After talking to Tim at the beginning of the quarter and having alot of my ideas change, the past month was a whirl wind of trying to get closser to the center of the metaphorical target for my show. I decided to make figual sculptures simmiar to the the ones I was making last quarter, as well as make sensory mittens to contrast the physical and the emotional. I'll post my artist statement so you can read it. After getting closer to the center the colmination of my past for years at OU has finally happened!!!! My BFA thesis, I can't belive I pulled it off. I was almost positvie that it might not happen. I had a few misshaps this week ( the ceramics disaster strikes again,) with my first glaze firing not turrning out so well, on friday (I installed on Sunday) I choose to rush a re-fire which luckally turned out alot better than the first one. I broke a few mittens while sanding them, which meant I had exactly enough with no room to screw up. And the last bit of furr that I had got ruined sitting on top of my shelves, so I had to take an emergency trip to parkersburg. The rest of the weekend was dedicated to building pedastools, sanding, primer, and painting them, while also hanging the mechanics of the whole show.
After talking with my coleuges that I was showing with Amanda informed me that she was going to paint one of the walls in the gallery black. I originally accepting of the idea when I thougth she was going to paint the whole wall. When I showed up on Sunday she had began to tape off a really crazy stripe across the wall, i had no idea what was going to happen with that stripe. Amazingly, the painting major couldn't paint a straight line, or do it cleanly, it was really interesting to see. I'm not trying to be cruel but as i was setting up it really was something to see as this girl struggled with painting. Other then the crazy black stripe, setup went alright, a litle stressfull trying to rival my other coleuge Missy's large drip paintings, with placement of work in the gallery, but once some problem solving happened with Tim, it worked out alright. Johannes and Yvonne were amizing, helping me every step of the was and keeping me calm as we watched the gallery transform.
Once I installed Sunday and Monday, I wrongly assumed that it was going to be smooth sailing for the next few days, I was very wrong. Origally we were going to paint our names on the wall, but their plan was to use paint pen (like the gold ones you buy at craft stores) and I couldn't have that on the walls, it would have looked so unprofessional, so i had emergency lettering done at the local print shop. and then of course all the setup, and food prep for the opening. I didn't realize with guests comming into town and lettering to put up, it was going to become challenging to find time to make food. Lucilly my Mom made delicious appetizers.
After the rush of all the setup, was the opening. I think it went really well, I feel like alot of people came, and enjoyed the work wihtin the gallery. People were interacting with my pieces, and I hope were interpreting the work. I think that my viewers were actually engaging for longer then the standard ten sec that they normally engage for. Lots of family and friends came,( I can't believe I have any left) and the whole ceramics department came. It was really nice to have such support from everyone. Audry and Beth, I wish that you could be here for the next few weeks, with all the ceramics shows, it will be a good time. Its sometimes strange to not have etiher of you around.





Here's my artis statement for your reading pleasure, and some pictures from the gallery.

Human beings partake in many actions to keep ourselves comfortable, keep ourselves protected and make sure the outside world is detached from us. We take precautions in our lives, from using sunscreen and passwords, to not allowing ourselves to be seen as vulnerable in the eyes of others. Taking these physical precautions, creates the illusion that we will be "safe” from others keeping our inner selves comfortable.
However, there are times when we let down our emotional and physical guards and allow others in. We create deeper relationships and it then becomes easy to take off our everyday armor. Sadly these bonds can be broken leaving one feeling betrayed, empty, and scared. The tangible things that are taken become nothing in comparison to the emotional holes that are left behind.
This body of work is a reflection on protections that have been lost. Turning my torso into a ceramic piece, I remake myself as something resilient yet fragile. The markings on the bodies are emotions that are felt, like scars they are branded across the chest. These scars can be topical as well as penetrate through the body, this internal and external interaction needs a mediator in skin, whose primary role is as a gate or barrier that maintains the stable relationship between interior and exterior. When protections are lost there are physical and emotional repercussions. I choose to represent these repercussions by creating sensory experiences in the form of metaphoical gloves. These sensory experiences are meant to cause the viewers to question their own comfort levels. The viewer can then make connections between this physical response and the lack of emotional protections that they have felt.