part five :: the show

i'm not sure when i became a once a week blogger, but... seems like it's all i can manage these days. i feel like i have lot more to share - hmmm - hopefully next week will prove more possible.

so.... the show the show - the reason for my going to japan. 2 weeks of work [thank god we had help! i've never had/allowed someone to help me as much as i did for this show and let me tell you - a girl could get used to it]. all of the work [and i'm sorry i don't have pics of the other artist's work organized yet - i'll add them to my website in an installation section as soon as i can] in the show was labor intensive. what i was acutely aware of was how i was working on these projects that were to occupy a significant amount of space [several feet!] but i had to actually build and put them together in tiny little sections. one small action at a time. pin, repeat, paint, repeat [of course repeat ended up being a big theme for the whole trip, but i didn't know it yet].



the other thing that really sunk in this time was how intimate and also disconnected this process can be. countless hours spent literally 2 inches from a wall. occasionally bored to tears.... singing along with music... swapping stories with my helper.... and then - oh my god we're done. and then... oh my god i made that? the inevitable question - how did you do that? how does it feel to do that.... flustering in my answer - i'm not really sure. you just do it. and really i kind of forget the actual making part of it [otherwise i might never do it again].



the tank installation complete. remember when i was pondering color combos? it was for this. this is the second tank install i've done. the first time i did an argyle pattern [other time was plaid].



this is why this museum was so cool. shot from below. a little peek. sigh.



detail



the tanks made it into the paper :) !

downstairs [thankfully far away from the tanks] i did a doily installation. the space was just so inspiring. for the first time i thought about having the piece "start" somewhere and sort of disperse. so i started in the corner. i thought about snow falling [there was still snow on the mountains that were in sight of the museum]. i also had a glass case to work with. granted normally people put things IN the case - but i had been wanting to work with glass/reflections and the doilies for quite some time and this was my chance. the shadows that ended up IN the case were beyond what i could have hoped for. these pieces are ridiculously stupid to try and photograph, so... well.... i have to let that go.



one story about this piece. while i was working on it.... staring at walls. futzing with the minute alterations in the placement of each doily the curator of the show came down and stood next to me. he turned to me and he said. this is so japanese. you are so japanese. the space here. the space is just as important as the objects themselves. [this was of course 1/2 understood by me and 1/2 translated to me - i didn't know the word for space]. i literally just stopped and smiled at him. i felt as though that was the biggest compliment someone could have given me. space is something that is so hard to talk about. and he just got it. the negative space.



the right side - the way the walls interacted was just fantastic.



of course i did the corner wrap around thing



this is the "start". i also really overlapped the doilies this time.... think i might have to try that again....



detail of the mass



the glass



me painting on the glass



here we are talking to hipster architecture students from tokyo :D

ok friends. i have to get to the studio. i have to try and finish a piece for my show announcement.... oh and make the work for that show. ha ha. [show at little bird gallery in october]

i also posted on ship today.

AND.... caterine has set up a very cool muslin tote swap . go sign up if you are so inclined!

have a great weekend!