Wednesday, December 2, 2009

el fin

get pumped! crit tomorrow and monday!!!

Monday, November 23, 2009

i do believe


hi, sorry its kinda late so here we go:

Jen- i really enjoyed your butterfly piece, my favorite part was when the light created new forms with the shadows and the interaction between the indivdual pieces. so i know we were talking the other day about your next piece and about how you wanted to create a different kind of coral-y environment. you should check this out: http://www.theiff.org/reef/index.html i kinda stole it from Robin but its still really interesting and relevant.

Dani- i really loved your paper/book explosion/sculpture and i found this really cool artist who works with paper and demension. that might be int
eresting to think about and check out. http://www.andreamastrovito.com/

Ben- i know you've been working on making some wearable art and i think you should check out Mandy Greer she's an artist who likes to make wearable art out of crochet and then uses the customs to make movies/ performance pieces. http://mandygreer.blogspot.com/

i've been reading fiber arts again and was really getting e
xcited about Janet Echelman's work, she uses polyester twine to create HUGE outdoor sculptures. its really awesome because i always want my art bigger and she did it! which is really great.

also there was a really cool article about lace in translation a 'rarely seen lace collection in philadelphia inspired a handful of acclaimed artists". i find lace really fascinating in itself because of all the detail and intimacy associated with it and these artist have created very public venues that have lace-work involved. Demakersvan made a fence of lace:


pretty fierce!

lastly i've been wondering about how my work is working together, i kinda feel like its at odds sometimes and thats ok but odd. first i did the cocoons and then i made my guns and now i'm continuing a project from two semesters ago about an uncomfortable form and a comfy material. weird, i guess i'm just scatter-brained but i seem to always come back to covering and protecting... i know thats important some how but i haven't figured it out completely.

any insight is great! thanks

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

ode to the one i love

for the love of guns:
yarn, thread, wire




fox-trot 11:
screen, crochet thread


Monday, November 2, 2009

cocoon feedback

sorry if i'm a weirdo i just wanted to make sure i have a record of all your great feedback. thanks guys:

Ashlie: I don't know if this is appropriate or not, but 1) I am very proud of you, and 2) I can really see an underlying theme, idea, connection in your work. The idea of sheltering and home is apparent and also the idea of not knowing, just as the viewer was unsure of what lay within or around these strange "creatures", buildings, fungi, etc. I think this is fitting in your work, it seems like you enjoy addressing your need for control and your acceptance of your inability to control all things at all times. I also appreciated the duality in this piece... taking hard clay and giving it a soft, and wispy appearance. Also I enjoyed that you created an environment for what is essentially an environment itself. I have so much more to talk to you about concerning your future piece too... I think a lot of your ideas do run through all your work, you just don't realize it. Like doing pointless things to set your own mind at ease ( I am not being mean I love this). I don't want to give away what you are about to do so I will make sure I talk to you in person about this soon

liz: I just wanted to touch them! each time i saw them they just looked so desirable to touch. i really liked the contradiction between the rug and the cocoons. the cocoons have the illusion of looking soft but in reality are a very hard material, but the rug is very soft and comfortable and enhances the soft look altogether.

Elise- Interesting blue creatures, they make make me curious. But I am wondering what the presentation is about. Why are they laid out on a pedestal with the darker blue rug underneath? I think they could be very interesting and exciting with perhaps a different set up and surrounding. I am left asking why?

abbey:This piece was so much like cocoons, begging to be touched. This piece is a very light, fun experience. Like little cloud pills-take one and you'll feel light as a feather! The concept escapes me, I wish I had an explanation to go with the piece.

dani: Alex, I love how you have anthropomorphized your clay vessels (family). Its interesting how we can invest so much emotion into objects and draw correlations and connections from our own mortal existence. There is something extremely warm, and inviting about this piece- i think it comes from the tactile nature of the materials you used. One of the first things i did when I encountered your "family" was to touch them... indeed they were soft however they were also cold and after the initial touch a little hard. There is something tragically beautiful in this experience, and i think for me what also come from it is the fact that these are empty vessels. I couldn't help but think of a "loss" or a feeling of losing something/one.

contemplation:
we/they have the ability to hold so much within our/themselves. we/they are vessels filled with air... however i wonder what was in these/our vessels or what potentially could be held in our/their vessel.

however:
this maybe be some random rambling- though I think this was an extremely success piece because of your ability to engage a viewer (myself) in thought/conversation/dialogue

you rock girl! =) excited to see more!!!

esteban: Cocoons for sure, that I definetilly got from this piece. I would say the only thing that felt missing where the creatures that used to be inside this, or maybe just addressing the interior a little more. Also varying their height when displayed, just so they dont sit in the same plane and give a little more dinamic composition all together.
;)
PS: sorry for being so late and all

robin: Cotton Candy
-clash between our minds reading them as soft and fluffy, and the solidness of the clay makes the viewer long for confirmatino through another sense - touch
-loce that they are so touchable, breaks the wall between the viewer and the rules of the gallery one might find them in



Thursday, October 29, 2009

REDUX

we're well into our second project now and i'm still learning patients. i'm in the process of knitting gun cozies for our beloved soldiers and its much more time consuming then i anticipated. needless to say its coming along well but slowly. when working in the studio i've been thinking alot about our soldiers obviously but also about their families and how they're 'in the army' too but no one really thinks much of it. im still really conflicted about the whole thing because i dont like war but i feel its important to protect our country and our way of life, i just wish people didnt have to die to do it. so this project is really about trying to protect our soldiers but being helpless in doing so because i dont have that skill set and more importantly they dont want to be protected, they're the protectors.

next i plan on continuing my knit snake-like form and presenting it at the end of the semester. i'm really excited because i've been working on this since last fall just in my spare time.

fiber arts is by far my favorite magazine and i read it cover to cover. the most recent issue has a great article about Louise Saxton: Fantasias of Form. her work in this article consists of really intricate reclaimed embroidery and lace forms that are pieced together to create bigger forms by pins. i love the concept of a bunch of small things built up or put together to make a larger different form, like the motorcycle shadow piece.

my favorite recipe is pillsbery ready to bake chocolate chip cookies! buy package, preheat oven, bake for 10-12 mins, cool for 1 min. and ENJOY!

Monday, October 12, 2009

DIY

so do it yourself... my next project is going to be about my response to my boyfriend joining the army and my need to shelter someone who i'm not allowed to or able to protect.

so my little how to show is about knitting: as you may know i love to knit and i've started using knitting as a new/useful tool i've incorporate into my artwork. so here's a really sweet video from youtube on how to knit: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uw-nUvGrBY]

also [http://www.stitchdiva.com/custom.aspx?id=102] is a great website with photos and great explanations on how to cast on, knit and bind off.

also just for fun.. well brent think its fun: in the army you learn
how to take your rifle apart to clean it and then put it back together. so for another new skill you can learn is how to field strip an M16 (standard issue american army rifle) at: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgVOj0Dznfw] normally these are timed exercises, which i guess could be fun if you're fast.

so i've been checking out some embroidery artists like Isabella Rengifo, i'm really fasinated about how this craft has become a new way to draw or paint for her.


also i've been looking at Jennifer Cecere, who is very into doilies, which is really curious. also her work plays with scale making me think about all its potential. The oddity of having a huge decorative object not in its usual setting is just wonderful.. and very curious.

also i didnt get a chance to write about the work we didnt discuss at critic:
ashley: sooo beautiful! loved how home-y and hand made it felt. also i know it didnt turn out as you expected but i think its still great. i love the beading so maybe add more next time, because my favorite part is when it starts to become a little more 3D.

lauren: i really like multiples, something about repetition is just really soothing. i'm not sold about the presentation though... maybe on the wall or suspended?

abby: EWWW... its was creepy and icky but intriguingly small.. i did find the green a little distracting because it was so bright it made me think halloween instead of stomach guts.. but still really weird and interesting. i didnt like it but i found myself coming back to look again.

elise: weirdness... where's the rest of the body?? i like the idea of using other materials like the plastic-y stuff around the ribs but this particular type is confussing to me, maybe because its orange or has stuff in it... not sure. but pretty creepy

pam: cool glazes and a nice variety of sizes. everyone knows how skilled you are at pottery so show us something crazy! use the wheel to create less conventional shapes and forms.

tis all for now

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

just a little family

Kinda sad we didn't have time to get to my piece in critic today but i'm still really excited and happy with my piece! when people get a chance i'd appreciate any comments.






Sunday, October 4, 2009

crazy quilt-y


sculpture:

grandma-craziness meets curtainy breezy wonderful-ness



Monday, September 21, 2009

dream a little dream


so i've been busy at work making cocoons... which has been a much creepier process that i anticipated. i keep expecting gross bugs to spill out of them, when ever i uncover them. maybe thats just cuz a grasshopper jumped out at me one day..? my brain has been working overtime on what to do once these little guys are fired and how i want to display them. i was thinking maybe yarn or feathers or something, not sure. i know i want a natural-ish outside and some kinda fuzzy-ness spilling out from inside.

i've found that i keep wanting to cover objects with fabric or yarn and originally i thought it was about stuffing to 'bring to life'... but i think its more about protecting or tricking myself by hiding scary or uncomfortable things as an attempt at coping. because even if its scary, it still feels like it is mine to protect. so these little cocoons have become my little babies... i feel a real need to cuddle and protect them... weird i know! so i'm not sure what is inside that i'm needing to protect but never fear protect it i will. wow talk about off my rocker...?

wow dream dream dream! i have so many werid dreams...

yesterday morning: i was a member of NCIS and we were running around a neighborhood at night with guns ( but they werent heavy and when we needed to run or swim, they disappeared) trying to find something that seemed out of the ordinary so we could catch the bad guy. well i saw a little girl laying next to the sidewalk in front of her house, some of my friends/NCIS people stopped to help her but i keep running except i started flying/swimming threw the air and i couldn't seem to get there fast enough b/c i was trying to figure out why this spot light kept shinning on this one house. but the light caught me and i stopped swimming. and could hear my thoughts say (like in tv when you hear a character's thoughts) "its like the know what i'm thinking" then i remember feeling really scared like i was in danger.

so i think its really odd that i want to protect things and how in my dreams i seem to always feel scared because someone is chasing me or after me... maybe i want to be protected so i just overprotect everyone and everything else... maybe some psyc-student should study me.


snuggly little family:

Monday, September 7, 2009

advanced clay

hi everyone! 
i'm so excited to be back in the clay studio. over the summer i was thinking about a lot of different things, all relating back to patterns and repetiti
on. for example i love to knit and i've been working on a large project consisting of knitted tubes that resemble a snake after eating. i also thought all about natural forms and currents. i d
idnt make it to the beach much this summer but i've always been interested in the ocean, the animals, the sound and specifically the motion. i love the beauty of crashing waves. ocean currents are really fascinating because they create a very natu
re and intricate pattern! and after the crazy caterpillars started making nests all over, it brought my attention back to cocoons and the odd but awesome process of changing into a butterfly or moth. i really like the idea of making pod/cocoon forms. the idea of understanding or figuring out or just imagining what could be inside this protective forms interests me also. 

this semester i want to work on creating cocoon forms and deciding what is important enough to protect in these pods. also i'm going to continue working
 on my knitting environment. 

over the summer i was looking for inspirational images and found this artist sarah applebaum.  she works with fabric in a really fun patch-worky way thats really inspiring. 



check her out:
http://www.sarahapplebaum.com/index.php

also after researching cocoons i found this really cool artist from the UK named rachel cox. 
http://www.meltedfabrics.com/