5 Weeks of classes finished!

     This week I have been working on making forms for my balancing/time project. In order for this to be successful, I think that I will need to make nearly 100 different forms throughout the semester. I have about 30 made now and I am going back into the studio for quite awhile today and tomorrow.   
    

I used this image for a little motivation.

   
 There are a few decisions that I have been trying to make...

 If I am going to be filming the process of stacking these and displaying both the film and the remnants of the crashed pieces, will I need to do the filming in the place that they will be displayed?

These are the flat forms that I made today so that multiple pieces can stack on the same level using counter balance.

 I've also been trying to decide on the glaze techniques that I will use for this project. I know that I would like for there to be a lot of variation from piece to piece. I still haven't decided what colors that I would like to use or if I would prefer to have bright colors and fire them in the electric kilns.


     I have nearly finished the first installation of the semester. There are a few bugs to work out with it. I don't like the fishing line I used to hold some things up. I'm going to think of other ways to support the sheet and hold the feathers in the air. I would rather show the material that I use to hold them there than to use the fishing line because I think it is distracting.
   
      I also need to adhere the wallpaper to a piece of foam so that it will get rid of the seams and ripples. It is just temporarily tacked to the wall right now. I think the background may also start to come out from the wall instead of remaining flat. That way the fake walls will also stand out from the walls. I haven't made a complete decision on that yet.

     I am getting worried that this is starting to look gimmicky. I am trying to make sure that it doesn't get overly acceptable. I don't want to create a bunch of "Family Fun" type of art. I think that lighting will play a big part in that. 

This week has been full of questions but I have made a lot of progress. I'm going to continue to explore.     

Gravity

     Here are some of the forms that I am working with for my modules project.
     In the spring I was exploring time as perceptional. I am very interested in the phenomenon of how time seems to slow down during an accident or traumatic event.
     In a previous blog post there are photos of this show in which I broke pottery and filmed it. I also reassembled it on fishing line and glued objects that appeared to be spilling out of various vessels.
     I hope that the viewer experience this phenomenon and reports their feelings about it instead of simulating these experiences for the them. This is why I have been making these forms to be stacked by the viewer that will possibly topple and break in the gallery. 
     I began to think more about the forms and what they looked like this weekend. I began to ask myself why. I think that it is important that I think about the aesthetic of the project. So it lead me to break it down.
      My time project has begun to incorporate my interest in gravity and balance.

     Last year and again this year I have had problems with my balance. Shortly after going to the doctor having them tell me that nothing is wrong I listened to a Radio Lab podcast about a lady with severe Vertigo. A problem in the inner ear causes problems with balance, vision and a sense that gravity isn't functioning in a normal way. I'm not sure that I have this but many of the things that she talked about had also happened to me but not so severely. I was intrigued about the part where she mentioned that the floor seemed to come up to meet her. For about two weeks the floor seemed to curve up to my feet. I felt as if I were always standing on a gently sloping hill, even in my kitchen.
      I started to research centers of gravity. The aesthetic of these objects need a deeper meaning. So far my idea is to calculate the center of gravity on these objects and mark them with glaze. I'm not sure on the technique that I am going to use. Also, their shapes need to be such that their center of gravities change from one object to the next.
     Gravity and time have more in common than it may seem. When we learn to walk as babies, the timing is more difficult to master than the mechanics. We have to time our steps in order to work with gravity. Our steps are timed with how our feet meet the ground. As we move our brains have learned to time our motions as well as factor in gravity. I plan to explore more of these links and similarities.


A new glaze! This one should be a semi-transparent, glossy red violet. 

Here are a few progress shots of my paintings so far. They still need more paint and some corrections in the drawing of the faces but they are getting much closer.

I have also cut out two new ones.

Verbs

     So after about 5 failed attempts at this sequence of photos, I have one that I like. The assignment was to pick a verb and then in some way use unfired clay. The verb I chose was to overextend. I am at a point in my work, in both painting and ceramics, that I am trying not to overdue anything. My senior year seems like a strange and stressful time to try and simplify things but that is what I am trying to do. I am trying to slow down and think about what it is that I'm doing.

     For this photo I blew up a balloon filled with slip until it burst. It was hard to do several takes of this while I was wearing all black. I have a lot of laundry to do. 

     I believe that this photo also goes along with my ceramic work from last year and my show in the Space Lab. It is also about time and how we perceive it. I have a fascination with examining the passing of time.

    

      Here is a progress shot of my next two cut out paintings. They are very much in the early drawing stages here. I'm excited about taking them further. Video, feathers, and painting on the wall behind will all be incorporated in this one.

      This is a form I have been playing with on the wheel. I want to make at least 50 closed in forms of different shapes for the off campus show in November. I then want to invite people to make their own "sculptures" out of them. They are all shaped strangely so I'm sure they will often crash to the ground but that is what I want to happen.
    
     This is the next step in to my Space Lab show last semester. I want the viewer to interact with the work and then interview them on their perception of time while participating. This is also my chance to poke fun at the gallery setting.