Went to NYC with some marvelous ladies last weekend. We visited some amazing artist studios! We visited Tom Burckhardt and Kathy Butterly first. They had a very beautiful studio/living combination. I was really drawn to Kathy's work. She spoke very eloquently (as did Tom), and I connected with her statements about working in a small scale. She explained that as she works on a particular detail, she gets lost in it and it becomes the whole universe. I really understand that impulse and losing oneself in the particular details of the work. Tom's work was very layered and I enjoyed the transparent quality of the painting. The fact that he casts each base for every painting is really involved.
The second studio we visited was Simon Evans and his wife. They were both very interesting and inviting people. The work we saw there was evolving and becoming a coherent body of work. I enjoyed the suggestion that the paper they left on the floor of their studio becomes patinaed in a way by walking on it and living around it.
The second day I was unfortunately ill. I missed seeing Jan Huling's work, which I have posted on my blog before. I was very excited about this, and sad I missed it.
Since being home i've been trying to get back into my work. Meeting today with Trenton Doyle Hancock really enabled me to do that. We spoke about the concept of having each piece be a character, and of enacting them. I am becoming more used to the idea of performance. Also more open to the fact that much of my work may be about gender. These are topics and ways of working I have not been comfortable with. They put me in a place where I am excited and a little bit nervous at the same time, which I think is where I know it is a good place to go.
In Teaching methods we dissected syllabi and spoke about our rubrics. It was interesting to see what everyone would change in their class, and the different teaching styles that everyone's instructor has. The rubrics were difficult to make but in the end are very useful.
Here are some artists and things I have been looking at:
So this week was full of freaking out and being really stressed out. But, now that my house is clean and there are no more ants in my studio, I am feeling much better.
I started to trace Mourning Object #1 his week. This piece speaks to my comfort with mourning, with my grief about death. I am comfortable with where I am right now in this process, and felt I could start tracing this piece. I am using colour in this tracing, a different colour every day, just choosing whatever seems right. Here is a video:
I am also continuing to trace the other piece, because I feel like this ritual is also important. Here are some videos of that:
So on another tangent, i've been watching Malcolm in the Middle. I know, I know, it doesn't have much to do with this, but really it does. That show is so well written! There is an episode where the father takes a sabatical to paint, because it's something he's always dreamed of. So the whole episode is about how he's trying to get to that ultimate painting. In the end, his family comes to the garage where he's been painting, and they are in awe because it's amazing. He goes up to it, so proud, and OF COURSE, the paint layers are so thick that they fall on top of him. It's soooooo gooooooood!
Have been thinking about my work, and about what it is saying. Writing a lot on that. It's not coherent writing right now so I will post it another time.
In Teaching methods this week we talked about rubrics. I really believe rubrics are a great teaching tool. I feel like they inform the students exactly what is needed from them to get a certain grade. If they are aiming for an A, they know exactly what they have to do. Also, as a teacher, I can just point at the rubric and that's it. It was an interesting discussion. We also looked at some great photos of France and Italy. They made me so homesick! I am ready to go back to France for an extended period of time. I really do miss it.
This week I've been sick so not doing much. Working on reading a research, as well as getting some work done on tests and also on different pieces. I've been gathering materials from here and there to get started.
Here is a video from my studio:
And some photos where I thought I was recording but only took pictures:
I've set up the other garment-like mourning object on a piece of paper to start tracing it. Next week.
In teaching methods we talked about different learning types. I thought the text on Jung was particularly interesting, however I feel like testing people for these different personality types just puts them in a box. It seems kind of contradictory in some ways; if you know you're that type and put stock in it, wouldn't you let that dictate your actions? I kind of think Jung is pretentious. I guess that comes with the territory though.
Today in Teach Methods we talked about a lot of interesting classroom theory. We started by going over information from our last class, the most interesting of which I though was formatting your classroom to encourage engagement and risk taking. Allowing students to take a risk and possibly fail is an interesting concept, and one that seems like it could be hard to implement. I am excited to try though! Also, to write a syllabus.
We went on to study Blooms Taxonomy, Learning types and a Critical format template. Blooms Taxonomy I thought was kind of obvious, as was the learning types document. They seem like things that are face value parts of teaching. The critical format template was helpful. Critiques are hard to know how to run, and sometimes can get out of hand. If they are not run well, then the students don't get anything out of them. This document was a very good guideline document for future critiques, and I hope to use it to run critiques in my Teaching Assistants position.
I am interested in reading for next week, and running a discussion about the topics.
Here is my project proposal for Spring semester, 2013:
The thread that goes through the beads is woven in a certain path,
until, meeting a bead that has broken or is disjointed, it backtracks and
becomes entangled inside the beads. This event is that which the viewer never sees
The beads, while fragile and weak alone together become a heavy, strong whole.
And yet, individually, hit them a certain way or squeeze one and they break.
But even if one breaks, the thread holds the rest together. This idea of
strength and weakness held together in one object speaks to the human condition
to me. We don’t know how strong we are until something challenging happens, and
then it’s those tangled threads of knowledge and wisdom and maturity that keep
us together. But even though we are strong, sometimes we do break and it’s up
to those surrounding us to help us maintain our form.
This semester my work will consist of sculptural jewelry objects. I will
start by researching modern Jewelry theory, utilizing a text entitled “Thinking
Jewellry”. This text is based on the “assumption that the human need for
decoration is an anthropological constant that has accompanied man since the
beginnings of humanization[1]”
I am interested in how this text explores modern and historical views on
jewelry through a variety of lenses, including psychological, anthropological,
artistic and sociological.
Through this research, I intend to draw from additional readings about
the psychology of material studies, and visual research into historical and
African tribal jewelry and its uses. I am interested in the history of jewelry
and its shifting social purpose in Western society. A certain colour or design
could indicate that someone was of age to be courted, or married to a soldier,
or in mourning. People could take social cues from jewelry or dress. I am
interested in the semiotics between fashion and society.
I am curious about Tribal jewelry is used in the same way that
historical dress was used. In the Masai tribe of Kenya, for example, a certain
colour of necklace can indicate that the woman wearing it is a new bride. For
every child, a new necklace of a different colour or pattern is added. The men
of the Dinka tribe of Sudan wear corset type garments called Malual. They are
sewn onto the men when they come of age, and added to as they reach important
life steps. The higher and more ornate the corset, the wealthier and more
prominent the man is. The way that jewelry is still used in tribal African
cultures is very interesting because it dictates their social cues.
In my work I will also use the body as blank form. I will manipulate it
in ways that it is not used to. In this way, I am owning the body as display
space and medium. I am specifically interested in restriction by unfamiliar or
difficult movement and binding. By creating jewelry that restricts the body, I
will manipulate it into something different from what it normally exists as.
I am attracted to using beads and thread in particular is because it is
chaos and structure all in one technique. This semester I will use beads and
thread, as well as some metals and fabrics. I will leave this open to
experimentation though, as I feel limiting this would have a negative impact on
my work.
Presentation of this project may include the photographic or video
evidence of the work, displayed with the pieces.
[1]Lindemann, Wilhelm.Thinking
Jewellery on the way towards a theory of jewellery. 1st edition. Germany: Arnoldsche Art
Publishers, 2011. 14. Print.
In addition to this new project, which is very porous and will change over the semester, I am dealing with the ritual of my work last semester. I feel like the ideas of ritual and restriction are two things i'm bringing from last semester. While dealing with the ritual of last semesters pieces, I am filming it and will post those videos on here. Here are the first three, from this week:
Other than that I am going to write and read a lot more this semester, and make sure i'm thoroughly documenting my process.
I need to go more into depth on researching this person, Chase suggested him and so far the makeup is freaking me out, haha. I see where he fits into my research though.
Hello everybody
Back in the swing of things (almost). My teaching assistant position is going to be great! Working with Anne Holman assisting intermediate and advanced jewelry on Tuesdays and Thursday. I really feel like I am going to learn a lot about teaching and running a classroom. So far we have had our new theory and criticism class, which I had better get reading for because there is a lot of reading (although interesting reading), and our critique class. Both seem like they are going to be very interesting and very useful, and also very different from last semester. Variety is the spice of life, or something like that.
I also met with my adviser for the semester, Melissa Vogely Woods. (http://melissavogleywoods.com/). I am very excited to be working with her, and feel like it will be keeping me on my artistic toes.
I am very interested in jewelry theory and how individuals think of their jewelry. I am also continuing a line of thought that I started last semester, about constriction. I will have a more in depth writing on what I am working with this semester very soon.
Here are some artists I am looking at this week:
Klari Reis Ben Kruisdijk
Especially the work "Fremde Melodie" Danny O'Connor Bart Hess
1/2 of the duo Lucy and Bart that I posted last semester. I especially love the video Extraordinary Gentlemen Chalermphol Harnchakkhan
Really this persons name is a work of art that it even exists as something someone can pronounce. But their prints also make me very happy. Kate Gilmore
I am not very attracted to these videos, however they are very interesting to think about in relation to what I am doing this semester. Ann Hamilton
I also watched her segment on Art 21 which was very interesting Gee's Bend Quilts
These were made by a secluded group of women in the South. Their history is actually a lot more interesting than that sentence, though, so look it up!
One more week until we're back in school! Oh boy.
I've been up and down Ohio a few times in the last weeks. Fun stuff.
I have also been very productive, photos up next post, still need to take them.
I am here and ready to tackle this semester. Here we go.
