I know its been a long while since I posted. I have about three weeks left in Italy, so I am scrambling between taking last minute trips to some museums in Florence, doing a load of work for class, and starting to wonder how in the world I am going to get everything back to the states.
Above, I've got my most recent work, which I'll be presenting to my professors the last thursday before I leave, during individual critiques.
The third and fourth photo are for my litho/ performative diptych. The vaginas have all be cut out and adhered to hand made vellum envelopes. I have to glue the flaps of the envelope down and then wax seal each one shut. Today, I printed my first edition of the fetuses. The stone gave me a bit of trouble so I may not have the 48 I originally planned for. I am aiming for about 36 good mores instead. Once Ive done all of the printing, I can cut the prints into the envelopes and then I plan on painting the inside with paint made from herbs for a scented effect.
This project is a focus on the two modes of femininity: virginal and childbearing. I want to contrast the fact that, yes these are the two expectation a woman is meant to uphold, YET they are completely opposite.
I also plan on doing a last piece for litho, perhaps a mezzotint (wish me luck!)
The fifth and sixth painting are a progress shot and an almost completed shot of my most recent painting for class. It is a self portrait. I am rather happy with it and hope to use it in my upcoming show when I am back in the states. I put all of my work for the second half of the semester together today from this class and I'm pretty satisfied with what I've done. I will also be starting a fourth painting the same size and it will be another nude self portrait. This is all in addition to revising a few parts of the last three paintings I've done!!
The last three pictures are proofs of my small 35 mm etchings. Although not for a class I would like to print them and present them during lithography critique. It is possible I may use a few of them for my body positivity show in January because Jess and I want to focus on the fact that body positivity does not just revolve around the shape of your body. For me, its really important to display a sense of peace with myself as a human. And of course, there's a struggle with that concept that I think is important to show. I also want to highlight/ confront certain ideals that are ingrained in people and are social/religious constructs, such as those of sex, gender, and virginity.
