three

draw

from the top.

the plot so far.

this is my progress between last tuesday and thursday afternoon (before the crit.) 12 pieces in what amounts to about 2 days of work. not bad. these will grow over the next few weeks, but progress is going to be slower. i'm going to be dividing my time between sewing and sculpting and casting. there are going to be multiple incarnations of these stones and cairns. i think of the stones as individuals and the cairns as whole pieces.

i'm going to be building some stones out of plaster and maybe stuffing and nylon. i'm not sure what's going to make the best base. maybe even clay. whatever will cost less. probably the nylon and stuffing and plaster. i'll have to ask wendy or john mack if i can use the school's plaster. i might need my own. maybe i can be sneaky? when i'm done building enough stones i'm going to start making molds from them and casting resin stones filled with layers of clothing, glitter, potato chips, various japanese paraphenalia i own. the list goes on and on. i don't think i'll stall out this time. i can't really fail with these things. i can make mistakes, but i can't just completely fail.

it's so amazingly freeing to have an idea that you feel is solid. i know that i'm going in the right direction.

thesis crits

yesterday was so good for me. i've never had a better crit. amanda got it right on the money. the cairns made out of my old clothes that don't fit me anymore (or that i thought would fit and just never did) are talking about who i used to be. they're the death of the person i was, the person i thought i was supposed to be. they're about saying i was here once. they're my reminder that i'm still alive. a memento mori that's also life affirming. people got it! i didn't have to sit and try to walk people through what these cairns were about. certainly some of my classmates didn't make the immediate connection, but that's either because they had never seen the symbol before or just didn't know what it meant.

for once i feel sure of myself, my abilities, my craftsmanship, my logic, my ideas. i'm finally excited about my thesis. i can imaging the next few weeks being really integral. i think, now that ideas are free flowing, i'll be able to get a lot done in a pretty short time. i have about a month before orals, so i have about four weeks to just make make make.

i'm playing with layers, history, disappointment, fear, death and rebirth. i need to make the death part more felt. i need to really emphasize the absence in the work. the absence being the thing that i'm symbolically killing and erecting a memorial to. i'm not sure if these things belong in a gallery, or if they belong on location (don't know the location yet though.) i'll find the right place. i know in my gut that i'm not going to have to fight with these things like i've fought with the eyes or my paintings and drawings. i don't want the creation of art to be a battle. i want it to be a peaceful collaboration between all the parts of my brain and my body. the zen like aspect of the 'stones', the making, the stacking, is really important. because these things are so specific i'm not having any trouble setting rules for myself.

rules are so important. i'm examining my rules and structure. where it needs to be changed i'll make them. these rules will really inform my work. my thesis is going to be really strong as long as i follow through with this. plus i'll get to use resin again and i LOVE resin!

and thanks so much to shawn for talking directly to me, not talking to the room in general. i don't think what he said would have had the same impact if he hadn't been looking right into my eyes while talking to me. his comments stood out the most (besides amanda's brilliant comment and i will love her forever for really understanding that aspect) and helped me the most. i understood what shawn was telling me and i'm really going to take it to heart. really i want to thank everyone who commented. everything that was said (even the few comments that were condescending/judgemental/totally wrong) sparked a dialog between cori and i. there was so much to digest, consider and talk about. it was so great!