It has been a while since I’ve written about my senior, but thankfully, major progress has been made.
As I said in my last blog post, I was struggling to figure out how to utilize the last bit of my space. After a long discussion with one of my weaving classmates (shoutout Corynn), I’ve realized that I already have the majority of what I’d like finished done already. Final layout for my senior exit will include:
2 – 8x4 Super Scab Quilts
4- 3x2 Losing my mind Towel compositions
3- 2x3 Cow Compositions
This is the planned layout, right to left, from my darkest value to my lightest value
My entire theme revolves around suffering and enduring, but there’s also an underlying theme of losing your mind. Going from the real to the abstract and landing somewhere in between each. Corynn criticized my previous layouts (each in a 4-item grid or a column) and said that reading the presentation from left to right made more logical sense to her. I never considered a person’s natural reading direction as a way to inform the layout, moreso, focusing on what made sense in my head and ensuring that each grouping was strict. This was the root of my issues with presentation, as I felt there was no flow to any of my work; rather than presenting a cohesive idea, I was showcasing a bunch of separate thoughts together.
Not only do I now have a concrete idea for the layout I’d like to pursue, but I also have a definite amount of work to finish. My goal for this week is to finish the losing my mind set and the white cow composition. I also have a definite idea of how I want to finish each piece. I will leave the quilts unhemmed and untrimmed, trace the final size on each of the cow compositions, and use the natural edges of each of the towels as finishing. I want to leave a sense of incompleteness for each work as ultimately none of these are fully finished, both literally and figuratively. Literally, I would like to add a fleece backing to the quilts and top stitch all my lines and frame each of the compositions. Figuratively, my mind is not finished developing, and I have much more to lose and gain mentally. I want the theme of suffering to be prevalent but not overshadowing the endurance. Patior has multiple meanings: to allow, to permit, to endure, to suffer, to undergo. It’s a process that is actively happening, something that I am documenting without being able to clearly see where I started or where ill end up. I want this collection to be a jumping-off point for an exploration of Patior, not just this collection.
I think ultimately, I’d like to do a collection focusing on each word. This collection is to suffer. 40 stages of life is to undergo. Master's studies are to endure. To persevere will be a "best hits" of my creative work through the process, with all pieces presented together. I hope to finish at least one set this week so I can begin to work on the documentation and writing for the pieces within the collection. I need to start working on my clothing sewing, so the goal I’d be ramping down on senior exit by the 10th and pick up on my prepped clothing sewing by the 11th, so really one week for all the peripherals, then 1 week for my next scab portrait.
I’ll leave the cow plushes for the persevere show, and the work jackets will still be finished for senior exit (drafting projects). I'll also still be able to complete all my abstract paintings, although on a slightly smaller scale. Somehow, I’ve been able to keep on schedule despite the hanging ideas and ever-expanding scale of my vision for this work. I think it was good to walk with Corynn and focus in on my vision for my work and realize that I was thinking on too large a scale for this single show and to think more long-term in terms of the work I can do.
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