In preparation for my third mentor meeting...

Questions I am asking in general with my work are. . .


Does knowing more about the past give one better insight into the present or who they are?

Does the natural world (in our immediate surroundings) have an impact on who we are culturally and individually?

How does nature and what we consume from it influence us culturally and individually?

What is the importance of documenting the existence and personal stories of my family to me as an artist? Why?

Questions regarding specific works. . .

Water Secrets - How can we connect with the past and our ancestors through our interactions with the landscape? Are we connected with others through sensory cues and stories of particular places? What can our experience with nature tell us about ourselves? 

"A landscape should establish bonds between people. . . art also belongs with landscape studies as I interpret them for it is only when we begin to participate emotionally in a landscape that its uniqueness and beauty are revealed to us." - J. B. Jackson

Papier-mâché forms and transfers - How can the tactile qualities of objects and the narrative qualities of images be combined to document changes in a place over time? Can the work create an emotional connection between the viewer and work while also drawing connections between people and place, the enduring and ephemeral, experience and memory?

Hand photos and shells - The woman in my family show love and devotion to family through their work. Can my elders and ancestors be honored through my labor? Can my work connect me through time or space with them? Can the objects we touch and utilize tell as much about who we are as our stories?

Collard Leaves and Food memories audio - Can food and natural sustenance establish bonds in the same way  that a landscape can? Can what we consume connect us to place? Can it connect us to people? How can we be defined by what we consume? Where is the line between cultural and individual identities in regards to diet and traditions? What is the connection between memory, food, and place?

Inventory - What do our belongings say about the lives we live and our values? How do we determine the value of an object or a person? What can be learned from the way we organize and document our lives or our belongings?

Mentor Meeting Two

Ernesto Neto, The Island Bird, 2012

In preparation for the meeting I had to articulate a few questions about what is on my mind and what is guiding my practice.... 

How do the places we have lived become a part of us?

Does place become a part of our collective memory?

Is it possible to feel a connection to a place you’ve never been to?

What do our surroundings say about us and our private lives?

What role does our sense of touch play in regards to memory, place and identity?

Why is it important to me to know where I came from? Will it help me understand myself better?

What is my role in the line of women in my family?

Ernesto Neto, Humanoids Family, 2001

Ernesto Neto, Humanoids Family, 2001

Artists

Eva Hesse (particularly her lists, sketches and writings)
Ernesto Neto (objects meant to be hugged or spaces to be inhabited)
Lygia Clark (objects for healing)
elin o'Hara slavick (especially her cyanotypes)
Helio Oiticica (particularly his Parangoles performance)


Exhibitions
Explode Every Day: An Inquiry into the Phenomena of Wonder

Lygia Clark, Abyss Mask, 1968

Things to Consider
Be deliberate in setting parameters concerning new sources for library cards. This can be related to location of library, content of cards, etc.

Clarify and be able to defend why I've chosen catalog cards as a material for the leaves.

• The following qualities of these cards connect with my subject matter and interests:
• Cards are a method of documentation
• Way to organize and archive information
• The information displayed on the card inscribed the work with specific meaning
• They are made of paper which carries it own historical context and tactility
• This method of organization signifies outdated modes of relaying information

Clarify and be able to defend specific reasons why I've decided to use collard leaves.

Pay attention to the sculptural qualities of sound. Try combining various recordings.

Take a look at John Dewey's philosophy of knowledge.

Work feels more like a deep investigation of place and marking its changes rather than mourning them. Presentation of evidence without judgement feels significant.

How the work is made almost feels more important that the object itself. Explore how to make the process more a part of the finished work.

Be as specific as possible with narrative and intentions.

The truth as I understand it from the stories that have been passed down to me is more important to my work than their historical accuracy.

On how to proceed when you have a lot of raw material to make sense of....

• Don't be overwhelmed
• Follow all leads
• Don't over-edit
• Don't feel pressured to use everything right away, there may be enough material to work with over a long period of time
• Always take risks

elin o'Hara slavick, After Hiroshima: Two Leaves, 2008

elin o'Hara slavick, After Hiroshima: Hair Comb, 3 views, 2008

Mentor Meeting One

Books
Monstrous Intimacies by Christina Sharpe
How to See a Work of Art in Total Darkness by Darby English
Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self by Brian Wallis
The Carolina Rice Kitchen by Karen Hess
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Artists
Willie Cole (specifically Ironing Board Print series)
Latoya Ruby Fraizer
Janet Cardiff
Marcus Coates (specifically Birdsong)
Simone Leigh
Moana Hatoum
Allora & Calzadilla (specifically Returning a Sound)
Andrea Buttner
Goshka Macuga

Things to Consider
Cooking and the qualities of food
Give yourself permission to be messy, What role could that play?
Shared experience
Trauma
Cookbooks and the idea of a meal
Mapping/Homesteads
Spend time with objects and determine what feels the most meaningful
Bookmaking can be a way to put all the elements together
Consider ways to represent objects other than photography
Research based Practice

Reflecting on the Residency

Specific ideas to explore from critique feedback that will guide my research and practice this semester…

·         Use collage as a way to sketch ideas, using metaphor to create narrative.

·         Material-based language can still help me realize my vision.

o    Look for objects that help to tell a story.

o    Think about the difference between found object vs. translating object through a different material.

§  What are advantages/disadvantages of each?

o    How can objects encapsulate a moment?

o    How can objects appeal to the viewer’s senses and emotions?

·         Work toward a unification of tone in text, narration, object and image-based work.

·         Can my work be framed as a fusion of scientific investigation and fantasy?

·         Consider more carefully ironic elements present in my practice; photographs of ephemeral sculptures, topography depicted through kitsch, etc.

·         Combining narration and the pictorial is more easily accepted by the viewer than narration and objects. Find a way to resolve this. Either make the objects/installation more immersive or more pictorial.

Landscapes & Relics

I've been playing around with the idea of adding permanent sculptural objects to my temporary installations. I would like to create a dialogue between natural material and man-made (or in this case "woman-made" relics. These biomorphic forms are intended to be ambiguous, at the same time referencing bodies, organic structures, land forms, or abandoned artifacts. I have always been attracted to working with multiples, building increasingly complex patterns out of simple shapes. These forms are made of cast porcelain. I love the interplay of light on the surface of unglazed porcelain. Its color and texture bears a resemblance to bone, stone, and fungi. 

I am working with porcelain slip for the first time and figuring out what needs to be addressed as I go along. From this first set of forms, I realized that I need to experiment with different methods of burnishing the clay before I fire it to improve its surface texture. I also found that I shouldn't be afraid to conceal parts of the form under sand. When I built unfired clay structures to submerge in sand, I thought the interplay between what was revealed and concealed was very interesting. I don't feel that this first attempt in using permanent sculptures was as successful. Maybe because I spent so much time in the process of sculpting the form, creating the mold, casting and firing it, I was a little more reluctant to cover it up.

From A Distance

“Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it but can only describe it from a certain vantage point of distance.” 

–Charles Lindbergh

Now that I've had some time and distance to ruminate over the conversations, critiques and seminars of June's residency, I have determined which areas to concentrate on over the coming months.

Questions gleaned from critique feedback that will guide my research and practice this semester…

• Where am I in the work? Find a way combine personal connection with topography/patterning.

• What is ephemeral? The meaning behind concentric circles, spirals, paisley?

• Where does labor have value in everyday life? Where does the material become secondary to labor?

• What creates pattern naturally vs. man-made processes that cause stylized patterning?

• Is the work about making/constructing or material?

• How would the viewer relate to different materials?

• How does one record an ephemeral experience?

• How can painting and sand work inform one another?

• Historically women have preserved culture and traditions through their work. How can I reference this in my own work?

• What is the role of pattern? Where are pattern and ornamentation derived from?

• Why use sand? Is it specific to me?

• What is more important in the sand work media or pattern?

• What role does map making and topography have in the work? Research these topics.