It’s been a while since my last post (sorry!!). I’ve hand my hands full these past few weeks with finals, Coco, and Thanksgiving. Now that things are a little bit back to normal and I am officially on winter break, I have time to write a long post about what I’ve been up to.
My finals in Studio Issues and Stitch, Object as Language went really well! I’ll start with what I did in my Stitch class. I finished three 12 X 6 canvases of embroidery. The title of the piece is called Time Frames and each canvas represents a season. I finished Summer for my midterm and then I finished Fall and Winter for my final. I still have to do Spring and am planning on having it finished by the end of December. As you can see they were very time consuming and I’m very proud of how they turned out. The seasons informed my colors and thought process for each piece. I did a lot of writing while I embroidered these pieces, but am only going to share a little bit of what I was thinking. My work is moving into the realm of collective memory so my personal memories are becoming obsolete for my viewers. I think writing about both personal and collective memory is very important to my work, but part of it is just for me.
Fall – I was thinking a lot about changes and how nature starts to change but at the same time the structure is still the same. The frames haven’t completely lost their shape, but have changed in a distinctive way. The forms are starting to hollow out and prepare for the next step. The colors aren’t flat and the same like they were in Summer. They are blended, vibrant and consistent. Certain colors are the same throughout all the seasons and I kept this the same in my embroidery.
Winter – This is where things are drastically changed. The structure is the most important and most seen element in the winter. This is where things start to distort and deconstruct. I thought a lot about a quiet still moment in the winter. The moment where the leaves are all gone and the branches finally get to be seen. Snow is sitting on the branches and it’s a perfect winter moment. There are areas of extreme change and consistency. If you look carefully you see an image of a face, but at first glance you aren’t really sure what you are seeing. Again, these colors are appropriate to the season but a few of them are in the other two seasons as well.
Here is a detail of Winter.
This is where I need your feedback. I’m not sure if I should hang these horizontal or vertical. So when you have a change please let me know what you prefer.
Now moving on to my Studio Issues final. I worked on simple daily drawings as part of my thought process on how to start translating my work into metal. Since I didn’t have the resources to work with metal yet I did a lot of studies (paper and drawing) so that next quarter I will have a good idea of what I want to make. I also continued to work with my screen printing compositions. I decided to present them in shadow boxes and make a collage with different prints. I was thinking about dressers and vanities and how people put precious objects on them. Sometimes they put boxes with precious objects in them on either a dresser or vanity. I’ve been researching the Victorian era, mourning jewelry, and artists like Joseph Cornell and Anne Wilson. I’ve always had a fascination with tiny precious objects so that is the direction my work is going.
These are the last of my daily drawings which makes 70 (one for each day of the quarter). YAY!!!
These are my metal studies. I cut forms out of paper and then painted and stitched them together. Next quarter when I’m in my metals and jewelry class I want to make objects like these.
This is my final presentation for my Studio Issues class.
Right after finals were over I went to the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC. It was a charming little art museum. I went to see Dale Chihuly’s Seaforms exhibition. It was set up as clusters of sea forms and some of his drawings were on display as well. The colors were beautiful and his compositions were inspirational. I was really excited that I got to see his work and hopefully will see it again sometime.
This week I’m going to Sarasota, FL to visit my aunt and uncle. I’ll also be going to the American Craft Show in Sarasota. I’m really excited to be able to visit family and see this show! I’m going to leave you with a few new pictures of Coco and I’ll post again when I’m back in Savannah.
Abby~I like your new posting. I know that you spent hours on your canvases. I think that I like them hung horizontally the best. Your metal studies are very interesting. Coco is precious!