2/5/21 at 5:00pm
This week I focused primarily on my studio practice, as I'm still waiting on my background check. Although I consider myself a painter at heart, I love working with diverse mediums, which is why I am creating new sculpture for the first time in years as part of my "Installation" class. It all started when my roommate introduced me to a unique material called "abaca paper", a fiber that can be finely ground and suspended in liquid, and dries solid in whatever form it is left in. I am making hanging wire frame sculptures that I then dip in the ground abaca fiber, which dries in unpredictable and organic ways. The results are what look like hanging plants that have an uncanny human-like quality, as the dried beige paper resembles wrinkly skin, with bits of shiny silver wire coming out here and there. Finally, the many variations I come up with will be hung on the branches of a tree. Formally they are very unlike my previous work, but in a way they contain a familiar sense of the surreal, and the biological, and naturally occurring geometric patterns. I really enjoy how the organic paper fiber counteracts the industrial steel wire. Working in new mediums is always so exciting to me, as it feels like a whole new avenue of thinking, with endless possibility.
Besides Installation, my other classes are mostly focused on developing my professional practice, both as a working artist and as an educator. As someone who has never been particularly organized, it has been challenging for me, but is also very rewarding as I am finally getting a sense of my professional self as a whole. Part of our curriculum is to fully develop our resumes, apply to real jobs and art opportunities, as well as learning to communicate with real teachers through email and video calls in the teaching artist program. As an artist I yearn to be in the studio creating at all times, but it has been very good for my to hone in on my professional skills. Overall I am looking forward to all of my classes, and of course teaching at PiM!
