graceattemptsart

[graceattemptsart]

Selections from the Museum of the World gallery that I found interesting and inspiring for the work I am making this semester.

[graceattemptsart]

Website from our virtual museum tour.

I chose to look at The Museum of the World which was a collaboration with the British Museum and Google Institute.

[graceattemptsart]

Documentation of the first two days of install. My goal is to have the first layer (maps) finished by Monday April 20th.

[graceattemptsart]

Final project update (the fridge)

The images above depict the large collection of resources I collected and cut up for the interior of the fridge. I have sorted them into four categories: maps, people, places, and ‘misc’. Now that they are sorted, it will be much easier to install them as I can work one pile at a time to create the layered effect I want.

[graceattemptsart]

Documentation of daily destination project.

I had a hard time picking a path to document. At first, I wanted to document the remnants of the paths my twin siblings take in my room. I love seeing the paths of toys,drawings,clothes they leave from playing. I decided against this idea because children never take the same path twice and there would not be much consistency within the images.

Ultimately, I decided to document the path from my bed to my desk (20 steps). After gathering the images and thinking about the path I studied, I realized that I could take the opportunity to make this book about the transition to online learning during the last semester of college. If I am being perfectly honest, I did not enjoy my time at HWS and have a hard time extrapolating good memories from the place. However, I loved my professors and my academic course of study, which is why it was sad to transition to online learning. This zine book documents the path from my bed to my desk, but it also documents the sorrow of leaving the arts campus.

[graceattemptsart]

[graceattemptsart]

Para Mi Flaco Con Muco Amor

This cowbell is obviously not finished. The technique is slightly embarrassing because the magazine did not adhere well to the cowbell. I’m going to keep working on it as I want to use this project in my portfolio.I am going to wait to make edits until I have an exacto.

[graceattemptsart]

Phase (n):

Unfinished: Edges must be flush and pieces of text fell off on the front that I need to retype.

[graceattemptsart]

I Should Be On PrEP

(Unfinished: edges must be flush and handle bar needs adjusted).

[graceattemptsart]

Unfinished + Untitled.

[graceattemptsart]

Blessed Be the Fruit

[graceattemptsart]

Artist Statment

Rooted in the tenets of socially engaged artistic practices, the mixed media piece, titled Small Town Queers, calls attention to the beautiful and painful experience of growing up queer in rural America. Inspired by the Instagram account, Queer Apelacia, and my history with growing up on a farm, the concept of collaging 3D printed cowbells was chosen because it is a rural relic that is quite literally used to call attention to something. However, because Small Town Queers is a project surrounding the idea of silenced voices, these cowbells are unique in that they do not make noise. They look like the object but are not capable of the task that they are intended for, which is eerily similar to how many rural folks feel about homosexuals. 

In order to truly capture the range of experiences that LGBTQ+ individuals live in rural areas, I reached out to my community and asked friends of all ages, sexualities, gender identities, and ethnicites to write in any style about their queer coming of age journey. No prompt or restrictions were provided as I am not interested in constraining voices, but uplifting them. Submissions were sorted based on their content and assigned to a 3D printed cowbell. Each of the five cowbells address a particular reality for queer individuals. If there were multiple submissions on the same subject, quotes were pulled from each response in order to achieve a greater breadth and depth. As the maker, I relinquished as much control as I could. The initial idea and basic designs came from my head, but the more complex design aspects were an artistic response to the submissions received. The content was not determined until submissions began to trickle in. In the end, the topics my queer community felt most passionate about were: access to preventative HIV medication, coming out to religious family members, sexual liberation, conversion therapy, and queer love. 

[graceattemptsart]

In process photos from “Small Town Queers”.

[graceattemptsart]

[graceattemptsart]

I’m starting to think about the final project and I might have found something interesting to build off of. I found this fridge in the field by my barn and hauled it out by myself- HOOAH!

Last time we talked via zoom, we were discussing the wastefulness of art on an environmental level and the importance of repurposing objects. The fridge could be an interesting project for that reason because it has probably been sitting in the field since the previous owners of the farm lived here. But it also seems interesting right now because of the socioeconomic consequences that are resulting from societies reaction to the covid-19 pandemic.

When I look at the fridge I see two obvious directions I could go:

1. Combine collage, assemblage, and found objects to make a piece that directly deals with the pandemic and it’s socioeconomic consequences. It could be interesting to split the fridge in half by making one side a response to wealthy peoples hoarding of resources and the other side poorer individuals not having access to basic needs.

2. Create an alternate universe or escape from all the news, statistics, physical/emotional hardships of the covid-19 pandemic. I’m not sure what this would look like yet and it would definitely be out of my comfort zone because I have a hard time with work that is not deeply rooted in content.

I would love to hear your thoughts!

[graceattemptsart]

Documentation of the cyanotype skirt.

Model: Barbie, my baby sister.

[graceattemptsart]

I am still unsure how to write a formal project proposal, but here is my best attempt. I am late to turn in work, but at least I’m consistent and it’s not literal garbage :)