spent the weekend making this little contraption

http://www.yukotakada.com/

With the theme of “domesticity”, I’m more interested in what makes something a home, namely the comfort found from the family that lives within.  As with most of my work, I look to natural forms for inspiration.  Many things nestle together in cozy clumps, forming a sort of “family” whether they’re genetically related or not.

This clumping , much like hugging or cuddling between humans, provides the support and comfort of a family unit.

Throughout my life, I have felt rather excluded from any family-like clump, whether one between friends or actual family, I have always felt on the outside.  Through my piece I want to create a clump of sewn objects bound together by many threads, with one object so loosely bound that it’s falling far away from the main clump, to give that individual object a feeling of loneliness, rejection, and abandonment.

Mandy Greer is the bestest. I saw her knitted installation in Seattle and it was wonderful. They are sort of community projects, she has groups of people make piece of her larger works, and the end result is a very intimate handmade effect. Pretty much, it’s awesome. Her website is not super organized, but you can see it here.

One of the most important contemporary artists working in Europe, Annette Messager fragments images and language to explore the concept of fiction, the dialogue between individual and collective identity, and the social issues of normalcy, morality, and the role of women. In her work she forcefully illustrates the idea that all things — a child’s beloved toy, a photograph, a piece of embroidery, a word with seemingly unambiguous meaning — can be transformed into objects of potent expression.

Sally Mankus

Ghada Amer

(other work)

Lauren DiCioccio makes exiquisite soft sculptures, primarily fabric reproductins of everyday objects that are slowly becoming obsolete (newspapers, lined paper, watches, etc) . I love that she leaves her pieces very messy, with the loose threads sort of emphasizing the care that went into creating each object. I really like her organza trash bags, the reproduction of these temporary disposable objects in a very delicate, high effort materials is really beautiful.

Her website is here.

Emelie Faif

Lee Boronson

Rosa Verloop

Thinking about conductive fabric, I started wondering about its consumer applications, as well as it’s use in the diy craft scene.  It’s amazing how willing people are to put up patterns and tutorials on the internet.  I ended up finding this musical puppet, using a really fun and interesting machine called a Drawdio.  While I wouldn’t say this puppet takes complete advantage of the Drawdio’s capabilities, it’s still pretty cool.

Drawdio

Puppet

Recalling an artist we looked at earlier, Do Ho Suh, I was drawn to his ability to create such an unusual space using fabrics extending from the ceiling.  Studio Lilica is another group of artists who explores ways of creating sculptural pieces or lightings using fabric that extends from the ceiling. 

I find both aesthetic and metaphoric beauty in the extension of fabrics at a mass scale. The environment it creates is very mystical, putting you at a setting simliar to a deep forest full of trees overwhelming, with path of shadows on the ground. They are both environments you can only experience in vey specific places.

Ronan And Erwan Bouroullec are another architects who create overwhelming space using textiles.

“This is a modular room-dividing system called Clouds consists of textile pieces held together with elastic bands to make free-standing or hanging structures, which can be used to divide space and absorb sound.”

It seems evident that when we use fabrics/textiles sculpturally, we percieve the material in a completely different way from seeing them as a material for clothing.