Saying too much too little

Today I received my evaluations and for the first time ever, a student stated, "She talks too much."

I am not sure how how to take that criticism. Certainly, like most criticisms I receive, I will likely experience a fit of self-doubt. Thus I am devoting the theme of this blogpost to saying too much and saying too little.

These two works are on the same theme of confluence--bringing together bodies of water, ideas, thoughts, experiences.  And although they are on the same theme each "says" what it must in order to communicate leaving me with the question of what must be present or absent to gain confluence? Of my own words and actions there can become a space in which to coalesce ideas.

Confluence/Tributary. Monoprint on cotton muslin. 6" x 6". 2013.

Confluence/Tributary. Monoprint on cotton muslin, embroidery. 6" x 6". 2013.

Typographies and Topographies

Two years ago exactly my collaborator Christina Gregor and I were putting together this epic installation called, "i'm thinking of changing my smile," covering half of the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Civil War era Dole Mansion in Crystal Lake, IL. 

Amongst many things, this exhibition has typography, topography (the landscape of a fantastic domestic space), and way-finding.

Typography. Seen below is the entry signage for the exhibition. As you pass between two curtains you walk below this free-hand machine-stitched (on muslin) fabric sign.  Very little planning, other than scale went into the free-form stitching. Loose threads, re-run sticthes, pseudo-ligatures, serifs and san serif fonts abound.

As for way-finding, even the map that we used to guide the audience around the installation appears to not take itself-seriously. How will wings feel against my face?

"i'm thinking of changing my smile" is about being comfortable in your own skin, in your own nest. If anything, as the work progressed into the installation it took on a life of its own as its creators' own abilities to differentiate between life and art or between a real-live domestic space and the illusion of an invented domestic space blurred the lines of dream, image, and reality.

Somehow we were left with images and the suggestion of images, objects and the suggestions of objects. The topography of the landscape was fantasy-filled and yet frighteningly real as we (the artists) pretended that we were not taking serious the very thing that had become poignant and real.

View in Mr. Dole's Billiard Room.

Back to Blog

My work has become so much more about the process than the end product in recent years--so why focus so much on the end product, why not find ways of honing in on the process?

So today's answer is to show some samplings of what I have been thinking about.