Material Trip!

Finally!!!!  I made it to Lowes to pick up some furring strips, sand, china markers and foam board.  Now, I will get to start to make a bigger type of mess...one that I truly love to make.  I am in the process of finding out which glue may work on 2 ltr bottles.  I found one that does work; although I prefer a stronger hold. 

Tonight, I guess I will not start destroying the house with my constructions, and be nice to the family since it is Valentines day. (I was nice) I did take the hubby down to Acropolis for dinner early before the big crowds hit. 

My plans have been sketched out, tomorrow I will take measurements of an actual object, and then enlarge it to have a sounder game plan.

OH!!!  I bought me a new toy, not to pricey, but definitely will have some fun with it.  YES, I got a penpad for my pc..

Now to really figure out how to use it.....

Book- Home

I just finished "Home: A Short History of an Idea" by Witold Rybczynski.  I am going to use this post as a record of a few sentences out of the book that I may need later for quoting.

pg 125  "Comfort was a generalized feeling of well-being, not something that could be studied or quantified."

pg 214  "Nostalgia for the past is often a sign of dissatisfaction with the present."

pg 217  "Domestic well-being is a fundamental human need that is deeply rooted in us, and that must be satisfied.  If this need is not met in the present, it is not unnatural to look for comfort in tradition.

pg 231  "It may be enough to realize that domestic comfort involves a range of attributes-convenience, efficiency, leisure, ease, pleasure, domesticity, intimacy, and privacy- all of which contribute to the experience; common sense will do the rest."

Christopher Alexander in footnote: "A Pattern Language"  (may need to read)

Great Meeting with Mentor!

I was extremely delighted to have had the opportunity today to meet with Danielle at her lovely home!  We had a lengthy discussion as to how I should proceed with my installation, and my first step is the creation of the TV.  This is the piece that will have the most impact on the psychological feel of the room which makes it crucial!

I am currently working on technical issues for construction of different pieces which may be included in the installation or in perhaps other installations.  Sometimes I feel that there are an inordinate amount of technicalities to overcome and once these have been ironed out....its all downhill!

Lots of good ideas to process through!

1st scheduled mentor meeting of the semester

Yes, the title pretty much sums up what this is about.  I will meet with Danielle on Sunday at her house at 11.  Luckily she lives here locally and since the weather here can change and get nasty rather quickly, I was so glad to get her to agree to it.
I mentioned last the weekend before last I was going to make a maquette....ha ha, a little on the lame side, but it did help me to think about the construction of the actual installation and how I will actually put it together.  I really want to thank talking to my adviser, and for the lecture from Jean Lowe.  I have been roughly sketching out some of my ideas, but I am probably one of the worst quick perspective artists that I can think of.  I work better in the 3rd dimension.  So... here is a really rough model, and by rough I mean sizes are not right nor are the materials or colors true to production.

I have also started making several strands of braids which will be used in conjunction to the rug, but in creating various pieces of furniture.  I would like to thank these ideas for how this specific installation is getting designed due to artists like Rachel Perry Welty and Charles Ladray!  Thanks to all of the great input from my critiques. ps...the rug has nothing to do with the above photo!!!

Weekend work!

As I have been reading for my personal research I have discovered a new word, Stimmung which is a sense of intimacy created by a sense of the owner by the furnishings within the room.  This word seems to strike at the heart of my feelings of "Domestic discomfort".  Where does the individual take hold of their place in their surroundings when a space is shared by a multitude of personalities striving to achieve their own sense of comfort?
Philosophy aside, yesterday I continued to work on my rug, and today I am going to try to make maquettes  of domestic interiors with my current concepts to increase my visualization.

Researching Artists

I took a day off before returning full fledged into the work routine to start getting my art life in focus, and today has been spent listening to critiques and researching artists that were recommended.  I loved the installations by Charles Ladray, and Rachel Perry Welty.  I also appreciate how unpretentious Ladray is about his work....

In Boston

Squeezing in a few moments in the computer lab, because the internet at the hotel I am staying in keeps stopping after a few minutes.  So far everything has gone very well; although the walk to the MFA was very cold!  I was very thankful that we did not have any snow!!

  I will post some pictures as soon as I get back to Indy.