Fall 2020 in review and thoughts on thesis
Impact and Empathy: Creating Resistance
The first project of the semester wasthe Impact and Empathy Project, which I made a book about protest art and disability rights for called Creating Resistance.
Started out as a group project where we came up with ideas together and researched those ideas. My group was initially interested in the creation of protest art and posters, we each picked methods of creating protest art and specific protests movements to focus our research on. I focused on the general history of protests, handmade posters, and the disability rights movement.
Iterations: We each had to create 25 iterations
I started out my iterations by creating posters based on quotes from the Netflix documentary Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution. After this first round of iterations James encouraged me to really focus on form. So I made swatches of all the materials I was using on cardboard and paper. I then rented a macro lens and took pictures of my swatches and posters.
Lastly, I focused on the tools and the materials I was using by taking photographs of them. I also thought of the hand as a tool, the most important one as it is directly connected to the protexter/creator, and photographed my hands after making the signs so they would have the residue of the materials on them
Book:
The next part of the project was to bring all of iterations together into a book or video. I choose to make a book.
I wanted to highlight what I had read from the book Protest. The Aesthetics of Resistance, my own voice, voices from the Disability Rights movement, and the work I had made. I did this by using different paper and paper sizes. My voice is on the main pages in blue next to an image of my hand. Text from the book is on smaller newsprint pages in red, and the disability rights quotes are on black newsprint. I also highlighted some of the macro photography by putting it on metallic cardstock.
Research Video: Artistic Influences
The next project is a video where we had to compile research that we had been doing each week on artists/designers into a video.
I decided to not only focus on the artists I had found, but also think about the family and friends that have greatly influenced me. I created a collage of family photos and old art by physically layering them on top of each other. Eventually, I start to take apart the collage and call out the main artists that I connected to through my research, Tara Donovan, Sarah Sze, and Mariah Robertson, as well as Bryan Graf, Tauba Auerbach, and Sigrid Calon. I also call out the family members and friends when their picture appears. Overall, turned into a kind of thank you to the important people in my life.
Installation: What’s the Point?
The last project was a group installation in Gallery 5 based on questions we came up with and discussed after doing readings on graphic design.
Essentially my group kind of got frustrated by the project and the pretentious readings because it felt like we were supposed to be making designs explaining why design was meaningful and that felt meaningless, hence the title “What’s the Point?” We decided to focus on having fun with the creation process, experimenting, and creating for the sake of creating.
My first iterations were a revisit to a zine I made last year about the difference between art and design titled “just a maker?” The original zine was my own writing which I then annotated by hand, I decided to go back into it and annotate my annotations. By the end I was honestly just annoyed with myself because I felt like I was just repeating myself over and over again
For the next iterations, I had gone through Megg’s History of Graphic Design and wrote down all the artists/designers mentioned to see how many were women. Only 48 out of 654 were women.
Lastly, I did a lot of experimenting with the risograph. And I mean A LOT.
I was mostly interested in collaging directly on the riso scanner. I used materials such as mesh, annotated readings, foam sticker letters, and my hand.
The installation kind of turned into a brain dump collage, using a gradient to create a subtle structure. Topped off with a little guy drop kicking his brain.
Thoughts on Thesis
- Library of small process and research books/zines related to painting practice
- ex) Disposable camera process photos- 1 art/design related picture a day, starting on first day of fall semester until thesis show. If I don’t do something art related that day then black picture, or inspiration picture might be better- black feels very negative, and taking a day off isn’t always a bad thing
- I’ve been doing this throughout the semester- I have a small notebook with the camera where I title each day, planning on turning the printed photos into a book
- COVID restrictions- would people be able to touch and read them?
- Was originally thinking I would display them on a handmade shelf, but I don’t think as many people will be able to interact with them as I hoped
- Mary mentioned mailing things to people- create a mailing list where I send copies of the books to friends, family, and others who are interested
- Ask them to send feedback
- Way to share my thesis project and painting practice with my family who probably won’t be able to see my work in person
- Falling in love with the process instead of the outcome
- Documenting melanin print research project
- In process of applying to UROP for project extending of off Lucy Kim’s Melanin Print Project, in which E. coli is modified to produce melanin and is screen printed, the melanin production produces the image
- https://vimeo.com/436577435
- Making a process book(s) and swatch book that documents the project and the research involved with it
- Relation to other photographic and printmaking processes
Thesis Statement
Photographer Mariah Robertson works with chemical developers and fixers in an experimental way to create interesting and dynamic compositions of color and form that span across the disciplines of photography and painting. She states that her process is a “journey [she goes] on where [she makes] one move and then the materials make another move and then [she makes] a move, but [she’s] always following the path that’s given to [her] by the thing that [she’s] working with.” A back and forth process in which the creator learns from the material in each step and is able to react, using this knowledge, in the next one. I work in a similar way as Robertson and want to dive deeper into this my painting and creating process by tracking and documenting the materials, research, artist, and methods I encounter along the way.
A large focus of my practice is on the incorporation of my own physical touch and sensibility into what first appears to be such a mechanical process. Both my grandmothers taught me how to sew, quilt, and cross-stitch when I was young and these lessons are what started my interest in fiber arts and the craft that goes along with this discipline. The thought put into each fold I create, each stitch I make, and each thread I pull has an emotional resonance, similar to how the placement of each word and letter on the page of a book has an impact on the reader’s experience. Being both a painting and graphic design double major, I often run into the boundaries between fine art and design, created by the labels we place on works and their creators. I am interested in blurring these boundaries through working with materials and processes that reference fiber arts, design, printing, painting, and sculpture.
Tracking the Creative process will reveal these boundaries and demonstrate what can happen when they are pushed through a series of process and research books/zines connected by a visual system.
