No Compromise: Drawing III Exhibition

The final show went very well! We had quite a nice turn out and the food and drink was tasty! I really enjoyed the guest critique for the final. It is always nice to hear a second opinion of the work you've created and how outside viewers respond to the piece. I had a great response to my piece in the show and received the same feedback from the class in regards to using the materials from the drawing room for the fort's support structure. The space was laid out well and the interactive map with artist statements was fantastic and very professional. I enjoyed being able to see everyone's work in the gallery space as an entire class. It was nice to be able to graduate with one last show to add on my resume. I thoroughly enjoyed this class for the third time and I'm glad I was able to take it during my final semester at Stout!    

Fort Review

The fort was a huge success! The class responded very well to my recreation of a blanket fort using my own materials from home. Everyone burst into a discussion of their own memories and the desire to go home and make their own forts to return to that nostalgia. I didn't get a huge amount of feedback besides the wish that I didn't use the materials from the drawing room to build the fort. Ideally I would have liked to use the chairs from home, but I was limited with time and space to bring them four hours up to school. Everyone responded to the musty smell of the blankets and the light source as well. I'm not sure if I would include the painting again unless I was able to incorporate more of the knick knacks my brother and I used to use to decorate the fort's interior. This was my favorite project this semester and it will be the piece displayed in the final show.

Final Project

My self directed project investigates my workplace through photographic documentation. I have worked as a custodian for the past three years at Stout and during the summer at my local school system. I have come to discover that the job requires an essence of solitude and alienation, which I have chose to highlight through the photographs. The series is titled: Custodial Closet, which highlights the relationships between the personal space and the necessities associated with the job. I have juxtaposed the quirky aspects of making a space feel more like home amongst a clutter of cleaning products. Little narratives appear in places where they seem out of place. It is this aspect of the custodial closet that sparks my curiosity and urges me to photograph the setting. The photographs act as a closer look into the strange world of full time cleaning. I like to take time to slow down and notice things that spark my attention. The photographs spark questions through the images depicted and together act as a series of unveiling the ordinary and making it extraordinary.

The class enjoyed my photographs, but they were most interested in the image of the hanging ceramic figure. I also found this photo to be the most interesting, but I didn't know if it would have enough visual information to act on its own. I think if I were to show the photograph alone, it may come off as morbid, which was not my original intention. Overall, I am happy with the way the images turned out. I enjoy the blur and filter as it adds to the nostalgic, stumble upon quality of the photos.

Place Project

When I find myself thinking about places that are important to me I immediately begin to focus on places that formed my most valuable personal relationships and memories. I think of home, grandma and grandpa's house, and memories that make me feel warm and fuzzy. In order to avoid these cliches, we were urged to create a flowchart that might reveal an idea that resides beneath the obvious places that are prominent in the brainstorming phase. I found myself thinking about temporary places and vacations. I questioned the permanence of a place and its significance to forming memories and relationships. I also pondered the amount of time needed to be in a place before it begins to mold your past and make an impact on your life. Through this conceptual dilemma of the temporary place, I began to think about building forts with my little brother. A fort can absolutely act as a place. We created the space and made it our own. We often spent free time in them, doing everyday things, but doing them in the fort. Sleeping in the fort was always, of course, the ultimate goal. I feel like we may have built forts more than the average siblings 2.5 years apart in age, but then again my brother and I always had a strong relationship....

I remember playing a board game with my brother, which ended in a disastrous explosion of competition. There was name calling, anger, and accusations galore. After the incident my parents sat us down and we had a long talk about the importance of our relationship as siblings. They stressed the fact that after they are gone, it will just be the two of us and if we don't get along, our family would be nothing more than a descriptive word for two people who are born of the same parents. I remember the urgency in their voices. The two of us sticking together is so important because we're all we've got after our parents aren't around. The conversation made an enormous impact on my desire to stay close to my brother. We were amazing friends and playmates as children. The idea of siblings disliking each other was completely foreign to me until I was exposed to friends who "hated" their little siblings and never wanted to be around them. I feel extremely fortunate that I have a friend who is also my brother and that we were able to share laughs and play together as kids in a sibling relationship far from common.

For this project, I intend to re-create one of the forts of my childhood. We always built the forts in our vast unfinished basement with the same series of blankets. I will use the same blankets that hold the musty smell of a concrete basement floor in order to enhance the sensory quality of the installation. I will construct it using chairs and clothespins and decorate it using the same props we continuously used time after time. I want the viewer to crawl into the space and experience my place as their place and hopefully be able to trigger their experiences of building forts as well.

Protest Project Critique

(PICTURE COMING SOON!)

The critique for my protest project went very well! The class was able to communicate the intentions behind the work and they enjoyed its overall attention grabbing quality. We talked quite a bit as a class about the importance of making work that has an extra spark that grabs the viewer and makes them want to look at the piece harder. The subject of protest and especially a subject close to home made it difficult to create a piece like this, that acts as translation. I think most of the works were informative and provided more descriptive aspects about the Bill in Wisconsin as opposed to creating some kind of translation between the work and the concept.

Fortunately, the class felt that my project provided compelling visual interest to the viewer while I provided subtle hints that allowed the work to act as translation. By realistically portraying the hands adorned with excessive jewelry I was able to translate the concept of the upper class controlling the middle class through the use of a puppeteer handle. The strings carefully loop around pennies with faces of middle class workers in both the public and private sectors, furthering the concept of control and identifying the pennies as a metaphor for the middle class and how they are viewed by the wealthy business corporations of America. The private sector and public sector faces are divided between the two handles to represent the fact that big business has manipulated the middle class to war with itself. It heightens the fact that we are responding exactly as they wish; turning against each other while their tiny percent of wealthy America remains sound in a time where cuts need to be made. The back of the pennies show Madison's capitol building to identify the local issue. It was suggested that my use of the transfer methods were well resolved throughout the piece since it is represented in both the transfer of the drawing and the transfer on the pennies. The 3D aspect to my piece was also suggested to be an added quality to the work overall. The fact that it wasn't just a drawing added to the viewer's immediate interest in the piece. I'm glad I decided to take the risk of making a 3D piece. I say risk since most of my attempts at three dimensional work often end up being fairly pricey at the cost of my failed designs. This piece, like I predicted, was made and then completely reworked before the final critique. Although it demanded quite a few resources, the time and money spent created something that I am quite proud of. I enjoy the face that I was able to create something different, since most of my work is protest, but in a much more subdued manifestation.  

Protest Project Proposal

Well I have to admit that I've been falling behind on my posting. Between school, work and my senior show, blogging always seems to get missed on my list of things to do. Now that my show is up I have NO further excuses!

We are having a closing reception THIS FRIDAY March 25th from 6-8pm. Anyone who reads this is absolutely invited to come join us for food and punch in the student gallery.

In regards to the upcoming project, I have given myself quite an ambitious goal for the final outcome of my piece. I have chosen to focus on the notion that there is much more to the issue at hand than the problems mentioned on the surface. I would like to focus on the fact that this has caused a war between the middle class. What's left of the middle class is now at war with itself between the public and private sectors. I will also focus on the idea that corporate America along with those in charge of our political system are saturated with corruption, greed and the ability to control through capitalist money. My piece will act as a sculptural drawing suspended in space. I plan to draw two "wealthy hands" of each a male and female to represent corporate America, big business, political representatives and all groups I find corrupt and in control of these circumstances. The hands will be adorned with items associated with wealth such as jewelry and proper attire. I intend to draw the two hands on a sturdy translucent surface (most likely shrinky dinks or some kind of gel medium) which I will be able to cut out and use as a free sculptural form. I plan to attach the hands to two puppeteer handles, which will be manipulating the strings of the middle class. On the ends of each string I will place metal shapes of the state of Wisconsin with photo transfers of working middle class people I know who have turned against eachother on their surfaces. I would like to display the piece with some form of wind, allowing the metal pieces to hit eachother, symbolic of the war against one another.

I am very excited about my concept for the piece...I just hope I can execute it!   

Critique: Mapping Project

Revealing Derinkuyu's Underground City

I was pleased with the class's reaction to my drawing. We discussed the subtle images that seem to appear within the drawing that tend to detract from the overall visual. The facial image in the left corner is indeed distracting, but could be easily resolved. After looking and drawing the image from different angles for an extended period of time I was unable to see such defects in the drawing. I also think my knowledge of the actual images of the interior spaces I was creating, biased my ability too see the symbolism as well. In my paper I discussed the question of whether my drawing could stand on its own without an immediate connection to the specific conceptual information about the work. I questioned the importance of the artist statement being paired with the drawing and if necessary information was needed to convey the concept of the piece. According to the class's feedback, the drawing works on its own as well as paired with the artist statement, unless my intent is for the viewer to know exact historical information behind the piece. I intended for the drawing to speak of chaos and secrecy, which it successfully conveys. I don't find it necessary to know the specific information about Derinkuyu when initially viewing the drawing, but the artist statement provides help to the viewer if they are curious to move further than the visual. 

Reactions to Class Discussion/Project Ideas

Of the many questions we were asked to ponder in class I have continued to focus on the question "What does it mean to make an unresolved map?" Creating something without resolution provides the viewer with initial questions. They are forced to question the work and ask its significance. Providing unanswered questions creates an immediate conversation and connection with the viewer to the work. It allows them to think deeper than what is presented to them and also allows the freedom for creative interpretation. This relates to the many unanswered questions in life. The human need to seek answers to questions keeps us thinking critically and creatively. Asking questions is what sets us apart as a species. We have the ability to analyze and generate new ideas based on the information given to us. Our advancements as a species rely on our ability to process information, ask how it pertains to us, and resolve these questions to meet our needs. In the world of maps, irresolution immediately acts as a questionable problem because of the practical nature of a map. A map is intended to provide information that can be manipulated to the viewer according to their intentions. The beauty of an unresolved map is its ability to strip the natural connotation of the word and create a new conceptual realm. An unresolved map speaks more about mapping itself than the function of a map. The intentions behind the act of mapping dictates the resolution or irresolution of the final map. An unresolved map functions through itself, while a resolved map requires the use of another's interests or needs to function accordingly.

My project ideas reflect the reoccurring theme, "Tension of the Present" discussed in the reading, in both the process and content of my future project. I am at a difficult point in the process since two completely separate ideas contradict my decision making on how to address the project. I always debate making work that directly relates to my life. I teeter on the line where cliches and things that matter to me intersect in the concepts of the piece. I find it difficult to distinguish between personal interests and cliches. When I begin to think about making work that directly speaks about my personal experiences and memories they seem to take on a form of cliche where these experiences seem like they are no longer mine. Making art directly about myself and my personal experiences tends to make them less of an experience to me. I feel like my imitation or re-creation of the experience will never justify itself in relation to the actual event. I ask, "why would anyone care about my personal experiences?" "why should anyone care about my personal experiences?" which then reverts me from using such subject matter.

That said, my first project idea is to create a map of my yearly experiences to our family cabin in northern Wisconsin. I would use a map of the lake and the area and draw on top of it/manipulate it in layers of my experiences. I've taken an annual trip to the cabin every summer since I was born. The people we went with changed over the years and the place itself was eventually remodeled, but the experiences remain the same. After creating my map, marking the experiences and drawing images of the occurrences, I would like to generate the same blank map I started with and present one to each of my family members for them to do the same; record their life experiences at the cabin. After getting these back I would like to manipulate them to read on top of each other in layers, showing one map of the place and the experiences embedded in the land. It will act both as a representational map of the land and a map of experiences and memories.

My second idea for the mapping project removes any kind of personal attachment to the land and reflects my interests and fascinations. Lately I have learned about the existence of the underground city of Derinkuyu in Turkey. It exists 85m underground and with 18 stories, it is the largest of many underground cities built in Cappadocia. The underground city was able to accommodate nearly 20,000 people with areas built for not only living spaces, but also tombs, shops, wells, and areas for livestock. It is equipped with ventilation shafts and flowing fresh water and even air conditioning. The structure also has large rolling doors, creatively fashioned to only operate from the inside of the structure, denying the entrance of any intruders.

The underground city is said to be re-used for protection and a hiding place during times of early Christians, but the original creators of the city are not completely known. It is said to be created by the Hittites who existed around 1900-1200 BC. They also used the underground city for protection from attacks and invasions. The exquisite carving and style of Derinkuyu is remarkable. The advanced nature of the carving and the individual qualities that separate Derinkuyu from the other underground cities on site suggests that it may have been built much earlier than historians have believed thus far. This brings about mysterious theories about the ancient city, which only adds to my fascination and interest about its history.

I would like to create a layered piece similar to that of Mehretu's working style. My first layer would consist of a map of Turkey and I would slowly build layers through subtraction and addition, eventually revealing the ancient underground city as the topmost layer. My map reverses the structure of the land; bringing the underground, above ground in a revealing strip of the area. It exposes the history and shares the story of a place that intends to be hidden and secret. The map will reveal what is supposed to be unseen and exposes its protective qualities.     

Introductory Post

Hello! Well here I am again in the Spring taking Drawing III for the 3rd time. As far as formal introductions go, I'm Sarah Leslie, 21 years old and a senior here at Stout. I am a studio major with a concentration in drawing. My senior show will open March 20th in the student gallery and I will be graduating at the end of the semester. My current work has focused on animal breeding issues developing in the wild due to climate change. The pieces I will be showing in my senior exhibition present these concepts both imaginatively and representative of those cases occurring in nature.

I am eager to take this course as I feel like it will allow me to break out of the niche that I have been currently obsessing over for the past few semesters. I enjoy the content and it has great importance to me, but I am ready to take a step away and develop a new body of work. Last semester in Painting II I was able to meander from the subject of my senior show and produce work along a similar, but very different conceptual realm. I have continued to create work about animal issues, but I resolved the artistic concerns through abstraction instead of representation.

Sea World consists of 11 individual panels alternating red and white and enclosed in a gold, broken frame. The surface is textured with thick acrylic paint and a water pattern image emerges when the panels are arranged accordingly. The piece is a reflection of my experience watching The Cove and a message of awareness. The slaughter of 23,000 dolphins each year is the result of the human desire to watch animals perform and entertain. Dolphin trainers from aquariums, and marine parks around the world purchase their dolphins from The Cove in Taiji, Japan. After the selection, the remaining dolphins are inhumanely slaughtered, away from sight in the surrounding cove to be illegally sold as whale meat in Asia. Dolphin meat contains high levels of mercury, poisoning those who unknowingly eat it as whale meat.

The root of the problem comes from the entertainment side of the issue. A dolphin sold to a trainer sells for $150,000 compared to a profit of $600 for a dolphin sold for its meat. My piece highlights this notion of performing animals for entertainment purposes through the use of red and white to represent the stripes on a circus tent. The gold ornate frame also addresses the old world circus when paired with the red and white panels. The incorporation of red and white stripes maintains a strong connotation with the American Flag. The incorporation of red and white also refers to this concept since Americans were the first to promote the entertainment value of dolphins through the Flipper television series. The broken frame represents the enclosure of the trapping process and the confinement of a tank in captivity. The frame also acts as a metaphor for the life of an animal living in captivity that was taken from the wild. The water image is enclosed in the corners to represent captivity while the unenclosed sides speak about the endless depths of their natural habitat. I chose to light the piece in darkness with one direct spotlight to enhance the performance quality of the subject matter and the painted object itself. I have titled the work Sea World, in order to give the viewer a hint before diving into the concept behind the painting. The piece is my contribution to solving the problem. Awareness is the first step, and I urge viewers to avoid funding places like Sea World by refusing to attend the shows. The demand for dolphins will continue if we prolong the funding of animal exploiting facilities.

I was very pleased with the critique of the piece. The class gave me numerous conceptual realms to the work, and a few received the information exactly how I intended. It does not bother me that some people were unable to receive my message given that they may have been uneducated on the subject in the first place. I also feel like because of this I have done my job in some respects, since those who did not know the content right away were eventually informed. If I were to display this piece in a gallery the availability of an artist statement would also enhance the visual statement. I enjoyed making the final piece and I am very excited that it was well received. If I could go back and rework the painting with an endless amount of time and funds, I would love to create a wall size version as I think it would create a more powerful encounter with the work and the content. I also think the image of water would come across better. Overall, I enjoy that it fits the content of most of my other work and I am glad that I was able to contribute to helping the cause.