Studio Concepts

Hannah Gurgul, Fall 2016

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Project 1 Studio 12/13/2016 I meant to post this Tuesday but got sidetracked studying this week. I've been all set for crit for like a week! Just need to hang them up and all.

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Post 20, December 9th. Again, the same people are responding toward the end of this which is kind of interesting to me. It either means they think I’m being funny or sarcastic probably or that they’ve figured out that these posts are part of a project.  This particular person is that teacher from high school I’d spoken about a few posts back. The only non-Facebook response I got was from my manager asking “why are you such a lost pup? why do you need help all the time?” In those cases, I do a horrible job of trying to keep this under wraps. The difference between the in person communication about it and the cyber communication is that I can ignore it and walk away from it easier.

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Project 4 Post-Critique Response

After a ball of masking tape the size of my head, two tubes of Gorilla Glue which spent the better part of this past week coating my fingertips, severe blisters on my hands from my pliers and the wire, two large spools of twenty-two gauge wire, five sheets of foam core, three sleepless nights, and countless cans of Red Bull, project four I think can be deemed as a success!

At first, I was extremely worried about not relaying my content well enough, but I’d say it came across fairly well in this case. The purpose of the project was not only to embody my church’s mantra, but also to capture the fleeting quality of place and time through the use of something that is surprisingly fragile. The major issue that everyone, including myself noticed was where I had hung it up in the Capstone gallery. I honestly wish I would have hung it up on the opposing wall closer to the door for the purpose of having better lighting on it. That is one major consideration I need to keep in the back of my mind if and when I display it again. Other than that, the overall feedback was wonderful. The suggestion of different elevations in the places was an interesting one to consider, in that, it would take on less of an appearance of a drawing and enter the viewer’s space more like a relief sculpture, though I am hesitant due to the distortion it might cause. This is definitely a line of research and a method that I would like to explore more. I can definitely can see myself making more work like this on different colored foam core or even on an actual gallery wall in the future. Someone had suggested toying with the mount color as well as the wire color which is something that I considered and think that the choice in materials can further inform my content of future work depending on where I take it. I really liked this project because it helped me learn how I can incorporate 2D art with 3D in a really unique way. It also has been one of the first times I was able to take influences from other artists such as Richard Serra, Catie Newell, and even my Drawing II teacher (the concept of doing the redacted contour line drawing of each place came from that class) and make my own unique thing. When it was mentioned that it could be imagined that this work could be an installation on a gallery wall rather than a mounted object, I really enjoyed that idea. The other major thing that I learned with this project was patience. This project was a real struggle to try and finish at some points, and there was even a point halfway through getting it on the foam core that I just wanted to give up and bring in what I had because it got super frustrating due to the method I’d used to mount it on the foam core. So, the importance of making a commitment to a work and how you choose to execute it as well as knowing when I need to take a break on it and come back to it later was something that was huge in this project especially.

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Documentation of Work, Project 4. November 22nd through December 1st. I’ve been really bad about posting about my documentation on this project thusfar but here’s what I’ve got. The top image was a test of what I am going to do as far as displaying the drawings when they are fully assembled and put together on the foam core. I got the foam core yesterday, ran out of wire and masking tape, so I will be finishing the last drawing this evening and mounting everything tomorrow when I am done with classes. Each image after that from top to bottom are as follows:  Where I Live: A redacted contour drawing of my current living room Where I Work: A redacted contour of the facade of my workplace Where I Play: A redacted contour of my favorite gallery space at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. They will all be mounted on panels of black foam core and connected to form one continuous drawing. I am super excited for the outcome. (IF YOU HAVE ANY FEEDBACK OR SUGGESTIONS, PLEASE.)

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Post 19, December 4th.

The same responses from the same three people on the last post, which is interesting... I think the reason why this keeps happening is because I think one, if not, all of them have caught on to what these posts are about. I also think its happening because I really don’t use my Facebook much aside from this project, sharing old posts, or dog videos.  At any rate, they’re still responses!

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Post 18 December 2nd. It’s about a week out from finishing this series and I’m still getting responses, so that’s really exciting. Surprisingly, with this set, I got some new ones too, which is also quite exciting. The likes are from two people I have already spoken about, and an online acquaintance whom I’ve never actually met or spoken to in person. The comments: The first one is the professor I had for my first ever college class I had as a part of my dual enrollment program. He had helped me get into CCS and eased my worries about pursuing an art degree. We are able to chat all of the time, and even though I haven’t seen him since 2013, he still makes sure I know that he’s around for me, so that was super meaningful. The other one is from one of my managers, the one whom goofs around with me at work on a regular basis. If it were anyone else, i’d have found it really insensitive. The response is from a co-worker who often tells me when I’m anxious to “just calm down.” 

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Post 17, November 27th. Again, still getting responses! The “like” is from my teacher on the previous posts. Anne is my friend from high school and I’m assuming that she meant to write “U ok?”  There’s nothing particularly relevant to the responses I got elsewhere on my Facebook page. I am looking forward to see how this project ends in the next couple of weeks!

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Post 16, November 22. I’m still getting responses! Again, I am still really surprised at that fact alone. Although, it’s still the same people who are responding for the most part: old acquaintances, my mother-in-law, and my mother.  This post is surprising mostly because of my mother’s response, just based on her previous ones. My mother-in-law’s comment is typical of her as well.

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Post 15, November 19th. I’m back to being surprised at the responses, not because of who they’re from or anything like that but because I am still getting them. The people are the same that have responded to previous post. The “sad” reaction and the comment are from an old friend and the “like” is from that teacher that had messaged me about the previous ones. I did have a really close friend, whom I mentioned in one of the other posts text me and ask me if I was okay and ask me if anything was really wrong that I’d tell her. She said that these posts are really worrying people.  I find that in and of itself interesting because I haven’t had a huge variety of people actually respond and confront me about them.

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Documentation November 17, 2016 I’m sorry, I forgot to post this the other night. I spent my time making the drawing of my living room and starting to try and draw with the wire. Tonight, I’ll be heading to work after buying a new 18 x 24 drawing pad and maybe some different colored wire and drawing a couple of drawings for there.  Wish me luck!

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Post 14, November 15th. Honestly, this is what I am expecting these posts to look like by now. Although I am not sure if it is because of the time that I had posted this or not.  However, I did get one non-Facebook response and that was from one of my best friends, whom I haven’t seen or really spoken to since she was a bridesmaid in my wedding back in August. It read: “Bbgurgs. Can I ask what your Facebook posts are all about? Are you okay? Why do you need help?” This was surprising and really hard not to respond to because we used to be so close and she knows about all of this issues I have. It was surprising because she is not one that normally texts first. Also the fact that she’s acknowledged that she has seen them multiple times makes me wonder why she hasn’t asked about them sooner.

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Post 13, November 11th. The person I had gotten the “like” from has responded to these posts before and is someone whom I had spent a decent amount of time bonding with during my time at WCC. He also struggles with depression and anxiety. The first comment is from my mother-in-law once again, which I am not sure why it is a smiley face other than the fact that it could be in response to the fact that a couple of days before that my husband ended up in the ER into Thursday morning. She and I both know that he is notoriously cranky coming out of anesthesia and when I brought him home, she called me and wanted me. Manuel is my co-worker, and is basically as sarcastic as they come. He has also responded to other posts before. He knows that I have issues with anxiety as well, and this is his way of helping me take my mind off of it. The “like” on Manuel’s comment is from my manager. 

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Post 12, November 7th. I am sincerely still surprised that I am actually continually getting responses to these on Facebook, and honestly, that the vast majority of them are coming from the same people. The person who commented and who gave the “sad” reaction is an old friend I had mentioned in an earlier post, whom I haven’t spoken to much since we graduated in 2014. I am actually really grateful for her responses to these because it has helped open up a line of connection to someone who faces the same issues with depression and anxiety as I do. The person who liked her comment was one of her and my best friends from high school, and actually the guy I walked with in graduation. I would like to believe it is just his way of showing the same support, but I am not sure. Either way, I like that he was one of the responses I got. The other “like” is from my teacher I had mentioned in a previous post.

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Statement of Intent: Place

I have chosen to go off the mantra that our church has created: “Where I live, work, and play,” for this project.  What I am planning on doing is using a technique that we had used in my drawing class earlier this semester, and that is creating drawings of examples of those three places and creating one large panorama of them all connected. The technique I am using goes as follows: pick a spot somewhere in the room and drawing one continuous line of everything your eye travels over, when you reach the end of the page, start a new one, pick up where you left off, and keep going until you’ve come full-circle. This line is an a physical embodiment of how my eyes take in the visual information around me, interpret it, and how my hands translate that onto paper. The material of wire is a choice that I have made because I am really inspired by the Catie Newell work that I had posted as a part of my Research Journal, and I was inspired by something Richard Serra had said in the ART21 video from Tuesday, about how his work and process is often about “Keeping his hand and eye coordinated.” I also just really enjoyed working with wire in the wire frame sculpture from 3D Design this semester, and the properties of wire and how it changes according to handling and light. The difference than this just being a drawing, however, is that while I will use the initial drawings I make as sort of templates, I will be making my final piece out of wire, to create a drawing/sculpture. I haven’t decided if the representation of each different place with be shown with different colored or thickness of wire yet, however, each of the different drawings of the different places I choose, will all be connected into one large piece. What the result becomes is a redacted drawing of the places I live, work, and play. I am not totally sure how I will be displaying it when it is all said and done, however, what I am imagining is having it on some sort of constructed stand, so that it stands alone as a sculpture, or having it as almost a relief where it is attached to something attached to or hung on the wall. The content of this piece I am hoping to convey is not only all of the places I live, work, and play, which all have their own meaning, memories, and connotations in my mind; but also how my brain takes in the physical environment around me and translates it into art. 

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On Kawara, Today and I Got Up

https://www.sugarlift.com/blogs/the-blog/18721627-your-art-weekend-br-guggenheim

Form: A series of works exhibiting either postcards with the times and places in which he woke up and went to per date, or the exact dates on which the works were painted in the style and language of the country he was in when they were painted.

Content: This work is primarily a documentation of the everyday life of some person. The fact that he traveled often adds another layer of complexity to the work. It is artistic documentation in the sense that he is making something standard and repetitive as everyday life tends to be while still adding some sort of making or artistic aspect to the creation of the work. This is also addressing the context in which the work is made and how that affects the form the work may take.

Process: I imagine he probably conceived the idea and wrote out a statement for himself in which he promised to keep a documentation that was handmade of every work he did in this series. These were then either installed in a gallery with their associated pieces or sent to friends and loved ones over a period of time.

I like the fact that his work seems formulaic and data related but also retains a personal quality. It is almost a documentation in different ways of a nomad but also addresses everyday life which the average person can relate and be inspired to. I think this documents the places that affect him and his work in a really unique and systematic way and I appreciate it for that reason.

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Lawrence Weiner,  TAKEN FROM HERE TO WHERE IT CAME FROM AND TAKEN TO A PLACE AND USED IN SUCH A MANNER THAT IT CAN ONLY REMAIN AS A REPRESENTATION OF WHAT IT WAS WHERE IT CAME FROM

http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/107069

Form: The work appears to be text and language painted and installed upon on a gallery wall.

Content: The description painted in the text on the wall is describing a displacement, therefore addressing some sort of space. Alternatively, it could be representative of an artist’s work and how it changes when installed in different places as it travels and how that context affects the overall content of the work.

Process: I imagine this was painted using some sort of stencil on the gallery wall directly. I chose this work because it both literally and metaphorically addresses the topic of displacement. Though it is not referring specifically to a place, the phrase on the wall is alluding to the fact that there should have or could have been some other type of artwork to have been exhibited in the space, but is not. The phrase appears itself as an artwork but also acts as a jumping off point or reference to the fact that something may have or was supposed to be there in its place and no longer is. It reminds me a lot of the work McGee was interviewed about with his gallery work in the ART21 video and I think it is a really interesting way of tackling displacement.

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Kim Harty, Lattice Mountain

http://kimharty.com/lattice-mountain-series#/id/i5740516

Form: This work is constructed with bits of flung glass pulled directly from the furnace of a hot shop and placed into a mold to keep the integrity of how glas behaves. She then assembled them and networked each piece together to make one large sculptural piece.

Content: To be honest, I attended a lecture of hers where she talked about this piece when she was introduced into the glassblowing faculty at the College for Creative Studies, and I don’t particularly remember what specifically the content was about. It did involve the amount of stringy scrapped glass that can be found at the end of a day in the Hot Shop, or glassblowing studio. I think it can also be inferred that these works, based on their titles, be a commentary on how fragile our landscapes are and continue to be as we move through the modern age.

Process: The work is a series of strung together pieces of molten glass, which are layered and connected to form one mountainous and continuous piece. I chose this work for one because it can only happen in one specific place and that is a Hot Shop. Also I think it can be a good metaphor for the process that a glassblower or someone who works with glass as a medium goes through when working in that specialized studio. Not only those things, but it also shows a way of making a new or artificial environment that changes as it settles over time and is affected by the real world around it. To me, I can get the sense of a changing landscape that can be found in the natural world around us as well as that landscape being see as extremely delicate.