Harrell Fletcher and my Family photos

Alright so last week Harrell Fletcher came to WSU for a lecture and studio visits.  At first I wasn't sure how the studio visit would go because of the work he does in comparison to my work.  Harrell Fletcher uses a lot of found objects in his projects and  explores the full story of people or at least informs you of more than meets the eye.  I on the other hand have been primarily working on the Dollhouse which is far more abstracted.  He said he "liked it" but was far more interested by the contact sheets of family photos I had pinned to my "extra" wall.  Honestly for 40 mins we talked about the family photos and maybe 10 mins were dedicated to the dollhouse!  He is great though and helped me start thinking about pushing my comfort zone.

I came into Grad school thinking I was going to work with my family photos but didn't know how to make them my own.  I'm still not sure.  However Fletcher inspired me to take more time investigating the topic.

I have a lot of my grandpa because I got them from his storage but there are also photos of people I don't know, letters and report cards!

So I've been going through my own photos of my family and I'll go back through these and try to figure out how to arrange and display these images in a way that makes it insightful and uniquely my work rather than just a family album.

I am getting all kinds of crazy ideas but I am not ready to share them yet.

For now I'll share the things I'm thinking about for this project...

• Uncovering family history
• Having to pull out info that is not freely given (or just not talked about)
• My family is pretty private so what does it say to make our story public?
• These images would have all but disappeared if I hadn't uncovered them
• What does bringing the past to the present do?
• Speak about the mystery behind these photos
• Use objects too... some that appear in photos and we still have
• The photos were in storage along with many family heirlooms... what does that say that we wont part with them and yet don't put them on display?

Those are just a few things I've been thinking about for this project... issues to be addressed within the work.

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I am reminded to mention I will have a show up April 18-22 in Gallery 2 here at WSU in the Fine Arts Building.  I am showing with Brett Lysne who is a great printmaker.  I will let you know when we line up an opening for that but please keep it in mind so that you can make out here for the show!  Thank you!

Also I now manage the WSU Photography Blog so you can find some interesting things there, student work, visiting artists, resources ect.

The infamous Dolhouse

Well I fell off the face of the blogosphere for a few months but I am back in action now.

So I thought for today I would put together a little gallery of images from the Dollhouse.
I spent months building the house from painting the walls to getting working electricity in it so I can actually light up mini lamps and ceiling lights!  Even collecting all the little furniture, food and decor bits was an interesting (and time consuming) task.  I don't think the dollhouse will ever be done just as the homes we live in always seem to be flux. However the basic building out of the house is 80% completed.  I will eventually build out the attic/3rd floor when I decide what it should be and put in the dormer windows up there.  Plus the shingles need to be stained and placed!

Anyways enough about construction since that isn't what this project is about... here is the gallery of images!

These photographs are representations of the loss I feel about my mother and father being absent for most of life.

Please feel free to leave constructive comments!  While I will continue to develop this project I have also started another one which I will unveil as soon as possible.  It is great to get feedback though to see general response, find out where I am missing the mark and where I am succeeding!

Thank you!