Three Heads Are Better Than None: Entry #2

So here is the next entry in the sketchbook. As I said before, it was inspired by a peacock feather. In general I am always really interested in how much detail I can put into a woodcut. This time I used birch wood( I usually use pine) and it was a lot more difficult for me to carve and I was not able to get as much detail as I would have liked. I printed it on a piece of cotton material... which I am experimenting more with since I have this obsession with material. I really love how it turned out and you can definitely expect more of that to come. I attached it to the book by embroidering into the pattern. I used colors inspired by Angela's previous entry to transition into mine. Now the book is on its way to Kim and I'm excited to see how she responds to the previous work and adds her own!

PS: I am sorry that I did not have time to add a goat this time around. Next time for sure!

Three Heads Are Better Than None.

So this is a new project that includes three former art students that graduated from Clemson University in May: Angela Newman , Kimberly Christopher (the Narwhal) and myself. We all three used to spend countless nights working until the morning in the studio together. Since graduation we all have gone our separate ways. The idea of the "traveling" sketchbook came about so that we could provide each other with support, encouragement, hold each other accountable for making work, and also a great way to keep in touch with one another. There are no requirements in any way so be prepared for anything. Angela has made the first entry and I am posting hers first. Then I am going to have an in-progress photo of mine. Keep checking back for updates and finished work.

Angela





This is a woodblock that I started today.It is still nowhere near ready to be printed. And will most likely be one color since I have to print it by hand by burnishing it with a spoon. It is inspired by a peacock feather. It is one of two prints that I plan on finishing this time around for the sketchbook. ( The other one may or may not be a goat =P)

Faulkner Goes Backasswards

Considering automatic writing is a part of my art practice, I decided it was high time to explore stream-of-consciousness literature. Which led me to what I am working on now: carving excerpts of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. Why is it necessary to carve them when we have the lovely letterpress, you ask.

The carved mark and the inconsistencies of handwriting allow the words to be much more intimate (in the same way that a handwritten thank you is more personal and touching than a typed form letter). This connection with the text is important because not only am I using Faulkner's words but I am also personalizing the text by journaling/meditatively writing it. By paralleling this text style with the close, continual stream of words dissolving into letters the viewer can get lost in the text much like getting lost in your thoughts.

Since learning to write backwards I have noticed a number of side effects: spastically trying to start reading a page from the right, then the left, then the--no no the left, opening books from the back, filling out forms bottom to top which led to everything being one line off.

All became rather backasswards when I started transposing the text onto my woodblock. I got lost in a dyslexic cloud of letters because I was referencing a normally written passage while actually writing it all backwards (R to L and mirror-imaged). Literally backasswards. But take heart, I checked that the letters were properly backwards in a mirror. Also interesting fact, Leonardo da Vinci wrote mirror-image backwards too. The obvious end to this fact: that I am a genius CERTAINLY NOT--that da Vinci was a printmaker at heart and hand mhm.

I have this obsession with material...

Especially lace... I am still so interested in how the scanner captures and segments information. The amount of clarity that I am able to achieve , or lack there of... is unbelievable.

The Right Kind of Math: Black Hole Thetas

I have nothing against math, in fact, I secretly have a veracious appetite for algebra. That being said my mathematical demise came in the form of calculus BLASTED CALCULUS. Needless to say I'm surprised to find myself fixated on drawing theta.

In my art I use a repetitive form of automatic writing (you write whatever comes to mind). I find it quite meditative because I end up writing the thing that is weighing heavily on my subconscious. This has the double effect of first confusing me my subconscious and I aren't on speaking terms and second bringing to light and potentially resolving some inner issue. Now why theta has been unabashedly playing about in my subconscious I can only begin to understand.

Thetas could represent an unknown or a system of control which is where black holes come in. Perhaps thetas act as the mathematical counterpoint to my vacillating thoughts the black hole of my mind. Anyhow, these little ink sketches are just the beginning.

Scan-O-Grams