We have been working on public interventions for the past week or so. I collected cigarettes from the street and patterned them in between this sewer grate. I took photos throughout the day, as passerbys walked all over it. At the end of the day it had been cleaned up. 

Today we began thinking about our final projects in Theme Sequence—it’s hard to believe that we’re at this point in the semester already. I feel like I have so many things going on right now, concepts to explore with what I’ve already made, that I don’t quite know what direction to go in. But I guess that’s what this time is for. Here are a few pictures of what I worked on last weekend, when all I really wanted to do was make art (It doesn’t happen all the time, so I had to take advantage of it!)

It's back to work now! From the Boboli gardens in Theme Sequence, I was very interested in the moss growing on the stones, which translated into a recreation of the environment in which I was drawing. From those moss drawings, the build up of marks, also practiced in Drawing, were the most interesting.
This week these moss drawings translated into revisting videos, with an eye towards the accumulation of lines, rather than the rhythm of stop-motion.

Seminar: Interventions and Interruptions

For seminar we did a few exercises, in which we focused on interrupting ideas/ norms in the studio space. The first exercise was just to "interrupt the space around us" and we weren't given any direction as to how-- students turned over tables, put sweaters on their heads, stood in strange poses etc. Then we wrote exercises that we wanted other people to do, which had a similarly chaotic outcome. We also worked in pairs interrupting spaces, in larger groups, and as a class. The exercises that I found the most interesting were the ones in which we put everything in the room in the smallest unit possible, and in which we spread everything out as wide as possible. When we compressed all the objects together they became a new form in the room, and when we expanded objects as much as possible, the individual forms were changed as well-- for instance, Rachel poured a bag of flour all over the floor to expand it and the form of the flour changed. I find it interesting that objects, when put together or brought apart, make an entirely new entity. I am trying to focus on this idea in the next project I do. I am thinking of using some found materials in my paintings, so that the painting becomes also a bit of a sculpture, and the combination of materials creates a new entity.

A Visit to the Boboli Gardens

A couple of the photographs I took during our first class after Spring Break.

back in action

After spring break, it was hard to get back in the awing of things, but I am glad to be back working. I am excited for the direction my work might take on this half of the semester.

Being back included cleaning up our spaces and midterm projects. That for me meant the de-nailing of my head. Check it out.

Post Spring Break

So last week, as you may have heard, we went to the Boboli Gardens, which was especially nice. The gardens were quite relaxing and beautiful and we were given time to explore them individually. It was a great photography day, and for the next assignment we had to pick something we chose to explore (a photo, drawing, thought) and refine it. I picked a photograph I had of a reflection in the water, redrew it in my sketchbook with colored pencils and then added a caption. The caption reflects something I have personally been struggling with for awhile now.  I often find myself in awe of nature and its sheer beauty, but I feel that anything I do to replicate the feeling I get fails utterly in comparison.  The reflection in the lake fragments the trees and the scenery around it, much like in a series of brushstrokes -- so even here, nature is better at painting itself than I am of it.

All at once, it seems, Florence is in full tourism mode. I’m not quite sure how the shift happened, but I was shocked at the difference in the city dynamic after I returned from spring break—so many more people and vendors have come out of nowhere while we were gone! So it was wonderful to escape the suddenly swarming city to relax, wander, and enjoy the Boboli Gardens. I found it a little funny that we were spending class time in the gardens to re-focus ourselves, since during the last couple days of my vacation that was exactly what I did. I especially loved the gardens at Versailles and would have gladly spent all day there if it had been just a bit warmer. It wasn’t hard to imagine how Louis XVI let his country spin out of control when he had these grounds to escape to. There is something about the mix of order and freedom in the gardens that really appealed to me, the larger man-made symmetry of the grounds interrupted by the nature’s uncontrollable organic qualities. The long, perfectly straight pathways lined with rows of evenly spaced, consistently sized trees were not only beautiful, but thoroughly calming. Especially after the craziness of traveling and worries about life back home, it was therapeutic to just take time to myself and enjoy the beautiful space I was in. So class this week really felt more like a continuation of vacation than school, which was fantastic. I made two drawings based on some sketches I made in the gardens, focusing on those spaces that grabbed my attention so thoroughly that their larger surroundings seemed to disappear. Such moments seemed to epitomize my larger experience of exploring the gardens.

1st Week of the 2nd Half

So we're back to school! Spring Break was amazing and exciting. It was really refreshing to return to Florence (where's its now Spring) and start back into our classes. For theme sequence we went to the Boboli Garden behind the Palazzo Pitti and were given a handout with loose instructions that promoted observing what was around us, and going on inside of us. I wandered for a while, and had a great time just translating what I hear and saw into visual form or text. I wrote some thoughts and took videos that I hope I'll be able to incorporate into my video project. I was really interested in the assignment to find 5 beautiful things and 5 ugly things and record them.

After an eventful and exhausting spring break traveling around Europe, it was nice to come back to theme sequence and be able to relax and refresh our minds. We went to the Boboli Gardens to observe and record the sights, sounds, colors, and movements around us. It was a beautiful sunny day to be outside enjoying nature. The garden was filled with Italians, French students, American travelers, birds, butterflies, and many other things to add to the sounds that I heard around me. I sat on a hill in the sun, facing the fountain, surrounded by beautiful flowers and trees. It was the best way I could thing of to bring my thoughts back from the craziness of spring break to where they were before leaving. I focused a lot on the movments of kids running, people lying still on the grass, birds in their natural habitat, the fountain falling into the pond, and the path and trees.

Prato and Pistoia

Of all the field trips we've taken so far with the Florence program, our trip to Prato and Pistoia was by far the most laid-back and enjoyable. Because the main attractions of both these towns (in terms of Renaissance art is concerned) can be concentrated into a survey of pulpits in churches that are located fairly close together, we spent less time going from place to place and more time enjoying the towns and soaking in the lessons.

Pistoia, in particular was a real joy to visit. Very quaint and not-touristy, it offered many of the same benefits of Florence while allowing us to get out of the hustle and bustle of the Florence city center for a while.

One uniquely fun part of the trip was getting a small tour from a guide who spoke only in Italian. It was surprising how much we could actually catch on to, and for the trickier things, Katharina gladly translated for us. Overall, it made me feel a bit better about how the Italian language-learning is going.

For my midterm, I ended up deciding to display the glue "skin grafts" on a sort-of clothes line, with the images from the process above. Although I edited the images a bit I tried to keep them rather visually related to the objects (especially in terms of color). One critique I recieved was that maybe the objects would be better left by themselves, and perhaps evidence like hair and texture would allude to the process in a less straight-forward way. I think that if I were to present them again, I would probably put all of the images in a square spatially separated from the objects, so that the process of discovering which image belongs to which object could be a nice element that is somewhat distinct from looking at the objects themselves.
Also for the midterm I presented Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" as found video commentary on Rape of the Sabine women, along with a short story and some images.

at midterm

So now that I'm at midterm, I have a lot that I want to do in the second half of the semester. What surprises the most about where I am at, at this point, is that I've ended up doing what I'm really interested in. Before the semester started, I hoped that I would be able to get into creative writing, because that's something I've always wanted to try but never really had the reason/opportunity to. But I didn't think that was actually going to happen. Now however, I'm in the midst of a really exciting process of combining my reactions thoughts (reactions) to master works to contemporary images. Or the reverse- combining my personal thoughts and contemporary thought to "older" images. I'm also working on a film, that is a little beyond description right now. But its has a lot to do with connect and disconnect, and my experience with trying to pinpoint my identity in Italy. That encompasses also the issue of overlapping histories, that I address in my creative writing/image pairings.

Basically, its all very exciting !

Miderms are over

My project was about drapery and how I feel protected when I am wrapped in big clothes or blankets. I had also been looking at different ways fabric can move, so I included strange elements of movement into the project. As I move forward in the rest of the semester, I want to keep these things in mind, but focus a little more on the trace of a form and gesture in fabric without the body underneath.

I was interested in the drapery I saw in Renaissance paintings, and I started by trying to replicate it with soft, knit fabrics draped over a wire armature. These experiments taught me that while the drapery appears soft in the paintings, the only way to acheive that affect is for the fabric to be hard. I had a break through when I put plaster over one of the pieces of soft fabric and it was easy to drape it over forms and then it would dry and stay in place after I took the form out from underneath.

For my project, I created four of the sketches of drapery from my sketchbook out of fabric covered in plaster and spray painted gold. I connected the pieces to the wall with rubberbands and I held strings that moved the sculptures in unexpected ways.

I am going to continue with this concept and take the positive elements to expand them into more successful sculptures that sit in the round. I want to drape fabric and plaster over a person so we get the trace of a body and its gesture, but the only thing that is left is the protective fabric layer. Also, I intend to cause movement in the forms in more successful ways than I had in my midterm project. I am interested in the suggestion of movement through gesture or shadow when something is stationary. I'm sure that the next half of the semester will help my ideas develop and evolve as they did throughout theme sequence so far.

Photos from the beginning

"what you need"

Because my project is very minimal, I had to figure out what really belonged and when I was just dumping stuff into it, even though I liked those things. Initially I wanted to include this photograph, expressing my struggle, until I realized it wasn't necessary. Instead I thought it might fit on the blog, not sure that it does, but here it is anyway.

blank

Now that it's the halfway point in the semester, I'm thinking about what I have done so far. It has definitely been a struggle to get to where I am. I drew a lot more from my personal life, something I usually prefer not to do. I stepped away from paintings and drawings, the only things I really have experience with. The biggest struggle has been what I want to present. I thought I knew where I was going and then I found myself pretty lost trying to figure out how it would come together. It is a much quieter work, and I found myself trying to force objects and imagery into the space that didn't belong. Right now, I'm calling it an experiment. So midterm crit should be pretty interesting.

at the half-way point

When this class first started, I was not all that excited to 'destroy things' (images, postcards) and didn't understand the benefit of working so quickly and impulsively...until we went to Santa Maria Novella and were sent on a scavenger hunt to find marks! Really, any kind of mark? Anywhere?! This kind of freedom was so surprising, coming from where my comfort zone had been limited to strict interpretation of whatever was put in front of me. After taking 100 photos from maybe three different streets near the church, I learned how to use my time to follow what I'm interested in. I love that this class has helped me find trends in what I am drawn to, and how I process them. The ink exercises about memory, especially, and actually keeping a sketchbook (!!!) have helped me piece together how I can visually identify myself.

Florence is giving me the chance to interact with a completely new setting, and theme sequence is the outlet to translating my observations and experiences into something tangible, something I can relate to. I'm interested in exploring why I connect to different objects and places here, why certain images resonate with me. It has been so helpful to dissect the artistic process, to step back and observe instead of assuming that (and dismissing material because) I've known and felt it all before. I've never been good with open-ended assignments...to do just exactly whatever I want! But I am not nervous about "finding something new and important to say" here, anymore: these new reference points reveal all sorts of directions to follow, and I have to trust what comes from developing them. These past two weeks, my midterm project became a constant pull between trying to verbally reason my ideas (SO confusing) and actually translating them into a focused image. My goal is to get away from that over-thinking habit, and instead let my hands direct my thoughts.

Here are some pictures from my space after the first few weeks!

So Far

So far this semester has been a challenge for me. Nothing is comfortable. I am in a different place doing very different things speaking a different language. Being completely out of my comfort zone, while exciting, triggers my anxiety into over drive. While I have been struggling about what to explore in my work, I decided to explore my anxiety through my pocket and my drawing midterm. Both projects are about my struggles with anxiety, how it used to be, and where I am now. My theme sequence project more deals with anxiety in my actions. It explores my relations with men and how I feel both empowered and violated by them. My idea was that the objectified objectifies the object. I want to look at my traditions, but invert them and place myself in not my usual role.

This whole semester's work has brought me to my patterns of duality, text and image, anxiety, and my interactions. I have used all this work and these exercises to discover what I want to translate into the visual world and how.

I am including some images of some of these works, my studio space, and my experimentations and work for my midterm.

A Space Left Empty

I can’t believe midterm crits start tomorrow...where is the semester going? I’m really excited to see everyone’s work, since I know we’ve all been playing with our initial ideas to the point where I’m not sure what most of us are working on or thinking about anymore. Personally, my work has also evolved a lot since the last time I posted. The giant sphere/bubble I was so excited to build was never carried out as I had envisioned. It was a little difficult at first to not see that as a failure, but I’ve realized that sometimes the process is just as important, if not more than, the “final” product idea. You can’t always decide, “ok this is what I’m going to do and now I’m going to do it”, because what happens along the way can say so much. Funny enough, this whole nonlinear approach to art ties in perfectly with the personal concept of the bubble I’ve been playing with. I still think it’s important to have goals, but those goals shouldn’t detract from the experience of making, in and of itself. The idea of “what it could/will be” can often be distracting, causing me to forget to pause and think about “what it is.” The work I’ll be presenting does express, I hope, the issues I’ve been thinking about, even if it’s nowhere near what I expected to present.

Here’s a photograph from a larger series I’ll be presenting for the midterm, along with two (or maybe three?) short films.

This is a still from my midterm project. It is one of many short films.