Notes on Structure

Hi All, I have just finished my second draft of my thesis paper (that goes along with my thesis body of work for my MFA.)  I thought it would be interesting to include an excerpt of it here:

Examining structure is examining the strengths and weaknesses of something, gaining full understanding of whom and what something can be at its core.  Knowing structure is to know how something can fall apart and what keeps it together.  I like to build structures to make them fall apart in places and be held together in others.  I do this by mimicking designs that I have seen in biology and in architecture, or consciously taking those structures away.  As the maker, I have this intimate knowledge about the forms I build.  This relationship makes the object I’m making take a position of weakness and vulnerability, but only after I have gone through the paces with that material and that form.

This is an in-progress view of a piece called "linear flow."  It has a salvaged wood frame with steel mesh strewn between.  The teal are bamboo skewers which are then glued into the mesh as a way to illustrate the lines and curves it makes.

The creating and destroying of structure reflects the struggle I have with allowing looseness and fighting tightness in my practice.  These are values that are very important to me because they challenge my natural tendencies.  The materials’ dictation of the end result is a way for fate and unknown to enter and destroy the certainty in my design.  What is left is a form that is in between states, teetering on the brink of a number of absolutes.  

Linear Flow, installed at the DA Gallery, Pomona, CA for their Trilateral Exchange show.

Studio Fort

view of "fort" as you walk into my studio

     So I built this fort in my studio for the "Open Studios" event we had at CGU back at the end of April.  This was a take on the Blades and Swarms piece I did earlier in the year.  I decided that it would be good to include a sample of that type of work, along with some other projects as a way to show all the ways I'm thinking about materials, structure, and the building/assembling of objects.  It was also a chance for me to implement some great advice from a studio visit I had with Mathew Deleget, who was spring semester's "Atlantic Lecturer" at school.  (An interesting note about Mathew: he is part of a collaborative group called Minus Space, that also does publishing.  Definitely check them out: you can do so here.  Both him and Minus Space are based in Brooklyn, NY.)

     Mathew suggested that I make some installation work that involves specificity of the space.  In other words, make objects that fit into only one space, as opposed to what I had been doing which was making things that adapt and can be installed in any space.  

     This is certainly more difficult, if anything because it takes some finesse and coordination to get permission to build in a specific space, then there's the building part which usually is dictated by budget and time constraints of both you and the location.  So I decided using my studio for just this purpose would be a great way to go about it for a first run.  

outside, standing above, looking down in

     I had used the wood from the first installation to build a loft in my studio, but luckily have scavenged a few pieces of wood from the scrap bin downstairs to make up for it.  (I managed to re-used the fabric leftovers, and some smaller wood pieces.)  As I was building, I was climbing under and over the frame and very aware of my height the whole time.  I managed to create a more enclosed are of the piece, so you really feel like you are going into and through a cavern.  The danger is a little more real, and the navigation more physical then the last time.  (I hit my head several times on some of the sharp wood clusters.)     

outside, side view

     Overall I think it was a success.  The piece appeared bigger on the inside than the outside.  It also had a different shape inside versus out.  The light changed in different areas too, which really added to the beauty of the form.  When you all the way in, no one could see you.  This to me meant that as a viewer, the experience was more personal.

inside, looking up

   You may have noticed that I am talking about the piece in the past tense.  One of the issues with any installation, but especially one in your studio, is that after a while you have to take it down.  I needed room for building other projects.  The good news is I have plenty of photos of the piece and have more projects underway to share.