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...