3D Cut paper installations

Another 3D project we had, our first actually, was to create imagery that we cut into long sheets of paper. We were to install these somewhere in the small chapel on campus. Mine was hung in a window. There is a really cool video of one student working on theirs from start to finish; Ariel's ended up looking amazing. HERE

3D Studio I

During Spring semester of 2012 I took 3D Studio I we were assigned the task of putting our installations in an outdoor environment. I discovered through this project that I am pretty adept with a jigsaw. Below are the animal silhouettes that I created for the project. My idea was an investigation into the domestication and natural camouflage of animals by mixing their patterns and the impression of targets. I made many of these by adhering fabric, tape, or beads directly onto the wood. The backs I painted a dark brown.

Backlog

I have a digital dumping ground of images from events and activities I meant to archive on my blog so I'm going to start uploading them one grouping at a time.

The first was hanging and installing for artist Nick Pena. He has really awesome work that deals with the foundations and security of the domestic. His visual vocabulary for his work is beautifully worked out and elegant yet simple enough to leave the audience room for interpretation. Here are some images of the show and our process of finishing the two large installations (disclaimer: photos taken with a phone). Please google him and check out his WEBSITE

Failures

I am a failure of a green thumb. I have had no success in keeping the moss green and vibrant. I figured that much of the issues I was having was because inside of my studio was too dry. No matter how many times I was able to water it the moss was always dry the next time I would come back to it. So to fix this problem I talked with a biology professor about using the greenhouse on campus to store my moss, then I would also have better access to it.

My efforts were in vain though. Even with it being in a more convenient location and me visiting it even more often it has discolored, dried, and shrunk. So this will just need to be excluded from the show and I'll have to revisit it at a later time.

I most likely will not be creating a larger piece because that would be for one expensive, but also a colossal waste of time for me considering. Good thing I did a smaller study first! Studies are important.

Before I Die

Kori and I helped the Batesville Area Arts Council install the "Before I Die" wall in Pocket Park on Main Street Batesville. This communal installation is made to be shared. Started by Candy Change in her New Orleans neighborhood it has since been installed on over 400 walls world wide. Her motivations are found on her website:

"After Candy lost someone she loved, she went through a long period of grief and depression. With time she felt gratitude for the time they had together and eventually she found clarity in her life by contemplating death so much. But she struggled to maintain this perspective. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget what really matters to you. She wanted a daily reminder and she wanted to know what was important to the people around her. So she painted the side of an abandoned house in her neighborhood in New Orleans with chalkboard paint and stenciled it with a grid of the sentence “Before I die I want to _______.” Anyone walking by could pick up a piece of chalk, reflect on their lives, and share their personal aspirations in public space."

This is a great way for people to connect with their community and realize that the people around them are worrying, dreaming, and wanting the same things from life before it all ends. 

Half way there

So it would seem as though my track record with successful encaustic studies is half and half. Each time one turns out very well, and the other is some sort of failure. I'll just have tomake these failures ones I can learn as much as possible from. Here are some images of my second set of studies. Let me know what you think.

It is also crazy to think that we are already halfway through the semester next week. Dustyn is having an artist come talk to us for individual critiques. I'm stoked because he says this artist worked with encaustics I'm the past so he can really give me some good advice.

As promised...

So in my previous entry I promised you some pictures of my encaustic expiraments. Now that I have finally been able to upload them here they are. But first:

I'm again excited because I've ordered some more encaustic colors, beeswax pellets, damar resin crystals, and several sizes of encaustic board so I can finally get to painting on a harder support. Hopefully these studies will be successful enough to use as pieces. I've done two more studies in addition to this. I'll get pictures of those ones two soon. Most of these pieces I'm using to try and directly experiment with the techniques that I have been reading about in my text book. Oh! I should really get the name of the book that I'm reading. Rankin wrote a wonderful book, and it is a great first introduction to the medium.