Project #3 Mobile

For my mobile studio I would like to create a bracelet that tracks ones daily encounters. The bracelet suggests that one does not necessarily need to intend to make art in order to do so. Art is created in the process of just living. This is a very post modern concept in that is suggests that everything is art, but it has particular relevance to the current trend of redefining art-making environments. In Sharon Butler's article she mentions how a studio space can become oppressive. One may feel a certain obligation to their studio that may even inhibit the creation of art. The goal of the bracelet is to create art without feeling this obligation. In existing one consequently creates art.
As I began to construct this bracelet out of foam I soon came to realise that although the bracelet encounters the world (banging into things and denting, brushing up against something and becoming dirty, etc.), the artists or person wearing the bracelet has minimal interaction with it. Yes, the bracelet will be over-sized and will have a definite presence that will not go ignored, however, the artist does not have a significant level of control over the art making process.
In an effort to address this lack of interaction, but also to preserve the original intent of the bracelet, which is to create a tracker or history of ones daily life through mark making, I decided to include an element from my specific art practice: binding wire. The binding wire is covered in a thin layer of soot which would also leave a mark on the bracelet if it were wrapped around the foam. Plus the wire would allow the artist to make objects out of wire and then press them into the bracelet to display them. I am still considering whether or not to include other materials as well, my dilemma is how to preserve the pristine outer surface of the bracelet so that the mark making will still take full effect.

pictures/comments

Finger painting for a personal touch (literally):

 

Laser-cut tags (leaf sized and colored, great for fall):

 

Installation (can you spot them all?):

Outcome:

It was interesting to see the tags scattered on the ground days after the first installation. Weather this speaks to the success/failure of my project, or the lack of awareness in our community, or simply the strength of the wind that day, it reaffirmed my belief that artists cannot be too concerned about the outcome of their work. This is especially important in generosity based work. If the work is too controlled, tampered with or deviated from it original generous intention it makes the work self gratifying.

Project #2

I have been working on a few ideas all  focussed on note writing. I am curious specifically about notes as opposed to letters, and how the former differs from the latter. Are note less personal? do the only exist to serve a purpose?
Anonymous notes are particularly interesting as well as the reasons for which they exist. Anonymous notes can be received as angry, passive aggressive or nasty, yet, at the same time can serve as some form of release for the writer, though the writer may never see a reaction to or outcome of their note. Do people write anonymous notes out of kindness? and if so how often compared to ill intent?
One idea I have been playing with involves tagging bikes with "thank you" tags. I would cut the tags out of cardboard on the laser cutter and tie them to bikes on campus, in town, etc. One thing I am unsure about is if the laser cut cardboard is less personal then a handwritten note? and if you could still consider it a "note" without that personal element?
Here is a mock-up of what the tags might look like:

Some of them I just goofed off with to see if they'd communicate the same message.

installation

Site and Set-Up

I have scoped the building, inside and out, to try and find a proper site to display the objects. I have narrowed my options down to outside on the steps to the patio, outside in the triangular garden strip, or inside in the rotunda. I would like to consider the impact of the space and how the work alters the space and/or the function of the space.

I would like to display the silverware in some systematic way but I do not want to alter the objects. I think that lining them up in an organized way would work best to allow the viewer to compare their similarities and their differences. However, I think that some irregularities in their order will help to keep the piece interesting and no static.

start

I have many mismatched spoons and other silverware that I would like to make a piece out of. I think that if they are lined up or paired up in a way that accentuates their similarities then the piece will easily comment on the repetition of a single object. In this case the object/objects are not mass produced replicas of each other but are rather individual objects that have separate histories. As their lives have gone on, however, their worth has diminished and they have all dropped to the same level of old, un-matched, and un-wanted silverware. They are in the same undervalued category despite their differences.