Transformations: February 2014

Friday, February 28, 2014

Trying to find a composition.

RTonight I have really struggled to find a composition that works with these pieces. I might regret having cut them up... But anyway here's lots of attempts...

I also just stained the wood.

This brought out a lot of the carving and heightened the contrast. I am also thing about making it 3d...

But for tonight I feel like I'm not getting anywhere so I'm calling it quits.

I'll be back at it tomorrow.

Inlay, carving, painting, sculpting.

THe last critique was very helpful and inspiring! I have been working on carving even deeper into the surface of my pieces, so I am able to let the glass pieces sit below and into the wood. I also aquired an entire bucket of copper and brass pieces, which have some beautiful wear and tear in them!

I am working on enabling my painting Andy pieces to become evenpre ambiguous. The painting course I am helping to TA has been particularly inspiring this week, as we are exploring concrete painting. I have found that my own painting style twists a line somewhere and nowhere between the concrete and the expressive...

Here is the bare beginning of the current piece I am working on.

Inlay, carving, painting, sculpting.

Here is the bare beginning of the current piece I am working on.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Critique Reflection.

For our first critique this past Wednesday, I was able to gain some helpful feedback after showing these pieces below.

These pieces were shown next to my previous work from last semester.

This piece is a completed wood cut, that I am planning on painting and adding glass and copper to.

This is a detail of the piece.

In order to add more dimensions and layers to the piece I also had this completed Linocut, which I am going to collage into the piece as well.

Some of the most important feedback I gained from the conversation:

-a reminder to push my work past a more literal narrative. The woodcut above reads very directly as a landscape.

-inspiration to work on my assemblage craft. Being able to push the surface of the work and pull and push the layers to have them overlap. I will be working next on inlay; being able to carve areas where the copper and glass can sit beneath the surface and also, heightening the complexity of the metal elements as well by either pounding them on an anvil or allowing them to sit outside and gain some color, and more character. By doing this it may also be able to enhance the aspect of time in my pieces.

-I also want to search for greater ambiguity in the way I display content in my piece. Poetic elegance is what I am searching for. The way to hint towards experience yet not state it.

My next goals are to:

-work on craft: playing with surface tension.

-work of having my pieces be more sculptural. Having courage to take full advantage of the wood I am using. Cutting it up, carving it, sanding it, etc.

-adding monotypes to the pieces.

-drilling holes into the pieces to wrap metal and copper wire in and out of it.

-allowing myself less rigidity and less direct of a narrative. Reminding myself to hold the essence of content without squeezing it to tight.

Next, I was reminded to structure my artist statement in a way that is accessible to all audiences. To be more literal in my description. Maybe not literal, just approach it with simplicity .

I will work On my artist statement and post on soon. I will not be in thesis this week, as I have a field trip but next week I will show two completed pieces and a new artist statement.

I greatly appreciated the intensity of critiques last week ", and would like them to continue with the same amount of honesty and careful examination.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Printing tonight.

There are tiny parts where I did not cut the plate deeply enough so I have to go back through the plate and clean in up. Then print again. These will tomorrow be collaged in a painting. Stay tuned for a potential monotype as well. Feels good to be printing.