Fibre 419 was a very interesting and worthwhile course that focused on gaining a coherent understanding of where our art practice is going. There was a major graduating paper (almost a mini-thesis) plus studio work. For this class and the FINA class I planned to work on a series of hats. Climate change has been a hot topic everywhere and I decided to use this as an opportunity to do research and create work related to what I learned. I wish that the media focus would be more on the sustainability of our society rather than just climate change which seems to result in an emphasis on government and large industry needing to take responsibility for fixing the problem. While this will be necessary for some aspects of change, I think it is going to take all of us thinking about what our lifestyles contribute to the issues. Hence the "Sustainability on My Mind" hat series. I began researching specific issues and created a hat during the process leading to "Forest Fire," "Melting Glacier," and "Svalbard Seed Arc." As a challenge to improve my technique, each of them involved techniques that are new to me and I used locally produced wool when possible and hand dyed fabric.
Fibre 327, a directed studio, was a last opportunity to learn about dyeing from Bill Morton. My objectives were to experiment with natural and synthetic dyes on fabric and wool and to create three and two dimensional objects. I was also experimenting with combining different types of wool and using local wool when possible. I finished a series of vessels entitled "Seasonings."I created a relief landscape "Felting on the Edge"combining 8 prefelts.
Then I took my first stab at portraiture in felt. The concept was to paint three faces on silk and then to nuno felt and cut them creating an organic version of Picasso's Cubism. However, the fabric paint did not stand up to the felting process, so there was a lot of pulling it back from the edge. I opted to minimize the cutting. I want to try this concept again but with a different starting point.
I had great expectations for FINA 450. The class I chose was described as helping us to identify where we fit in the contemporary art world. Unfortunately, it felt to me like it focused on a narrow slice of the art community - one in which I don't belong. But, none-the-less, I did learn a lot although it was a pretty challenging experience. I planned to create hats for the "Sustainability on My Mind" series. The first critique of "Melting Polar Ice Cap" went totally in the wrong direction with all of the conversation being about the display of the piece.
The second hat was to be about consumption in the fashion industry with a hat made out of discarded and recycled garments. Because many of the fabrics I had were too closely woven to nuno felt, I started experimenting with an embellishing machine and created a number of felted objects to include on the hat. However, in talking to the instructor, I explained how these discarded fabrics had become appreciated objects as I worked on them which she found interesting. So the last project became an installation about material culture and the contrast between contemporary fast fashion versus repair and reuse which characterized my ancestors fashion.
One more semester to go. I took the winter off with plans for travel which mostly didn't happen because of the Covid 19 pandemic. Fall 2020 is going to be a very interesting one. All of my remaining classes are studio classes - I'm not sure how that is going to work!
