All the Little Details

I don't have a lot to say about my work right now. The thought process this semester has been pretty consistent for me. Now I'm just working on painting in fine detail. It is time consuming and can sometimes be very boring, but I am happy with the end product so I shall continue forward.

National Defense Ribbon with painted sides

  

First Navy Commendation Ribbon.

 I will have three National Defense Ribbon blocks, three Navy Commendation Ribbon blocks, and Three Good Conduct Ribbon Blocks when all is said and done.

The below images are the start of my shadow necklace project.

Still working out how to hang it on the wall and light it properly

All of these projects have "nametags" as part of the project, but they are on back order for about another month. Hopefully, they show up before I have to pack everything.

Pipilotti Rist and Progress

Thursday I took myself to the Henry Art Museum on the University of Washington campus. This was the last week for the Pipilotti Rist installation, A la belle étoile, and I didn't want to miss it. Unfortunately, there were no photography signs everywhere not to mention all the guards so I didn't get to take pictures. I was very skeptical of her work. Before experiencing it I thought it was impossible to stimulate a persons mind and body by just projecting images on a surface, but being in the piece has since changed my mind. Her work is very warming and gave me "warm fuzzies" as I stood in the whirling glow of her piece.

The Henry also has the exhibit Now Here is also Nowhere on display. It is an interesting look into artists' exploration of intangible concepts leading to the destabilization of the art object. There were pieces from artists like Duchamp, Tara Donovan, Bernice Abbott, and Cy Twombly to name a few. Overall, I found it nice to get out of my studio and see what is happening in the art world today.

Moving on to my studio progress...

Slow and steady wins the race. I thought after talking with Susan I would be able to just whip right through my ideas, but process always takes longer than thought. I've been focusing all of my studio effort on creating ONE dogtag/necklace. I want to have a prototype so I know where I am going and what I am getting myself into. It's not so easy to paint straight lines on a wavy sculpture, or to string a bunch of beads in the perfect manner. I believe the process for the remaining seven necklaces will be easier, but I think there will continue to some struggle.

 The necklace below is only half finished. It will be representation of the dogtags every military member is issued. Each teardrop beads represent 1,000 service women. This necklace is for 2012 and represents the 214,000 women that have served. It will be a wall installation with a cast shadow to signify the memory of these women. This is a lot of uncharted territory for me, but I think once it is complete it will be a successful piece and series. The artists and books I am reading right now have really influenced the projects I am currently working on. I don't think I would have made it to this point without them.

The medal and beads are different shades of red, but I couldn't get the camera to pick that up.

Movin' Right Along

Thursday I took myself down to Seattle (with a friend) to attend First Thursday. I learned the Art world is very different than the Art world while you are in school. It made me think about how I will continue to move forward after school. It seems very easy to get lost and consumed by your own thoughts once out of school. I am finding it will be a constant battle after grad school to continue to learn, change, and experience art outside of myself.

This week I had my second meeting with my mentor. A week before I was struggling with my projects. I didn't like the direction a few of them were moving in. It seems a lot of my ideas begin with good intention, but don't develop into anything solid enough to put forth further effort. I've found grad school really makes me think about where I'm spending my studio energy. With all of that said, at this time I've set aside my weaving attempt, my quilt, my postcard series, and my candy dish for now. My remaining ideas are very time consuming, and if I manage to complete them at the level I'm satisfied with I will probably look into developing one of the ideas I set aside.

My new ideas have been largely driven by the influences from my artist research and readings on memory and identity. One book in particular, Making Memory Matter has given me some ideas involving shadow boxes and the use of the shadow in my pieces to represent memory. It is very difficult to grasp such an ephemeral idea as memory. It's very diaphanous and difficult to express in physical forms. This is something I have been struggling with in many of my projects I have set aside.

Susan has been really great. She is really pushing me, and helping me develop my ideas in a more meaningful manner. After our meeting on Thursday I feel very solid in the direction I will be taking for the June residency. I feel really good about this semester even with everything happening in my non-grad school life. It's interesting to watch my art grow and change. I know now grad school was the push I needed to overcome my mental obstacles. This coming week I will be posting pictures with further description of my "good" ideas I will definitely be developing for the June residency.

Things on my mind

So my mentor has me really thinking about how to express the idea of women in my work without essentializing. So with my medals I have decided to add names in place of where stars, v's, e's, and s's would normally be. The added metal symbols are for repeat awards and award above and beyond.

A close up to show the texture in the fabric

I also started on my watercolor "postcard" series. I'm not sure if this is the direction I want to go with these as the pink is borderline forced opinion of feminine.

Lastly, I've been dealing with a medical legal hearing and it has really been weighing on me. It is bringing up a lot of old bad memories, and I just needed to paint something for myself. I set-up a photo shoot so I could get some images of myself, and I laid in my under painting this evening. This may be a series I want to pursue alongside everything else, but I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. I have a lot of different directions happening right now. I guess that is ok since next semester will be used to lock it down solid.

This painting is 3'x4'. It looks a little scary right now, but my under painting are generally unrefined and somewhat sloppy. I really just use it to get a nice tone underneath the final painting.