My mama!!I have stuff being weighed down right now and while, technically, I could continue to do work on it, I really need to force myself to take a break. I know this may seem counter-productive given how soon our work is due but it's not. I will finish it and it will look great.
Because I have been weighing a lot of things down the past week, I have not been permitted to constantly work with my surface. This is nice, in that I have been able to take a little break from the very technical and stressful act of attaching things to making again. This past week I made some more people, which was SO enjoyable. Some are already glued down but here are some that aren't:
I hope to make more if time permits because I think they add so much and convey such narrative.I also cut a paper signature, which I really like. It is subtle yet noticeable (in the bottom left corner). Signatures provide authenticity to a work and I like the playful nature of a cut paper signature instead of a signed signature.
I glued down my bridge, which was a nerve-wracking and technically very difficult feat that required dexterity, incredibly awkward maneuvering and quickness. I'm glad that's done. That is one of the many things being weighed down by books and a 25-pound weight (imagine, if you will, the aforementioned awkward maneuvering to which I referred, involving squatting, quickly applying glue and reaching for a 25-pound weight to plop on top of books). My being gone this weekend will be good because I will not be tempted to peek at the bridge, thereby moving the books. Sunday or Monday evening I am going to take a picture of my work to post. I can't do it before then because I don't want to remove books/weights prematurely.
Amanda suggested too that I look at the work of Elizabeth Murray for inspiration for my compositional arrangement, namely cutting areas away and gluing those same island-like pieces in different areas. While this would be cool, I cannot envision how this would look and I honestly do not think this is the route my project needs to take. Another time, another place, maybe.
One thing I'm unsure about is what I should prepare for Tuesday's class. Could someone please advise me what they would like me to do?
Okay, that's all she wrote. Stay tuned for a Sunday/Monday evening post showing the work in its near entirety.
Utilization of Time:
Making people: 14 hours
Gluing stuff to board: 16 hours
Miscellaneous, tedious little map details: 8 hours
SIDE NOTE: I can do headstands now!!!!
Zach Kanin is my favorite New Yorker cartoonist. Funny shit.
Laura, I sent you an email about taking a look at the work on Tuesday, but I also wanted to follow up on Amanda's Elizabeth Murray suggestion. Murray's forms are a little more crazy that I think you need to get into, but I think the basic idea of cutting a bit into, or adding onto, your city would make it feel more like its own object, and less like a piece of board. You can be very subtle with it, it's just a question of leading our eye aware from the rectangle shape we're expecting.
ReplyDeleteThe images I'm finding of Jane South's work are more sculptural than I think you need, but with this one image, what I'm getting at isn't the overall shape, but the cuts into the shape that break the border--especially the inlet on the right.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sokref1/338686125/
Thank you for the suggestion, Seth.
ReplyDeleteI love the example you posted here but what I think I need are specific suggestions for where to cut into. I know "I am the artist" but I cannot envision what/where to cut. Also, I'm a little concerned that this is due in a week and that once I cut into it there's no going back, and I don't want to mess up something I've worked on the whole year : /
Tomorrow evening (sorry it can't be tonight but I still have areas being weighed down) I will post a picture and from there maybe you can offer some suggestions for where you think I should cut into.
The smell of the finish line is everywhere!!
ReplyDeleteI am very proud of you and the work you put into this. I hope that those looking at it will be drawn into all the minutia and little goings on that you have selectively placed throughout the piece. It is amazing to me, as I said to you the other day, that every single piece has been hand-cut and is an original artifact from Berlin. Even the title "mein Berlin", in the lower case, has symbolism. Each panel/section/building is a piece unto itself and could easily suffice on its own, and yet you have created a little world of these individual, meticulously created buildings, people and things. The hand-cut branches, flower babies, buttons on clothes are just a very small example of the effort and intent you put into this beautiful piece.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I hope that people take a minute to get drawn into the universe you have created in such precise and painstaking detail, Laura.
Wonderful, beautiful and thoughtful work.