Art21

Recently I started to watch this PBS series called Art21 that my friend Jessimi told me about.  It is FANTASTIC!  If you are into art and want to know more about 21st century artists and what makes them tick these mini documentaries are the ticket.  I was especially moved by Ann Hamilton, she is a bit of local legend in art but I was never really motivated to learn more about her until I saw this.  In the first five minutes of her presentation I was floored with how similar our artistic views on fabric and fibers were connected as well as our influences by word and thread.  She basically put into words all my feelings for my artwork.  I am the kind of person that avoids mass popularity and opinion in all things, I believe in experiencing it for myself and making my own judgement.  This has been in all things from music, food, art and movies.  That is the reason why I never explored the genius of Ann Hamilton previously.  Now even if I don't get into grad school I still want to make it a goal of mine to meet with her and perhaps participate in one of her projects.

Her video work reminds me a lot of one of the directions I want to follow with my own work.  Recently while doing my new portfolio I made this raw video of the creation of my Neuron time based piece.  This was after all the stitches were sewn, where I am slowly pulling out the supporting threads and had no idea of the end result and if it would even stay together.


I am very excited for the possibilities in my future artwork.

Progress on all fronts

I've been working on a lot more fine art type sculpture pieces which could also be strangely argued as drawing.  After a nice chat with currently OSU MFA Grad Student Melissa Vogley Woods I learned that the term Drawing in the art word is being more loosely interpreted.  The meeting was funny because as soon as I saw her I realized I already knew her.  We'd been introduced to each other several times over the years and run in some of the same circles of friends.  Spontaneity was my friend yesterday in that I finally got a chance to talk to Melissa about the Grad Program at OSU as well as her helping me to stalk the head of the Graduate Department in order to get a appointment.  Granted I looked about the same as I felt yesterday but it was worth it to drag my sorry sick butt to the campus on a whim.  I can check of two of my three things that I needed to get done before I feel comfortable with this whole application process

Let's get back to the Art now.  I am currently working on a series that deals with the interpretations of Neurons in a tangible form.  I want to represent them using different "craft" methods  The above piece was made by tatting (a form of lace making) my own design.  The box is not perfect but for now I can live with it.  It's been a long time since I have worked exclusively in a sculpture type format with no apparel inclinations at all or body work.  I feel like I am coming back to it strongly, remembering all those tricks and tools of the non-cloth variety.  I'm enjoying the expansion of my pattern skills in things that do not involve garments. 

I am working on the framework for a second piece.  I started to use scrap fabric and then it was progressing so well I continued with the embroidery.  The fabric was at such an odd shape there was no satisfying way to put it onto a regular frame unless I lost some of the work.  So I traced it's shape and planned out how to make a frame of it's own.

I did the initial cut with the jigsaw then fine tuned the corners with a small handsaw for better precision.  Thankfully the blade did not break on me like I was used to in my metal working class. 

 Framed together nicely I just need to finish the sanding and nail them together.

This is the piece that I am working on the frame for.  You can see against the grid that it isn't very large at all.  I want to come up with some sort of dramatic lighting for it also that is inclusive but that is doubtful to happen right now.  I need to put in an order for Silver Conductive thread and some LED's and battery attachments.  Oh the fun I'll be having!