Sense of Place:
12/8:
This is just a start...
A sense of place is often described as the way a person experiences a location whether through the native character of the place, or the meaning prescribed to it. From my perspective, a sense of place can directly correlate to a way of inhabiting the world. Being a woman is not simply an identity. It is a negotiation of boundaries between safety and danger, autonomy and control. I continue to embark on the journey of carving out space for myself within a society built on systematic suppression. It is important to express the innate experience of violence every woman from past to present has experienced. Spaces women inhabit are often marked with vulnerability, and the impact of violence can distort their ability to exist comfortably in themselves, and their communities. It is a shared reality across generations.
I created this work to fabricate space for the violence women experience daily. Horrific acts that play on repeat in the back of my mind while walking to my car after dark. Where the world I live in has allowed these acts to become common and has caused ever-present desensitization. I decided to showcase violent acts against women under the guise of what it would be like to be the “last woman on earth.” But in reality, the violence we all imagine through this scenario is currently happening to women worldwide. Our sense of place as women is always blemished with both the scars of violence and the strength of survival. The dramatization of situations women experience is the only method of persuasion the world will consider.
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.
- 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
- Fabric and beading
- Blacksmithing to create more of the knit steel from the spring semester.
- Found objects
- Play/ experiment with latex
I want to change the paper portions to fabric and then put stitch work and beading into them.
Previous Work:
Weighted Baby Blanket
I am Fragile – Tender Like a Bruise
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:
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.
Sundown
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.
I loved "(and cast iron but in a whisper voice because it's supposed to be three)," it made me giggle. But I believe your work is successful at being subtle, especially with the combination of your forms and color palette. Most of your work uses abstract forms, while your choice of color is pink, which many consider feminine. I think an artist who might be of interest to you is Holly Rozier. Here's the website (https://www.mrxstitch.com/holly-rozier/) that I found to be the most helpful when reading about her work. For some reason, I think her artist website may be down. Her work is slightly grotesque, but the materials she uses are similar to your 'Slaughterhouse' piece. Or another artist you could look at is Laura Bell (https://www.laurabellstudio.com/sculpturalembroidery). Her sculptural embroidery reads as a relief to me, and given that painting is a part of your practice, perhaps you could incorporate it into your sculptures as well.
ReplyDelete"Slaughterhouse" is one of my favorite pieces you've done and I definitely think about it often. Across all of your work you do a great job at tying them all together. Not only through the color palette and materials you choose, but also through the emotion conveyed. There is a soft, delicate, feminine 'feel' to each piece, while also having this raw, cold, and painful side to each one of them. I could see you really experimenting with fabric 3-dimensionally. For example, I wonder what your BFA project would look like if it was more 3-dimensional and in the round.
ReplyDeleteYour Slaughterhouse was one of my favorites from last semester, however your Weighted Baby Blanket is my favorite. The steel shapes are intriguing. The title alone brings up so much iconography and injects the piece with so much meaning. I would be curious to see what would happen if you revisited steel and incorporated soft fabric rather then paper.
ReplyDeleteI love how your artwork combines grotesque imagery with light pastel colors that evoke a sense of femininity. It creates a juxtaposition between the subject matter and the materials. There is a sense of pain in each piece that draws me in and makes me want to consider more as a viewer. I also like how your work is leaning towards a more fibrous medium because I feel like it can be so versatile especially since you can mix it with other mediums. Working with various textures and keeping your color palettes would be good starting points for future projects.
ReplyDeleteThe textures in your work are so visceral and always draw me in. I have been seeing you do a lot of knit work recently, and I FIRMLY believe you need to cast some of your work in metal, or we will explode if we don't see it. Your fiber work is visually delicate, even when dealing with extremely heavy topics. I think a juxtaposition of ideas here could be fascinating paired with the feminine themes of your work. The delicate fibers are beautiful but destined to disintegrate, but the same forms in a more rigid metal would serve a different message.
ReplyDeleteI have to add that I think expanding on “Weighted Baby Blanket” would be very visually interesting. especially if paired with the textures you created in “I am Fragile – Tender Like a Bruise,” or some other texture on the paper caps.
Check out Lenore Tawney (https://lenoretawney.org/). I think you will like her!