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Work, work, work, work, work, work work.
There’s an apt summary of last semester!
It’s been a while since I updated! Mostly for lack of time than of want, really.
This semester was an exciting one: independence, confidence, and experimentation lay at it’s core. I spent it entirely on trying different things artistically. They were interesting projects, but none of them were personally successful. Since then, my art has taken a completely different direction. This new direction is actually more connected to the work I did last summer than anything I did during this semester.
I really had anticipated as much: it’s very easy to be influenced by your surroundings, so when I came back I forgot about some of the things I really loved doing, or worse, doubted them. At Bard I often feel artistically intimidated to produce a certain “Bard” kind of art. My art just doesn’t fit into that mold and it’s taken a long time to accept that and move on with my own kind of work.
That being said, I’ve discovered more concretely than ever before a few key strengths that I have as artist.
My bookmaking class was hugely responsible for some of these personal artistic triumphs.
1 Projects I completed last semester
2 Plans for next semester & senior exhibition
3 Where I am now
1. fall semester’s projects
CYANOTYPES
Cyanotypes are created by applying a photosensitive solution of equal parts potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate on paper, then exposing that paper to light through a design on transparency paper or cutouts. Any part of the page not exposed to light will remain white and everything exposed turns blue after the page is washed under water. The above cyanotype was my first, made with these two paper cut outs. These below were also made with cut out hands, geometric designs on transparency paper, and a piece of string. You really can expose through anything.
I & U BOOK
This was my first big project for my bookmaking class. I used Japanese stab-binding with hardcovers and letterpress for the interior content. Using the letterpress was a great experience: it takes a lot of care and precision, so for me – a lover of detail – this was very fulfilling and enjoyable. A great challenge. Also, it takes a solid hour to clean the press? So much work! But the effort shows, I think.
‘HOW TO’ BOOK
What I really tapped into with bookmaking this semester was the all-encompassing control you have over the form of the book. That is, you can make a lot of decisions as an artist to affect the viewer’s experience of the object. The book form has a generally accepted way of being read – front to back, starting from the left, reading to the right, a way of being held. There’s custom to it. Because you can anticipate the order people will see the pages in, you can set up an experience of peaks and valleys in your non-narrative. Moments of intensity spaced with pauses. I like this control, and I feel like I understand it well, and I have a strong way of manipulating it.
This final book project is a “How to” book. I was very pleased with the outcome, but have very little photos of it right now. The top image in this post comes from it (“HOW to remember everything”), as well as this cake above. The book is set up into four sections by the four seasons, and three sections with headers (how to remember everything, how to member everything, and how to dismember everything.) The medium employs Japanese stab-binding again, the size is distinctly bigger, and the pages consist of both book paper, cyanotypes, and different transparent sheets.
The whole book had to do with memory and its desperate preservation.
My sister Jenni actually read a great quote from The Secret Lives of People in Love by Simon Van Booy that pertains to this:
“Without memory, man would be invincible.”
OTHER PROJECTS
Other than the main pursuits of bookmaking and cyanotypes, I also explored a lot of natural materials. This is something I enjoyed, but in the end will not factor into my senior exhibition as it stands now.
So that’s it for the semester round up!
Got a lot of work done, and the fact that a fraction of it was good is something I’m proud of. It takes a lot of forgettable work to make even one memorable work.
2. plans for next semester
So I’ve got this yarn.
4,400 yards of it to be exact.
And… I’m knitting a scarf. A very long one.
And hopefully it won’t just be me knitting, but a handful of people, because in the end I’ll use the scarf to spell out “we” in cursive letters on the wall.
Very excited about this installation!
I thought that would be a good example to share for the work I’m thinking of, because my new focus is closing in on language and words as images. My senior project exhibition will hopefully be a collection of books I’ve made as well as text based pieces. There’s a place in me that I have the ability to spell out very clearly using words, and I’m looking forward to capitalize on that ability. I want to tap in to something poignant with words as well as with art – the combination of the two is fertile ground for creativity.
2. where I am now
For now, I’m just enjoying this winter wonderland in Finland. My animation internship kicks off in a week and I’m very excited. I’ve never used Flash so I’m learning now – just finished my first animation. Also, I’m reading the following books, sitting back, and relaxing. Breath in. Breath out. Happy New Year!
It’ll be a great one.
Tara sheffer
I am so thankful for this year, and our friendship and art-ship(arty friendship?) really played a big factor into the goodness of 2010. I am so in awe and respect of your project and can’t wait to see where it goes! I’m working hard knitknitknittin!
Love you! You will succeed in every way shape and form
Tara
Jan 01, 2011 @ 3:26 am