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Was excited that my artshow finally came to an end this past week. It was wonderful to see so many students out and their parents. With that said, I was able to get back to the grind for grad work. I have attached my most recent work. I have started another piece which I hope to complete fully over the break. It is an area on South Ave in Rochester of a bike sculpture. I am contemplating leaving areas empty like Lindsay B. mentioned in one of her comments.

Tomorrow, I will be going out to complete some more research and take more pictures around the neighborhoods I teach. I am hoping to find a few more inspiring pieces that I can juxtapose with the bike sculpture. I am not happy with any of the images I have already taken to pair with the work. As for now, I hope to finish the Pan Pastel by the end of the week.

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The past week has been rough. Most of my graduate work has been put on the back burner as well as some of my work “to do’s”. I had an eight grade student at my school commit suicide. He was an honor student on the basketball team that had–not only home life issues– but was being bullied. After an event where he ran away from home, he found a gun and took his life. It has shocked much of our school, and this past Friday, and Sunday I spent at the candle light vigil and wake. Seeing my students torn apart, and in tears has been quit hard. I have grown to love these kids as if they were my own; and, I just want to hold them and support them and tell them time will be the only thing that can distance them from the immediate pain. Much of the staff went the funeral this morning, and I helped out the other teachers at my building by subbing in on their classes. My mind has not been where it needs to be, and I know find much of my own tasks daunting.
With all this said, I have been trying to get out to take more pictures, but my time I generally spent making installations for my art show. Being at school is hard. Both buildings are undergoing depressing circumstances. I feel as though I can not deal with either. I find it hard to complete the tasks I have to complete. I hope to find some progress in the work load, but I am afraid spring break might be the only time I have to catch up. The next two weeks I will be struggling to keep my head above water.

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For my revision of the first visualization, I decided to combine all three maps. Instead of having them separate, I tried to display the influence of each area that I lived in regarding to size. So, I decided to make the country out of the nail and thread and larger in size to display the amount of influence. Generally speaking these were the major areas that I changed from the first visualization.

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My second visualization included images of visual culture; graffiti, murals, normal ads along with ads that are meant to highlight forms of oppression due to hierarchy and power. Because visual culture and place are the focus of my research, my literature review is all based around these two themes. Since visual culture is indexical, all the images I used are those from the U.S. Common ads that can be found across the country—state to state. I printed all the images on tracing paper before I followed the same method that I used for my first visualization. The layer of the images caused areas to be concealed and others to be more noticeable. I did not purposefully cover certain areas. I let the Mod Podge and washes do that as the images adhered together.
Once I completed the collage, I contemplated what shape to use for the threading, why the threading, and what colors this time for the textile component. I chose basic white for the thread because I wrote a quote by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in the center of the collage that needed to stand out in contrast from the darker background. The idea of visual culture is to subtly influence opinions and often times formulates stereotypes. Because of this, and because my research is some what geared toward informing youth on how visual culture can be influential, there also comes the idea of how can we question what is presented. So, in the center, to directly conflict the subtle influences of visual culture I placed an opposing quote by Adichie from her book Dear Ijeawele (2017) that reads:
Teach her about difference. Make difference ordinary. Make difference normal. Teach her not to attach value to difference. And the reason for this is not to be fair or to be nice, but merely to be human and practical. Because difference is the reality of our world. And by teaching her about difference, you are equipping her to survive in a diverse world (pg.61)
Often times I remember not always listening to what was told to me. With the notion that advice is not always followed, or that we misinterpret guidance, I covered the quote to make it hard to read. Allowing the viewer to still read the quote, but that he/she must work through barriers to read the message. Just like we have to work through the barrier we put up with things we fear or do not share similar viewpoints. I chose the circle because a circle has a central point. From that point, there are several points that are equal distance away. Sharing the idea that we all have a point, and not matter what our point is, those that are distances away from us can share a similar view or different view.

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So I realized that I did not write my second memo correctly. I have been writing down notes that were due, but I lost my cell phone with my calendar in a bucket of water on my art cart. So please disregard the second memo I posted earlier. My research has hit some issues. I spoke with Kevin the other day, I realized the area in which I am trying to cover is too vast. I need to cut down the research area of the southeast quadrant of Rochester to the lower section of the southeast quadrant. I walked one of the neighborhoods with one f my best friends. It took us a little over two hours. There is approximately 46 in the southeast quadrant of Rochester. As we were walking I was talking pictures of visual culture under the labels, statements, graffiti, murals, signs, or flags. I have drawn maps of the neighborhoods that I am making marks to label the locations.

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My work continues. The Pan Pastels are the slowest part of the process. This current piece is of a coffee shop on South Avenue in Rochester. It is about five minutes down the street from my school. I thought I would start with this coffee shop because one of my students comes here every Saturday to draw with her father. She is currently in third grade, and this is the first year I have not had her since I have started working. Every time I get coffee here I think of her and her father. She is an amazing artist for a third grader. I think it says a lot about practicing your art form. As I continue my work I will add a contour drawing of graffiti that is across the street from the coffee shop.

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For my second mentor artist, I looked to the works of Nancy Crawford. I was drawn into her work purely because of the physical outcome. The transparent layers, carved writing with inlayed pigment is similar to my process. Although our themes differ, I was hoping to have some insight or inspiration to which I could add to my work. Right now, I am struggling with cohesive outcomes with the line work and Pan Pastel under layer.
However, she has a series of work that I think Brette would find interesting. It is called The Detritus Institute. Crawford describes the series as:
an imaginary organization whose function is the collection and preservation of the debris, waste and scraps of daily life. All of the objects share the patina of age, decay or use, a visual reminder of the constant passage of time and its effects on things – which I find captivating
Although our conceptual component to our work is different, the images I am attaching by her are very similar to my current body of work. I would like to try some of her approaches so that I can cohesively unify my layers like Crawford does. She also has a TedTalks that I watched on creativity. I thought her point on being in the moment was very interesting. I think it is what we are trying to do with the Studio class. Having our attention on our studio practice, and not being distracted by all things around us. However, when there is so much to be accomplished, my mind struggles with this. It was an interesting point of view.

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This week, much of my studio time was consumed by making maps of neighborhoods in the Southeast Quadrant of Rochester for my research. This past Saturday I went out and started to take pictures of images with one of my good friends. The maps individually took about 20 minutes (making sure I had the proper street names and house numbers so I knew where to stop and start on the street). I also started the Pan Pastel on one of my images. I placed the grid as well which takes forever because it is really hard to see. However, I think I want to change the size–larger will be easier with the pan pastel (I think).

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https://www.mnbaq.org/en/exhibition/jean-paul-riopelle-1242

Jenn, I saw this exhibit over the break, and it made me think of you. The work is hugs. It spans the whole walkway. It beautifully incorporates dead bird silhouettes that are spray painted. There are many references to the cause of the birds death in the piece as well; such as netting, pollutants, and other small objects. If you get a chance you should check it out.

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My work continues with encaustic. I am starting work on three pieces at a time. I have put the base layers of wax on each. This time I have also included black wax on and white wax on the edges of two of the works. The images do not show the first process well. As I go through each layer of wax, I scrap or heat the surface to make it a smooth working environment for the pan pastels. I will be starting three different images from the south wedge neighborhood of Rochester. I have picked three different sizes this time to work with so I can gear what size I want to work with over the summer. I have also included the incision on the teapot. I carved into the wax and set oil paint into the lines. I did it for the teapot and chair. I also went back over with some pan pastels for the chair. I did not like the stark black as much; so, I tried covering it up with Pan Pastels.