Inspiration is for Amateurs

I got too busy. But I will get back on this blog thing!

Today a quick note: Today I’m jealous of Jason deCaires Taylor

http://www.underwatersculpture.com/

Who has been making and sinking these massive people sculptures into the gulf of mexico in hopes of them being taken over by ocean life.

Amazing images, simple idea.

I keep a big aquarium myself at home, and I have been wanting to experiment with underwater landscapes and installations. Note to self: get my fish to make art for me.

So what I have I been up to?

Tonight I’m obsessed with these pictures:

It’s a nebula. This one is the keyhole nebula. I’ve been really interested in trying to translate science concepts into fiber arts mediums. In the studio I’ve been doing some crocheting, macrame, and loop weaving (aka making dream catchers.) I’m interested in the duality created between the science and the mysticism (I’ll expand on this another time.) I want them to be beautiful explosions.

My first try was this pink piece for the Marwen Art Fair: I titled it the Theia Hypothesis.  I’ve been interested in the formation of the moon theories. And the most widely accepted one, is that this proto planet, Theia, crashed into the earth and the chunk leftover is our moon. I really like that narrative, the imagery is poetic to me. So I’ve been seeing the three groups of rings in my crochet pieces as something like the Earth and Theia crashing into each other with this beautiful creative explosion and the out comes the moon.

This idea occurred to me after going to the curator talk given by Lisa Stone at Intuit on the outsider artist Eugene Von Bruenchenhein. In the talk she described his finger paintings as beautiful explosions, explosions that create not destroy.

http://www.vonbruenchenhein.com

So back to the beginning: I’d like  to translate nebulas into fiber arts pieces.  I’ve been looking at alternative weaving structures, mostly looping, and I really would like to do more macrame.  I’m bound and determined to make macrame awesome again!

Krysten Cunnigham

http://krystencunningham.com/sculpture.html

I had contemplated for a moment making 3-d god’s eyes, but Krysten has already perfected it. These sculptures make amazing use of this old craft technique, if you want to try your hand at making god’s eyes: here’s a great tutorial with pictures:

http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/2009/07/ojo-de-dios-aka-gods-eyes-craft.htm

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As I promised myself to use my prompts. Today I’m prepping for Monday classes. Monday’s are long, I teach three classes in a row, all with very different topics, the transitions are fast, so I have to prep before hand to be able to smash and grab and go to the next class.

My first class is Monsters!, it’s at the Lab School, and it’s for 1st and 2nd graders. I took this class over from Meredith Eastburn, and it’s my first time at the Lab School. Even though it’s only been  3 weeks, I can already tell these kids are different. On the first day one of the little girls asked straight out, “Are we making lots of little monsters, or one big monster?” Obviously she has already gone through a structured art curriculum, and she knows what to expect. I decided to surprise her and tell her: both. The kids got excited. 

With Monsters, Meredith created the class with a lean towards teaching story creation and telling. I thought it was important to the classes integrity to not stray too far from that. So I decided to focus on the idea of revealing monsters as fiction. First by introducing the kids to lots of examples as such, eventually getting the kids to create their own monsters and stories. 

On week one I brought in my Hopi Kachina, I talked about superstitions, costumes, and the kids began drawing their animal based monsters. It was a good intro day to see how each child worked, thought, and interacted with the others.

Week 2, I brought in the big ol’ book of Nick Cave, and the kids made Cave inspired masks. I’ve done this project with a few different groups of different ages. It always works out well, Nick’s work with the bright colors, outrageous materials, always grab the kids. There’s a bad picture of me working in the studio in the book. The kids always freak out when I show them that at the end.

For tomorrow: I’m thinking of going away from my class plan, and jump into puppet making. With class falling on Halloween, I would like to have a special Halloween project. So tomorrow, he will make paper mache heads for our puppets, and next week they will be dry enough to paint.

Next I run upstairs to teach Devices of Wonder to the 3rd-5th graders. This class is my baby, and it’s proving a challenge at the Lab School. Mostly because the kids are more advanced than I expected, and I’m concerned that I’m making them bored.

The class is based off of this show from the Getty with the same name. Focusing on antique animation devices, parlor art games, scientific curiosities, and simple robots.

On week one I talked about the idea of persistence of vision, as it crucial to understanding animation creation. And we created thaumatropes. The older kids already had covered it in their science class, but admitted creating their own designs was new.

Week 2 I showed them a video on steam punk, and in trying to do so, I realize now that I have to bring my big brick of a laptop, because the room’s computer’s speakers are woefully too quiet for a class presentation. I also briefly discussed Alexander Calder’s mobiles. For the days activity the kids started making the decorative components for their kinetic sculptures.

For tomorrow: I’m going to show them this awesome video: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/01/episode-105-kinetic-wave-sculptures.html

For the activity they will continue producing the elements for their movement machines and mobiles.

Finally my last class of the day is Anyone Can Sew, it’s for adults at the Hyde Park Art Center. It’s meant to be a crash course in sewing.

Week One: Hand sewing, embroidery, beading. And I showed the library of books that I’ve started keeping at the center for reference.

Week Two: All the bells and whistles on a sewing machine.

Weeks 3, 4, 5: Are work days to complete individual projects. There’s not a lot of prep I can do for this. I just have to show up with my trouble shooting hat on. 

I have at least 15 tabs open right now of exciting things. But I am suspicious that it’s not always going to be this easy. So in the event of having nothing to say on a particular day, I’m going to give myself a daily prompt. Meme style. I think this is the best way to handle this, If I group everything into categories, I can make sure I’m researching and sharing equally. 

My 2nd to do list: My daily blog prompts:

I’m so jealous Mondays: I love the concept behind the blog the Jealous Curator (because I know that feeling so well). Using this prompt I will link to an artist’s website who rocks my socks.

Don’t Just Stand There, Do Something Tuesday: I will find a cause, project, call for artists, anything that allows involvement. If it’s based in the idea of open source and sharing: the better.

W.I.P.Wednesday: (Work in Progress) I remember this years ago from the craft blog junket. This will force me to talk about new work.

Feminism Thursday: Rolls off the tongue doesn’t it?

Science Friday: I’m a big fan of this on NPR, so it only makes sense! 

For the Reading List Saturday: I will post an article or book that I should be reading.

Sunday: I like lazy Sundays, I usually spend them prepping for Monday classes, so this is a great day to post something about outreach and elementary art education and my curriculum development. (note to self: needs catchy title!)

I’m going to attempt to make this a documentation of my studio and teaching practice. I want to really take this seriously, hold myself to it, make myself write about my art, which I have avoided doing for a long time now. I don’t think I’ve ever been this productive. I’m making more things and having new ideas all the time. I need to make more to-do lists and I need to stick to them.

But why am I doing this publicly?

Well I have some goals in mind. One of them is to be more outspoken about the things I really care about. 

So for my first to-do list.

Things to be more outspoken about (in the order that they came to mind)

Contemporary Fiber Art

Outreach Art Education

Arts Integration Education:  and eventually artists will rule the world! MUWAHAHA

Feminism: What happened to the Riot Grrrls?

The Ocean and the things in it

Science and Art Hybrids: possible collaborations?

Anarchy: pros and cons