Tag Archives: materials

Research

happiness is… research note #13

Two more thoughts about working with materials:

Sometimes they are dazzling and fun to look at, even in the early stages of production.

Parts of a flag-to-be; cut.

Parts of a flag-to-be; cut.

Parts of a flag-to-be; wrapped seams readied for pressing.

Parts of a flag-to-be; wrapped seams readied for pressing.

It gets better.

Sometimes the patterns remind you of artworks by friends, what begins as a material revelation becomes an opportunity for relatedness—connecting or re-connecting with like-minded others.

Detail, painting by Chris Duncan. Photo: Klea McKenna. // Source: InTheMake.com

Detail, painting by Chris Duncan // Source: InTheMake.com

Detail, paint stack by Leah Rosenberg. Photo: Klea McKenna. // Source: InTheMake.com.

Detail, paint stack by Leah Rosenberg. Photo: Klea McKenna. // Source: InTheMake.com.

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Research

happiness is… research note #10

You never know what you’ll use for art.

I’m working on a drawing with lots of little text. It’s big enough to be uncomfortable on a table, and I can’t work on a wall as my gel pens don’t defy gravity. So I get the best results working on the floor, with me kneeling on top of the drawing. It has been very helpful to have:

A yoga mat. Kneeling on the concrete floors would have been torturous. Folded over, the mat has been a secret weapon in my drawing endurance.

A 4″-roll of masking tape / homemade anti-ant moat. A previous artist-in-residence left this super wide tape. It was actually too wide for my needs until rainstorms pushed ants into the studio. I’m using inks that smudge easily; wayward, tiny feet traversing the paper would not do. I made an ant-repelling “moat” of sticky-side out masking tape, big enough to fit the drawing, yoga mat, and me. Non-toxic, effective, and free!

Hyperflexion. Only during a recent visit to the acupuncturist did I learn that what I assumed was a normal range of flexibility is not. (I have a particularly well-honed creativity for discounting physical merits; I’d figured that I could easily touch my toes because I have short legs.) It probably helps to be limber in long days spent curled over drawing 12-point text.

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Research

Happiness Is… Research Note #9

I have  a conceptual relationship to my work—I read, write, observe, and reflect to inform the art that I want to make. I do so much research sometimes, my recent studio practice has involved organizing information:

Studio view: notes from positive psychology books, organized in a large table.

Studio view: notes from positive psychology books, organized in a 6’x6′ newsprint table.

Though I employ conceptual strategies, I still make things. I like materials, and I like working with materials. I like the challenge of finding and trying different materials that will best convey the ideas, emotions, and experiences I have in mind.

Materials are indifferent, however. They age, warp, stain, fold, bend, puncture, and undergo countless other unintended transformations. Reality, too, resists—physically, culturally, economically; I can’t always get what I want, and I can’t always make what I envision. Art objects, conventionally, aspire to timelessness—an unnatural condition.

In a recent project, I used over:

  • 700 yards of thread
  • 200 yards of twill tape
  • 17 yards of unmounted vinyl
  • dozens of pieces of aluminum tubing and wooden dowels

I also shipped a sewing machine across the country for this project.

It took two to three long work days to finally get a feel for the materials: how they sew together, what patterns would be strong and functional but visually minimal, and how to adjust the tension of the thread just so. In that sense, working is learning, gaining expertise. Doing is simultaneously gathering and applying information; hence, making is a way of thinking.

Detail, work in progress. Supported by Lucas Artists Program at the Montalvo Arts Center.

And still, materials surprise me. As I conceptualize, plan, prepare and make, visual and optical qualities emerge. They call on me to look at what I’ve made with new eyes, to see things as they are. To be honest with myself about the degrees to which they are or aren’t what I intended, physically or conceptually.

I like the opportunities for flow made possibly by working with my hands. Some people can achieve flow in activities of the mind—mathematics, writing—but for me, flow arises in the challenges and satisfactions of physical art-making.

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Art & Development

Mylar Ficus

Vinyl Ficus #3 & 4, 2010, vinyl, mylar, thread, lacing, wire, ~18 x 12 x 12 inches / 45 x 30 x30 cm each

Vinyl Ficus #3 & 4, 2010, vinyl, mylar, thread, lacing, wire, ~18 x 12 x 12 inches / 45 x 30 x30 cm each

In 2010 I made a ficus out of gold mylar. Actually it was gold mylar that was laminated on some kind of white plastic/poly sheeting. I’ve been looking high and low for that material again, with no luck at all.

Working with materials is challenging. I feel like many materials I use are often discontinued.

In searching for silver mylar, imagine my surprise to find this:

ficus on mylar

ficus on mylar

I love how the plant stands in as an object to demonstrate reflexivity, yet the photo is framed like a portrait.

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Impressions

An Art Fair, Positively Materialistic

Last week I researched a lot of art materials, so when I attended the Armory Art Fair it seemed like the thing that attracted me the most were materials.

Spared from crowds and achey feet, you’ll have to excuse the poor-quality snapshots.

First, some novel materials or presentation styles I found attractive, interesting, or fun. Followed by some examples of exuberance/knickknackery, good ideas, nice techniques, and one lone example of an interest in psychology.

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I did attend VOLTA, but my battery promptly quit. On my camera, that is. View a catalog. I loved Patrick Jacob‘s miniature vistas as seen through a miniature domestic set (The Pool, NYC). Also nice to see Ed Pien‘s work at Pierre-François Ouelette Art Contemporain, Montreal. Neat retroreflective paper cut.

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