bishop

i am continuing to build on ideas about religion, sacrifice, burden, sanctuary, church hierarchy, etc.  now that i have a little more experience with the sewing machine, i've decided to take on this big challenge.  i plan to complete this piece during the summer.  neither of these sketches are finalized, but i thought i'd include them for you to see.  i'm not sure if the final piece will exist as a wearable, performance, video, or photographs.  i am leaning toward video right now.  i would really like to be able to see how the fabric moves.  a few working titles that have been buzzing around my head are sanctuary, vestment, and bishop, though i'm not sure either will stick.  i'd like to find a heavy, dark fabric for the main part of the vestment and use something like organza for the sleeves and train.  i think there will be a net that drags behind the train, holding a sanctuary lamp.  in the next few days, i will get the fabric.  for now, i'm trying my hand at writing a song.  if it works out, i will share.

a round of needs

this was originally a project for my sculpture class.  i had been thinking a lot about needs, petitions, religion, etc.  the way i handled it then was a lot more complicated and unnecessary.  i've been working on a better solution; here it is. 

also, another video from sculpture.  it is meant to be looped, but i don't think that's possible here.  i was thinking about obsessive compulsive disorder, routines, rituals, regimens, absurdity, etc.  mainly, i was poking fun at myself.

eden

this is where it all began:


though i'm having a great time making stuff to sell, i am excited to get round one over with in hopes that i'll have more time to work on other, less marketable ideas.  the leopard and octopus are new additions to the stuffed menagerie.   i was not so ambitious about photographing them.  hopefully they enjoyed their leisure on the deck.  

mmmm...toast.

i haven't been able to figure out how to arrange the pictures in exactly the order i want them, but this will have to do.  i thought maybe by posting this project on here, i might have more of a motivation to finish it.  i made these two books over a year ago, and i probably think about them every day.  i wanted them to serve as toast in a toaster-like box.  i actually made the toaster part right after school this summer, but haven't gotten around to upholstering it because of all the other stuff i've been working on.  it will be upholstered with the fabric below.  each of the books has thirteen folded cards inside.  after going through many ideas, i think i've decided that the first book will have the beginning of thirteen short stories, and the endings of all the stories will be in the second book.  i think i want one illustration for each half of each story, on the fronts of the cards.  that leaves me three sides of the cards to write.  i included images of past work because i am thinking of combining some of these techniques for the illustrations in these books.  my next step, other than upholstering, is to write these thirteen stories.  when i have more ideas gathered, i'll share.  for now, i share with you the burden of unfinished work.  enjoy!

thirteen strangers

this is a family photo i dug up today.  the little boy on the right is my grandfather.  it's from somewhere around 1920.  i have no clue who the other people are, and i find them fascinating.  

thank god for my mother's eyelet tablecloth.

finally, i've photographed the stuffed animals i've made.  they are pretty self-explanatory i guess.  the first pig (with no legs) was my sample to see if i could make anything look like i wanted.  after simplifying the design a bit to make the animals more time/cost effective, i ended up with eight that i'm going to bring with me to the market.  the first pig is going to a good home, where he will enjoy being dragged around and squeezed often (i hope).  i thought about making tags and sewing them on to the animals with my name on them or something, but tags on stuffed animals always annoyed me when i was little, so i couldn't bring myself to do it.  instead, i think i'll make removable paper tags tied to the animals or something.  

i decided that the woodcut prints definitely needed to be mounted or matted, and decided to mount them onto light cream matte board with plenty of room around them.  i chose to mount, matte, and frame one print from each of the editions so that people can see what they look like when finished off properly.  

getting to know me, getting to know all about me...

i have been playing around with pastels.  the left a soft pastels and the right is oil pastels on canvas board.  both are 22 x 28 inches.  not unexpectedly, the canvas board took the oil pastels much better than the soft, and i ended up with a lovely mess of soft pastels in my carpet from the self-portrait.  i'm not sure that i've warmed up to the idea of working with paint again yet, but i feel it may be coming.

in other news, i've been making prints, stuffed animals, and a few other things to sell at a local flea market.  these are three reductive woodcut prints.  i've only done one other before these three in my printmaking class this past semester.  i had used a simple image in combination with text and was pleased enough with the result to try it again.  as these are hand-printed, the layers

 are less solid than when i used the press in the studio.  the wood was pine that i chopped into 9 x 12 blocks.  it was hard to work with, but overall i like the effect of the choppy marks made by the struggle with the block.  when i have more money, i'd like to play more 

with working with smoother woods.  this will have to do for now.

so it begins.

hello, i am myself.  now is upon me.  i am using time off from school to condition myself to a creative lifestyle, where i am in a constant state of brainstorming and production.  i am enjoying the freedom of working when i want on what i want.  so far, i have confronted the trouble of separating ideas for my own work and for work to sell.  i would be grateful for any feedback, and am very eager to hear new names of interesting artists.