Critique with Janie Stevens

One of my favorite teachers of all time retired last year, an unfortunate scenario for me, as Janie was the professor I always looked up to.  I was expecting her to be there through my last year of school, the most important year of school, the year in which I complete my thesis.

Well, she isn’t there, but I am lucky enough to still get to see her twice a week. This is because last year, she asked me to be one of her artist assistants. Now, I can talk to her about my ideas, my work, and school in general. More importantly, I get to experience what her workflow is like, here what her ideas are, and learn so much more than I ever really thought that I would. Working with her has been one of the best experiences I’ve had so far in college.

Janie, being as amazing as she is, has agreed to spend extra time with me to look and critique my work. A couple weeks ago, I got to set up my work for her and hear what she had to say about it. I forgot what it was like to get feedback from her, and I soon remembered why she was such an important teacher. She pointed out things that I had yet to think about, discovering things in the work that no one else had, including me. She saw my work from a point of view that no one else who looked at it had, and that was incredibly enlightening and important for me.

One thing she point out was how important text seemed to be throughout the work. I guess I had never thought this…It was just a product of the conceptual aspect of my workflow. Although each piece was created with that in mind, it is not as if each piece in this series needs text to be successful or to connect to the whole. However, Janie pointed out that I should think about text on a deeper level, and start making more conscious decisions about its use and what it can mean to the viewer.

Luckily, soon after this critique with Janie, we went to the Ann Hamilton lecture together. Her work is heavily text-based. It as so informative to listen to her talk about this choice, where she got her text from, and why it was important in her work. She asked a question that I think has changed how I think about using text. She asked what it would mean to the viewer if they knew that text was present, but could not read it. How would that change the way the work is viewed? I think that asking these questions and thinking about the unconventional and unexpected ways in which I can use text will be incredibly important in my future work.

As of now,  I am just grateful for the feedback I’ve been lucky enough to attain both in and outside of school. Knowing now how difficult it is to find someone to look at and talk about your work with, I will be sure to appreciate all of the feedback I continue to receive while I’m still in school. Hopefully that thought will help me get through the rest of the school year a little more easily.

Sending This Out into the World

Below is my senior thesis proposal. Let me know what you all think. (I almost said ya’ll, what??)

It is not often thought that psychology has a presence in art. However, a couple of years ago, I started to consider myself both an artist and a psychologist. Even though I am not technically certified to give anyone treatment, I still like to think that I am an important “sounding board” for the majority of my peers. In fact, I enjoy listening and offering any advice that I can give. That’s the thing: I am incredibly interested in the inner-workings of the human mind. Curiosity drives me to continue this practice. What makes people tick? How do we wake up every morning and decide what we are going to do that day? Or think about? There are the obvious societal, cultural, and necessary elements that go into these questions. Although I am interested in those incredibly explicit factors, I am most interested in the less noticeable ones. What happens in a person’s brain to help them cope with the constant ebb and flow of living?

My artistic practice serves as a method of research to help answer these questions. Through the use of tangible elements, specifically artist’s books, I want to explore the human mind, while asking the most present question in my art practice: how and why can making and viewing art help the human mind and how can we, as a society, use it to our advantage?

While on this exploration, I have been confronted with several problematic questions. First, can psychology and art merge to make an impactful whole? I stand true to the belief that it can and have been desperately working to find what the end result will look like. However, I sometimes feel that I am gripping at something that is not within my reach. I have found a few inspirations that lead me to believe otherwise. For example, Ryan Mulligan’s new installation at the Contemporary Arts Center that he built for his autistic son. He brings a completely new set of questions to the UnMuseum, a place on the top-floor of the CAC where children can play. In an article written by Lawrence Biemiller in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Mulligan says he wanted to created a place where his son was not at a disadvantage because “there’s no way to lose” and “you can’t be embarrassed”. However, at the end of the article, Lawrence makes a contrary statement, praising Mulligan for making “a wonderful place, where, for a change, the rest of us are the awkward outsiders” (Biemiller). I cannot help but disagree with this conclusion. Mulligan’s goal was to create a playground that was entirely universal, where all kinds of children can play, not a place that creates “outsiders”. This is where I begin to see the relevance and purpose of art and psychology in the same conversation. I seek to understand the inner workings of the human mind to make art more universal, by creating work that every person can participate in. To me, there lies the connection between art and psychology.

Secondly, I question the relationship between art, the artist’s book, and psychology. Is the artist’s book the best form to explore these ideas? Also, how can I push the limits of the book form to better explore this concept? Do the books need to be hand made? What is the importance of craft in these creations? And lastly, how does the tangibility of the artist’s book apply to my concept? I believe there is a psychological shift in the viewer when viewing art versus interacting with or touching art. Not only is it unexpected, but it also allows the viewer to become part of the artwork itself. They, somehow, have a bit of authorship in the relationship and can change it into something that speaks to them more clearly. This relationship between art and viewer is incredibly important in my investigation, even though I may not have found all of the answers yet.

Thirdly, I am questioning the material I am choosing to use currently. I was inspired to use clear plexi-glass while looking at Julie Chen’s masterfully made artist’s books in the DAAP Library collection. I slowly figured out that under the beautifully glued book cloth, there was plexi-glass, not book board. It is obvious to me why she did this: book board tends to bend over time, and plexi-glass will be perfectly straight for what seems like eternity.  Intrigued by this seemingly flawless material, I began making book forms using completely man-made and machine cut plexi-glass. The use of clear plexi-glass is an important step in my exploration of the limits of an artist’s book. It taught me to focus on content and simplicity more than I had in the past, a lesson I desperately needed to learn. By using plexi-glass and other non-traditional book-making materials, I hope to bring a new, contemporary conversation to a very “crafty” trade.

In the next five months, my goal is to create a series of artist’s books that not only challenge the viewer psychologically, but also investigate and defy the traditional origin of the artist’s book. I want to investigate the idea of open-ended authorship, which can influence the audience’s perception of the work.  I also want to further explore the relationship between psychology and art. Forming my artistic beliefs, while challenging and questioning others’ is my primary goal for the completion of my college career.

Working Update

Well, today I am in my bed, feeling pretty under the weather, hoping it will pass by tomorrow. It is amazing how much a head ache and a sore throat can affect your entire day. But I thought: What I perfect day to write in my blog. Might as well, right?

I think now would be an excellent time to give myself a little feedback about what I have been working on thus far. I am loving the plexi-glass I am using, and I have such a strong idea behind why I am using it. That is: I realized that trying to make conventional artist’s books wasn’t gonna work. I learned, after my first book was finished, that I have a huge problem trying to see the big picture content-wise. That book was beautiful, but every page was filled with information, and it just didn’t make sense: it didn’t seem intentionally layered and planned out. That’s because it really wasn’t. I was having a hard time wrapping my brain around these layers. Keep in mind, I have not been making books for very long and I am still learning, developing, ect. This is something I am trying to force myself to develop by using a clear, see-through material. There is no way for me to avoid anything. The entire piece is visible, even the page behind the next page. It has to all make sense visually, no matter what. This is part of the reason why I chose to continue working with plexi-glass as a material. This idea of layers, of how we can never truly comprehend every layer of anything or any person: i wanted to question that, to challenge that idea by using a clear material.

I still have a few more structural ideas that I am going to try to finish by the end of the semester. And I have been thinking that maybe, if necessary, the content will come later. Currently I made this drawer out of plexi, and I just can’t figure out what to put inside of it. At first, I had an idea, and I was going to fulfill it, but one thing led to another and I have not done that yet. And I keep looking at the drawer and thinking that my original idea is not right. I am still thinking…..

Which comes to the next big questionable topic I have rolling around in my brain: my conceptual idea for this entire body of work. I think it still relates a lot to what I wanted to do in the beginning. I am continuing to use these interviews for inspiration. But I think narrowing things down a little bit more might be helpful to me, but I’m not exactly sure how. I think that the idea of how we choose to deal with our issues, whatever they may be, is an incredibly interesting one, especially because it was information that I got from each interview, even if they didn’t outright tell me. For example, the drawer piece was supposed to be about a parallel universe. This inspiration came from someone who told me she spends a lot of time thinking about parallel universes, what could have been, or what is, on a different plane of existence. I don’t know, I think its this idea of fantasy that can take us into another world so we can forget, just for a little bit, what our world is really like. I think we all have these ways to escape, to find comfort, to find a little bit of peace and joy in every day life. Its sad to admit and to even think about, but we have made this life so hard on ourselves.

 

 

Concept v. Craft

Yesterday, I spent all day making book necklaces. BOOK NECKLACES. This has nothing to do with school, although it was fun and stimulating, it just was not what I wanted to do yesterday. But I have this business thing I am doing, and somehow I am making money, and it’s great. But is that really what I want to be doing? and on that end, should it really be on my priority list at all? I want to get my name out there, which I am doing, but should I do it when I also have school going on? And a big project I  am working on for that? For me, as long as I have enough time to get my books done, I will continue to do it. Yesterday, Substance, a store in OTR, bought 8 book necklaces from me! I am so excited, but this is better than consignment (which means you don’t get paid until it is bought my a costumer). This means that she loves them so much that she bought them from me, knowing that she would sell them! I can’t wait to see what happens with them, but the good news is that I already got paid!

Okay see? That is exciting and I am excited, so I think I will continue that for now. As for my thesis and the project I am doing for this class, I have a full work day today that I am really excited about. I am making the first of many books, which may seem like I haven’t accomplished a lot, but I have had to do a lot of preparatory work. I have had to ask people if I can interview them. I have 20 people lined up for the next two weeks. I have had to come up with interview questions, edit, ect. I have had to do a lot of research of artist’s books. Anyway, I feel like I am set up to start cranking out work, and I am so excited about what the end product will be. Now I need to get started on my book!

Some in progress photos of what I am working on now. Still need to do add a couple more layers and a cover.

A Look into What’s Next….

I thought I would share what my fall research proposal looks like so far for thesis. Thank you guys so much for the critique yesterday, I have a much better idea of what I want to focus on for the next year. Look below and find out! Any opinions or suggestions would be great! Also please let me know if you are willing to participate.

Since my sophomore year at DAAP, I have always considered myself an artist and a psychologist.  Maybe it is because my family has a history of psychological disorders, ranging from anxiety, depression, addiction, and compulsion, or maybe it is because I believe that every one has some sort of “disorder” inflicting them. I chose to pursue psychology in my work when my younger sister was suffering from a tragic eating disorder, causing terrible unrest and pain in my family for long period of time.  I started asking questions like “How can I get through to her?” and “What is going on inside that head?” That is when I started making work about her, starting with portraiture and moving to an installation entitled What Happens When the Mind Takes Over the Body. It was meant to provide the viewer with an experiential look into the mind of an anxious young woman, suffering from a dark, deadly disease.

Image from When the Mind Takes Over the Body

That was when I realized that I wanted to make art that was experiential and tangible, that I wanted my viewer to interact with the piece in a different way than just looking at it on a wall. That is when the psychology of sensation and perception started appearing in my work. I am realizing now, as I am entering my last year in college, that I can marry these two interests into an incredible series that focuses on the viewer’s interaction with the piece. I want the viewer to be able to experience the piece tangibly and I also want the viewer to be part of the piece themselves. I’m realizing that even though I thought I was alone when I was dealing with the repercussions of my sister’s illness, I wasn’t at all. Every person has their own “disorder”, their own loved one who is in trouble, their own story to tell. I want to tell those stories, to inform my conceptual findings with real experiences, with real people. I want the viewer to find something in these pieces that directly relates to them, that is talking about them.

My techniques and methods for achieving this are multi-faceted. I want to begin by researching and collecting data. This will include interviewing many people, collecting items from them, and recording them in some way.  This may take the form of photography, drawing or audio. After each interview, I will design and produce an artist’s book about that person. Even though the presence of that person will be within the book, the book will not contain clear representations of that person. It may seek to illustrate whatever concept we discussed during the interview. I hope to see each interview as an opportunity to inform my concepts and conclusion.

 

I know I need to delve deeper into what my concepts specifically are so far…which I have written about before, but right now I don’t know if I want to be clear about what I’m looking for. I think I will know it when I start conducting interviews. I think that it will find me.

That “Thing”…

I have felt consumed by what I’m working on for the past week. It’s weird, it is all I have really been able to think about and all other form of conversation has been on the back burner. It feels like my brain is always somewhere else, somewhere I can’t find it. I can barely even figure out exactly how to bring my project together into a cohesive thing that makes sense. Maybe I am holding back because I fear the risk of sounding cliche or something. I am trying to include writing in the book I am making and everything that goes down on the page takes on an 8th grade emotional tone, and I can’t help but read it that way. I really do wonder what the viewer will think as they read the writing. Maybe it is all in my head and I really have no way to really know what the viewer will feel from my writing until I put it out there in the world. But something is holding me back and I don’t know how to tear down the wall and figure out how to overcome the fear of cliche high school quotes. I have always found writing hard to incorporate….and I guess this is why.

Anyway, here are a few of the frames from the book I am making. It is in an illustrator file, and the images included in here are just screen shots.

So…what do you guys think? I hope you don’t read it in a cliche high school tone now that I said that. I hope it doesn’t come off that way. I don’t know if that is the way I feel because I did most of my writing in high school, when I was full of angst and wrote about boys I liked that didn’t like me back. Seriously I have at least 3 notebooks AND a whole blog full of writing precisely like that.

I am past that point though…I understand that all through high school I was searching for something that never came…and I think we all do to a certain extent. There is this thing a human experiences that makes it difficult to feel satisfied, to feel whole. It is like they need another person to complete them, and most of the time, we are searching for a partner that does just that. But it seems silly to rely on another person to be “your other half” or to truly “complete you”. Of course, we all know this. But to truly feel happy in your own skin is a feat that I have yet to conquer. I admire those who already have. I think to a certain extent everyone feels this way…I don’t know if it is insecurity, the fear of being content, the materialism of society, the ache in your heart when you feel alone. I don’t know what it is. I know, however, that a basic human need is other humans. That I do know.

So WHY is our society consumed by this dissatisfaction? We are constantly searching, trying to fill the void with anything possible. We are scared to trust and scared to commit, and everyone just fills their emptiness with food, social media (which is so fake, it is disgusting), television, sports, anything that can distract them from actually feeling anything. I know people who would rather sit at their computer all day and make their life seem fucking awesome on social media, than actually go live a life that is awesome. And who says that taking photographs of your food, of yourself, and of all your friends at bars is a really awesome life, anyway? But I know that, and I still go on to Facebook, and I STILL feel jealous and insecure when I see those photographs and I’m just sitting on my couch, while my friends or my fake friends are out having “a good time”.

In our generation, we strive for the real thing. We strive for true happiness. But our perception of what that is, and how to truly attain it, is completely convoluted. I don’t think generations before us had an easier time, either. However, I think our ability to actually achieve this “thing”…whatever it may be…has gotten a lot more difficult, now that our walls are created by the internet. We can be happy now that it is easier to talk to real people. But it is even easier than that to talk to fake people, to have fake relationships, and therefore, to have no relationships at all.  Then, when you are consumed with the feeling of loneliness and distracted by everything in our Western society that is meant to distract us, it is impossible to even begin to think of true happiness, of that “thing” that we are missing, that probably doesn’t exist at all.

Sensation and Perception

My ideas, my research, my concept, and my art, are taking a turn this year into something I am excited about. But nervous, because, although I have formed ideas and thoughts about this concept I know very little about it.

So here is my first attempt to write down, cohesively, exactly what it is I am talking about. Next will come research.

How exactly do humans successfully go about their daily lives, working efficiently and expertly to perceive the world in a way that allows them to survive? Obviously our senses help us, for the most part. Imagine if we didn’t have senses at all. We would be like fleshy rocks, to put it bluntly. But take another minute and imagine if we didn’t have our sense of touch. Ian Waterman is a man who suffered from a severe fever that damaged the nerves that affect his sense of touch. This also affected his proprioception, or, the sense that humans possess that allows you to know where your body is at all times. Follow that link to a radio interview about what his life has become. I highly recommend it.

If you are a bit too lazy or don’t have time, I will tell you what happened to him. For years he looked for a doctor that could help him, but had no such luck. Finally, after 12 years, he found a doctor that has helped him. But during that time he had to live his life somehow. He figured out exactly how to move his body in space by using his visual cues only. He sleeps with the lights on. He has to see where his body is at all times in order to move it correctly.

Okay, so there was my longer-than-expected lesson in the psychology of perception…but what does that have to do with the art I want to make?

Since I made my first installation piece I have been interested in the idea of tangible, touchable pieces of art. Art that makes you feel not only because it is an illusion but also because you are physically changing due to your interaction with it. It is making you feel something that is impossible to ignore and easy to describe—it is something that you feel every day, all the time, (unless your Ian Waterman), but it is unexpected from a piece of art. It is the feeling of touch that can change how you experience a piece of art.  I want my viewer to connect with my work, literally. To interact by physical touch.

So I can make the object, and the object itself can have a concept, but what about content?  I think there is a completely different side of the psychological coin when it comes to the study of sensation and perception. What I’ve been talking about is physical, but I also want to think about the emotional side of these theories. Obviously, humans are continuously subject to external forces, both physically and emotionally, and I specifically want to think about how humans affect other humans. This does happen physically and emotionally…intimacy definitely plays a role in this entire thing…but how do we perceive our relationships? And how can that affect us emotionally, or change us physically? How can humans successfully go about their daily lives, and perceive the world with everyone in it?

Whatever I create this year, I want to consider these points via small sculpture, or, what I think to call, artist’s book.

Finally, I want to keep in mind this definition of an artist’s book throughout the semester:

“…a book is done for its own sake and not for the information it contains. That is: it doesn’t contain a lot of works, like a book of poems. It is a work. Its design and format reflect it’s content — they intermerge, interpenetrate. It might be any art: art artist’s book could be music, photography, graphics, intermedial literature. The experience of reading it, viewing it, framing it — that is what the artist stresses in making it.” Wrote Dick Higgins, in A Preface, for Artists Books, Joan Lyons.

Etsy in Progress: amBooks

Who says a small business on Etsy isn’t work?

I just opened my new Etsy shop, amBooks. I currently have only a few items listed, and trying to get comfortable with all the questions you  have to answer and ways you have to do things in order for people to actually see your books.

I think I will have to give in and get a Facebook page again. I really really really do not want to…but if it will help me sell things than I think it will be worth it! That will be a task for the summer.

I am currently working on my photos for my Etsy account. These have to be just as good as photographing your artwork…so please tell me what you think!

                          

                                             

I also just made my logo and my tags yesterday. I really love them, and I think they will be great for selling my books in stores and for shipping from Etsy. Here’s an a photograph of one.

Speaking of selling my books in stores, one store in East Walnut Hills has agreed to sell my books. The store is called Hi-Bred. It’s a vintage/consignment shop, but Shawna, the owner, told me that she will soon be teaching workshops in the basement of the space…and asked if I would want to teach a bookmaking workshop! I will definitely let you know about the details this summer!

From Something To Nothing.

So this semester I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting with a pinhole cap for my DSLR. I learned pretty quickly that high contrast definitely makes the most gorgeous pictures. So, I started photographing with different light. I started off with just overcast window light, but soon moved to lamplight and really bright sunlight (it helped that we’ve had a few nice sunny days!). The past couple of times I’ve shot, they have turned out really interesting. I’m including a few below.

I love the various gradients of color, the whimsical quality, the fact that the viewer has no idea what it is, but it is still beautiful.

These images remind me of a synapse firing, or a message bouncing around the brain. My main objective with these photographs was to capture the unintelligible commotion that sometimes happens in the brain. We all know the feeling of utter confusion, when you see something that is completely out of the norm, not what you expected. When somethings falls outside of your usual schema, when you are betrayed, when you just don’t understand how one thing led to the other. Anxiety, confusion, misunderstanding. That is what I am trying to capture with these. In a way, a pinhole’s relationship with the body of a camera and the sense’s relationship to the brain are incredibly similar. Sometimes, there just isn’t enough time or light to figure out what exactly is going on.

My next step with these is still being worked on. But I am going to print them using liquid light, and they will be compiled in an artist book by the end of the semester. Pictures will be posted soon!

How To: Ripping Textblocks

We will start with something so seemingly simple, but actually really difficult to complete in a decent fashion: Ripping Textblocks.

When Dan Essig first taught me to do this, the least I can say is that I was incredibly terrified that I would mess it up. Mostly because he described every little thing that could wrong as, and I quote, “TERRIBLE!” But it isn’t..and although you might rip the wrong way, or measure wrong, there is always a way you can use that paper. So don’t worry. But, that being said, measure THREE times before ripping…or else you will pay for it. hehe.

First, you need a ruler you like to measure with, a metal ruler to rip with, a pencil with a great eraser, and a bone folder. I usually start ripping 4 sheets at a time. Usually, a signature has 4 sheets in it, that create 8 pages when folded.

Then, you are going to check the paper to see which way the grain is going. You want to make sure you are going to eventually fold the paper WITH the grain. The way you can check is by folding the paper lightly one way, and then the other way. Whichever way feels easier is the way the grain is going.

With that information, you are ready to start measuring. You want to measure the textblocks as 1/8 inch LESS the height of the book, and double the width of the book LESS 1/4 of an inch.  This means that if you want your book to be 4 inches high and 3 inches wide, you want to measure the height as 3 & 7/8ths (4 less 1/8). Then, you want to measure the width as 5 & 3/4ths (3 x 2= 6, less 1/4th).

You want to measure the width of the book with the grain of the paper. (5 & 3/4ths)

After you measure both the top and bottom of the paper, you can rip the paper using your metal ruler, cork side up.

Now, you can measure the height of your paper (3 & 7/8ths) on both the top and the bottom of the strips of paper. Measuring both the top and the bottom ensures that you will rip the paper square.

Now, you have paper the size of your signature before it is folded.

Before you fold each signature, you must flip the 1st and 3rd sheet of paper in every signature of 4. This will ensure that the paper will not stick together in the book.

Now, the signatures are ready to be folded. Carefully, line up all three edges of the paper.

Without holding down the side of the signature where the edges meet, fold down the paper lightly with your fingers.

To complete the fold, use a bone folder. The bone folder helps create a nice, crisp fold without getting the oil from your fingers on the paper.

Now you have signatures! You can separate the signatures into piles to be pressed overnight before binding.

You can use another from a heavy rock to a typewriter to a lot of heavy books, but make sure whatever you are using to press your signatures is clean so your paper will not get dirty.

Now, you have plenty of signatures, with 8 pages each, to bind a book!

For more bookbinding tutorials or ideas, I like to look at Moon and Hare, a cool blog with lots of ideas!