studio notes #4
I went on a field trip this weekend to a place that inspired my BFA series Year of Plastic. I am still processing the visit, so I am going to leave this intentionally vague for now. I mostly want to mark it in the timeline. Maybe it will become important again later and if it does future me (and maybe future us) will know where that thread started.
I’ve started my next sample. For now it is just a brass ring in that navette shape except I made the points a little pointier. Today I plan to get the grocery bag macramé started and follow a slightly different design plan than the last sample. I have also been wondering how other shapes might look.. a coffin, a teardrop, an urn? It currently feels a little literal for where I want to go with this so I am noticing the hesitancy. That said, I am not in editing mode right now. I’m in the follow what is interesting mode so lets see where this path goes.
I am also making my way through the book American Afterlife: Encounters in the Customs of Mourning by Kate Sweeney. Besides the fascinating collection of stories, it’s also helping me contextualize some of the visual sources of inspiration in history and the culture of the time. One of the highlights so far has been learning about a graveyard quilt made by Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell in 1843. It is an aerial view of a cemetery. The details are incredible: a black fence around the edge, coffin shaped quilting stitches, and movable coffin panels with paper labels with family names written on them in script. I have made quilts before and am familiar with mourning quilts made from loved one’s clothes, but this feels different. It isn’t centered on remembering one person. It feels like a map of grief itself(past, present and future) all held within this imagined map of a cemetery. I couldn’t add it to my binder fast enough.
It is a rainy day here in Austin, which is my favorite weather to read and be quiet. It may be more reading than making this week. Research can be hard for me to prioritize, but i’m trying to remember that I’m learning a lot, even if it doesn’t look like much from the outside yet.
