Experiment #9 . Poetic Marks & Repetitive Actions Final

Experiment #9 : Poetic Marks & Repetitive Actions Final project

Conceive of drawing as leaving traces on the world, either in human-built environments, or natural environments. This concept could result in an object (2D or 3D), documentation of the action in photos or video, or a combination of these. Thorough sketch book concept development, research evidence and on-going, rigorous studio work is expected.

Consider

context

process

materials

micro / macro relationships

text as image

obsessive nature

passionate nature

Student Work

I have been really excited about this last project. I actually plan to continue this sticker campaign after graduation, on a larger scale. Making my work matter to others, not only myself, is important to me. If there’s a way to make a positive difference in someone else’s life then I want to do my best to do so. Through a lot of my previous work I have begun to reach others on a few different levels, but spreading stickers to advocate for organ donation awareness is a way for me to touch others on a much broader scale. I can’t wait to see where my stickers end up in the future. 

All of that being said, I’ve been greatly influenced by artists like Banksy and Shepard Fairey. Beginning as street artists who weren’t well known at all, and having their work end up reaching so many people is amazing to me. In looking at them, I realized that the only way to even try to achieve something similar would be to put my work out there, all over. The most realistic way to do that seems to me by printing my art on stickers. They’re portable, small, and hold a big message. Make a difference. 

Attaching the hashtag “#DonateLife” is important to my work, as it provides a “why” to viewers. That hashtag will connect back to Donate Life America, increasing awareness and hopefully support for organ donation. I decided that this was not enough though, and simply showing others these stickers wasn’t quite enough—I want my viewers to be a part of this campaign. So, my goal is to have people email me pictures of the sticker and the location of it, to be added to an image gallery and map on my website (the link is also on the sticker that way it all connects back to my work and mission). I’ve included a project statement on my website as follows:

This sticker campaign is an attempt to raise awareness of the importance of organ donation through art. My goal is to have my Make A Difference stickers end up all over the world, and I want all of you to get involved! Send a picture of the sticker where you've placed it, and the location, to marieveschusio@gmail.com. I'll add your image and location to the image gallery, and together we can make a difference by raising awareness.

You have the opportunity to make a difference in this world by signing up to be an organ donor. As I have had many family members who have needed organ transplants, I have learned at an early age the value of life. You, one single person, can potentially save up to 8 lives by signing up as an organ donor. For more information about how to sign up to be an organ donor go to www.donatelifeamerica.org. Make a difference.

            To produce a body of work that could potentially reach so many is pretty crazy to think about for me. It’s never really occurred to me that I could possibly reach so many people through my art and hopefully make a significant difference in the world at the same time. It makes me excited for the future, for making more art outside of my college career now, and it excites me for humanity. What a way to end my career at Caz. Or better yet, to continue my career outside of Caz.

Katie B. - Hearing the words poetic marks and repetitive actions sparks many ideas in my head that I want to explore, but the one that is most prominent is embroidery. Working with embroidery for two of my previous projects (Experiment #7 and #8), I wanted to learn more in exploration of the art. Embroidering to me is poetic and repetitive. I am able to create a piece of art that has a piece of me in it because I am free to do whatever I want. The repetition of embroidering to me is soothing, while therapeutic. I am able to release any emotions I have pent up while I am embroidering and I can put that into my piece and you will be able to read those emotions in the piece itself through the tautness of stitch and the organization of threads 

As I am a novice to the art of embroidering I decided that I wanted to learn and teach myself how to do the various different stitches there are. I wanted to keep the stitches I learned simple so that I wouldn’t become confused or overwhelmed with what I was trying to do. I decided to improve my French knot and learn the running stitch, back stitch, split stitch, stem stitch, and a chain stitch. I wanted to learn these stitches without any pre-set idea of what I wanted my piece to turn into. I started and just kept going with where I wanted to draw with thread. 

After using a flimsy embroidery hoop I invested in a sturdier plastic hoop that kept my piece in place as I embroidered. I used a satin feeling cotton fabric and I decided that I wanted to keep the color scheme of my piece that same. I decided to stay analogous with my colors and chose soft pinks and salmon colors as well as brighter, warmer shades of the same colors. I chose to use cotton embroidery thread to compliment the cotton fabric that I had chosen. This way, while embroidering and creating the piece, I wouldn’t become too overwhelmed with what I was creating and the viewer later on wouldn’t be overwhelmed while looking at it either.

I started creating French knots in the middle of the fabric and I just let my mind wander as I was embroidering, laying the knots as if punctuating my thoughts onto the fabric.. I didn’t have any expectations as to what my piece was going to look like and that to me was therapeutic in itself because then I wasn’t trying to follow a pattern and I couldn’t mess up because my method was completely free flowing. I used all six of the different colors of embroidery thread that I had picked to create the knots until it decided that I wanted to learn how to do another type of stitch. I picked a color and got to work learning various new stitches. Each stitched line in my piece is one color. I chose to keep the stitches just one color so that anyone viewing the piece wouldn’t become confused about how the stitches were coming together. 

In the end, I decided to end my piece making it look like a small embroidered explosion off of the fabric. I am very happy with the result of my embroidery learning process. It shows time and effort, as hand embroidering is very time consuming. I can see this becoming a much larger piece or at least a small piece of many others. 

Anne V. - We live in a world where one of the main thing we do everyday is consume. As we buy new things, new things are being made every single day. Even when I was little I’ve always been very sensitive to littering, I absolutely hate seeing garbage lying anywhere, but especially outside. I am picking up trash on the sides of the roads when I go for walks and properly disposing of it. For my project I am showing what we do everyday, but may not realize it, walk in garbage. Humankind has been polluting this earth for quite some time now and there may come a time when there is nothing left but pollution.

Therefore, I decided it would be best to do a two part project, to help further emphasize the point I am trying to get across. So I’ve created a video that shows me walking down the side of the road, with one sneaker bare of trash, the other in a fully, colorful, littered line extending from my shoe and continues to accumulate over time. I chose the side of the road, as this is where I often see trash; from people either throwing it out of their cars or dropping it as they walk by. The video shows the accumulation of garbage attaching to my foot as I walk down the side of the road, the longer I walk the more trash I pick up. I chose to do this using a pair of old sneakers because they go hand in hand with the act of walking. Also, the pair of shoes I am using are old and worn, so instead of throwing them out, I am giving them a new life to further emphasize the importance of recycling.  The second part of my project is the actual pair of shoes themselves, which I took only one shoe, the right one, which is my dominant foot, and stitched and layered as much trash as I could onto it. The shoe became very arduous and cumbersome to walk in, as the trash increased. This further emphasizes the idea that we are continually placing a burden on the earth, by constantly polluting it. While walking around in these shoes, I got a sense of what the earth must be feeling, and it is exhausted.  

I am also greatly influenced by contemporary artist Mary Mattingly’s piece, Pull, that she did in 2013, which showed her dragging a huge ball of just stuff around New York City. Her sense of the lifestyle of an apocalyptic world, just really resonated with me, and lead me to think about all of the material, products, and just stuff that is manufactured in our world, and how so much of it can never be properly disposed off, allowing waste to just take over the earth. Therefore,  this is what my piece is showing, a trash takeover, somewhere in the future, when their is no room left for production of any more new stuff.  And we all will  have to work with what we have, which is garbage, and probably end up wearing the one thing we have too much of.  

I’ve taken something usually known as ugly and worthless and made into something beautiful and poetic.  My piece is very colorful and diverse, I mostly included garbage that one would see on the side of the road. I tried to make it as long as possible, measuring approximately 8 feet. I left one of the shoes without any trash because I realized the juxtaposition would be more potent to see one shoe with more on it then two shoes with not as much. Also, the absent shoe creates a nice contrast, emphasizing the present versus the future, and how the future might hold an apocalyptic world. 

Pollution will always be a problem until everyone recognizes that it is. As human beings, it is our responsibility to take better care of what we’ve been given, for we only get one earth, there's not another one just waiting around incase we fully trash this one. So I beg all of you to stop and think about how we are hurting this earth. Because the first step to a healthier planet, is as simple as not littering by properly disposing of all trash, whether it be outside or inside. 

Other: Micro Macro Relationships

Experiment #00 : Micro Macro Relationships & mixed media collages

Unique drawings that amplify their relationships to each other and are found in nature, in math and in the sciences, etc. 

Insert early in the semester

Experiment # 8 . Mapping Time & Space

Experiment #8 : Mapping Time & Space

Drawings that construct a narrative that maps areas over a period of time
Maps are a visual representation of knowledge

The Potentials of a Map:
i : a representation (usually on a flat surface) of a particular area and/or idea

>> a representation of the celestial sphere or a part of it <<

iii : something that represents the clarity of an idea  

>> the Freudian map of the mind <<

iv: the arrangement of something tangible (or conceived) in a specified type of ordering >> genes on a chromosome —called also genetic map <<


link: MoMA > Maps, Borders & Networks

Here are a few examples:

Maps are a visual representation of knowledge

• subway routes

• geographical locations

• brain waves

• mapping a foot path

• your charted growth on the inside of a door trespass  

• charted demographics in a census

• astronomy and the stars

• the genomes of organisms

• the way we plan research

• the mapping of your college years

Artists have always had an intuitive understanding of how even abstract knowledge and concepts can be made visual. 

Contemporary artists have expanded this idea by appropriating both the type of conceptualization AND the look of traditional maps. 

According to Emma Dexter, “[Drawing] is a map of time recording the actions of the maker."

TEXT: To Draw is to be Human

Read the above article, prepare notes in your sketchbook and be ready to discuss in our next class together. Tuesday, April 4th.

Experiment #8

Steps

Begin by brainstorming different things you can “map.”

Consider how these connections can be mapped across both space and time. 

Remember, you can turn the most conceptual of ideas into concrete form

Your work is a dimensional construct of your ideas

For example, you may have had a certain type of sneaker as a child. As you grew, your own tastes changed in foot wear. What are your taste's now? 
Map that evolution.

Map your actual travel.

Map your conceptual travel.

Where do you begin? 

Where do you end?

What do your book ends describe / notate?

Map this evolution, layering foot wear, size, travel.  

The multi-layered drawing or series of drawings that conceptually lay out this information. 

1. Your work will define area, time, energy, dimension, scale and object and will be photographed in various ways
2. Materials may be 2D or 3D -- but remember TIME, is your most precious of any material you may use!
3. Create a six paragraph (minimum) project statement of how your work effectively makes use of material, mark, time, space, your overall interpretive concept of mapping time and space. 
4. Consider the translations / perceptions others offered you from critique. 
5. Consider your work's relationship to the research you have conducted and placed its evidence in your sketchbook! 
6. Create a PPT of all your various 'studies.' Include discussion of the value of each as well as their limitations.
7. Put the list in its entirety on your PPT - we want to see your evolution!
8. Insert your project statement within your PPT.
9. Send me an electronic copy of your studies in a PPT the day of following critique. 
10. Submit hardcopy of your project statement the day following critique.

1. CRITIQUE DATE:: Thursday, APRIL 13, 2017

Here are a few examples:

Matthew Ritchie 

Let's concentrate on the work of Alighiero Boetti following...

Essay from the MoMA exhibition catalogue July 1 > Oct 1, 2012 

Alighiero Boetti (Italian, 1940–1994) began making art in his hometown of Turin in the early 1960s, against the backdrop of a resurgent postwar industrial society. 

He rose to prominence in the context of Arte Povera, a movement of young Italian artists attempting to create a new sculptural language through the use of humble, everyday materials. Arte Povera translates to 'art of the poor.'

After the student protests of 1968, which brought about an increasing radicalization of Italian society and politics, Boetti removed himself from the politicized atmosphere of Northern Italy and moved to Rome, far from the artistic centers of Turin and Milan. 

He abandoned Arte Povera and began anew with conceptual works employing existing systems and simple structures, often expressed through drawings and collages. 

Boetti frequently traveled to distant places, most importantly to Kabul, Afghanistan, where he returned many times between 1971 and 1979 (when the Soviet invasion made travel to the country impossible). There he discovered a rich tradition of weaving and embroidery, and his collaborations with local artisans are among his most iconic works.

Mappa (Map). 1989–94. Embroidery on fabric. Various dimensions.
Collection Giordano Boetti, Rome © 2012 Estate of Alighiero Boetti/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SIAE, Rome

Throughout his career, Boetti experimented with a wide variety of processes, materials, subjects, and styles, and he often incorporated chance and invited collaboration. Nonetheless, his work was guided by a consistent set of philosophical principles, often conceived in opposing or differing pairs. 

Notions of order and disorder, duality and multiplicity, travel and geography, time and space, and intention and chance permeate Boetti’s projects, finding expression in conceptual works made using the postal service, brightly colored embroideries created with the help of Afghan artisans, and large-scale drawings that deploy mathematical systems and formal operations of chance or spell out his ideas in poetic puns. 

Dynamic and charismatic, Boetti brought his preoccupation with opposites into his artistic persona, signing many of his works as the twin characters “Alighiero e Boetti” (Alighiero and Boetti): one who responded to the rational side of the world and another who embraced its irrational aspects. In this vein, many of Boetti’s works can be understood as self-portraits as well as elaborate word games in which the artist is reflecting on his place in the world and on how to describe the world in his work.

Organized roughly chronologically, Alighiero Boetti: Game Plan (an exhibition on view at the MoMA > July 1–October 1, 2012) presented both the diversity and the consistency of Boetti’s practice; it also illustrates his idea that the artist, rather than inventing new objects, simply points to what already exists in the world in order to give it new meaning. Articulated through pithy phrases such as “bringing the world into the world” and “giving time to time,” Boetti’s guiding principles are the thematic threads that carry through the exhibition.   

Aligheiro Boeit = G A M E  P L A N

“First of all I prefer thought. This is the basic thing. I really think manual skill is secondary. . . . It’s taking things from reality. Everything, however small and humble, always has a beginning and stems from reality.”

“I had been going in one direction. . . . Then I began to doubt this direction. In the spring of 1969 I left the studio in Turin. It had become a depot for materials. I left all of this as it was and began again from zero with a pencil and a sheet of paper.”

“I went to a supplier of building materials. It was thrilling to see the wonderful things that were there! Seeing all these materials filled me with such crazy enthusiasm, in the end it turned to nausea! But still, some of the best moments in Arte Povera were hardware shop moments.”

“For me, the work on the embroidered maps achieved the highest form of beauty. For the finished work, I myself did nothing, in the sense that the world is as it is (I didn’t draw it) and the national flags are as they are (I didn’t design them). In short, I did absolutely nothing. What emerges from the work is the concept.”

“I have done a lot of work which presents a visual disorder that is actually the representation of a mental order. It’s just a question of knowing the rules of the game. Someone who doesn’t know them will never see the order that reigns in things. It’s like looking at a starry sky. Someone who does not know the order of the stars will see only confusion, whereas an astronomer will have a very clear vision of things.”

“Many people send letters, using the postage stamps unaware of their design, color and placement. Many people travel and document their experiences without being conscious that they are making art.”

“Often when I draw I use both of my hands. Normally I am right-handed. When I draw with my left hand it is a kind of conversation with myself exploring the positive and the negative, the ego and alter ego, the order and disorder and mounting it on paper. It is as if on one hand there is Alighiero and on the other, Boetti.”

“Do you know why dates are so important? Because if you write, say, ‘1970’ on a wall, it seems like absolutely nothing, but in thirty years’ time . . . Dates have this beauty: the more time passes, the more beautiful they become.”

BOETTI at the MoMA - Interactive drawings (connect to link)

Student Work

    

Trent C. - My project was to use freckles on someone's face as star constellations and paint that into the inside of a cup. I believed the project was mapping more of space than time. The experiment I felt really grasped the ideas of constructing a conceptual map.  My project was minimalist and did not take a huge amount of materials or exertion to craft but still held a strong conceptual idea. I felt that it portrayed imagination, and creativity. It reflects the infinite universe and being contained within a teacup.  I feel that my project speaks about containment in such a way that it isn't restricting the medium, the universe, but can show the ability of the project's potential to grow indefinitely and create more by painting more cups or taking other alternatives to expand the project.  A lot of my critique came from the size and complexity of it. I did not want to create the container for my experiment because I feel that my teacup that I use on a daily basis has more of a connection to me personally and the idea of my imagination and the universe being contained into a mundane object. I believe the only change I could have made is making more painted cups. 

Experiment #7 . Obsessive Drawing & Performance Art

Experiment #7 : Obsessive Drawing & Performance Art

Either using your own body, or creating a device that makes repetitive marks, construct a narrative, ritual, or action. The final drawing will be an artifact and/or residue of the performative work you have created.

The 'object' drawing will define area, time, energy, dimension, scale and object

Louise Bourgeois

Yayoi Kusama 

Yayoi Kusama

Ann Hamilton

Ann Hamilton

Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst

Ai Weiwei

TEXT: Where do Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds Begin & End?

Antony Gromley "Field"

Wolfgang Laib

Wolfgang Laib

Motoi Yamamoto

VIDEO: Motoi Yamamoto : Return to the Sea : SPOLETO : 8:43

Published on May 24, 2012

-- Free and open to the public -- College of Charleston's Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art has organized a major traveling exhibition of new work by contemporary Japanese artist Motoi Yamamoto. The exhibition will premiere in Charleston, SC May 24-July 7, 2012, as a featured presentation of the Spoleto Festival USA. Return to the Sea: Saltworks by Motoi Yamamoto will travel nationally after its inaugural presentation, including stops in Los Angeles, CA, Charlotte, NC, and Monterey, CA. The centerpiece of the exhibition will be a site-specific installation created entirely out of salt by the artist during his two-week residency at the Halsey Institute on the campus of the College of Charleston in downtown Charleston, South Carolina.

For more information: http://halsey.cofc.edu/

Actions

Either using your own body, or creating a device that makes repetitive marks / objects / things 

1. Construct a narrative, ritual, or action with your materials and their quantity
2. Write about the thoughts of your actions and what they might express beyond their materiality in your sketchbooks
3. Create an exhaustive list noting what your concepts you are delving into in your sketchbooks. Their materials and what they suggest. The quantity, use, space and what it might speak to. 
4. Let this list evolve throughout the entire experiment
5. Date each
6. How does your work contrast to Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds? 
7. How does it parallel Motoi Yamamoto Salt installations?
8. Note each in your sketchbook and add to your PPT
9. The final drawing will each be an artifact, trace or residue of the performative work you have recently spent time with
10. Photograph each 'sketch' in-situ, you will use these in your media presentations
11. Install your most successful and prepare to discuss the reasons of your selection
12. Note your work's relationship to Ai Weiwei's and Yamamoto's works in your PPT
13. Critique presentation will include your PPT of all your various 'studies' include discussion of the value of each as well as the limitations
14. Put the list in its entirety on your PPT - we want to see your evolution!
15. The 'object' drawing will define area, time, energy, dimension, scale and object and will be photographed in various ways
16. Materials may be 2D or 3D -- but remember TIME, is your most precious of any material you may use!
17. Send me an electronic copy of your studies in a PPT the day of following critique (TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2017)
18. Create a six paragraph (minimum) project statement of how your work effectively makes use of material, mark, time, space, your overall interpretive concept, consider the translations / perceptions from critique, as well as your works relationship to both Weiwei and Yamamoto. Include any other inspirations you wish, but remember you must be responsible for their inclusion by answering "Why?"
    2 Submit hardcopy of your project statement the day following critique
    3 Write a minimum of three sentences describing the concepts of each of your colleagues' work. Put your name on them.  Cut them out to present to each student artist in the class. Your sentences should include your interpretation of what the visual works seem to be expressing. 
    4 Insert your project statement within your PPT.
    
    
    CRITIQUE DATE:: Thursday, March 30th
    
    

    Student Work

    

    
    

    

    
    

    I doodle a lot when I am anxious, especially repetitive circular and wavy patterns. For the duration of this project, I carried around a sketchbook that I dedicated to these doodles with me everywhere I went. I would draw my lines in between classes, during lectures, before I went to bed, and whenever and wherever I found the opportunity to. I plan to continue this practice. I used black pens and markers to create my lines, which created a strong contrast against the off-white paper of the sketchbook. I think the monochromatic color scheme is important because it allows the viewer to focus more on the details of the lines and the different line qualities created.        

    
    

    The use of black pen on white paper also allows for the illusion of gray to appear in between lines. The steadiness of the lines and the distance between them noticeably varies from page to page and even cluster to cluster. I think that the more tired I was when drawing, the shakier the lines were and often they were farther apart. When I was more anxious, the lines were often darker or applied with more pressure and closer together. The closely drawn, anxiety filled ones often have small shakes in the lines throughout the doodles. I don’t have a steady hand to begin with and my hands always get shakier when I am anxious. This project almost acted as log of how many times throughout the day I get anxiety. I didn’t necessarily go out of my way to doodle in my notebook whenever I was feeling anxious, but it is apparent that that happened a lot.

    
    

    Flipping through the book is like flipping through my daily life. There are moments where the anxiety and my other ailments aren’t that bad but then a little while later—sometimes only minutes—it can be completely debilitating. This project allowed me to create a visual reference, for myself, of all the times that I am, for lack of a better term, casually anxious. I know how to handle it for myself and know what I need to do for me, but when other people see me they don’t understand. People don’t realize anxiety is an actual disability, and that in of itself is very invalidating and debilitating.

    
    

    My project contrasts with Ai Weiwei’s Sunflower Seeds in the notion that Weiwei’s art was created to make a political statement and created for the whole world. My art was created for me, almost as a way of journaling. From the very beginning of the idea of the project, Weiwei knew what he wanted to accomplish with his Sunflower Seeds and how to achieve those goals. The true nature behind my project became evident after I was fully invested in it. Weiwei’s piece is also an installation piece made out of 3D porcelain sunflower seeds and my piece is compiled of 2D ink drawings. My work is similar to Motoi Yamamoto’s salt installations because they both rely on intricate lines and are full of emotion.

    
    

    
    

    

    
    

    

    
    

    

    
    

    

    
    

    

    
    

    Critique student writing

    Marie: I think your video was beautifully executed and was the strongest part of your project. I understand what your intent was with photographing the boxes in various places, and I agree that the photographs were important to the concept, but I definitely think some photographs were stronger than others. I think that the fact that your boxes were made out of brown paper and were crushed by a white male really speaks to a whole other level of societal issues.

    
    

    Anne: I could tell that this was your piece right away and I think that it’s so cool that your work is recognizable across a plethora of media. The contrast from color to grayscale reminded me of that one hand and feet piece you did in figure drawing last semester that kind of looked like a butterfly. I think it would have been nice to see more of a transition from the layered thread to the writing, showing the timeline of thought process.

    
    

    Hayley: I think your mixture of media was super intriguing. I really liked the colors and texture you were able to create. I kind of question how true to the experiment your piece was though because it looks like a repetitive pattern you created in one sitting but not really something that you did obsessively for several days.

    
    

    John: I think your concept is really solid and really speaks to the times. I think the formatting and layout are a bit awkward and confusing and could be improved. I think your photos would have been stronger if they were all the same size, layered over each other rather than staggered and different sizes and opacities.

    
    

    Tiffany: Despite not being glass, black, and/or green, this is a very “you” project. I think logging your time was a really great idea and made your point come across even stronger. I wish you presented your scarf thingy a different way, maybe lain it out in the hallway or something, so we could see how long it was and you could blow everybody’s mind.

    
    

    Zach: I think your piece was visually very interesting and had a lot of texture. The progress shots you included really helped solidify the obsessive/repetition feeling of the project. I don’t really understand the whole “prison movie” concept behind your piece.

    
    

    Ruth: I think your piece, like a lot of your work, is hauntingly elegant and beautiful. I loved the randomness of the knots and how you pertained them to memory and loss. I think the piece is much more successful as a stationary installation piece than an interactive piece.

    
    

    Katie: I really liked the verticality of your piece and how it was like a margin in a notebook blown up. I think it was an interesting choice pairing up the doodles with pen on muslin. I think the piece would have been even more successful if you were somehow able to better blend the converging doodle styles as they went down the line.

    
    

    Morgan: I think your pieces, especially the mandala one, were beautiful and flooding with emotion. Your color schemes were vibrant and emotional and it makes total sense that you picked the colors based on your state of mind. I think using the watercolor paper as a substrate made the pieces feel a bit stiff and awkward, so embroidering on fabric might be something to look into for a more natural feeling finished product. 

    
    

    Jasmine: I feel like our projects are very similar in nature but where I stayed the same (i.e., color and location) you pushed yourself. I think the inclusion of different colors and metallic pens made your work that much more interesting. Part of me wishes it wasn’t on lined paper so we could focus more on the loops of the doodle, but the other part of me really likes the written aspect paired with the doodles.