Not really knowing when i will have the opportunity to do this kind of work again I wanted to make the most of my final semester at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. I wanted to push myself outside of my comfort zone and create work I had never done before. Focusing on installations for the first half of the term and creating a series of nonrepresentational abstract art the second half of the term are both things I have always considered trying but never following through until now. I can say that the work I created this semester has helped me grow as an artist and has opened doors to new ideas I plan on pursuing and developing further in the coming years. I spent the first half of the term focusing on evoking emotions through each of my installations. Coinciding with my BFA Exhibition, for my first installation I focused on feelings of struggle and strangulation, being weighed down or grounded, constricted and trapped without any way out. But as I further investigated and reflected on my first installation and feelings I realized that this wasn’t what I wanted to focus on. Moving into my second installation its focus was finding a place you felt safe and secured amongst an environment of distress and disorder. The two installations became a narrative of dealing with negative emotions in a world of chaos but coming to a realization that there could be a sanctuary if you chose it. As we rolled into the second semester I was inspired by the ideas of the artist Mel Chin. Something he said in a documentary that really stuck with me was how he wants to take things that are considered to have no value and show that they do have value. A big part of his work is transformation, to create something that after he’s gone it will still contribute to the community and contribute value. I decided to step out of my comfort zone for the second half of the semester, I gave myself the challenge of creating a series of abstract pieces made from unwanted wood. No narrative no representation just abstracted compositions. As I pushed to think less and less of what these pieces of wood could mean, I began to focus more on craftsmanship. I become very detail oriented, I started examining the different wood grains, and how I could enhance and give value back to these unwanted pieces of wood. Completing two different bodies of work that I had never done before. I can confidently say that I’m leaving TAMUCC with my goals for this semester achieved, I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and I did. I created two installations for the first time ever and developed a body of abstract work without having any emotional tie. But above all I can say that the work I created this semester has helped me grow as an artist and has opened doors to new ideas I plan on pursuing and developing further in the coming years.
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I have been playing around with different compositions and ideas, taking into consideration the grain of the stained wood as well as the grain patterns on the smaller piece of chopped wood. You would think that creating abstract work would be easy but in creating this new body of work I find myself having a hard time and struggling to make compositions without any kind of narrative or representation.
After attending a graduate crit I thought it would be nice to reflect on some interesting facts and key points of her latest work she talked about.
Select and read about two of the following To Life artists, try to choose artists whose work is new to you. In class there was a discussion about all these artists, none that I have ever heard of so I decided to take a few notes on all the artists. I found that each artist was intriguing in their own way.
Ant Farm, Cadillac Ranch
Hans Haacke, Condensation cube
Frans Krajcberg
Andy Goldsworthy
Mel Chin Operation Pay dirt
Eduardo Kac “Glow and the dark Green Bunny”
Tavares Strachan
The first artist I chose to make a piece inspired by was Mel Chin. The way he thinks of making his works really inspired me how he wants to take things that are considered to have no value and show that they do have value. A big part of his work is transformation and to create something after he’s gone that contributes to the community that contributes value. The idea of giving back through conceptual art through the transformation of time. The idea I came up with is designing all weather houses for stray animals. They would be cemented into the ground and designed to with stand strong winds, hail, rain etc. So many animals are dumped into the streets because people either get tired of them and don’t want them anymore they can’t take care of them or other reasons. So one thing that always hurt s my heart when we have massive storms coming through is where do all the strays who don’t have roofs over there head go? Are they suffering? Are they okay? The purpose of this piece would be to give to those who don’t have a voice and can’t ask for help. Going into the next project I am going in a new direction and moving away from installation. This second half of this semester I’m going into building with some sea shells found on our local shores! Just going through and cleaning all of the dirt and sand off, prepping them for greatness!!
This exhibition was the first juried exhibition to be held in Rockport Texas since hurricane Harvey. It was a calling for all Texas artists and I was lucky enough to have one of my pieces picked to be in the exhibition. The atmosphere of the gallery space was truly incredible. It was one of the biggest accomplishments I’ve had as an artist. I got to test my elevator speech and step outside of my comfort zone to talk to viewers looking at my work as well as other artists and their work. It was a really special night because my grandparents came out to support me and my art work.
After examining and investigating my first instillation I realized that the first piece revolved more around the 100 plus ropes and the strain and strangulation of the t-shirt than the zip ties themselves. Focusing more on what I could do with string and still investigating my feelings of chaos, strain, and stress. I wanted to turn my attention the more positive emotions, I wanted to focus on the healing and feeling of a safe place, an oasis in the dessert of depression and negative emotions. This instillation was based on the audience being able to go inside and experience a space cocooned inside and away from a web of chaos. I received a lot of positive feedback things I found interesting that people were saying was that it was not entrapping but about protecting, and being safe, it was stronger than my first installation and that the execution was better. Overall I believe what I was trying to say conceptually was received from the audience very well. However it was brought to my attention that my choice of materials reminded some viewers of the three little pigs. So Again I really need to take a step back and evaluate any possible conclusions that people could come up with just by my material and aesthetic choices. Those things I would need to further work on and be mindful of, but also going into my third installation I want to challenge myself to only use rope, to see how much of an impact it could be with no other materials that could be distractions.
After attending a graduate critique I thought it would be nice to reflect on some interesting facts and key points of her latest work she talked about. Returning to grad school after 15 years Discovering what she is trying to explore with her art Is drawn to domesticated styles and themes as well as femininity “The monotony of a family” Inspired by Art deco Uses everyday objects that are used in her daily life that she finds some sort of repurpose Especially likes shiny bling, glitter, and sequence, adds another layer of happy to each piece Her works deal with a lot of repetitive imagery, or materials Let’s the materials she’s using lead her into her design decision An interesting additive to her recent piece was hand dipping over 200 pieces of felt into bees wax, creating an interesting skin like texture. But was really interesting is she said as she worked on each one sewing and adding onto each piece the bees wax let off an aroma that was extremely calming and relaxing. Handling each piece was an intimate moment because the bees wax smell was activated relaxing the artist She’s in a meditative state when he hands are actively going through and making work her mind is at ease. Personal medical conditions has weighed a heavy on influences on recent works. “Repetitive nature is protection and healing”- Barb hunt Still trying to understand how everything that she has done so far ties together Heading forward to Installation 2.0 it was required that our piece be interactive, but I also wanted to create a narrative between my first and second installation. Moving away from the negative emotions and feelings of strain and distress that I portrayed in my first piece, the second would have a focal on finding a safe place amongst all of the chaos and negative emotions. My idea is to create a little nook submerged in a web on string and twin the nook being ones safe place where the audience could actually go in and sit inside but only if they were willing to crawl through the webs of string and twin which symbolizes strain, chaos and negative emotions. IV. Crit#1 My first installation piece I wanted to create a piece that explained how I have been feeling mentally, emotionally, and physically. I didn’t want to create this piece for just me though I wanted my piece to be on a level that the viewer could have some sort of relatable experience. My focal piece was one of my own personal t-shirts with 100 zip ties that where cut and stuck into the shirt. The focal point was suspended in the air by different strings connecting to the zip ties. The zip ties where used to create feelings of extreme constriction while the string pulled the shirt in different directions emphasizing strain and stress. Attached to the bottom of the shirt where three bricks hovering over the floor creating tension between the floor and the piece. From critique I believe conceptually the audience responded well. I did recognize I really needed to be mindful of everything that goes into the piece. An example the shirt I used was a university shirt and though school is one of the things that has added to these feelings of strain that wasn’t the necessary focus I wanted the viewer to get hung up on. But it was brought up that it could be stress of a student’s life which they were able to connect with. Another thing I saw I could revisit and work on is my variation of strings and twin, having more variety in type and size to really play on different things that we deal with that tend to tug on us. I also think having the different variation in ropes would help to add dynamic and chaos to my piece. Not one person is going through or has the same sort of tribulations. If I revisit this piece to make relatable and much more impactful I would have a plain colored shirt no logo or specific style, and varied ,colors and sizes of ropes and twin to really emphasis my vision. I was truly captivated and stunned by Amy Stevens Confections they were absolutely gorgeous. The Atmosphere was fun and bright, I would never have thought making cakes and photographing them would be such a huge success. She really embraces what happens every time she lays a layer of icing on her cakes, Amy mentions that if she makes a mistake she doesn’t try to fix it, she just keeps going, really embracing that not everything has to be perfect and that is something I really appreciate about Amy’s work. The way she uses repetition of Patterns, the use of different fabric, and accessories to accentuate and captivate the character of her Cakes, it really pushes these compositions to be more than just photographs of cakes. Her backgrounds are loud and chaotic, but she is extremely intentional with her aesthetic and compositional choices. Amy creates a whole atmosphere for her cakes to live in not taking the audience from her focal point her ornamented cakes. It was interesting to learn that her first influence into baking her confectionious creations was Martha Stewart. When I think of Martha Stewart I think of the perfect house hold wife and the perfect American family, the mother is at home all dolled up with super ready for when dad gets home and everyone’s smiling with this beautifully made dinner and desert like a home goods magazine. To me Amy’s Stevens Confections is poking fun at or making fun of that idealistic life that every American is supposed to have. At a glance these ornate cakes that look seemingly flawless, but when investigated up close the flaws become noticeable pushing to break that perception. Overall I really enjoyed my experience with Amy Stevens, Confections. I. Reading assignment #1 To Life: Eco Art in Pursuit of a Sustainable Planet, Linda Weintraub’s3/27/2018 For this First assignment we had to make a list of 10 things that we didn’t considered art materials. Selecting two objects from our list we were to design two hypothetical sculptures using the two objects as primary the material. 10 Materials I would not have considered art materials 1. Buddy Bucks 2. Electrical cords 3. Pacifiers 4. Spices 5. Buttons 6. Candy wrappers 7. Old phones/ broken phones 8. Glow sticks (glowing) and after they don’t glow anymore 9. Cat litter 10. Pen Caps My first hypothetical sculpture was to use different electrical cords and wires as the primary material. I wanted to really emphasis how in today’s society we are being consumed and immersed in technology, monopolies and materialistic things. People are revolving around these inanimate objects and ideals essentially conforming to a fake plastic world that is fueled by greed and money. To make this ideal into a visual reality, I imagined having the audience walk into a space barley being able to move through comfortably through all the chaos. There would be electrical cords like spider webs, with old phones, mirrors, jewels and fake money all around, entangled into one giant mess. I would have electrical cords and wires suspended constricting plants with mirrors being placed so when looked at the viewer was incased into cords and this chaotic crazy world. Materials to be used Buddy bucks, fake money, different electrical cords and wires, old phones, mirrors Jewels Plants My second hypothetical sculpture is dealing with micro plastics and thread being discharged into the ocean. Even with layers of microscope filtration systems micro plastics are still passing through and have yet to be stopped from making it into the ocean. Not only is going back into the ocean but is was also found in fish that people where eating. This topic and issue I would be revisiting from work I had done the previous semester. I feel like I could make a bigger impact if I could turn this issue into an interactive installation piece. Materials to be used. Yarn and tread used in clothing Plastic Plastic bags Candy The audience would walk into a space with threads and yarn stretched like spider webs with fishing line suspending plastic and trash with pieces of candy attached. Visually it would feel like you were submersed under the ocean as if you were looking up towards a boat with fishing line cascading down. The viewer would have to maneuver around a sea of these items, hopefully to feel a sense of chaos and confinement, and if wished audience members would be able to take the candy off of the plastic, eat if desired and would be asked to discard their trash on the floor. |
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