Term 4, Week 2: Fran Allison and William Hsu

Fran Allison is a jeweller and lecturer at MIT. Her jewellery is inspired by household duties and she creates these forms with found materials, she then disguises their previous functions by incorporating them into pieces where materials such as silver, steel, metal, copper were also included. I like how she is able to take kitchen utensils and other household tools and repurpose their uses into a solid, reliable piece of jewellery. 

One of her works that stood out to me the most was the crown which she had constructed from old cake tins with imagery and symbols that represented the royal family's past celebrations. Even though the decorative aspects of the tin doesn't actually advertise the actual product, there are similarities between the functions of a cake tin and the symbolism in the imagery, like that fact that both the cake tin and royal family events and rituals hold valuable importance, not only do these tins hold an edible kind of treasure, but the imagery on the outside shows the power and dominance that those of a higher rank have over everybody else, and how accessories such as jewellery are a part of their lifestyle and traditional protocol. I can also see how it can relate in a separate form of historical context, it reminds me of the young French Queen, Marie Antoinette and her alleged reaction after hearing that the peasants of her country had no bread. Although it was never proved, she had supposedly said, "Let them eat cake."  

"Queen of the Bake Off," by Fran Allison

Marie Antoinette

Her solo art practice is more conservative, compared to the works she created as one quarter of the collaborative group, "Weeds." Working with other artists within the same field, but using different mediums has allowed her work to become more loose and has let her approach her work in a fearless manner. She had basically put her guideline of rules to the side and just let the work flow, making this experience as a collaborative focus more on experimentation and trying things she wouldn't normally do with her own work. A lot of experimentation and regenerating was based on how she viewed her peers' working process and the creative input that she received from them. However, it was nice to hear that they all made a shared effort, there was no power struggle or dictatorship in the group. As successful as they have been, they aren't a constant practice and the chances of them coming together and hosting more exhibitions is unknown as they tend to catch up with each other on the odd occasion, which is a good way to approach things if you have other commitments, but I think it's good that Fran has her own practice to focus on as well.

William Hsu also came in and talked to us about gallery spaces and the advantages and disadvantages of becoming a part of certain spaces. It seems as though the more professional a space was, the lesser the chances of collaborating on projects. The space that he is a part of seems more down to earth and more open to experimenting and improvising, I like how they try and include the public with their projects, like the t-shirt design activity, for example. Each participant was provided with an over-sized t-shirt. then they had to mark parts of the shirt and co-ordinate certain points together, creating a completely different design by folding and joining. Afterwards, they had a small fashion shoot and took photos of each model wearing their masterpiece which was a cool way to finish the activity. Overall his gallery space came across as a warm, and inviting environment. 

And of course, there were shows that weren't as popular. The concepts were innovative and simple but it didn't really catch on. I saw this as a reminder that although we as artists see our own ideas as genius and our works as masterpieces, the public are the ones to judge it. You have to remember to set yourself up for a few fails before you can make a win.

The One Million Masterpiece is an online collaborative art project and one of the worlds biggest record holders. The aim is to create one big mosaic piece of art by getting 1 million people from around the world involved and submitting one of their own drawings for the piece. It doesn't have to be a professional drawing, as you are asked to create the drawing by using computer software. Anybody can join, you can also check up on how the project is coming along by viewing the digital canvas, which is in the style of a satellite map. A great way to get people involved from all over the world by the click of a button.

Links
RM (William Hsu)

http://www.rm103.org/

One Million Masterpiece
http://www.millionmasterpiece.com/
check on the progress
http://www.millionmasterpiece.com/view

Term 4, Week 1: Deborah Crowe and Filipe Tohi

 Deborah Crowe's preferred style and medium is hard to define.By trade she is a qualified weaver, having graduated in weaving/textiles. But the material she uses for her works vary, from nylon and string to industrial type surfaces and materials such as mirrors, glass and metal.  They are also presented in many different ways – in photographic prints, installations and collaborative moving image pieces. Not only does she like to regenerate and reconfigure these materials for other works, she does this with her concepts as well, some ideas may carry on from one work to another. Her work sits between different mediums, she said that not only is it an advantage because it allows her to be different, but it's also a disadvantage because people are unsure of her style because it's constantly changing. This is due to her fascination with space, pattern and construction (architecture, scaffolding, etc.) Cantilever is a word that Deborah brought up a lot during her discussion, it's a term used in building where a panel for example, is joined and supported by one point (or two) only. This relates to how she responds to different structures and how she interprets this into her own work, whether it be sitting under bridges or watching movies and theater productions that focuses on construction/architecture that has been manipulated in some way. In terms of space, she recalls how as a child, her sister used to lock her in the closet . Years later, she nicknamed her work space, "Paradise Prison," since the garage that she was occupying was surrounded by a serene, picturesque garden. Space plays a major role in how she creates her work, she is interested in how we experience the space around us and how we control our bodies in this space.
She has also applied this along with her weaving talents to other areas in the creative field, including fashion design, which she has won awards and made television appearances for. Again, the main inspiration was how we control the body, how we as women are willing to go the extra mile to look good, by sacrificing our own comfort. The clothes that were designed and created do look uncomfortable, they range from very stiff looking headdresses to corset-styled dresses. A model who worked with Deborah Crowe and her collaborating designer friend, Kim Fraser was asked by television personality, Mary Lambie if what she was modelling felt uncomfortable, which the answer to her surprise was "no." Comfort is something that I'm guessing Deborah took into consideration while creating these pieces, as she is interested more in how a structure is built, not the decorative effects.  
The overall effect of her works gives this optical illusion, her work with line plays a trick on the viewer's eyes but it's very clever how she has managed to construct these works from many different kinds of materials. The diversity in her materials also gives her an advantage when playing with light and shadow.

"Shig," Deborah Crowe

We went to Mangere Arts Centre where we saw sculptures created by artist, Filipe Tohi. The cultural context was that of Tongan, with his art practice focusing mainly on an ancient Pacific Island artform by the name of lalava (lashing - patterns) his main medium of choice being stone but there were also a couple of works I saw where he had combined wood and steel. He believes that lalava is a prominent part of his culture because of the memories and historical values, so he decided he would carry this on throughout his own work but presented in his chosen medium: sculpture. He attracts the viewer by changing the composition of these national treasures, this way he could "manipulate space and pattern." The similarities I noticed between his and Deborah's work was the consideration of space and the intersecting of lines to create these abstract patterns. They don't appear to be grounded to just one medium and there is a wide variety of materials used in their works. They both manipulate their surfaces and produce different quantities of light, by buffing or building up on different layers (like Filipe's stone sculpture, "Mata Tangaroa," for example) and incorporating the different media to show different textures and a change in pattern. Just like Deborah's work, the lalava patterns also has that optical illusion effect, you can see how Filipe has deconstructed the traditional pattern of lalava and added his own twist to it by changing the levels and dimensions.

Filipe Tohi (traditional lalava)

"Mata Tangaroa," Filipe Tohi. (Rock sculpture, 2002)

Clapham house (in London, England) is a good example of line and pattern being incorporated into an architectural design. It reminds me of when Deborah was talking about how her work for the 2005 exhibition, "Reconstruct" was focused mainly on line and how she wanted to achieve this moire look with each piece. She said it would somehow mess with the viewer's head and make them "develop a form of psychosis" The interior of this house is also quite a strange set up and I like how the line continues onto the wall and forms this wavy pattern, it definitely makes you think twice about whether or not this pattern is a part of the decorative design or a part of the architecture.

Clapham House, London, England

 The Aragon Pavilion (designed by Olano and Mendo Architects, Spain) also shows a great understanding of weaving through architecture and how using hard materials with different surfaces can project different qualities of light. I can also see what Deborah Crowe means when she said for us to have a look at the construction and the pattern of a building and see if we can imagine it being broken down and viewed as cloth/fabric.

Aragon Pavillion, Spain

Links
Filipe Tohi
http://www.tautai.org/sopolemalama-filipe-tohi/
http://www.lalava.net/nav.html
Clapham House, London
http://www.wallpaper.com/gallery/architecture/clapham-house-london-by-atmos-studio/17052623#50054
Aragon Pavilion
http://maisdcharlottes.blogspot.com/2010/06/aragon-pavilion.html