything so you could get a sense of the dimensions. I'm still working on sewing the fabric pieces together. I was trying to finish tonight but it was just too much work for my hands. It seems with making fabric I feel like I am working fast and when I look up at the clock all this time has slipped away. It doesn't help that I had to rip out a bunch of work and restart a few times. 

I feel like I have a huge list of things to do and I don't know if I will have time to get to everything this semester. I guess I can save a lot of it for later. It's always good to have ideas on the back burner. I know I won't be running out of things to do in my studio in the near or far future :)

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Back in my studio finally. It feels good and bad though. It's summer, which means it isn't raining here on Whidbey Island. Salmon fishing, crabbing, clamming, crawdadding, hunting, berry picking, our new boat, the hammock out front, the garden, and the sun shine are all calling me. I feel cooped up a bit, but I'm really inspired by the work I am doing and I want to be in my studio. Finding the balance is a challenge.

Since my visit to the east coast I have been able to get out of bed earlier. Unfortunately, my fibro caught up with me today and I couldn't roll out of bed until 0900. I've made it into the studio but it's going to be a slow work day for me. I've done almost 40 hours this week, and at that grueling pace I will most likely put myself out of commission. I'm working on figuring out how to get everything done with less strain on me physically. I'm sure there will be some changes in my process to accommodate my physical ability. At least when I was laying in bed trying to will myself up I came up with what may be some pretty fantastic ideas in my humble opinion. Fia wants me to do some color studies before really digging into my process. I think this is a good idea, but it had me stumped for a short time. How do you do color studies for a sculpture? So I set up sketch canvas in a grid on my easel and just lived with it for a few days while I worked on weaving. I have a good idea of where to start now, and if they aren't too embarrassing I will post them next week.

This week I wove. I wove until my back was aching, my hands and arms were sore, and my eyes were burning from staring at the weaving. I tore it apart 3 times, broke some warp lines and had to restring, and didn't pull it tight enough to get what I wanted. Yesterday, I managed to produce two usable strips for my woven "flag/ribbon" piece for my flag box. FINALLY!

This is hard to see. The two weaves in the middle have green, orange, burgundy in them.

This picture is a pencil schematic of the flag boxes with all the measurements so I don't waste time making something too big. The weaves on the outer parts were really just practice. They are terrible and need to be redone. Problem with learning a new craft is the time it takes to learn to do it right. Those larger weaves took me about 35 hours of studio time. The smaller, cleaner, more intriguing color and weave-wise took me 30 hours as well. BUT!!!!.....

I think things will move much faster now. I've got a good technique down and I'm getting more comfortable with my loom. I may actually vary the thread I am using to get some different textures as well. Really, right now everything is just an idea. Once the process starts there has to be room for change and variation. I've also been thinking about color use more critically. I'm reading What Color is Sacred by Michael Taussig, as well as, many books from last semester and my Roland Barthe Mythologies. The reading really helps me slow down and think through my working process.