Lollipop Trees

Lollipop Trees #3

This week I've also been working on new forms for the Lollipop Trees. I just finished two. The first one is 15 inches across and the second is 19.5 inches across. So far, I think these forms are a huge improvement over the first which was built on top of a square plane of Masonite. I hope they will hold up during the process of papier-mache and painting. I hope to finish a couple more forms so that I can complete all of my papier-mache at once early next week.

Lollipop Trees #2

Porcelain Artifacts...Update

Since my last post about this project, I've built up my collection of porcelain artifacts. When assembled the installation is about 3 feet wide. I'm at a point where I feel I can take a break from constructing. After the final firing, I will turn my attention to experimenting with combining the forms with sand for installation. 

Over the past two weeks, I've been consumed with researching my ancestry. I've always been interested in listening to my maternal grandmother and great-grandmother recount stories and oral history of my family but I've never actively engaged in research until now. I've been about to trace my maternal lineage back to the 1860 census and there is a high possibility that I have also located my 5th great grandmother on the 1850 census but it's impossible to know for sure because the slave schedules only listed people by sex and approximate age.

Uncovering records and sifting through conflicting information have raised a lot of questions for me concerning identity and legacy. This collection of miniatures in a way is a response to this.I haven't quite worked out how these will be resolved. At the moment, I aim to display them in a line rather than a pattern and on a shelf rather than the floor. I'm also considering constructing small boxes for each one. Much like my family research, there are a lot of question left to be answered.

Joyce Robins and Visual Memories

Joyce Robins - Pale Color Circle, 2011

Last week I met with my mentor. We visited MoMA PS1 for its current Greater New York show. One artist from that exhibition was Joyce Robins. She makes graceful undulating ceramic forms that I really connected with. I was fascinated by the visual effects she achieved by combining embossed dots with holes and glazed with painted surfaces. Upon further investigation, I learned that her practice is based on visual memories. I also found that her use of color and pattern evolved in part from a series of paintings aiming to capture light flickering through trees.

Joyce Robins - Pale Color Circle (detail), 2011

Joyce Robins - Dark Cloud, 2001