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).
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| We used two of the boxes to hold up the one we were working on. |
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| 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!"
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| 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.
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| This is where it started |
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| 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.
