Update on embroidery piece

This class and this assignment has taught me so many things. I am grateful that I got to take this class with you, Future. I have learned that there is an excellent resource/book on crafts that I can use in my classroom, that a great deal of time needs to be taken with embroidery if you’re doing a French knot, that Crafts in America is an awesome tool for educating myself AND my students, that crafts have gone through many stages throughout its existence, and that my fingertips can only take so many pokes with a needle!

My piece didn’t turn out quite like I’d envisioned. I think to fill the entire space like I’d initially thought, it would have taken nearly a month! The knotting takes so long! Although it isn’t what I’d planned, I am really pleased with the experience and eager to try again. I am happy I didn’t resort to something that I’m already comfortable with.

I noticed that I tend to do spirals in my artwork a lot. I don’t know why I do that or where it came from, but organic shapes are much more appealing to me. This form reminds me a lot of the Maori in New Zealand. They have this amazing plant there, the koru, and they often incorporate the spiral of the leaves into their artwork.

I know it sounds silly, but I quite like how the back of the fabric looks on the side with all the knots and cross overs. I think the randomness of it is more interesting to me. I would like to continue with this project and add patching of other fabrics that compliment it. I have even pushed several of my students to try embroidery, and a great number of them love it and find it relaxing! This is something that I will definitely continue with in my won work and with my students, as well. One of my students just got a medal today for one of the crafts pieces I had him do for our district art show. He’s my too-cool-for-school kid, so it made me very happy that he won and that he was proud of himself.

Thank you so much again for everything. This was awesome.

Final craft and episode review

Season 8 Episode 2

This episode is all about art being inspired by nature here in America. The artists call it translating their experiences in that natural environment for others to see and understand as well. This was interesting that so many artists are influenced by something so simple as just looking out side and would want to share it with others. One of my favorite pieces in this episode was 'Nature's Gift' (2016) by Preston Singletary. He is a native American glass artist who uses his surroundings as his inspiration. His techniques captures the motion of the wild creatures in something that is so stiff and immobile like glass. Most artists speak of a connection they feel between them, the materials, and the nature around them. They say that nature is the most critical resource in the world.

 

For my piece, I decided to create an altered image of a woman with clay. It was roughly 8x4in. on dimensions. My idea for this was how society tried to break down and build up women to fit the image they want them to portray. I decided to put an altered and asymmetric body on what seems to be a surgery table. From the small waist to the bigger breast, eyes, lips, and thighs,  I started piecing together the perfect woman yet somehow still creating a female version of Victor Frankenstein's monster. This is a replica of how I see us as a people ending up because we tend to always change ourselves to please other people. In my opinion, this piece demonstrates the damage of conformity and no self worth.

1. Something that surprised me was how easy it was to get carried away while molding and shaping the clay. I noticed that it was also harder to do exactly what I wanted to do with this but it wasn't surprising since I have worked with this material before. I was surprised with how long it took me to get everything right as well. Normally it takes me less than 20 minutes to draw and color a piece on a 9x12in board, so I had to work my patience here. 
2. Something that impressed me with my project was how big of a message it portrayed to me. In today's society, it seems as if people and their opinions have more control over what we do and how we should look than we do. This shows how monstrous that can be in the end. bending and changing yourself in the end only makes you into a monster, unfit for anyone's eyes. We should appreciate ourselves as we are.
3. The take home from this project is that I learned how to manipulate clay better and I was also able to learn a few more techniques while trying to shape the clay how I wanted. This project taught me more patience, time maintenance and how to take my time and not rush in order to get certain shapes and forms right. 

Angela Zesiger's Final Project

Final Project

Each of the pieces that are shown here, I threw on the wheel as a demonstration for one of my classes. I do this every year, so some of the kids have seen me do it for the last 5 years and every time they come up with new questions about how the clay is being formed. I am so impressed with how the children's questions are becoming more complexed.

I was surprised by how beautiful some of the glazes turned out. I think the students were also surprised by how the glaze turned out. They can't understand sometimes how the glaze looks chalky grayish in color and then it comes out of the kiln a bright blue.

The more I throw the larger the pieces get.  The students also can see that the pieces of pottery are getting larger.  Every student in my class from pre-k to 5th grade get to work with clay and as they get older the amount of clay that they get to use to make their artwork gets larger, therefore their artwork gets larger.

One thing about my pottery is I like to put texture on it.  Sometimes I let the students pick which tool I'm going to use to make the texture. They love feeling that they are a part of the decision process in making the art.  I guess you could say that these pieces are collaborative artwork.  I like to demonstrate in front of the children.  I feel that it is good for the student and also good for me to be able to do art. I think that it is a great stress relief from the everyday hustle and bustle for both the students and me. I love to watercolor with the kids.

I still have about 8 pieces of pottery that need to be glazed. I have a few that I will be re-glazing and re-firing to see if I can get a better effect with the glaze. The pieces in the picture are my favorites this year.  I really love how the glazes and texture turned out. The students have learned what makes these pots functional and nonfunctional.

Papi's Kitchen: The process

Papi’s Kitchen

It all started as a hobby; my father loved having a backyard garden and trying to grow his fruits and vegetables.  His garden was very successful, and soon he had a bountiful of harvest. He started experimenting with different ways to preserve the fruits and vegetables so they wouldn't go to waste.  Eventually, jellies, jams, relishes, and salsas were created. After a while, he shared some of his creations with friends and family who suggested that he should sell them because they were so delicious.

Surprised:

To appreciate and understand the art of making jellies and jams, its crucial to know the story behind it. Before the advent of our local grocery stores, many people had gardens and grew their produce. But in many parts of the country the growing season was limited, so to have food all year long people needed a way to preserve their harvest. One of them was that people found to do so was to make jellies and jams.

Today’s standards are also giving jam makers the freedom to explore. Flavor combinations are as endless as one can imagine, and the ability to choose from a vast array of flavors from cranberry lemonade to pineapple jalapeno means the artisan can perfect an offering true to their vision.

Impressed:

The response was overwhelmingly positive, and people loved his jellies! Today, this business is running on a full-time basis going to farmers markets around the DFW area every weekend.

Something special happens when folks gather together around the breakfast table, and on quiet weekend mornings, they love to put out a big spread for family and friends to share. Give a Papi’s Kitchen Jelly breakfast gift and send memorable mornings for everyone to enjoy.

Take Away:

We are a family business located Lavon, Tx. The quality of our product and the attention to detail shows from what goes inside to the outside of the jar. Preparing and selling our jellies has only brought our family closer together. We hope that the families that purchase our jellies create new memories, connections, and appreciate the process of crafting unique, flavorful jams and jellies.

My Project can be found on Youtube! Here is the link!

Papi's Kitchen: The Process

Final Project - "Over and Under the Parks"

For my final project I knew I wanted to revisit weaving. I have had an admiration for yarn and wall hangings for the past couple of years but haven’t attempted to try making my own piece until now. This piece started out with no design plan in mind but the idea of trying out different techniques in one to see how they looked and for my own practice. This way, I can get familiar with how I can use yarn to create different looks and textures in my pieces. I did choose the earthy tones for the yarn with the intention to tie it together with the National Parks I have visited. Someday I would like to do or be a part of something big that will help me give back to the parks and preserve them because I do believe they are important. For now, I capture their beauty through my photography and do the little things that I can to help out. So naturally, my design turned into the idea of a landscape from Big Bend National Park, the very first park I visited and the one that got me to appreciate nature so much more.

I was surprised at how much easier I found this to be than I thought it would be. The last time I tried weaving was in fourth grade when my elementary art teacher taught us how. We were only supposed to do one, but I remember I ended up doing several and even made my own loom at home out of cardboard (because that’s how we were taught) to continue. Of course I need more practice but the joy of weaving was still there like when I was in fourth grade.

I’m truly impressed with yarn and the different techniques I can do to make different designs on the loom. I bought some fluffier yarn because it was on clearance and it ended up being my favorite on there. I’d like to use the colors and techniques to incorporate more of the colors and patterns I see at National Parks.

My take away from this project is to always try or do what you have been dreaming about doing. Like I mentioned through out this course, I follow local artists on Instagram and I feel inspired by their work. I have found myself to have less time to create while teaching but there are still ideas and things I want to create and do. Weaving was one of them. If it wasn’t for this project, I eventually would have tried it…but it definitely wouldn’t have been until the summer or whenever I decided to set time aside.

I’m not fully done with it, I’m wanting to hang it on a stick from a tree to keep that natural look to it.

Zack Smith Final Project

Hand Back The Keys (minus the final layer)

My project unconventionally involves crafts (I’m hoping this is okay, I decided to get creative) Because my medium is printmaking I thought I would let crafts inspire my print, as well as various dimensions of the history of the American craft history. 

My poster entitled “Hand Back the Keys” is a feminist comment on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka LDS or Mormon Church) history. It examines the patriarchal nature of the church organization and the history surrounding the church moving from a progressive organization, specifically in the area of women’s rights, to a less progressive organization. The purpose of this poster is to question the roles the church imposes on women.

This print has several textile influences that date back to the late 1800’s, 1930’s and 1940’s. This was my first time incorporating a textile into a print and I really like how it turned out.  For starters you will notice the base of the print is a handkerchief.  Several details of the poster (the all seeing eye and the banners) were influenced by banners originally used by the early women’s organization of the church. In addition, a picture of a crown from the 1940's inspired my design. 

I was surprised by how long this project took me. I spent over 15  hours researching and sorting through the church archives. It was a pretty cool process as I had access to the original photos. I then spent 4 days making the print with a buddy who acted as an assistant. Not to mention the time I took to design the image (30 plus hours)…and it’s not even finished (I have one more layer to go). 

Beyond using textiles as part of my work I kind of went out on a limb by questioning some things seen as the norm in the religion I participate in. Throughout the readings, as I have mentioned before, I found myself being most inspired by the work that aimed to communicate or comment on the current political or social climate. I aim to do this via this poster. 

My take away was that I feel like I have found my medium. I’ve often felt like I didn’t have the voice to communicate my opinions. This now gives me my voice in a way that feels authentic to me. I also think that this made me interested in using textiles in my future work and really got me thinking of how I could use other mediums to influence my work. 

I’ve included pictures of my almost final work, inspiration pictures, and a little bit of the process. Also, I printed on a few different types and colors of paper which is why each layer looks like a different paper.