ART 4975

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

Matteo Ricciardi

(Added Writing) * Updated 9/7/2024

Ideas from the Summer:

Idea #1: I'm Just Carapace with a Face

This is an idea that is being expanded upon from last semester. I already started this piece to get a head start on projects for the semester.

The theme/design philosophy of this piece is to personify the feeling of being a wallflower at social events. Similar to a lot of other people, I grew up struggling to socially insert myself into groups and events. So I spent most of my time on the wall observing every one else. However it never felt like being a "wall flower" like some other romanticized stories. It felt more like being a bug just minding my own business watching every one else. I grew comfortable with my little spot on the wall. Like a spider making a home. Eventually I grew up and matured like every one else but these feeling can still appear and every so often find my self back on the wall. So want this piece to physically manifests those feeling I had as a angsty teen, the ones that still bubble up more often then I would like. (Note I'm not totally committed to this theme, almost feels to corny. Still brainstorming other ideas)

Possibly have wings extended out, made from paper?

Display: I imagined it would be fun to force a gallery to set him up on a corner. For him to be set up in a unconventional spot off in/around a corner. taking viewers by surprise. This can play into the insect theme as bugs are always hiding in the corners of your room and waiting to catch you off guard.

Also I wanna explore ideas of posing his two free hands. Maybe extending a gift or holding something interesting.

Also Also... If Ashley would let me, I would love to possibly make three of them in different poses on the wall... It may be too ambitious.

Idea #2: To be or not to be, a Weevil

The bug in the top left is an Acorn Weevil and I think it is one of the interesting and cutest things to exist on this planet. The body shape and imbedded head is oddly beautiful and interesting to look at. I don't have clear idea for a theme for this piece yet.

Idea #3: The Angler fish from Nemo's Nightmares

This piece takes direct inspiration from deep sea Angler fish. This pieces theme is tied to the insecurity and complicated feeling of making friends with imposter syndrome.

Idea #4: Mind Blowing Idea

This idea comes from just a few goofy sketches I made over the summer. I think this would make a great small sculpture. Almost the size of a baseball, like a fidget toy for a desk but it stares at you instead.

These are the original sketches, they just make me laugh uncontrollably.

Idea #5: KFC's Secret Ingredient

This is another sketch I found in my sketchbook from the summer. I raised chickens growing up, maybe I can find a theme with that.

My previous sculptures:

This sculpture is my favorite piece to date. Partially due to the bronze/wax process being my favorite form of working. The end product was just exactly what I had envisioned and seeing such an odd creature being brought to life in bronze is so endearing to me.

This piece is one of my favorites due to the odd direction I took to create a door knocker. Grabbing the tongue to use the knocker is a creative decision that I desire to replicate again.

This light is my favorite thing I have fabricated. I haven't loved the fabrication process to much in previous projects. However this sculpture consistently call me back to it. I still carry an odd amount of pride in this piece, despite knowing how much more detailed orientated I wanted the piece to be. This light constantly feels like a first in a long line of projects i want to tackle in the future.

Going Forward:

Bronze - Cast Iron - Aluminum
Wax
Steel
Plaster (Specifically carving)
Plastics

Cast Iron:

For the UW and San Diego Iron pours I wanna utilize the opportunities to pour as much metal as possible. I wanna gain as much experience at these events to push my career forward. I also wanna produce as many pieces as I can for each event.

Thematic Threads:

Monstrous caricatures of emotions - I want to keep up with the theme or illustrating complex emotions and phycological functions as monsters. Growing up I struggled to understand the more complex and unpleasant emotions and nuances of being an adult. So I want to personify these concepts into "creatures of the night" to help ground them more in reality and give it a tangible body. In this way I can associate these feeling to something physical, making it way less intangible. The creatures however must be twisted and contorted to still elude to their un-explainable nature.

Industrial Gothic - The blending of the industrial look with the heavy detailed iconography of baroque and gothic architecture. This has been a direction I have pondered for a while. This thread comes from my love of historic European and brutalist architecture, with my interest in the industrial revolution and machinery. This thematic thread is more of a blending of my preferred aesthetics, I'm still trying to create/find a good continues theme to back it up.

Recent Artists Inspiration:

Tomàs Barceló

Sculptor

Doug Stanat

Ceramic sculptor

Pascal Blanche:

3D/2D Rendering

Hagen_Keeley

Project Ideas:

9/17:

I'm currently interested in depicting themes surrounding the female experience and girlhood. I intend to combine domestic and delicate materials with unexpected objects to create a sense of softness, subtly, and feminine, but also cause my audience a sense of unease due to the cold and painful elements mixed in.

Mood Board:

I've written out a list of goals I want to achieve this semester in both painting and sculpture. (I also want to explore how these two mediums can intertwine.)

- Painting:

Complete scissors painting.
Find an idea for the large canvas I have.
Stretch muslin over stretcher bars and utilize tea staining as my painting medium.

- Fiber:

Complete more knit thread swatches
Continue to explore knit thread sculptures from the summer. (And other ways to create shape)
Find fiber objects to cast in iron

- Sculpture:

Fabric and beading
Blacksmithing to create more of the knit steel from the spring semester.
Found objects
Play/ experiment with latex

Some sketches:

These are rough outlines of what I'm thinking but I definitely want to spend more time thinking them through and creating more detailed sketches/outlines.

I want to change the paper portions to fabric and then put stitch work and beading into them.

Previous Work:

Quietly Devoured

Knit thread, wooden beads, clay teeth, wrapped fabric, and beads

Summer 2024

This is the most recent development in my work. I've continued to explore and expand upon a technique I found last semester with knit thread. Previously, I was working quite small with the knit thread and I wanted to up the scale and really commit to larger swatches. Through artist research and influence I found forms I wanted to attempt. I do want to push this work further and experiment with other techniques of casting.

I Am All You Could Have Been, And You Are All I Might Be

Fabric patches, thread, notes from Mama, and yarn on tea-stained fabric.

Spring 2024

Fabric has been a huge material interest of mine and I want to continue to explore all the different ways it can be manipulated. With this work, I want to continue building it and creating much larger, much more complex pieces that show time.

Slaughterhouse

Found object, fabric, thread, beads, bra, and tule.

Spring 2024

This is honestly my favorite piece I've made recently. I found that working around a found object with techniques, such as beading and sewing, that I love made every part of the process one that I loved. I want to continue with sewing and stuffing patterns but push them to be much more complex.

Weighted Baby Blanket

Steel, cast paper, and thread

Spring 2024

After experiencing the techniques behind this piece and cold-bending all the steel rods, I definitely see myself wanting to explore blacksmithing. I want to see how much quicker and easier it is on the body to use heat to bend the rods. I also want to push the scale of this piece and go much much bigger.

I am Fragile – Tender Like a Bruise

Oil and thread on canvas

Fall 2023

I wanted to throw in a recent painting of mine that sort of felt similar to the works I've been producing outside the realm of painting. I'm not totally sure how I feel about it quite yet but I do want to spend time connecting and writing about how all my work has a thread of similarity.

Materials:

The top three materials I want to work with are Found Objects, Fiber, and Fabric. (and cast iron but in a whisper voice because it's supposed to be three)

I want to explore plaster molds and wax building that will eventually lead to casting in different materials.

Iron Pour:

Since I don't have much experience with casting under my belt, I'm really excited to see how I can take my comfort materials such as fiber and fabric, and turn them into metal. I think it's interesting to see how that changes the meaning behind these materials.

Thematic Threads:

Thematic threads I have pursued in the past surround the idea of feminine experience. I've been attempting to see how subtle I can create the message while also still getting the idea across. I want my work to feel delicate and sweet but also have a tinge of strangeness or feel off in a way. Other themes I want to explore are metaphorical and obsessive.

Artist Influences:

1. Nettie Sumner

Sumner's work influenced the latest work I did over the summer. I fell in love with the forms she created and the sense of weightlessness even though her material was wire. The shadows and translucent qualities are what draw me in.

Cocoon

Wire and Bronze

2023

Sundown

Copper wire and a branch

2023

Bygone

Copper wire and clay

2023

2.Eri Sawatzky

Sawatzky's stitch work is out of this world and was a huge inspiration for some of the stitch work seen in my BFA work. I also really enjoy her color palettes and think they align closely with my interest in color. All of her work is seen on Instagram and she doesn't really title any of her works that I can find at least.

3.Carol Milne

I wanted to place Milne in this line up because I think a common thread throughout some of my previous works is dealing with material and what happens when fiber techniques are brought to hard materials. I've been obsessed with knitting for over a year now and it has caused me to try to knit with steel and play with scale through my knit thread. I want to continue to explore this interest.

4. Nan Goldin

Goldin is a photographer so I don't necessarily connect my work with her work, but I really do draw inspiration from her themes and ideas. I find that her way of documenting her life as a woman is something I want to do and have done in many ways. "My work has been about making a record of my life that no one can revise" is a quote that I find inspiring and that I connect with. Goldin also motivates me to want to work faster and smaller to grab snapshots and then work into larger pieces.

5. Eva Hesse

Hesse's materiality behind all of her works is amazing and leaves the result to be barren and beautiful. I find her work that are hard to conserve and that are actively deteriorating to be the most inspiring. They speak to a sense of cycles, death, and humanity.

What's Next:

Graduate school has been on my mind for the last year, and I think it is the pathway I want to head down in the near future. I need to find time to set aside other responsibilities to begin researching programs that fit my needs. I can see myself working as a professor, but I'm not necessarily sure it the the highest career path on my list. Maybe working in a community center would be a better fit if I find that teaching becomes a part of my practice. I need to do more reflection on myself and my wants to better look into career pathways that interest me.

Careers I don't want to end up in are serving for the rest of my life due to how hard it is on my body. While the money is decent and it is a job that is found everywhere, it isn't a job that one can stay in forever without seeing negative effects on the body and mind. I'm not interested in graphic design jobs, curatorial jobs, or managing other artists/museums. Obviously, I'm not opposed to trying out some of these jobs to gain experience and truly decide if they are careers I don't want to pursue.

Amelia Marlatt

09/17/24

Plans for the semester:

So as I discussed earlier I am working on sculptures for my honors capstone project. I need to make a few more maquettes for some ideas but I have other ideas more flushed out.

The first idea I've been working on is a piece I am going to the title, 'Anguish Pushing Through My Skin'. This work is mainly about how stress and anxiety physically manifest itself within the body. For me in particular I get a lot of pain in my back and shoulders which is why I chose this body part. This piece will be flush against the wall and I would like to use the chicken wire and plaster method to make the body. For the 'spikes' coming out of the skin I am deciding what material I want to do I was thinking fabric or possibly some form of casting, but I am open to any ideas.

Then for the creepy figure coming out of the box, I am currently working on making a plaster mold for the body so I can pour it in wax and then add the details afterwards. I feel that making it out of iron or aluminum is the best possible option to complete it in time while also keeping the details.

I also would like to make a piece focused on the negative thoughts we target toward ourselves. I want this piece to look like this entity coming out of a hole in the wall. These tentacles of sorts reach out and stick to the wall in different positions. Along each 'tentacle' pasted on our negative thoughts that tend to push through and consume a person's thoughts. I would like to make this 'interactive' in a sense. First by asking others who I know to share possible negative thoughts they had had to add to the piece, and then throughout my exhibition I would like to have a place where people can write down their own thoughts, and then throughout the time I can add them to the piece. Regarding materials I am thinking about using fabric for this piece and possibly a found object for the 'hole' that it is coming out of. (The second image is my original maquette when I was experimenting that led to this idea)

Then I posted my ideas for my final two pieces last time (below), but I still need to work on my maquette for the 'spiral' and need to start experimenting with latex for the other one.

Ideas from the summer:

For this independent study, I am mainly hoping to use the time to create pieces I will put in my This & That exhibition this December. This exhibition will be specifically for my Honors Capstone which I will be presenting on in the spring.

For this exhibition, I am focusing on the struggles of mental illness, specifically anxiety and ADHD. I would like to make a series of abstract sculptures representing the physical and mental effects these disorders have on someone.

My Previous Work:

The Forged Path

Steel, crepe paper, acrylic paint, cardboard, tissue paper, & spray paint

Spring 2024

While creating this piece I felt I got to expand my skills in working with steel. I also enjoy the process of learning how to marry opposing materials such as paper and steel. I feel like this has been one of my most successful works yet.

Every Story Matters

Chicken wire, plaster gauze, newspaper, & roving

Spring 2024

This piece was very enjoyable to make. I got to use previous knowledge from sculptural practices to create the bear. The meaning behind this piece also led to the process being more cathartic.

Abandonment

Sculpey, acrylic paint, roving, dirt, & flocking on a wood panel

Spring 2022

This is an older piece I created. I really enjoyed the process of this, especially the mixing of materials. I would like to further explore the themes that are found within this work.

Jolie - Razor Redesign

Fall 2023

This is one of my graphic design works that I would throw in since it fits within the themes I will be continuing to explore.

Materials/Processes/Tools:

I am having a hard time choosing just three as I think I will be exploring 5 to 6 of these materials/processes considering the ideas I have for my upcoming sculptures. However, I think I would like to mostly explore would be casting (bronze/iron), steel, and plaster. There are other materials I would like to work with such as fiber and fabric. I would also like to learn a bit more about plastic, but this is regarding a specific idea I have for a sculpture, so I think it might be best to work individually with Ashley to find time to learn more about it and the process.

Iron Pour:

I am looking forward to the new learning experiences as well as opportunities to work and meet with other artists at the San Diego Western Cast Iron Conference. I want to make the most of both of these opportunities and make as much as possible for me. I would like to explore contrasting ideas of soft and hard (i.e. an object that appears soft and fragile but is yet hard and rigid). I am also going to be thinking of if I could make any pieces to incorporate into my sculptures for my exhibition this December and/or for my BFA capstone.

Thematic Interests:

I am interested in exploring themes surrounding environmental issues/sustainability, mental health, and humanism/ethics. All three of these ideas are intertwined with the profound connections individuals create and develop with themselves, their environment, and the people who come into their lives. I want to further explore creating work that leads me through my own self-discovery while possibly leading others to a discovery of their own.