Sunday, January 31, 2010

first meeting with R.W.P.


On Thursday, January 28 I met at Peet's in Lexington with R. for our first mentor meeting.
I brought "samples" of my work from the residency, which I had already begun to pull apart with the idea that I would combine them for a larger piece. I shared with her some of the story behind my art - how I reached the point of working in the way I do now. She gave me the name of 3 artists: Lisa Hoke, Devorah Sperber, and Yayoi Kusama (the last I'd already referenced). The first 2 are intriguing. I realize as I briefly glance at an artist's work on the web, that I may miss a lot. However, there are really just a few artists that I seek out time and again. I could see why these 3 are worth looking at; meantime, in my own reaching, I keep going back to Jessica Stockholder for color and the way she carries the color from surface to surface - which I love . I mentioned that to R. and we talked about how I might accomplish that in my work: I could dip the tops of the rolls of silk in paint ( I may or may not like the effect of the color sitting on the fabric v. absorbed into), I could dip the rolls in dye, or I could use contrasting colored thread.
When I discussed possible "landscapes" the art might take, R. cautioned me against deciding at this point. I will leave it more open and see where the work takes me. The question:
"What would happen if?" is the guide.
This week I already dyed more than 11 yards of cloth. I shared with R. the process of dying and my discussions with John Marshall, who is perhaps the artist most responsible for sharing these Japanese dyeing techniques in the US, and who lives in CA, about how the dye is going to work in these frigid January conditions ( the dyes make unusual patterns as it freezes and sets).
I will meet with R.again on March 2. Meantime, I plan to expand the work much further.

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