77 DAYS OF SKETCHES

senior project: 2010 semester round-up

Emma — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 19:32:49 +0000

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.

TODAY’S POST:

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.

senior project: midway

Emma — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 01:47:35 +0000

The view outside my window is a living painting.

First off, thank you all for the immense support. It means a lot to me – it’s one thing to make art alone and try to recover from setbacks alone and it’s something else to feel like whatever you do you have these wonderful people out there supporting you. I feel lucky and grateful for that, for you all, for the wonderful art faculty, for friends, and my family.

Second, my computer is alive? My hard drive crashed two weeks back. It was amazing and total. I went to NYC to get a new hard drive and I thankfully managed to recover everything on the old one – huge relief, because all my art and writing and work was on there.

So now that my computer is back up and functioning I just haven’t found the time to post!

But, so, here it is, a huge summary of some of the things I’ve made so far.

SENIOR PROJECT SO FAR

NON-NARRATIVE COLLAGE BOOK

Artist’s Book (Printmaking III) class assignment. Used old National Geographics
and thread to create a 16 page non-narrative narrative. Will scan in entirety soon.

FIRST BOOK

Artist’s Book (Printmaking III). Built a book from scratch. Cut and folded paper,
sewed signatures together, cut and constructed covers, glued all together, and
covered with book paper with inner cover pages.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Organizer of artist’s tools governed by nostalgic symbolism.

EX LIBRIS

Photopolymer plate through letterpress. Created photopolymer plate with digitally
made design, used letterpress to make copies of these ownership tags for books.

DANAE

Reappropriation of Correggio’s (1531) classical female nude painting Danae.
Work in progress. Oil.

My friends bring me flowers. It’s kind of amazing.

GHOSTS

Paper cut painted with white acrylic. Work in progress.

TOPOGRAPHY TRIPTYCH N 42.44 W -71.18 | UNTITLED | TIEDÄN/TUNNEN (I KNOW/I KNOW)

Three paintings made together, utilizing natural materials (leaves, pine needles) and actual topography maps.

This triptych was my contribution to the Bard Senior Midway Exhibition on October 21st in Fisher Gallery.

[see details here and here]

MIDWAY SHOW

The Triptych as seen at the Senior Midway Show in Fisher Gallery in October 2010.
The whole show had a great reception – thanks everyone who came!
All the seniors had a lot of great work to show, and the next time we show will be in May.

THIS WEEK & COMING UP:

I’m seeing a new confidence in my hand – my drawn line – my mark on my work. I’m making friends with it. Ideas are coming to me faster than I can make all of them happen. All in due time. I have:

- 4,400 yards of yarn
- a bag of stones
- (made) a Japanese stab bound book
- an upside down bouquet
- two wooden squares
- 3 nests made of leaves

Basically, feeling so good.

For updates on inspiring art, again, see my tumblr. Tara Donovan, and others soon to come.

a new year (week one: SENIOR PROJECT!)

Emma — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 04:40:23 +0000

I love the sound the perforated paper at the corner of my planner makes when I tear away the passing weeks.

It’s school time. It’s autumn. I got hit by an acorn the other day. The changing leaves caught me off guard.

It’s a different world from summer, and this is a different life from my summer life. How lucky was I to have all that time and all those resources to make something everyday? So wonderful. The thought of making every day meaningful has not left me -

Now I just divide my time to a whole list of pursuits in addition to art-making:

1. five spectacular, distinct classes

2.weaseling my way into the US job market

3. revamping my portfolio, resume, and website

4. getting my NYS driver’s license!

5. final. year. of college life.

AND

6. working on my senior project (‘sprojing‘)

That last one is possibly the best feeling in the world.
It’s an extension of how summer felt: like the boundaries of growth and potential were interminable.

My summer project also gave my experiences greater personal value through their documentation.

And that’s what I want to do this year as well, capture it in increments, because time is so fleeting. Especially when you’re working on something you love. And anyway, time is powerful concept to me. I want to remember so many things. I won’t have as much time to blog as I did in the summer, so I’m setting for myself the ‘challenge’ (which feels like a cakewalk after 77 days of sketches) of updating this blog on the progress of my senior project once a week for the rest of this academic year leading up to my graduation.

THINGS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT APPEAR HERE ONCE-A-WEEK:

1. Notes from my senior project journal – mostly quotes, thoughts, sources of inspiration. I carry this thing everywhere with me.

2. Works in progress – whether they’re complete, successful, big, small

3. Influences – mostly other artists, a lot of whom you can see directly on my tumblr for my senior project

3. Career hunt – hunting is an accurate description. I’m sure it’s out there, hiding from me. My career that is.

3. Working method – because when has this blog not been about labor?

3. Self exploration – it is a blog after all. One of the more selfish pursuits on the internet. Yay.

Mostly, I’m hoping this blog will keep me personally sane and keep me on track.

Blah. This sounds so self-important?
Really though, I think I just want to remember it all.
LIKE MY VERY FIRST STUDIO – I am so, so, so lucky to have these opportunities.

MY FIRST STUDIO

…and the view!

So pretty much I just like pillows, flowers, and fruits. Right? Good senior project thesis? Comfy things? Mmm.

I can’t even say how much having this studio inspires me. I was really looking forward to it over the summer, but I wasn’t expecting how much I’d really be there. I only sleep in my dorm room, really. It’s so nice to create a space of your own – one where you feel you’re not at Bard necessarily, not here or there, but just somewhere off on your own.

Your music. Your stuff. Your comfy naps on the ground between classes.

I’m so excited. For everything. Especially the naps.

Basically, that’s it for today, tomorrow I’ll post some photos of the pieces I’ve made so far, and ones I’m currently working on. I also have my first studio visit by a faculty member tomorrow. Excellent.

day seventy-seven: so long, and thanks for all the fish

Emma — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 00:29:10 +0000

And so summer drew to a close. Always unexpectedly.

Always the idea of summer feels so infinite! Like just the idea of summer conjures up this image of freedom and sunshine, grass and bliss and driving hundreds of miles through dandelions. And yet in the end it ends so suddenly!

Even today I was out all day in Helsinki and today’s sketch came as something natural, but brisk. It surprised me that this was the last day.

I feel that disbelief of summer with an end right now.

Most of that disbelief mingles with a strange surrealism – like this project is not really ending? (It is.) But the ideas it has brought to life are continuing, and that’s where I’m keeping summer alive. I’m keeping my summer thoughts.

And so I feel good and I feel sad at the same time. I feel good that:

I came up with this endeavor for myself and completed it

used my time well practicing and fiddling

tried new and different things with different levels of success and completion

got to spend hours doing something I love

I gained a whole different sense of personal and artistic discipline and ethics

I feel good that I challenged myself and didn’t win or lose, but understand more

And I feel sad that I will leave Finland and that things will be different next year. That latter sadness is much more of a nostalgia though. I’m excited about a malleable new year, and if there’s anything that changed between now and when I started this project it’s that I feel more in control now.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Fitter, happier

I feel in control in my art when I work. I get flustered, but I step back and follow practices I’ve learned to regain perspective and give myself a break. I feel in control by being able to anticipate bad moods, boredom, or other obstacles. And hah, the cornerstone obstacle for artists still has no cure as far as I see – artists block is only helped by not giving yourself a tough time over it and carrying on until inspiration magically strikes. Elizabeth Gilbert put it best in her TEDtalks about nurturing creativity. I’ll keep that video as a reminder to myself next year. It’s easy to say things that are true, but it’s easier to forget that they are so in practice.

I feel in control of my college life, too. I’m excited about the independence of my senior project. I’m excited about learning a new language next year. I’m excited to live in a single and make my last year at Bard an excellent one.

I feel in control of my career as an artist. I’m excited to doggedly chase those creative job openings and to forge my own, in Finland, in the US, wherever.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

More productive

Basically, the summer did me good by restoring a little bit of precious mental health and self-fulfillment, self-improvement, self-feng-shui. And I know these things tend to seep out with the tides of stress inherent in every school year, so I’m trying my best to preserve these thoughts and preserve them well. Take a healthy summer mindset with me wherever I go.

And despite all this focus on my cluttered self, I really wouldn’t be the same person without the people in my life. My letters project said it better than I can now. It really is a wonderful feeling to be surrounded by so many people you admire. And I can’t thank you all enough for all the inspiration. How about us all being a part of a huge, creative, thinking, constantly moving conversation… Let’s consume less stuff and produce more good ideas.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
And from the most inspiring home page and screensaver Design Quotes Display:

Make mistakes faster.
- Andrew Grove

Stop looking at yourself as a designer and start looking at yourself as a deliverer of ideas.
- Stle Melvr

What works good is better than what looks good. Because what works good lasts.
- Ray Eames

A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
- Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Good design is good business.
- Thomas Watson

It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be.
- Paul Arden

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

X^&*#@ AWESOME THINGS!

#98 Public drinking is legal in parks in Finland, also Finland is the home of the Lonkero (long drink), a massproduced alcoholic beverage of grapefruit soda and gin. These two facts make an excellent combination for a summer Saturday in Helsinki.

#1 = Finland. Talking best countries officially.

#344 The event of absentmindedly snacking, thinking you’ve finished the snack, and later actually looking down and realizing there is still some left.

In this case it was a raisin but boy did it make my night that much better.

* * *

I’ll leave this blog with that. Might continue to post sketches from time to time. Somewhere. Who knows! Also I’ll be conceiving my new website soon, so watch this space. Love and thank you and hope you all had a lovely summer!

day seventy-six: one day

Emma — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 06:15:36 +0000

Internet was out last night, so I’m posting this here in the morning of my last day. Realized how nice it is to work on several projects at once because it breaks up the tedium of it: i.e. you can be much more calm with cutting out teeny paper letters after a half an hour of coding. Changing it up to keep it interesting.

Today heading to Helsinki for a day out with our cousins Mari and Antti. And then a lot of packing to do after that… Yesterday we had an interior designer come in and look at our house and we’ll get the plans for renovations next week – it’s really fun to look through granite counter samples and color swatches, just brings out the creative in you!

Oh, and found this old piece of art circa December 2005 / January 2006. I was 16 then! I saw a resemblance to today’s piece in a fun way.

day seventy-five: watercolors

Emma — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:10:18 +0000

More watercolors today – working on drafts of ID headers for my portfolio website (hence the cornucopia of corny name tags). The coding was continued today, the major achievement of that getting the accordion menu javascript to fold and open smoothly, as well as making it horizontal instead of vertical. My new glasses also’ve gotten me into a geeky coding mood! Aaand have a case of sinusitis, so recovering from that with the help of some Gilmore Girls DVD binging.

One of my favorite things today was this teeny jam label I made for our blackcurrant preserves:

Interesting links from today: HEL LOOKS fashion from Flow Festival, free open-source type for everyone, and an inspiring video by Everynone (via Tara)

day seventy-four: metaphors about trees

Emma — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 20:27:48 +0000

Counting the rings of my core:
the dark narrow ones were winters,
the pale wide ones were summers.

Finland’s at my core – I’ll keep it growing.

One summer at a time.

day seventy-three: preserving clarity

Emma — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:37:51 +0000

Thoughts

I’ve been reflecting a lot over the past few days on where I’ve gotten to in this project.

This project was meant for me to prepare myself for my senior project, to refresh my ideas on my art, and to push myself. I’m at the point where I’m getting tired of doing something small like this each day – not that I don’t think it’s not continuing to be helpful to me and not that I regret doing this – oh no, really the opposite: These tiny projects day after day are reviving a hunger to work on something long-term. I feel ready and excited to start my senior project.

I don’t have a concrete plan of what my subject will be, I feel confident in how I will work and how I will rebound from obstacles.

This project was never truly about the things I ended up making,
but rather about reflection on art and myself as an artist.

Right now I feel this motivation to put real care and thought into something long-term, and I feel good. But I do also feel tired, like a normal person. And I do feel that summer is closing.

Mostly, I’m just ready to go back to the states.

It’s going to be the ending and the beginning and the ending and the beginning endlessly. That’s really racking my brain, too. The transition from my Finnish self to my American self is not always easy. They’re just different lifestyles – ones I love equally, and ones I want to preserve equally.

Brian came up with a great idea today during our Skype conversation (he’s in Montana, fulfilling a dream):

“You should find a way to preserve
what you feel like in Finland and bring it back to Bard
so you can always return to it when you need it.”

I think that’s one of the most intelligent pieces of advice I’ve ever been given. Because it’s easy to get bummed out and bored and to forget how happy you are or easily could be.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Preservation

I think the intention of preserving how I feel now was in the back of my mind when I was making these motivational posters. Everything just feels very clear right now. Summer in Finland has always rejuvenated me artistically – like clicking refresh. But I also know every year I lose this clarity quickly when I leave this environment.

So this year will be different – I’m making these positive posters for myself to help me remember how to keep calm and carry on. These posters come from the writings in my summer journal, things like:

“don’t judge yourself as an artist by what you’ve done so much as what you’re doing or going to do”

“you are not the sum of your work and outcome, but the sum of your care and thought”

“do something you want to do and not something you should do”

“if you don’t like what you’re doing, do something else”

“don’t worry. you will make so much in your life.”

And to the bottom of my when making art poster, I added:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

TODAY!

ACTUAL THINGS I DID TODAY, BESIDES THINKING

1 played with Chinese watercolors and sketched one of the sunflowers we have here in the house
2 made some vector logo designs to help me get the ball rolling on business card / new website header designs (ugh, looking at these together makes me feel so self-centric! EMMA MALLINEN EMMA MALLINEN EMMA MELON?)
3 started drawing this log, something symbolic, something I’ll explain tomorrow when I finish it.

LOGOS BIZ CARD DESIGN DOODLES

LOG IN PROGRESS

…oh, and I made moussaka today. Cooking as long as possible before the Bard cafeteria!

day seventy-two: honest ghosts of restless bodies

Emma — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:13:18 +0000

I thought these sheets were really beautiful so I photographed them when I was about to change them when we were back at the cabin. This was the slice of heaven we occupied at the cabin, a separate sleeping loft:

There’s a lot I’ve been thinking about with the reset and when making art posters of the last few days… but I want to dignify those ideas with a fresh head and the good night of sleep that I’ve been missing recently. It’s all basically tied into this rubberband ball of my thoughts that concern the following year of artistic license at Bard. I’m thinking about bottling this peace and go-get-’em’ness that I feel here in Finland. I want to preserve this flashfire synapse that I feel is being sustained between thinking of something and doing it.

#423 Lesson This Project Has Taught Me: just make stuff. Constantly. Because not all of it will be excellent, but all of it is forward momentum. Working on multiple projects at once eases artistic tedium/boredom because you don’t feel so tied down to static ideas. It’s not always easy to love what you’re doing – but it’s important to always try and be doing what you love.

let’s live suddenly without thinking

e.e. cummings

Aaannd, today I started coding a new version of my portfolio website, the old one is fine for now, but a bit creaky and nonstandard. I’m coding this new one in PHP using Indexhibit, it should be a lot sleeker and more professional. I’m psyched. Today I just figured out the basics and finagled the accordion menu code into working order so that sections collapse and retract in turn. Colors and links and fonts are all temporary. I figured I better get a start on this before the summer and my free time ends!

day seventy-one: reset

Emma — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 00:55:25 +0000

Another motivational poster for my art studio next year: this time, anticipating bumps in the road, artistic ruts, and the occasional bummed out mood –
ways to reset yourself and clear your head.

More writing about these posters in due time, it’s 4 am now and time to sleep. Tonight’s closing concert at Flow Festival was excellent,
but I’m glad to be back on a normal schedule. I’d love to post some photos from the shows tomorrow.

Hyvää yötä and thank you all for your amazing support in this project. I am really lucky to have you.