My final project is three separate sculptures each paired with a corresponding poem. The sculptures are representations of the physical aspects of memories that I describe in the poems. Each poem describes an experience of physical pain or rupture that was important or striking to me as a child. These were experiences that each impacted my perception of people and pain.

I was reading articles about Art Basel and found Zin Taylor, and immediately thought about the conversation we had about “art thats about art”. I think he serves as a pretty good example of this type of work:

(more…)

Karla Black has been an inspiration to me for quite sometime.
Her sculptures appear minimal, however their significance comes from process, as well as use of material.
She is someone who works with a plethora of materials, from nails to moisturizer.

This piece is still in the works, however the idea behind it was to create three structures that acted as “coat hangers” for people to leave behind traces of them in their absence. I was focused on the idea of companionship without the physical presence.

This is structurally an interesting piece to me because of how they drape the cloth and use frames within the structure. It is also a really good example of the impact that lighting has on a piece. If you watch the process video you can see the construction and the way the piece looks inside and with out lighting.

http://www.situstudio.com/works/projects/reorder#

First I made a small scale paper model of the structure and then I scaled up.

Then I cut pieces of paper to the size of the the measurements made so that I could wrap the fabric I was stitching around it

There were 6 pentagons and 10 filler equilateral triangles needed to create the shape so I layed out the pentagons and stitched them together first.

Once there was enough put together I pinned the corners of the out ring of points on the dome and tied string to secure it to the ceiling.

I also tried lighting it from inside to see what it would look like.

I had also wanted it to be lit by fire so I tried shooting pics of it near the fireplace.

Here’s me inside it!

So my goals for this piece were to create a sort of geometric shell enclosure and to somehow incorporate the comfort in heat (hence the placement near the fireplace). I wanted it to be a strange extension to a practice I associate with companionship, cuddling by a fire. The shell is sort of a way of protecting and isolating its inhabitants. From the outside it also looks like a strange  geometric creature sitting by the fire. The process proved to be extremely time consuming but I’m happy that it turned out dome/shell like.

A couple artists using fabric and sewing:

For some straight up lovely embroidery: Allison Watkins. Love the slight irony of embroidering images of fabric onto fabric, as well as just the aesthetics of this (thin, tenuous linework, etc.)

A slightly more process based artist using fabric: Ilysia Van Deren

She did a whole series of these handkerchiefs. Her statement is as follows:

How-To documents the process of ripping and re-sewing vintage handkerchiefs by hand, sometimes repeatedly. The projected video exposes a neurotic, obsessive process that is simultaneously mesmerizing and unsettling. The process acts as a means of releasing internalized experiences and frustrations, making the modification of each piece of fabric a uniquely personal and cathartic act. The hyper-detailed scanned images act as a document of the destruction; each fiber, tear and sloppy stitch on display for examination. Forever altered, these objects take on new identities. The act of repair becomes an integral part of a continuous cycle of destruction and reconstruction, of tearing down and building up.

Super into how process based this is, and the idea of destruction as construction (currently a Very Relevant Theme in my work)

There is also a video piece that goes with it:

How-To from Ilysia Van Deren on Vimeo.

Also a fan of this series by her:

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.