Weekly Entry for 10/1

Returning to my roots

Work done throughout the week:

As I have mentioned before, this past weekend I went back home to Rochester Hills to spend time on the Paint Creek Trail by the banks of the Clinton River (2.5 hours). I also spent time with my family, mainly my mother and sister, and tried to make sure I was really absorbing the moments we were in, even if it was the simplest thing of shopping at the mall together and helping them pick out clothes, to the three of us cooking a delicious salmon dinner together (pretty much all of Sunday).


This return to nature and family inspired a whirlwind of thoughts in my head as I looked at the sketches I made, natural objects that I gathered, and pictures taken, that I was forced to write them down by Monday evening (3 hours, see previous post to read the writing).

From there, I let my what I had just pored from my head onto paper marinate so by Tuesday morning in studio I was ready to create something (3 hours). I created a necklace that consisted of a small dish made out of copper that had a black liver of sulfur patina placed on it and then slightly rubbed away, with holes drilled around the side. In the middle of the dish hung a set of red berries I had collected from home, and 3 strands of organic yarn strung through some of the holes held the piece around my neck.

I liked this piece and realized the need that I felt to create this came from the fact that it signified my view on nature as something precious that I want to take with me and hold onto forever. During Section I had been able to express my thoughts and share some of what I wrote and made with my group (30 min). We came to the conclusion that my thoughts and feelings on nature and what I possibly wanted to say in my I.P. project was very broad and covered a large array of topics, ideas and themes. At that point I felt a bit lost, so I went to talk with Jannie for her office hours afterward in hopes for some direction. As I talked with her (15 minutes) we discussed this point of "nature as a precious object" as a possible direction for my project, however I explained my feelings for the need to do something more, show a connection to nature, or give the viewer an experience. She gave me a couple of books to look at also.

Wednesday night was spent writing my I.P. draft project proposal (1.5 hours), which I previously posted, and sorting through my thoughts. Thursday morning Stuido I spent time with Erica looking at my proposal and revising it to be more concise in what I wanted to say (30 min). I spent the rest of the time looking through the book Jannie suggested and gave to me (2 hours). In Section, we turned in our proposals and then I spent time looking back at previous work for inspiration from where I've been and remind me that I have limitless options on what ideas and things I can create (1.5 hours) and then I posted some of the work to the blog. I also spoke with Jannie and Amanda to show them this work and talk about where I should go next (20 minutes). I realized the best thing for me to do right now is read, read, read and write, write, write, and afterward go through and highlight the things that struck me the most and that I was most passionate about to being to focus in on something. That is exactly what I plan to do this weekend.