Progress on Clay "Petals"

These are some shots of the clay "petals" I've been working on as a component of my proposed BFA project. I say "petals" because they very loosely represent a flower petal. Their action, though, is that of the flower petal. The unfired clay breaks down in the rain. The existence of the petal is just as fleeting as that of a flower's petal.

Model Building and Sculpture Process

A necessary skill that I find extremely lacking at the CIA is the usage of thumbnail sketches and model building in preparation for paintings, drawings, and sculpture. For my BFA project, I have been spending a wealth of hours drawing architectural plans for the sculpture I will be building. Recently, I have moved onto the next stage of my process for this work. One rough model has been constructed and I am now preparing to produce two more models, both of which will be a bit cleaner and more exact than the first. All are built to an one seventh scale of the actual size of the proposed sculpture.

Below are images of the first model. It is constructed of a Styrofoam tape. It was a quick build and has helped me visualize the structure more clearly.

Site and Meaning

The site for my BFA installation is crucial to the meaning of the work and the effectiveness of the work. I have toyed with different spots around the exterior of the Gund Building of the Cleveland Institute of Art. Spending a good wealth of hours tracing the spaces around the front entrance of the CIA's Gund Building and the Sculpture Garden off of the Student Lounge, I didn't feel as though I had found the right place. The Gund Building is too directed in its audience and far from a neutral ground. The history of the building and the Cleveland Institute of Art are tied together deeply. Their ties limit the audience to CIA alum, students, and staff. My subject of passing time, transitory states, and precious moments would be in conflict with themes of education and academics inherit to the Gund Building.

I recently came across a small, run-down cemetery on East 118th in the University Circle District of Cleveland, Ohio. The East Cleveland Township Cemetery is a volunteer run cemetery that is working to restore the monuments and grandeur that have eroded with time and neglect. The visible signs of passing make this cemetery an ideal spot for my BFA. There is a common green area that offers the space I need for my outdoor structure. I am excited to learn more about the cemetery and hopefully aid in the restoration of the cemetery.

Clay Studies of Dying flower.

The following images are document of flower petal studies modeled as an actual flower died in my studio. The petal looks at the dying flower of the vanitas in a different manner than the whole of the flower.

Clay plays important roles in art devoted to death and loss. I am interested in clay for its quality of coming from the earth and when un-fired returning back to the earth over time.

Experiment: Hourglass

These images show a two box set-up with sand that requires viewer interaction and last for a certain duration of time. Like an hourglass, the sand moves from the top to the bottom, but only with the involvement of the viewer. In the seventeenth century Dutch vanitas, the hourglass is a common symbol for fleeting time and impermanence.

Inspiration: Ghost Stroller

A mysterious stroller has been making its way around the streets of Brooklyn, New York over the past couple of months. It was first in August that a baby stroller, painted completely in a white reminiscent of stone monuments, first appear chained to a street post. Tucked inside this stroller was three plastic roses that suggest memorializing and loss of a young child. The artist of this piece is unknown but the conversations sparked by the piece on death and art itself has been spreading widely.

For me, this piece is about as close to perfection as I've seen. It is shrouded in mystery and consistently brings up deep conversation on death and memorial.

New York Times Article

ABC News Video

Transitional Periods- Quick Notes on my proposed BFA project

Loss and mortality are inevitable aspects of life beyond human escape. Life has a certain brevity to it, and some aspects of life have an even shorter brevity to them. For example, we spend a scant few years as a toddler and only slightly more in teenage rebellion and bliss. However, what I am concerned with is the brevity of formal education.

This summer I began to realize that I will no longer have the structure formal education has provided for me consistently for the past seventeen years of my life. This loss of structure and agenda that formal education provides requires me to learn a completely new structure to manage life.

To come to terms with the death of formal education in my life, I have been planning an installation for my BFA taking inspiration from the seventeenth century Dutch vanitas still-life painting tradition. In a vanitas, objects such as the skull, flower, fruit, and blown out candle come to symbolize the transience of life and its fleeting moments while pointing out the problems of earthly pleasures and other such vanities.

In addition to changes and losses to the structure of my personal life, the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) is also undergoing changes to its structure and losses as well. Recently, after a period of twelve years, David Deming resigned as president of the CIA. This loss has brought about a change in our president, who is now Grafton Nunes.

Another recent change is the switch from a five year program to a four year program at the CIA. This transition has required major and sometimes drastic changes to the structure of the curriculum. Examples of such problem areas include the notion of major day in the Visual Arts and Technologies Environment (VAT) and a re-organizing of classes that then must be taken by all VAT students of certain years.

Physical structures are also facing change and loss at the CIA. The Joseph McCullough Building (aka the Factory) has been renovated over the past year and a half. The plan for campus unification means a new building will be built right next to the Factory on Euclid Avenue. However, this new building means a loss of the George Gund Building on East Boulevard. The Gund Building is perfectly situated in University Circle, walking distance from the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA), the Botanical Gardens, and the Natural History Museum. To lose this location is truly sad and beyond unfortunate for future and current students at the CIA.

I find many of these changes to be negative and feel as though they are terrible losses for future students. With this installation project I aim to offer a sort of memorial for said losses to students like myself, saying a good-bye to the CIA that we grew to come and love.