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.

....................................................................................................................................

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!

Mini Mania

Ok so the once a week posting didn't happen but I'm sure that I can keep up once a month... hopefully!


Anyways so I have been building a Dollhouse 1:12 scale.  Me and Ebay have a love hate relationship ... I hate how much time I loose looking endlessly for things to fill my tiny house and yet I love to get things in the mail and potentially use them in the house!

This was the beginning stages of building and painting the house.... thats right bright blue baby!

And since I am still waiting for my electrical stuff to show up (which prevents me from laying down the carpeting and wood flooring) I am doing some studies and story boarding for the house.

  Now if anyone knows me... they know I SERIOUSLY dislike bugs.... So I flipped when I saw this visitor

Then I finally threw out all my trash :)

Getting in the groove

Well being a brand new teacher is its own challenge but actually doing my own work has been an entirely different battle.
(plus I'll show you pics of my studio in the next post)

Doing my lesson plans ect is a day to day basis kind of thing but Im learning!

It's nice that the building always has interesting things going on wether it is someone being creative in their studio, being able to peek into classes or see a piece of art work (a destroyed cake) in the middle of the art building being sketched by a class!  The people are great!

So now I'm finally in the groove and starting my own work.  I am of course taking on another big project.  As we go along I will begin to describe to you why I'm doing this but for now... just know it's all about my revisiting my childhood via dollhouses.

So I bought a dollhouse that is in route to my house as I type.  Funny enough the name of the house is "Lancaster" which is a road I grew up off of.  So when that gets here I will assemble it.  I've read it takes about 60 hours to build... lets hope I survive!  Anyways that is just the construction of the house.  I also get to paint the interior and exterior however I like.  Here are a few screen shots of the house though.

I have also gone EBAY CRAZY with all this dollhouse stuff.  So here are some pics of a few things I got on ebay to start setting up scenes.

gotta love the japanese dollhouse stuff!

my dollhouse needs a view camera... duh

Part of my dish set

I am REALLY liking silly things like this that I don't think most people picture being in a dollhouse.  I have this spilt paint, rolls of toilet paper, modern food containers, a mouse trap, a cigarette ect. that I think are SO clever!

I also bought a doll for my dollhouse.  So far just the one lady "with and unusual face"... it's just painted different than most doll faces but I liked it!  I think it is the blank stare that I just LOVE.  I still have to track down some clothing for her though!

But of course all of this is still on its way in the mail so I am kind of twiddling my thumbs till it gets here!



Anyways after a long stint away from the blog I am BACK!  I will be posting at least once a week... maybe smaller ones occasionally as well.  You can also catch what I am up to on thegoodeyknot.blogspot.com ... that blog is all about my wedding plans and Nathan and I adventuring into the land of refurbished goods.  I am keeping this blog just about Grad school, art and other closely related topics!

If you have any inspiration ideas for me please comment!

Peoples Choice Award - Photography Book Now

Alrighty, so now is the time to show your support!

I entered the Photography Book Now contest a bit ago and now the judges are hard and fast at work going through over 2,000 submissions!  In the mean time they open the books up to a public vote.  I would love your support by voting for my book "Things I Forgot to Show You" so I may have a chance at winning the "Public Choice Award"!



Please check it out... and do the right thing!

The new Studio

Thus far the studio in its empty uninhabited state has no name... that shall change in time.

For now though let me show you my new lair.

Upon walking in you are greeted by... nothing.  However I should mention a board used for cutting was left behind on the desk... which should come in handy.  The big white squares attached to the walls are also great for putting up push pin idea boards!

To the right of the door we have the living area... or so it was.  I'm told that many grad students spend so much time in their studios many of them have mini fridges, kitchenette like setups and something to sleep on!  Who needs to pay rent right?

I have my own private little dark room with some shelving spaces.  Now I just need my own enlarger or light box (i'd prefer a light box).  This little dark room has been made light tight by previous tenants and there are also some safety lights ect left behind!

Speaking of goodies left behind...

I was left a huge old TV which I conveniently lugged out to the hall for someone else to pick up!  Also some screens for the windows I'm guessing, a box with wires and some chemicals for processing that might be too old to use... I'm not sure they are safe!

However the best left behind gift is the fruit loops box...

Priceless

Oh and I have a pretty good view which is a nice change from the basements they usually lock us photo kids up into!

On the downside being a grad student/TA gives me the responsibility of carrying 8 more keys for all the different labs ect.  So far they have given me six of them.  I may need to start carrying two different key chains because this isn't working so well.

I'm not a janitor and who else honestly carries 14 keys?

A+ for the F+

As I promised here is a post about my latest work I just submitted to a contest.

These are all done with my wonderful Toy Diana F+ with the Instant back!

Before we get to the goodies though I want to show of the tools!

The wonderful film that has exploded on the american market finally!

Look it even has instructions on it!!!

This is the lovely that spits out jems!

The little round bubble on the right that has yellow in it means the film is loaded... make sure the switch is clicked over to on or it wont work.  The little blue bubble on the left lit up shows it is on and how many shots you've taken.  By the way the blue rimmed button on the left is what you press after taking the shot inorder to process the film and have it come out on the side.

The film processes out like this.  The first one is blank like this as a protection slide.  The rest come out white at first as the image slowly appears.

Just a side shot showing the instant back attachment and a front beauty shot.

I like to lay everything out first when going through my images.  I knew many of these would get cut quickly but I think comparison is key when having to choose the top five images!

Nathan helped me out choosing images which is always a help because as the photographer I find myself biased!

So here are my beauties... out of 40 slides these are my top 5 that I am seriously proud of.

Please tell me what you think!

Permit

Slide Along

Storage Shed

The Back Acre

The Gully

Now the shame in this is that I submitted a great artist statement and didn't save it.  Currently I am not happy with how I have tried to recreate it so I bid you adue for now.  I will let you know when I have refinished the statement for now I will leave you with this.  When we return to the places we hold so dearly in our hearts we often find the harsh realization that we have grown out of this place.  We cannot relive the precious memories for we no longer physically, mentally or emotionally fit them.  Memories are best left in the past.