The Invisible War

In 2012 a documentary was made addressing sexual assault in the military. In a male dominant ego centric society like the military those who are assaulted, men and women, get swept under the rug.

The Invisible War (the trailer)

The problem with being ignored doesn't go away over time. It creates identity confusion, anti-authority sentiments, continued anger and judgement over the injustice, and the monsters that won't go away that no one talks about. This is happening now in the United States. Yes, all of the world has problems, but I'm just one person in an ocean of sharks. The lives that are being altered and sometimes destroyed matter. Who will be their voice????

New Stuff

This week I started working on new ideas. I completed one and added pictures here, but the other is in a weird stage in the process and just looks like a bunch of gesso'ed birch panels. So I am going to be sharing more on that piece next week. My experimentation has come down to adding paint, sculpture, and craft. I figure these are all things I like to do and they all work to convey the meaning I want so why not smash them all together. The only constraints I really have at this point are my physical ailments that slow me down so I am sticking to non-installation art for the time to save my sanity. The project below is the first thing I consider heading in a "solid" direction. It still alludes to the military ribbon, women and their involvement in the military, and restraint without being too forward...I think. Anyway, here are some pictures.

 Ok, so it's a belt that I crocheted from a belt pattern. I decorated it with flashy beads and sequins in the color and order of a National Defense Ribbon and secured it through the "belt buckle" opening. The belt buckle is an orchid...with a vagina as the center and opening. At the bottom of the belt is a good conduct ribbon that when fastened around the waist goes through the orchid to rest nicely over the vagina. I don't know how I want to display this yet. Maybe on a bust (need to figure out where to get one of those)? I think it loses a lot by just hanging. It really needs to be clasped to give the whole affect. Below are close ups of the closure and orchid...

This picture didn't turn out so well. The orchid has some yellow to it and there is more detail.

The other piece will be a floor piece with text elements, craft, found objects, paint, and sculpey. I'm really excited about moving forward with the piece, and I hope to have a lot more to show of it next week. In the meantime, I finished my necklace memorial boxes and here are a few shots of those:

Wrapping Up and Experimentation

April 25-May 4th

I spent this week completing all of my half finished projects. It was a week of toil for sure! I finally completed my self-portrait I started a month ago. This was my first time working with the Apelles palette exclusively. I also did a great deal of reading on contemporary art and artists and a lot of sketching and journaling. I began experimenting with creating art without thinking. I made quite a few things thus far from this stand point. They mostly feel empty, but I do feel like they are helping me work out what is really going on inside me. I have been starting with painting but it tends to lead to a desire to add something three dimensional, which then leads to adding some sort of craft element.

I visited the Bellevue Art Museum on Tuesday. There was an exhibit about currency art. The work was very politically charged, but in the end I left the exhibit bored. It felt like all the art being shown was doing the same exact thing. There was also an exhibit on Italian furniture design on the third level that was much more intriguing. It was interesting to see how design in the 60's 70's and 80's was a great deal similiar to the artistic movements happening at the time (granted it was artistic furniture design, but it was all still functional and for sale at the time of creation).

Here are some pictures of the process I went through to completion on my large portrait:

Experimenting

First week with working intuitively. I walked into my studio and just started making things. Then I smashed them all together. At the end of the day this is what I got...

I made a painting...I also made some sculpey flowers...with military ribbon fabric...and pins...

There is blue embroidered stitching on the right of the body but it's hard to see here.

In the end I mashed it all together and added some marbles (cause I must be losing mine)

I also finished my jewelery box project. Here is the final image of that.

Learning to Grow

I have been working with memory this semester. Specifically, memory as it pertains to women in the military. I have been battling with why it is so important to me, and I thought I had my head wrapped around it, but I think it goes much deeper. Even if I didn't think it did, my mentor says it has to, BUT I completely agree with her.

So after seeing my mentor and listening to the comments she had about my current work I had lunch with Julie Lindell. We discussed surface meaning and depth. My current work lacks the depth and I really need to explore why.

Here is my most recent piece (there are actually 3 of them):

The idea was based on silhouettes as memory provoking. The format is rectangular with cotton linen stretched and folded with military 45 degree angles. The image could be produced by anything though, and this doesn't necessarily state "military ribbon". Susan said it feels very constrained and devoid of color. She provoked a thought that all of my work has the same theme. 

I can see how my current process is lacking depth, and I've got the idea of using the military to express myself in an unhealthy stranglehold. I think this process was extremely important to my development as an artist though, and I don't feel the time spent in this direction was wasted. With that said, I feel I am back, in a way, to "freedom is an illusion" from the first residency. It's not about the illusion of freedom though. I think it may be about constraint, restraint, and oppression...

I'm going to experiment with these thoughts, and work on expanding the depth in my work as Susan suggests. Who knows, I may just surprise myself with things I never really knew about me.

Picture Overload

Last week I talked about what I've been researching and reading. This week I'm going to bombard my blog with pictures of the work I've been doing. Enjoy...

I'd like to start with a block party. Here are some pictures of a few of the blocks I finished. I didn't post all of them because it gets repetitive and somewhat boring. From the pictures it is hard to pull the details and nuanced differences. 

Good Conduct Ribbon with 1 star for continued Good Conduct

Again, but with two stars

...and, again with three stars

Gray scale trompe l'oeil fold (painted on all 9 blocks)

more trompe l'oeil fold picture

Lastly, I would like to finally show some progress on my treasure box. Here are pictures of the figurine hand painted and crafted from sculpey, as well as, the start of my medals and ribbons with names. The figurine is 3 inches tall.

Collective Memory

My assignment for my third research paper is a comparative analysis of two texts (my choice!). Well, I've been reading a lot of books this semester, and stewing over artists I haven't been as inspired as I was last semester.  Until now....

A few weeks ago I finished a book on memory in culture. It was a very interesting book dealing with sociological habits and behaviors revolving around the concept of collective memory. There were some vague references to art in the text, and when I finished reading it I figured I would not revisit it. Now that I have to figure out what I want my third paper to be about I have really been thinking about all the books I've been reading. I came to the realization that the book on memory in culture really is inspiring my work. One of the big directions I see a lot of art follow deals with nostalgia. Nostalgia is great in its own way, but I really don't want to talk about nostalgia. The items I am working with, ribbons of merit, don't really bring up warm fuzzy memories and make me want to tell stories that start with,  "I remember when..." So what kind of memory am I dealing with?

I'm afraid of being forgotten. Not just me being forgotten, but the great achievements of the many women I have served with, and those who served before. I went to this great conference in Washington DC a few years ago where I got to meet some women who served in World War II and Vietnam. They were amazing women who did their jobs but never really were recognized. They still held their heads high though, and you could see the shine of pride in their eyes for all the young women currently serving. It's the passing of these events into the vaporous abyss that is the past I want to prevent. I want to create something solid that commemorates this historical passage. So that's why I'm making these shadow boxes, and detailed minimalist paintings.