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I've been a little lax about blogging lately. woops! Busy busy.
                  I've been delving deeper into the reasons why I am using the materials I am using. I feel like in my work I tend to use materials and concepts I am very uncomfortable with. This started with my work with reliquaries, specifically with my Ant Reliquary:

                I hate ants. I mean HATE them. It stems from when I was a kid, probably about 4 or 5, and I stepped into a red ant hill. They swarmed up my legs before my mom picked me up and brushed them off, and ever since then I hate them!
               When I was younger my mom handed me a bag full of hygiene products, briefly explained what they were for, and that was it. We never talked about it again. I've never felt comfortable with the whole menstruation thing. So when I beaded that pad, and saw how cool it looked, I thought that there is no time but the present to become comfortable with a process that I will be dealing with for the next 40 years (if family history is any indication). Reading about it, searching about how it's handled the world over, and directly exploring the products associated with menses, has made me much more comfortable with the whole thing. I feel like i've overcome something that I should have been comfortable with from the beginning. And that allows me to continue to work with these products in more ways and to push the work as far as it needs to go.
                 This is what i've been looking at:

wearing jewelry differently

Joss Weadon

Holly Gaiman

"I'm not a feminist"

The people who should be "Disney" princesses

I heart guts

Eva Marie Keiser Designs

Tribal designs

Why Creative People Sometimes Make No Sense

A crazy russian performance artist.

WW1 and 2 Propaganda

Female hunters on the rise

Feminist Quiz

SNL Kotex classic

Jewelry created by famous artists

SNL Big Brawn ad

The alternative limb project

hyungkoo lee

The politics of gender words

In my critique today we were talking about the difference between gender issues and feminism. I think that the reason I am loathe to get rid of the word 'feminism' from my project, or from thinking about my project, is the vast history and the brave contributions of the women who have braved the waters of feminism. I also think that there would be no gender politics had feminism not happened, because it opened up the dialogue that everyone should be equal in all fields.
There is a cultural notion of what feminism is, and that is not always positive. I find that if more people who were into 'gender politics' could acknowledge that feminism gave them the freedom to be into gender politics it would be more socially acceptable as a label and as a way of life.

Thinking about titles, and other things.

http://elizabethbarton.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-importance-of-being-titled.html
An interesting blog about the importance of titles by master quilter Elizabeth Barton!

We were talking about titles in class today with Tamara Tweel, which got me thinking. I love titling my work. It's almost my favorite part of making something. When it's coming together, I have thoughts about it, whether to make it apparent what exactly I am thinking with the piece, or hide my intentions, or just go with the ever classic 'untitled' and let the public translate for themselves. I usually over think titles, and under think presentation. It's something i need to work on!

Reading so much about femininity and feminism, and everything that has gone into culture to bring women to where we are today, I am reminded of my luck. Reading the book The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf, written in the 90's but still very relevant, I can't help but think about relationships I have had in the past, where I would try so hard to be thin and made up and beautiful. It wasn't for me that I was doing these things, and I remember obsessing and stressing. I count myself lucky that today I am in a relationship where when I dress up, I do it for myself, and when I lost weight, I do it for myself. I am lucky enough to be in a supportive and loving relationship.

I know this blog is about art but I just thought i'd share what my research has got me thinking about today!

Thesis proposal, revised

Here is my revised thesis proposal, my work has taken a sudden left turn!

Embroidery, before the Renaissance, was a job for both sexes. Men and women working in workshops produced the fine garments and banners that now hang in museums. Around the Renaissance, embroidery became a talent of upper class women and trickled down to the middle classes. Embroidery became a sign of an educated and refined woman, one who has the patience, concentration and fine hand to produce beautiful decorative textiles. For the upper class women, these were given as favours to suitors, as gifts to friends, or to the church. For middle class women, their embroidered objects were used in the house as napkins, hankies, sheets and clothing. Embroidery has a rich feminine history, and continues to the subversive embroidery that is used today in art. I plan to use embroidery to explore what it is to be a woman and a feminist in today’s world.

As a base for this conversation I am using objects that are specifically attached to femininity. These could include feminine hygiene pads, tampons, lipstick, eye shadow, nail polish, dresses or skirts and bras. I acknowledge that in certain situations men use these items but, through a survey of friends, I have come to the conclusion that they are still attached strongly to femininity. I will then embroider these objects with words or patterns to emphasize their connection to the feminine sphere.

I would like to bring forth a conversation about why the words ‘feminist’ and ‘feminism’ are negative words for a majority of the women in my generation, and maybe open up a channel for these women to investigate feminist language and content. I also want to have a conversation with myself about what femininity means to me. It has always been something I was uncomfortable with, and I’d like to confront that and start to understand why. 

Antibiotic city

This week i've been working through the first part of my actual work, while thinking ahead to what's coming next. I dyed 20 yds. of fabric in my kitchen in preparation for the next step! Thinking about what exactly i'm going to do has lead to a lot of questions, and a sneaking suspicion I need to rewrite my thesis proposal. I've been exploring questions of feminism and how feminist theory permeates culture. Also why feminist seems to be such a dirty world in today's generations. I started this project exploring the decorative in everyday objects, and chose the most interesting object, feminine hygiene pads. This led to all of this feminist discussion that is going on in my head. I want to work with the form of the feminine hygiene pad and decoration to express my ideas.

Artists and articles from this week:

Doris Salcedo, Rose Shroud

Broken tampon memorial fund

Toni Demuro

Abused Godesses campaign

Christian Zucconi

This is graphic

Tommy Kha

Nature photos

Morgan Herrin

Mitchell Rose

Bejeweled skulls

Feminism brand problem?