This is what one of the walls of my studio is covered with right now. I scribble to try and get out my anxieties/frustrations/etc. They fit surprisingly well with what I've been thinking about.

I'm hoping I can get all of my thoughts together for the artist talks tomorrow... I've never been a huge fan of talking in front of people, and it doesn't necessarily help that talking about the work I've been making lately often makes me feel as though I'm talking in circles. Thus, I've titled the talk "I hope this makes sense". Mainly because I feel like I say or think that almost every damn day (I use it in emails a lot...). I never feel like I make sense, and while thats not the main point of my thesis, I feel like it has come up quite a bit in one way or another.

I know what I want to say, but not how to say it.

PS: check out my tumblr if any of you are interested in seeing more photos of my work/things that interest me/etc. I haven't quite decided if I want to make it more of just a place to document work or more of a personal blog yet... hmmm.

My art has literally been reduced to squiggles/scribbles lately. I don't even know what this means.

Idea:

I want to do something involving underlining text. I had an epiphany last semester while I was doing a relatively boring reading... we underline "important" information in in textbooks/books for class/ect. I thought about this a few weeks or so after my best friend told me about this poem.

I'd like to make some sort of piece which involves the importance/significance behind the marks we make in books - whether they be notes written in the margins of a book or underlining. Of course, I don't know if I'd be able to do it about just any old book, especially not a text book. I just love the idea of books lately, of people having them before you, ect. Also, I love the idea of the "mark" and "mark making".


Earlier Jay was talking about the idea of tattoos, and how the artist is leaving their mark on your body. You come up with this design and have them draw it on you, but its not their design (even if specific artists have their own "style"). And I like that too, the idea of impersonal/personal, intimacy, ect. Perhaps it could be something involving other people leaving marks, other people directly affecting the piece, rather than just recording/commenting on things.

Maybe I should just go the library and check out some books? Should I participate in the act of underlining/leaving marks/ect. but in a different way? By that I mean... should I find other "important" things to underline in real life? Or, what if we wrote little notes on things we had comments on in real life? I suppose graffiti kind of does that.

They're just something so personal about reading books, I just love the feel and idea of them. I'd love to capture that, that personal, intimate feeling. Unless you own the book, someone else has touched it and used it before you - does that make it less intimate, more intimate? Less special?

So! I haven't really thought about execution or anything. It'd be interesting to do a book again, but I'd have to do it really well. It'd be cool to take the idea of underlining/writing in the margins and apply it to other aspects of life, and THEN make a book. Or to just find some sort of significant novel or something, I dunno. I feel like the first idea is better. Also, ridiculously connected to my thesis. Man.

I could also make a series of prints or small drawings - depends on when I'd do it. After I graduate I might not have very easy access to a printing press...

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I'd love to do this eventually, but right now I don't have time. I at least have to finish this damn mural first!

I don't know if any of this makes sense... but typing it out definitely helped.

My recent ventures in splotch sewing and being surrounded by friends taking bookmaking make me want to make books again. Maybe I'll somehow incorporate that into my thesis. Or maybe I'll just do that for fun. Agh. So much art.

Anyway, during my review Rachael told me about Michele Moode. She makes books, prints, and so on, and uses a lot of materials that I like/have used (including tea and thread).

She actually knows how to sew though. And also seems to be good at book binding. I'd like to try and improve my book binding skills... maybe a I should try that AFTER I graduate?

Some more of her work:

I love the flow of the work. I also really like how she's incorporated text... text has always been difficult in my opinion.


All of these images belong to Michelle Moode.
Also check out her flickr  and her etsy.

Someone I know is doing a mural project for the KEY fifth year program, and decided to ask me to help her out. So I'm designing a mural this semester. I've got until about March or so to get a solid idea down, and it goes up in April. I'm literally the lead artist. 

I've never designed a mural before. Also, they want it to be an infographic. Which I've never made. Yeah, I've been googling them of course. But right now I don't exactly know what the content of said mural is, so I've just been sketching little bits and pieces... I hope thats enough for now.

This is kind of intimidating. But always pretty awesome. Its going to be going up at Freshwise Farms in Pennfield. Which is pretty cool!

When I get more solidified sketches done I'll upload them here!