Reflections - Leaves

There are a lot of issues to be addressed concerning the paper leaves. That being said, I feel as though this body of work was the most resolved from the previous semester. As a result of residency feedback, I realized that leaves do not need to be legible to be successful. My primary goal this semester is to make as many leaves as possible using dyed pulp with glimpses of legible text.

Resolving these issues has the potential to enhance the formal and conceptual qualities of the work...

Consider diversification of the look of the leaf because the idea of oneness is potentially reductive and problematic

Consider how collards are used, this information can be synthesized in order to create sculpture

Questions to explore through studio practice this semester...
How to push material to add meaning?

How to synthesize sensory experiences in a way that builds narrative?

How to realize this work as fully 3 dimensional?

How to use arrangement, text, and narration to tell a story?

How does display become content?

How to merge this work with my other narratives in a way that makes sense?
 

Specific tasks to address...

Try using new material (ex. money, books, cotton, rice)

Create new molds

Explore the possibility of additional species of leaf/fruit/veggie. (ex. Watermelon, black-eyed peas, okra)

Experiment with using text (faux labels) to convey meaning

Make use of the aesthetics of research

Include narration with this body of work

Continue exploring installation potential, think of installation as if I am curating an exhibition on leaves

Meandering Lines: Second Semester Artist Statement

“…we make our lives among relics and ruins of former times, former worlds. Each of us is, too, a landscape inscribed by memory and loss.”   –Lauret Savoy 

 

The meandering veins of a leaf echo the veins in my great-grandmother’s hands as she prepared 

collard greens every Friday. Memories of her hands lead me to think of the veins that ran 

beneath the skin of women in my family that picked greens for generations before her. My 

thoughts drift to the meandering creek behind my grandmother’s house and the stories she told 

me about catching crawdads in a nearby stream as a child. Thinking back to my own childhood, I 

remember sitting at the feet of my great-grandmother, as she recounted stories of her own 

great-great grandmother who was kidnapped from the banks of the James river and sold at 

auction.   

Through creating objects that evoke emotional responses, cultural associations, and personal 

recollections, I  recover and record traces left behind by my ancestors and leave some of my 

own. These accumulations seek to answer what role does our surrounding landscape and its 

resources, play in who we are and what we become, where do individual and cultural identities 

overlap, and where we can find connection to the land, to each other, and to our heritage. 

Transparency of Material

It is much more difficult to pick up detail from the molds when using entire cards. Working this way, I focus on articulation of the stem vein and contour of the leaf.  They still need a lot of work but I feel it's a move in the right direction. Rather than thinking of these leaves as a separate body of work from the others I intend to display them together so that they add context to the more realistic leaves. 

I've also been experimenting with laying large areas of text into the mold before adding pulp. This way the leaves are a composite of processed and unprocessed paper. I tried to lay in the text randomly so that it doesn't appear too contrived. Some are more successful than others. For instance, I respond more favorably to the leaf with text in mostly alternating diagonals rather than the leaf with mostly horizontal text with some diagonals near the top. I need to figure out a way to make the text appear effortlessly random.

More Thoughts on Display

Does the way a collection of objects is arranged reveal clues about how it will be interpreted by the viewer?

I've been playing around with different configurations for displaying the leaves. I've settled on two different methods. On the shelf of objects, I will arrange a single loose stack of monochromatic leaves. This will draw connections between the methods of working and also aid in connecting family, cultural and historical narratives. The uniformity of color in the leaves suggests consistency and uniformity of identity. The variety of shapes and sizes reference individuality and growth/maturity. This makes it easily acceptable as a family unit.

The crux of this work's content is individual vs. group/cultural identity. That being said, I've determined that displaying the leaves as a continuous row hung along the wall at eye level is most suitable for supporting the content. In this way the viewer must engage each leaf as a unique individual, that varies in color, size, shape and method of making from its neighbor. From a distance, the leaves merge into a line. In this way, unique, differentiating features of each leaf become less evident, establishing a group identity. 

Bunches or Specimens

Lately I've been cleaning up the leaves and painting their veins. Trimming their edges of pulp that extended beyond the mold proved to be more difficult than I expected. Even using a sharp X-acto knife, the pulp fibers are so short that they tear very easily. 

I've been considering 3 different methods of display:

• Pinning as a row or grid of specimens
• Binding them in bunches with twine
• Stacking them loosely in bunches

Pin detail

Twine detail

Veins, Dyes, & Display

Finished Khaki leaf

Finished Composite leaf

Finished Moss leaf

I've been finishing up painting the veins in on the paper leaves I made in February and casting new ones. The line quality and variation is improving. This semester my goal has been to create leaves that are less realistic, emphasizing transparency of process and material. These objects look less like actual leaves, making the increased verisimilitude of the stem and leaf veins a necessary element and an interesting contradiction. 

New Moss dyed pulp leaf

Sage dyed pulp leaf

I mixed two new batches of dyed pulp, in an attempt to cast leaves with more vibrant color and improved texture. I'm pretty happy with the results. One is a delicate moss green, the other is a deeper sage color. Both pulps have legible text, interesting variation in hue, and pick up greater detail from the mold. All of the new leaves are made entirely out of library catalog cards.

Detail of new Moss leaf

I've also been thinking about ways to display this work. I haven't completely ruled out pinning them to the wall as specimens but I'm not sold on it either. One option is to display them lying on a surface in bunches; the way they would be purchased or stacked after picking and washing.

Collard Bunch (display idea)

Detail of Collard Bunch (display idea)

New Leaves

Moss pulp leaf no.6  

In the last couple of weeks, I have cast about 10 leaves from the pulp I made in early February. Half of them were made from the blended paper pulp and dyed moss green. Two were made from the torn paper pulp and dyed khaki green. The remaining leaves were made from a composite pulp using the remnants of the two dyed pulps and leftover cotton linter pulp from last semester. 

I've made some progress toward reaching the goals I set in January. I learned that the dye must be used in a higher concentration to more achieve more vibrant results. I also discovered that the blended paper pulp yielded the best results in terms of leaf texture and legible text. The color, however, was less than ideal. Once the pulp was cast, it dried to a hue that appeared more bluish-grey than green. The next step will be to experiment further with color and look for a new source for library catalogue cards. 

This week I will also paint in the veins, experiment with using ink instead of acrylic, and reinforce the back of the leaves with gel medium. The cardstock fibers do not create as strong a pulp as cotton fibers. Its also time to think about using different leaves and begin making some new molds.

Moss pulp leaf no. 2 

Khaki pulp leaf no. 2

Khaki pulp leaf no. 1

Composite pulp leaf no. 2

Composite pulp leaf no. 1