Installations

Snap Shots

                                                        
Research:

               When doing this project we were asked to find a site that was personal or important to us. This site had to have meaning. I choose my bedroom and my sliding glass door more specifically. I'm in the process of moving and I'm about to loose this site that I've grown so fond of. I was looking at past student work and found Chryssha Guirdy's work. I thought that the projection of an image onto another surface was interesting and I flirted with the idea of projecting the image on to different surfaces of my own. I like how she used one image close up and one far away.

                                                   

                                                                 

           

Artist Statement:

                                   I felt very close to this installation. I was in the process of moving from my own place, to a shared living space. This room was my own personal space to just be me. I would sit in my bed and watch the rain out of my sliding glass doors. I could draw the curtain back and see the blazing sun in the morning or close my curtain when the sun was finally burning out in the evenings. I had my own fresh air to breath when my door was open and a patio to sit and read on. Now that I'm moving, I'm saying goodbye to my spiritual space. I took a few different images for this installation. Two of the images I projected on the actual curtain that is in the image. One image is with my patio still set up and one is with it slowly disappearing. I also have two images with my door closed. The closed door is symbolism for the room being empty. Everything has been moved and the life of that room is gone. If you could see through the door, the image projected is a reminder of a memory of what once was there. A small snap shot of a memory of myself pulling the curtain open and of the patio where I used to spend all my time. To create these images I used my Iphone and an opaque projector.

                                                                      

My Hell

                         (This was setting up the lamps for photos)                            

 Research:

         I'm personally a giant Chuck Palahniuk fan to the fullest. When we were told we had to do an an installation about "What was Left Behind", I was lost. I was thinking so literal. I started to think, in the end.... what's really left. If your religious and your left behind, your in Hell. I wanted to put a twist on my own "Hell." I used idea from Chuck's book Doomed. I created a map from the description of Hell from the book and spent hours in the wood shop creating my own personal "work desk." I wanted my hell to be like a prison cell, so I started messing around with different ideas on how to install prison bars.

                                        

                                                               

  Artist Statement:

            When I was told that I was to create a installation of "What was Left Behind" I was having trouble being in the past. I was trying to think of real things. Things that I left behind, or you left behind, or forgotten things. I had trouble wrapping my head around the fact that things left behind can be made up or completely surreal. My Hell installation was inspired my Chuck Palahniuk. I just finished his book Dammed, and just started Doomed. I was having trouble getting through the second book and it was like hell. There really isn't anything like having a helluva time getting through a book about Hell. It dawned on me that I could create my own Hell. My hell consists of black walls, a perfectly egg shell white desk, a never ending supply of king size candy bars, and a telemarketing phone I'm forced to use. This installation is my perfect Hell and comes along with a welcome packet to the "Last Job of You'll Ever Have", "Map of Hell" and "Specific Useless Questions" to interrupt happy families sitting down to eat. I don't know whats worse when it comes to this Hell, being dammed or doomed?

                                                            

 Some Kinda Home 

Research:

Our project required us to choose a chapter from A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman. I chose the sense of scent. Scent is the strongest sense linked to memory. While doing my research for this project, I took a moment to think about my earliest memory. I thought about it, assuming I'd remember a doll or a birthday party or something I was fond of as a child... All I could remember was my moms perfume. I literally can't remember a specific image to save my life, but I remember the smell of patchouli (or what I now know is patchouli today.) I decided to read the book throughout and noticed that all of the senses really intertwined with each other in different ways. When I created my installation I wanted to incorporate more than one sense. I also knew that I wanted to use air plants for this project. I was having a hard time finding them around town and when I did, they were very small and seemed to dry out very fast. I went to my dads house in the woods near Ocala on a short visit and found the biggest, fullest, most beautiful air plants I've ever seen. The air plants used in this are not city air plants, but big and full country air plants.

Artist Statement:

When creating this installation I was thinking about my parents. To the naked eye you won't notice the patchouli oil painted on the wall and maybe not the thick and thin pencil marks in the shadows, coming down from the pointy arms of the air plants. You will notice the giant air plants suspended from the wall and hanging from the ceiling. They look as if they have been growing there for some time. I wanted this installation to represents both touch and scent. The patchouli represents my mother and the way that even if she was away she was still lingering. The air plants represent my father with his outstretched arms when ever I my mother was missing. I painted the air plants gold to represent the fact that whatever issues my parents ever had, they were always golden in my heart. I like to incorporate natural elements in my artwork and installations. I've always had a closeness to nature and its surrounding. Nature has always been a constant in my life.

Maybe Memories

                        

                                                  

Research:

 I did most of my research at the St. Augustine Historical Society Library. I happen to come across a black binder filled with pictures of past Lincolnville residents. Their pictures looked like they each told their own story. Since I'm also interested in tarot cards, I did some research on their background. The beginnings of the the "story" or "game" of the cards are very interesting and I thought that I could incorporate the two. Each person seemed to resemble a card from the deck to me, especially by their demeanor. Below are a three examples of the images I found at the St. Augustine Historical Society Library and used in my installation.

 

Artist Statement:

                  While doing research at the St. Augustine Historical Society Library, I came across images of past Lincolnville residents. These images resonated within me. I made a strong connection with the resident’s demeanor, as if I could see their past in my presence. Their poise seems to communicate a silent story of each person’s life. Due to my interest/familiarity with tarot cards, I felt these images could be closely correlated to a deck of tarot cards, together, yet all representing something different. Many people refer to tarot card readings as taboo and people fear things they don’t understand. Tarot card readings are often confused with witchcraft and black magic, which is not what they represent by any means. When you read someone’s cards it refers to their the past, present, and future. With these images I wanted to tie together the past, reinvent the images, and give these images another purpose in the future. In this installation, I incorporated metal, gold and silver leafing, and wood. I altered the images with a torch to give it the look of the past and integrated gears to associate the passage of time and link the different cards to same deck.

Performing With Principles

Performing With Principles

I. Blue Chips

Usually chaotic and crumbled in a bag, this everyday snack turned into a systematic design through grouping, repetition, and unity. While carefully placing the blue chips on a dark table, this alone created a unity between like colors. The continuity of the triangular shapes additionally added to unity and offered a variety of elements as well. The repetition of color and shape displayed a sense of rhythm throughout the piece. Grouping was achieved through the connections of these chips.

The added salsa bowl now creates a focal point and can be considered another way of attaining variety in this composition.

II. Teas 

The teas arranged repeatedly suggest that pattern is the key element seen in this composition. Otherwise placed in a small package, they now create a systemic design aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The pattern increases compositional unity and each teabag works together to create balance. Approximate symmetry is also achieved through the use of similar imagery.

III. Potted Plants 

Usually the potted plants sit on the perimeter of the fence line in no specific order. These plants now are a part of the visual elements of design. There is a symmetrical feel to the plants as they sit side by side, creating unity and proximity. Balance is seen here as well with a continuity of similar sizes and proportions.

 By adding and subtracting to each side, imbalance is achieved. This now gives the composition an asymmetrical feel.

IV. A Collection of Glasses

The collection of glasses here are merely that.

 

 As shown here, the glasses are now placed orderly by warm and cool colors establishing rhythm throughout this composition. There are various values and intensities but the visual elements all work together making it unified. Contrast is also a key role with scale, shape, and color all differing and coinciding creating variety.

Touch writing

I read the passage about tattoos. I found the passage very interesting and the stories about different people and groups that had them. I relate to this passage in many ways. There was a part in the passage where the author was explaining that tattoos tell stories, show struggles and triumphs, and mark timelines in a persons life. I have many tattoos that signify all of these things. Some are on very specific places on my body where I am the only one that can appreciate the, but have some that can be seen by the public. Some are more personal than others.

I also read the passage on pain. In the passage it explains that people can go through pain, yet sometimes you don't feel it. I can relate to this passage because when I was 25 I got into a really bad car accident with my best friend. I broke both of my ankles, shattered my pelvis in several places, broke a few of my ribs, my nose and had internal bleeding for several days. I ended up having to get 6 inches of my intestines removed as well. I was in the hospital for a month and a half and all I could think about was if my best friend was okay. Was he hurt, is he alive? I couldn't stop thinking about him and his son. Although I was in pain, I was less intense because I was worrying about my friend. They were giving me morphine for the pain, but it was making me sick. Eventually I conquered the pain and told them that I didn't want anymore medication. I don't welcome pain, but I like to think that I have the strength to control it or at least attempt to harness pain.

Architectural Relief

For this project we had to pick two different styles of architecture that we liked and incorporate it into our design. I choose Moroccan and Indian.

I used Vellum to trace out the "windows" and cut them out. I covered them with clear tape so you could see through them.

I made a onion dome out of Balsa wood and used sanders in the wood shop. I though this was the most important part of my piece because onion domes are used in both cultures' architecture.

 

 I used black ink to pain the wood and a light wash on the pillars holding the dome. Note: Sanding the onion domes to be perfect is damn near impossible. Prepare to be covered in sawdust and leave with less skin than you started with.

I created a box, sealed it with wood glue, spray paint, ink and a few other items I thought would keep it from leaking and hung up the floating windows.

I then filled the box with water because in these cultures water is incorporated in a lot of their architecture as well. The floating windows also castes a shadow which wasn't planned, but I was completely find with.

Animal Soap Carving

I happened to pick the hardest animal ever to carve. This project was really stressful to me. We needed to large enough bars of soap to carve a small animal out of them.

This project was slow at first because you had to really remove a lot of soap to start forming the body. I started on the legs first to start getting some sort of a body contour. This is an EXAMPLE of what not to do because the legs a very fragile and when you hold tight to your soap to start working on the body more you may lose your grip and snap off your legs like I did 50 times.

In this project we were required to do two soap carvings. My second bar of soap was way too soft. You really have to make sure you pick out the least soft bar of soap you can find, unless you want to carve butter.

Basically I failed miserably at this assignment, but I did learn from my mistakes. Tip 1: Save all of your extra carving scraps and mix with a little water to re-apply any broken legs or tails.

Tip 2 : Make sure the smell of the soap is something you really don't mind smelling for hours on end because this assignment completely ruined apples for me.