One Month of Observation 

a singular edition artist book with type by typewriter on tea stained paper, in a hand woven cover. I wrote every day for a month, edited the results and then bound them. The full text can be found on my writing link.

Comprised of rectangles the depth of the run of each step, and about foot width, I constructed a path up a back stairwell that most people in the sculpture building do not know about. About 7 – 9 flights high, the path became quite a journey for the independent viewer. 

When ascending the staircase, the rectangles seem a bit disconnected, and the viewer has no particular idea as to what they relate to. When the viewer reaches the top, the rectangles have lead him to a box with a bow in front of a doorway. The viewer feels as though he will finally be given a reward for his journey. He is surprised and disappointed when the box is empty, and must now descend the staircase empty handed, for there are doors all along the way but they are all

locked. When descending, the rectangles line up perfectly to create two continuous lines down the stairwell. This change in perspective, this clearer, higher knowledge of the situation is brought to his attention, and he in fact does not leave the stairwell empty handed – he is introduced to a new perspective, a new awareness that he did not have while ascending.

More personally this relates to my artistic journey in that I had a certain point of view on art for a long while, and feel this semester, as though I have reached some climactic point where I have realized art is more selfish, and creates less of an impact, than I would like to believe. The piece represents my journey, the long tiresome journey, the initial let down, and the fact that each letdown is just the horizon of a new realization and a greater understanding of our place in the world.

 

This piece was installed at Area 405 in Baltimore, Maryland. It consisted of backless picture frames suspended from the ceiling of the venue.  Viewers were in a constant close examination of 405 and its occupants.  This highlighted the seemingly mundane space that is often over looked or covered up for the artist’s idealization. However, as artists we are inspired by the world around us, and attempt to boil down what is going on to some sort of unbiased reality. This piece latches onto that reality, and unifies the artist’s inspiration and her final artwork. Each frame displays the viewer’s experience as the work of art, for if we are trying to get to some truth out of what is around us, what is more pure than that which is right in front of us?

This piece was inspired by my recent writing, in which I record everyday something I observed. Our lives are mundane and repetitive. We only have so much control of our surroundings (including our environment, other people and their actions). The one thing that we can control is our outlook. If only we could look at our surroundings with a fresh eye, with an eye that appreciates the smallest little wonders. It is through these small mundane things that we understand the larger pictures – we learn best through relating that which we don’t know to that which we already know. These little wonders are essential lenses in which we can find both joy and meaning. This piece literally framed little wonders for the viewer in frames that moved, enabling the viewer to look at his surroundings from many different points of view, as oppose to the common apathy we have for our surroundings.

a collection of castaways

where are we going?

Fragments

More notebooks made from found materials - soda boxes, magazines, and scrap paper.