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Haus of Fujs - Illuminated Hoodie SS21

In this piece, I revisit my first assignment for this course, drawing inspiration from points of critique from my peers and instructor.

Embracing the encouragement to continue this work, I pursued the project further, this time hand stitching my hoodie with vintage Italian embroidery floss. This newly added material belonged to my maternal grandmother, lovingly kept in pristine condition by my mother. The sewing machine and machine threads that I used prior to my previously presented work were inherited by me from my paternal grandmother.

While the aim of my initial project was to explore drawing, functionality, and renewal, my final piece utilized purely decorative embellishments to reflect artistic learning and growth, as well as heritage, connections and community.

Materials:

hoodie (assignment 1)

sewing machine and machine threads

embroidery floss

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Father-Daughter Dance, February 5 - 27, 2021

This piece was a collaborative performance with my father, using a backyard ice skating rink as an opportunistic drawing surface, documenting marks carved into the surface by skate blades. 

My skates etched new patterns into the ice each day, as I repeated a skill in the quest of perfecting it, and afterwards, my father poured a fresh layer of water to freeze over and smooth out the carvings, in his own quest to perfect his natural ice rink. 

While our respective actions are seemingly at odds on a superficial level, it was a symbiotic relationship, with the daily ritual sustaining and supporting one another. Ultimately, the competing yet cooperative process and resulting ephemeral drawings reflect the temporary nature of the existence of the rink itself.

Materials:

natural ice, meticulously maintained by my father

ice skates, used by me

weather-permitting skating conditions

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Haus of Fujs’ Illuminated Hoodie

This piece challenges my personal preconceived notion of drawing as the creative production of non-functional items, which led to moving towards artistic craft practices, such as sewing and knitting.  I have used a single-stitch sewing machine and vintage threads, as well as some handsewn stitches using embroidery floss, to “draw” onto an accidentally ink-stained hoodie, taking inspiration from needlepoint arts, the Abstract Expressionist movement, Jean-Michel’s personalized clothing and Japanese Sashiko artful mending practices. My act of drawing has not produced a brand new garment, which my sewing machine is intended to do, but has given a newfound functionality to an existing garment through the addition of intentionally chaotic embroidered design.