Ann Olsen
Group Two, Spring 2014
Residency Summary
Advisor: Matt Keegan
My work is now
following two separate but related trajectories. In both, I will continue to
use white, translucent fabric and hand or machine stitching. In one I will
continue to use silhouetted figures; in the other I will use text. These lines
of inquiry focus on identity and the multiple structures of the self and its
relationship to others and the world. The use of questions is my way of
exploring the opposing choices and opinions that create a kind of schizophrenia
in American cultural identity. The stitched lines and use of fabric show the
connection to past, present and future and also trigger a universal tactile
response. I will continue to develop this inquiry and stay focused on creating
personal imagery that conveys my ideas more clearly. In the use of text I need
to refine and re-examine the questions, simplifying yet creating an intriguing
field of inquiry for the viewer.
Critique Notes
In the use of text:
·
Explore more specific relevant and less
rhetorical questions
·
Consider the design of the text, the font as
part of the message
·
Try to find different levels of meaning, words
as contradictions
·
Find experimental questions
·
Play with the questions: juxtapose, reverse, create
ambiguity and/or tension
·
Consider why I am asking these questions, look
for questions inside the questions
·
Look at how artists are using text now compared
to ten or more years ago.
·
Separate the text pieces from imagery. Text has
more impact on its own.
·
The “prayer flag” installation is stalled by the
awkwardness of the questions: Can it be resolved by refining the text or is
there another possibility?
For the small framed pieces:
·
Single figures more powerful than multiples
·
Let the pieces converse with each other
·
Play with the stitching
·
Integrate the frame more into the piece, consider
how the frame and the figure communicate together
·
Consider no frame, how to structure that?
·
Change to a horizontal orientation
·
Create additional personal imagery to tell the
story
·
Consider the power in the image and how it
speaks
For the “curtain” piece:
·
Re-think the scale make it much bigger
·
Make the layers count for the construction of
the piece and its ideas
·
Make the ideas more apparent: veiling,
shrouding, hiding, remembering and forgetting, illusion, denial
The critiques
during the residency as well as the other activities have given me new ways to
approach this work. I will look for additional expressive silhouettes and use
them in both frames and in three dimensional constructions. I plan to find a
way to print life-size figures on sheer material that creates a more
interactive structure. Examining the use of text will be my greatest challenge.
I have an idea about font styles and meaning that I plan to experiment with. I
will continue to experiment with the “prayer flags” concept and what it says.
These are some of
the artists I will be looking at:
·
Doris Salcedo
·
Gabriel Orozco
·
Liam Gillick
·
Anna Von Martens
·
Sister Corita Kent
·
Julie Ault
·
Tony Oursler
·
Sophie Calle
·
Shirin Neshat
·
Elaine Reichek
·
Ambreen Butt
·
Lesley Dill
·
Doh Ho Suh
These are some books and articles I’ll be looking at:
· Gregg Bordowitz, Volition
·
T. S. Elliot, Four Quartets
·
Carl Jung, Man
and His Symbols
·
Adrian Piper, Rationality and the Structure of the Self
·
Wendy Richmond, Art Without Compromise
·
Rosalind Kraus, Sculpture in the Expanded Field
·
Rebecca
Twist, PhD, Fiber
Arts Now
· Annin Barrett, A Stitch in Time: New Embroidery,
Old Fabric, Changing Values. (2008). Textile Society of America Symposium
·
Elaine Reichek and Beth Handler, MOMA Projects 67: Elaine Reichek an
Interview with Beth Handler
· Elizabeth A. Smith et al, LIFE DEATH LOVE HATE PLEASURE PAIN Selected
works from the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Collection
· Mieka Bal, Of
What One Cannot Speak Doris Salcedo’s Political Art
·
Bal,
Borchardt-Hume, Gilroy, Weizman, Doris
Salcedo Shibboleth
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