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Progress Report 4 (critique 3)

Finally I completed my first piece. The portrait of my grandmother is done and I can honestly say that I am proud of the finial product. Aside from that I have the piece for the back cushion of my chair started and I am feeling confident about that as well. The design is simple, yet beautiful and I believe it captures the feeling that my Aunt tried to convey in her letters. One of the problems I faced was how to present visually the stories I was given. At first I was very much in my head and I tried to create an overly complicated narrative involving every detail but that was very crowded. Then I overcorrected and just threw a bunch of overly simplified symbols together on a page and it was disconnected. Finally I landed on a happy medium of creating a scene with a figure that tied together multiple elements but made sense as a singular image. Over thanksgiving I took the design home and shared it with my Aunt. One thing she was concerned about was the depiction of the pomegranate tree. You all know the story about the tree- My Grandma told my aunt not to eat the pomegranates from the back yard in her nice Sunday clothes, so when my Aunt got juice on her dress my Grandma promptly went out back and cut down the tree. It is a story that I have been familiar with for years and its quite impressive to say the least, however it paints a very harsh picture of my Grandma. My Aunt was apprehensive about showing the axe or having the tree damaged in any way because although she told the story, she did not want to depict Grandma in that light especially to strangers who didn’t know anything about her. I was a little concerned because I was caught up on the idea of representing her flaws and telling this “truth” about my Grandma, but I was missing the point. The project, I realized, had taken a turn from representing my ideas about my Grandma to representing her the way her children saw her, whether that was idealized or not. It wasn’t my place to decide what was most important. I want to get to know my Grandma through my Aunt’s eyes and, for her, that story is not the most important or impactful. The project is about learning to love her after harboring all of this anger after her death. Basically I just let go of the idea I had in my head for so long of how I needed it to be and I let my Aunt drive the images instead. The design still has the pomegranate tree and it is quite prominent in fact however the connotation is completely different. The tree represents the good memories of eating the fruit in the back yard on the brick retaining wall with her siblings. It represents the gardens my Grandmother worked so hard to maintain. It represents symbolically the family tree that was cultivated by my Grandmother. And, yes, it also represents the story of my Grandma cutting down the tree, but it is not the focus. Now all thats left is to kick it into high gear with my stitching and upholster the chair. Meantime, I am really enjoying having the chair in my loft  for stitching, reading, watch movies, taking the occasional nap; I will be sad to see it go.

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Key Artist

When I began this project, although I was sure I needed to use needlepoint, I was nervous about the medium since none of the professors used needlepoint as a medium. I was new to the needlepoint community myself. My summer job working at the needle bug helped me drastically in learning technique, fibers, lingo, and overall knowhow regarding needlework. It was during one of the week long classes when I met Tony Minieri. Tony is a short older man with a thick grey mustache, reading glasses, a pot belly, and an unbreakable jovial spirit. During his week long stay he treated us all to rambling stories about his childhood and his adventures traveling around the country teaching needlepoint while managing fifteen ladies all working on different canvases and all possessing different levels of skill. I did not get to interact much since I was busy putting away stock or checking in the new trunk show or working the floor while Mrs. Leigh was on break, but I still listened and occasionally walked around the room to peek at the ladies work. I found myself awestruck at some of the designs that he came up with. In the needlepoint world there are two different types of designers: a canvas designer, and a stitch guide designer. Tony designed stitch guides. Basically he will take any canvas by a number of designers and create a custom guide including fiber choice, color, stitch pattern, and embellishment for each element of a piece. Although it may seem simple enough to choose a stitch, it has been one of the hardest parts of my project. First, the sheer amount of techniques that exist is daunting for a newcomer and requires a lot of reading, research, and of course stitching. But more than that, I found myself struggling to create the kind of drama that Tony was able to create for each canvas he worked on. On the last day of his visit I got to talk with him and I told him about my senior show. He was thrilled to hear that a young person was so passionate about needlework and did his best to encouraged me. He showed me a piece he was working on and took the time to explain the ribbon technique that I was unfamiliar with. I later looked up his website and reading his statement of sorts I was very impressed. Basically Tony is the master of formal elements of art. He uses line, spacing, color theory, symmetry, variation, and all of the other buzz words to create a pattern that is visually impactful and pleasing to the eye. His geometric tile pieces are simple, yet elegant and eye catching and completely created using stitches, not figurative subjects. His canvases with figures are done in a realistic style, but still maintain the artistry unique to needlework that accentuates the texture and linework. His piece the Geisha Choko from Leigh Designs utilizes floral and geometric patterns with a simple basketweave to create drama. Using Tony’s mastery of technique and building stitch guides in correlation to the inspiration from the Samplers which I mention in a previous post has helped me to create my pieces.

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Progress Report 3 (critique 2)

Coming into this review I felt so much more confident. I finally had a breakthrough with the formatting issue and my ideas were much more concentrated. I finally realized that instead of focusing on my entire family dynamic it would be much more focused and coherent to use my Grandmother as a stand in for the entire family. My Grandma was the center of our family after all and in my journaling I always ended up circling back to her, so I finally connected the dots and realized that my project should focus on her too. After making that decision it became so much easier to I knew going into it that people would be most worried about time and if my ambition was too big for my skill. As I expected my main feedback was concerning size and I came prepared. Basically I am using a combination of tactics to cut down on the time it will take me to complete the project while not skimping on style or artistry. First, by using a larger count canvas, more holes per sq. inch, I will cover more ground with each stitch. Although this means I will not be able to get the same amount of detail that is in the portrait of my Grandma, I am not trying to be as detailed instead opting for a simplified style reminiscent of the McCalls illustrations from the 60’s (when my aunts and uncles were kids). I am also opting to use more long stitches which, as the name implies, cover more holes per stitch. Finally, I am using wool fiber which is practically for its durability and because it is not necessary to use a laying tool because wool is naturally rounded. All of these things, plus my sheer determination, allow me to confidently say I will finish this piece. Aside from size the professors brought up a good point that I did not have a lot of imagery to work with. I have already come up with a few more design options for my Aunt’s panel and hope to finalize them within the next week or so. I also decided to have my parents help by bringing up my Grandma’s photo albums. I am hoping that the photos can lend me some inspiration and I will be able to use design elements from them for my next few panels. Moving forward I am trying to be more intentional about the stitches I use meaning that, unlike my sampler piece, I want the stitch to directly correlate to the object. For example, for my tree I am searching for a stitch which will emulate the rough nature of bark. This will allow me to adapt the sampler style by still using a variety of stitches and techniques while also creating a more realistic style of stitching.

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Samplers

My Grandmother was a noticeably northern transplant to the deep South. Her demeanor was cold and her no-nonsense approach to life affected every relationship and interaction especially with her grandchildren; she had a distaste for noise and dirt and squirming. Although she never quite picked up on the art of southern hospitality or that "bless your heart" disposition, she did immersed herself in family tradition. Family meals and holidays were always hosted at grandma's house, our costumes were never store bought if she had anything to say about it, her drawing room was decorated with hand made pillows, rugs, and everything in between. It was my grandmother who enriched our family with the traditions which I hold so dear. The embroidery sampler in many ways represents or reflects my grandmother's position in our family. The sampler is a historically educational tool that was meant to teach young girls sewing skills and the more basic skills such as counting and the alphabet at the same time. Girls upon entering elementary school, would begin their first sampler which normally consisted of the alphabet and a boarder with floral designs. When girls became a bit older and were separated from the boys they began their real sampler which still had the elements of letters but most involved poems or bible verses as well as the name of the stitcher. The goal was to create a piece of sewing that showcased the stitchers skill, virtue, and obedience. My grandmother was extremely disciplined and skilled in many forms of needlework evidenced by the multiple pillows, dresses, scarves, and other decorative items throughout her house and ours. As a wife she embodied the role of home keeper and as a mother she completed her duty by passing down her skills to her daughter and eventually to her daughter in law. My own mother, another southern transplant from California, was gifted with a needlepoint canvas and threads upon her engagement to my dad; her first finished piece, my dad's Christmas stocking, hangs proudly on the mantel every year with the four others which represent our family. As a child I loved growing up in a family that had tradition, I thrived on the closeness of our family. The stockings and costumes and clothes were all little symbols of that love I felt, the thing that bound us together. The sampler too was steeped in tradition and familial pride. When a girl finished her sampler she would proudly display it as a symbol of her virtue and a sign to her possible suitors, however once married the sampler became a heirloom to be handed down to the next girl in the family. Not only was this passing down a sign of triumph in womanly duties but it also served as a guide to stitching for the young girl and in essence a guide to becoming a woman as well. My grandmother tried to pass down her skills to me. She had multiple lessons in crochet, knitting, sewing, embroidery, and needlepoint; I was too young and rambunctious to stick with it, but that didn't stop her from trying. My grandmother tried to passs down the tradition but I refused. When I got older I refused because it simply did not interest me and I also began to recognize the implications of sewing as a feminine activity. My brother and male cousins never had sewing lessons, they were not asked to sit still and practice patience. I think it is important to account for gender bias that is inherent in the traditional family value system which I was brought up in and which I love so deeply. Women in the family are nurturing, they cook and sew and stay at home with the children. My grandmother taught me to sew , to sit like a lady, to be patient and respectful,; my aunt was a debutante in seven different balls, my female cousins were both debs and so was I. Women in the traditional nuclear family serve a very specific purpose and sewing is historically a major marker for a woman's role and a visual representation of her virtue. In this endeavor I am not oblivious of the implications of my chosen medium. I am using needlework to connect to my family, to the tradition that I lost when my Grandmother died and in doing so I am also connected to the greater tradition of femininity. I see this project as an opportunity to connect to my family and display my virtue and loyalty to them while also elevating needlework to a higher art form, something to be revered for the beauty and skill and not just as woman's work. I wish to connect to my grandmother and commemorate her while also adding to the narrative myself. When she died many of the traditions I held so dear fell apart and I was forced to see my family in a new light. In many ways this project is about my Grandmother, but it is also about perspective. The sampler allows me to explore the tensions between memory and reality in a narrative form that connects me to the tradition of family and the tradition of needlework as a whole.

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Argent Gallery Review

When first looking at the work for Argent I was unimpressed. The five pieces seemed small and insignificant in the gallery not to mention they didn’t actually arrive until the day of, and one piece was missing. I was also put off by the presentation of the pieces; clothing is meant to be worn so displaying the pieces in frames compressed behind glass significantly hurt the viewer experience. Clothing, like sculpture, is a three dimensional art and deserves to be seen in its entirety from multiple angles. Needless to say I was not excited for the artist talk, especially since the designer wasn’t even coming, it was her business partner instead. Despite my apprehension the “artist” talk was completely engaging, enjoyable, and relevant. Lauren made it clear from the beginning that she was not the creative mind but would try to provide us with a different side of art that we may not often hear about- entrepreneurship. Her speaking style was clear and concise without too much technical jargon so that those of us who have not taken business classes could still follow along. While I am not someone who is business oriented, what really drew me in was her passion for her product. She repeatedly emphasized the need to one, truly believe in what you are making and two, have a clear purpose for making it. This idea is relevant to visual art and definitely to my current thought process regarding my senior show. I think many times artist will get too caught up in their vision of a project and the personal investment means that we are too close to see when something just isn’t working or we need to change directions. I know that I definitely fall under that category and it often takes peer or professor critique to force me to reevaluate. What helps, however, to keep the integrity of the project and stay true to the message while also taking critique is a clear vision for what you are making and what it should say- essentially, what is the message? I think in the past few weeks I had sort of lost sight of my message in trying to force a concept that just wasn’t working. Because of the friction, I stopped working and lost momentum. I finally had to ask myself again what am I saying and why. When I did this I realized that my project, in the direction it was headed with the two different panels of before/after or good/bad for lack of better terms, did not line up with my message. The tone was simply too negative and divisive; the project was calling attention to the bad parts of reality while completely ignoring the complexity of the family dynamic which is consistent of good, bad, and everything in between at all times. The ultimate goal is to bring light to the complexity of the family unit while also recognizing that it is possible to learn to live in that tension and persevere. I want to project a message of love and acceptance, not one of division. Once this became clear to me again I decided to shift focus to exploring my family through my Grandmother; in a way I am providing a tribute to her while also calling attention to the complexity of her identity as a wife, mother, grandmother and how she shaped our family. I feel more energized than ever and I am truly looking forward to designing my next piece which I could not say before I made this shift. The argent show simply put words to the road block I have been trying to overcome for the past few weeks- finding the passion and purpose once again.

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Progress Report 2 (Critique 1)

I am not going to lie my first critique went pretty terribly. I was way too stressed beforehand, to the point where I almost made myself sick. Looking back I think I was stressed because I didn’t feel confident in my pitch and I knew that people could easily poke holes in my idea. Basically I would be forced to face head on the roadblocks I have been avoiding. Well, that’s reality. Regarding the work I did have completed I felt pretty good. The piece is a tribute to my Grandmother that is central to my project, so I know it will end up in the show. As of critique I had two floral motifs completed and partial background. It was not nearly enough. I think I underestimated the time necessary to complete the decorative stitches and on top of my procrastination in starting the design, I simply fell behind. No excuses- I just didn’t start in time. The work that was there however is good, I am confident in that. The stitching looks clean and the textures are meshing the way I wanted them to. The color of the background is a little distracting though and I am pretty sure I need to change it moving forward. I could tell that when I was presenting my piece that people were confused about the process. I tried explaining why it is necessary to strand threads and lay them with a laying tool. I also tried to bring different scanes of thread to show the textures and the amount of thread that goes into each stitch, but I mostly got blank stares. I think I realized that unless I give a demonstration that people will just not understand the process. I think that may actually be a benefit in some way because I will receive feedback based only on design elements and my ideas which I seem to struggle with the most. After I showed what little work I had, I tried to explain my plan moving forward. As I expected, the questions started pouring in and I couldn’t really answer them with confidence. A lot of people were confused about the double panel idea. Basically, I want to use two different canvases to talk about the reality/ideal and then layer them in a shadow box configuration. The idea is that you can see through bits and pieces just as reality is often clouded by the ideal and our memory which also works to idealize our lives. The professors pointed out the obvious problem that I don’t have a mock up yet, basically I don’t even know if it will work. Also, some people brought up the point that unless the imagery is very clearly separated it may be confusing which parts are ideal vs. reality. I am starting to rethink the format completely. I think the comments overall pointed to a major flaw that the panels don’t really further the idea enough to warrant their use. I also realize that the dual panel system seems too much like a demarcation of good/bad. I don’t want to send that message that the ideal was good and reality is bad. Families are all complicated and the reality is a mix of good and bad just as idealizing your memories can be good but also a bad thing if you are using it to avoid problems. Basically its not working. Critique forced me to think about the tone of my message more than anything. I don’t want this project to come off negative or aggressive, I really want it to be a tribute to my family and my love for them- flaws and all. I also think I may be trying to take on too much by incorporating my entire family because there is not any unifying element to the stories/memories I was choosing to portray. Moving forward I am going to scrap the panels idea and reevaluate the ideal/reality imagery so that it conveys a more loving tone.

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Progress Report 1 (Initial Pitch)

So far I have felt like I was on a roll and had so much energy coming into the semester, however after we presented our ideas I have been a little paralyzed. Even though the professors, other students, and even myself have been constantly preaching the importance of work and producing, or just starting at least, I find myself stunted. I think the sheer amount of work is daunting but more that that my lack of knowledge regarding needlepoint is a sticking point. Although I have knowledge of the basics and I would consider myself proficient at basketweave, the common everyman’s stitch, I am still very new to the needlepoint community. I only began stitching in March over spring break and I have never ventured into decorative stitches until now. Being a perfectionist, I want to research everything and master each stitch I come across before even beginning so that I can stop feeling like an imposter. Now that I have gotten that off my chest and wallowed a bit, its time to kick it into gear. I know that I will learn as I go and that is part of the process. I also know that needlepoint, while it may be tedious and time consuming, is essential to my project. There is something about using a medium that was so sacred to my Grandmother and such a part of her life to speak about family identity that is special. In a way I feel like I am connected to her through the canvas, I am able to connect to the greater tradition of my family. The hours of labor remind me of the hours my Grandmother, mom, and aunt spent stitching all of our stockings. Each new stitch I master reminds me of all of the times my Grandmother tried and failed to get me interested in stitching and how proud she would be now. I also chose needlepoint for reasons other that the familial tie. One, I knew coming into senior year that I wanted to chose a medium that required a lot of hands on work. While I love photography I have recently felt a disconnect from the finished product; I have missed working with my hands and getting dirt so to speak. I contemplated returning to film and the dark room to get some of that back, however I really felt the pull towards something which provided more of a physical experience. I contemplated drawing, but my skill level is not where I would want it to be for such a venture. Finally I landed on needlework; stitching is a very labor intensive and intimate process. I get to feel the different textures in the threads and work them through the canvas, each stitch is a visual move towards a final product and I find the process rewarding in a way that I have been craving. That being said, I also realize that I have taken on a lot in terms of work. The hardest thing about needlepoint is that it is on a grid style canvas. There is no way to really speed up the process or just spit something out really quick if one of my pieces doesn’t work. In a way though this could be good because I have to be very intentional with the design and the forethought of each piece. Basically I don’t have time to mess around and fail a bunch of times, each piece I work on needs to end up in the show. Ultimately I know that this is the medium that I need to tell this story and I feel like that knowledge will propel me forward despite the potential road blocks. Aside from the problems posed by the medium I am really struggling with the theme or the statement I am trying to make. My initial pitch was well received, however I was pretty vague. Basically, I am trying to showcase the difference between the idealized memories of my family during childhood and the reality of my family that I have become aware of as an adult. The ultimate goal is to recognize the differences and then to reconcile them somehow to prove that the two realities can coexist. I feel like I keep talking in circles. I have the idea, but I don’t know exactly how to put it into my project. I have been thinking recently about creating two different panels, one that is the ideal and one that is the reality, to showcase the differences. Professor Brodeur made a good point that there is an interesting correlation to the idea of redacting- taking away the layers of falsehood to get to the reality. My summer piece highlighted this idea. In the piece I have our families orange cookie recipe- a secret family recipe that is connected to so many good memories in my childhood, however, my grandmother’s name is crossed out and replaced with the name Arletta. Arletta, my grandmother’s maid, I recently found out was actually the author of the recipe and she gave it to my grandmother. The name is “redacted” and the correction is setting the record straight in a way. This realization of reality does not take away from the good memories, it just lets me see them in a new light. I think I may be able to push this idea further by possible using layers of threads and ripping out sections or letting only certain sections show through to get that idea of correction or redaction. Overall, the first pitch helped me to begin forming a concrete idea of what my project will look like. Now, I need to get a better handle on what ideal/realities I plan to show and what imagery I will use to depict them.

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Scale Blog

Originally I was planning to do three to five smaller pieces to hang on the wall. Embroidery samplers that I am drawing inspiration from were typically smaller wall hangings around 11 by 14 inches or 12 by 12 inches. My first piece, a sampler dedicated to my Grandmother, is 14” by 14” partially to imitate the sampler style, partially to draw people in so that they will be encouraged to see the detail in the stitching, and partially to be realistic about the time constraints since needlepoint is very tedious. I began the piece and quickly realized that it would take longer than planned. The difference between my senior project and a typical needlepoint project I had worked on is the style of stitching. I am choosing to incorporate a number of decorative stitches and patterned stitches to add a layer of artistry and texture whereas I would typically just use basketweave which is a very simple stitch. The decorative stitches can sometimes take longer because they require counting and focus. I began to rethink the format and scale of my pieces after the realization of the time limitations, but I did not want to go smaller because I don’t want my project to fade into the background in the space. Instead, I began to think about my project in terms of physical objects instead of wall hangings. What if I did pillows or pieces of furniture which are both traditional needlepoint objects. I could not however figure out how these would fit with my artist statement or further my project, until I received my first letter from my Aunt with her stories of Grandmother. In her letter, my Aunt Mimi described a ritual where my Grandfather would get home from work and sit in the wingback chair while my Grandma would play piano almost every night. The chair she described had remained in my Grandma’s house after my grandfather passed away almost twenty years ago. I began researching and I found that needlepoint was actually created to be a more durable form of embroidery specifically for upholstery of furniture. A light bulb clicked and I knew I needed to needlepoint the wingback chair from my Aunt’s story. I could just see the impressive chair covered from top to bottom in needlework. Obviously that is a huge leap from wall hangings- the scale is larger and the pieces are more intricate since i need to shape them to fit a chair. I started to think about how I could change elements of my project so that I could make it work. I first decided to use a larger canvas- 13 count instead of 18 count- meaning there are more holes per square inch. This helps to speed up the process and cover more area quicker. I also decided to work in a wool fiber, one, because it is more durable and practical for furniture, and two, because it does not have to be laid with a tool (silks often have to be precisely laid flat because they are not naturally round and the twisting is distracting, but wool is naturally round and rough so the twisting is not visible). Finally, I decided to use a bargello pattern for the outer parts of the chair almost like a shell. Bargello is a type of pattern that uses long stitches over four or more threads in a stepped pattern. It is easy to follow once the pattern is established and it covers a large area quickly. I have come up with these different techniques to be able to complete the chair. I feel that the chair not only fits well with the theme of family tradition and needlepoint tradition, but the scale of the chair will be impressive when finished. Needlepoint is typically seen on smaller pillows or inserts of furniture, so having the entire piece covered will be impressive and unique. The idea of the chair was what ended up dictating scale, however, the scale was integral in choosing the materials and the style of my needlepoint.

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Materials Blog

When I started to think about my senior show I knew two things right off the bat: I wanted to do a project about family and I wanted to work with my hands. My family has always been a huge influence on my art, so the subject matter felt natural and resources plentiful, as for the medium I had to do some serious searching before I finally landed on needlepoint. As a young artist, I always fancied myself an illustrator- I loved drawing and, for a while, I was in the top of my class talent wise. I chose pastels for my concentration during AP art in my Junior year, and I ended up with a five on my portfolio, which somewhat boosted my confidence. Senior year though, I was left without another upper level class to take, so on a whim I signed up for photography. Unlike drawing, I did not have a natural talent for photo, but I welcomed the challenge. I soon found a new love for photo that surpassed my love for drawing- photography was something timeless and perfect. The lens at once captured exactly what you saw and felt in a way that I could never replicate through any other medium. The perfectionist in me rejoiced; I could finally put on paper exactly what I saw and what I wanted the viewer to see without the limitations of my rendering skill. Entering college I felt confident choosing a focus in photography. I took my prerequisite drawing one class first semester and didn’t think much about it again. Last year, second semester I decided to take printmaking both for fun and to fulfill my art elective requirement. It was during that class that I realized what I had given up in abandoning drawing. I had given up a passion and a skill. I no longer possessed the ability to render what I saw in front of me; my drawings were sloppy at best and I again felt the inadequacy that partially led to my giving up the subject in the first place. I was discouraged and kicking myself for not keeping up at leas my sketching, but then I began carving my first wood block and with each stroke I was creating. Every mark was mine and every print felt complete. I realized that more than just drawing I missed the sense of ownership that comes with doing something by hand. Photography is art, I strongly believe that. It requires skill and practice and talent. However, I also believe there is a difference between capturing an image and creating one. Neither one is better or more valuable, but they are different. I had deprived myself for so long of the creating that I felt an overwhelming need to choose a medium other than photography for my senior show. Printmaking was my first idea mainly because I was caught up in the excitement of the class and the thrill of the process, however I quickly realized that my skills may not be up to par after just one class. I also realized that drawing was out of the question since my skills once again were more than rusty. Over spring break I was home with my mom and as a surprise she took me to the needlepoint store and let me pick any project. I had been wanting to re-learn the skill for a while. My grandma taught me when I was really young and then I forgot until my mom found the piece that we had done together while cleaning out her closet. I spent the entire week of spring break needlepointing. I completed my first piece and started two more, shocking the shop owner and prompting her to offer me a summer job. I found something that gave me that sense of ownership and pride, and I was good at it too. Each stitch was a sign of my labor, the hours I spent creating. I could hold the finished product, feel the different fibers, see the subtle color variations and changes in texture. I became an addict. When the year ended though, I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for my senior show and needlepoint was not even on my list of possibilities. I was still trying to make photography work, but I was having a hard time finding a way to do a project on my family without it becoming documentary-esq. Then one day a light bulb clicked- what better way to talk about tradition and family then through an actual tradition- through needlepoint. I was working at the needle bug at the time so it became my mission to learn as much about the art as possible. I listened in on the conversations during the Wednesday afternoon stitch-ins, I spent a little too long looking at the pieces coming back from the finishers, I learned the stock like the back of my hand during inventory, and most importantly I kept on stitching.  As my project has progressed, my medium has become even more integral to my artist statement. Not only is needlepoint a tradition within the family, but it is a direct link to my Grandmother, who is now the focal point of my project. When I stitch I feel connected to her through a medium that she practiced her whole life. I can imagine her sitting with me stitching for hours while chatting an listening to music. I look at the needlepoint stockings that hang on our fireplace with a new appreciation; my Grandma stitched a stocking for each of her children and their spouses, but she didn’t stop there. Grandma took it upon herself to teach my mom, her daughter in law, to needlepoint when she got engaged to my dad. One of my mom’s first pieces was a stocking for our dog, Maggie, and then soon after a stocking for me. My Grandmother passed on the tradition because it was important to her, but also because it was a way to incorporate my mother into the family and make her feel like a part of the tradition that binds us to generations. I appreciate the effort it took on both parts to teach/learn such a tedious skill and, to me, it represents an effort to become family. I wanted to be a part of that as well. I also think the time aspect is important in its own respect. The project is a chance for me to let go of the anger I have harbored against my Grandmother since her death by learning more about her life and her as a person, it is therapeutic in a sense. Needlepoint is an art that takes time, there is no way around it. Stitching is methodical and tedious, but it is also healing. It is not something that can be done in anger or the heat of the moment, it requires thought. The more I meditate on the project, the more I am able to let go of resentment.

As a quick recap- I started out with needlepoint as a fun hobby then I chose it for my senior show because I was desperate to do something with my hands, and I thought it was a cool tie in with the traditional element of family. As my project has progressed I have found it to me more integral that I thought as a direct connection with my Grandmother, a symbol of our family tradition and unity, and a meditative experience/ tribute to my Grandma.

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Liz Rundorff Gallery Review

    Liz Rundorff's artist statement for Found Paintings, presents the ideas of loss, reality, and memory as the main focus of her work. My first reaction after reading the statement and looking at the work within that context was confusion. Although I was compelled somewhat by the use of color and the geometric compositions, the theme of memory and loss was not clear through the pieces themselves. The artist talk helped to illuminate the statement, however I was still left wanting more.     Rundorff focused the majority of her talk on the process of creating and very little on the actual concepts behind this show in particular. Her process begins with photography; she explained how the photos she takes are not planned, but instead rely on gut instinct or attraction and only later does she reflect on the connecting elements. After narrowing down the photos she feels most strongly represent an idea or theme she then moves to the painting process; the image is projected onto the canvas where she then begins to manipulate shapes and color to the point of abstraction. The idea of abstraction and imitation are most heavily connected to her artist statement. The process of replication, in this case painting from an image, becomes a representation of memory and loss; the space is referenced through shape however it is abstracted to the point where the viewer no longer recognizes the specific place, just as a memory leaves a vague imprint on the mind abstracted by time.     The loss of exact details and reality through imitation heavily references ideals of Plato that we recently discussed in Art theory. Plato believed in the realm of the forms as the Truth and this physical world as a pale imitation of that realm, and art as a pale imitation of the physical reality; with each imitation something is lost and therefore more flawed. Rundorff takes this idea and adds the addendum that through loss there is an opportunity to also find a connection to memory in a more real, and therefore more true, way than a perfect representation would; in other words our memory is fuzzy and unstable and these paintings, through the loss of imitation, mimic that experience more than reality.     My work also deals with the idea of memory and loss of reality however, I chose to show this through the use of layers and symbolic imagery instead of abstraction. I feel that part of the reason Rundorff's work did not translate is that the abstraction was too literal. Unless viewers have a reference of the photo or place they are left only with a geometric design; since they did not experience the places there is no ability to recollect or experience the memory in the same way that Liz did. The art can still be appreciated as an aesthetically pleasing object, however the message is lost. In my work I hope to create a sense of time through layering and storytelling so that the viewer, not knowing me or my past, can still get a sense of the conflict between memory, loss, and reality.

[oliveknt-blog]

Artist Statment: Take One

My project is about family, memories and how the lense of time effects both. Three years ago, the summer before my freshman year of college, my grandmother died and nearly broke our tight knit family apart. I have struggled to reconcile my memories of an idyllic childhood with the harsh reality that was unveiled in the aftermath of my grandma's death, namely the tension between my parents and my aunts and uncles, who I always pictured as a cohesive unit. When I first saw the flaws in my family all I felt was anger and an intense denial - I coped by blaming the one person who connected us all - my grandmother. I have been mad at her, at my dad, my mom, my aunts and uncles, my cousins and siblings, myself for the last three years because we were no longer perfect and I couldn't fix it. This year I have finally started to let go of the anger and I have come to realize that I have been trying to fight reality instead of accepting it and simply repositioning my expectations. It was unfair of me to expect perfection- I am flawed and so is the rest of my family, but that doesn't mean that I have to love them any less. This realization, so simple and obvious brought a flood of relief and a feeling of deep sadness for all of the energy I wasted on anger and hate- especially towards my grandmother. This summer I started on a mission to re-discover my Grandmother in this new found love. I found letters that she had written to me- birthday wishes, a poem, stories from her college days. I found the scarf she knitted me, the pillow that she needlepointed. She tried over the years to pass on her wide range of skills to me- sewing, knitting, crochet, needlepoint, smocking, and embroidery to name a few and, as a result, I have a string of unfinished projects tossed aside and forgotten- now a sign of missed opportunities to connect. In an effort to find that connection I started needlepoint again and I found a new love. Needlepoint is a hand craft that is waning in popularity with each passing generation- when I pick up a canvas and threads I automatically feel more connected to not only my Grandmother but to family tradition. I see this project as an opportunity to pay tribute to the idyllic childhood I remember while also recognizing the new reality flaws and all. I will use needlepoint and embroidery as well as old family photos to bring tradition to the present. The piece I worked on over the summer is representative of one of the biggest traditions in my family- our secret orange cookie recipe. As a child I was raised to take pride in our family recipe and hold it close to my heart- I was told that I would inherit the it one day when I got married. Only recently, after my Grandmother's death, did I learn that the family recipe was in fact a recipe passed to my great grandmother by her maid, Arletta. This fact is not surprising considering our roots in the South, and it doesn't take away from the memories, however it does shine a new light on the tradition. In the design I chose to highlight the quintessential details of those memories- the stickers in the bottom right corner represent the stickers from the oranges that my mom always sticks on the recipe card, the patterns in the left corner are straight from the recipe book my mother always used, and the orange itself is bald on one side represent my job from a young age as orange zester. I also have all the ingredients blacked out or redacted to highlight the importance and sacred nature of the recipe. However I gave direct credit to Arletta- replacing my great grandmothers name in the source line and showing Arletta's hand offering up the orange in order to set the record straight and add the new layer of truth to my memories. The thread work itself also blends tradition and a new reality through the techniques - I chose to utilize decorative stitches which are relatively new and still controversial in needle-working community where the basketweave stitch is a staple for traditionalist. Through this series I hope to continue exploring the relationship between memory and reality, tradition and modernity, and ultimately prove that the two can coexist.