Touch Response

GIVER, TOUCH

The sections I chose for this project from the book, A Natural History of the Senses, by Diane Ackerman, from the chapter,  Touch,  were,  "Speaking of Touch" and "The Skin Has Eyes". The "something" I created in response to those two sections was this pen and ink drawing,  I am naming,  "Giver, Touch"

I chose these two sections because right away in "Speaking of Touch" Ackerman starts off saying, "Language is steeped in metaphors of touch."
I love metaphors. I am a poet and an ekphrastic poet,  at that. (A poet who draws her words from text to create images.) Here, I am doing the opposite of what I normally do, and its too fun!

Ackerman says, "...our hands remain faithful to the world", being the last sense to go, and I pictured our world, and the "touchstones" she mentions in a riverbed, with a pregnant woman touching her infant through her belly. She lies in tune with the flowing water outside her body and within her womb.
The stones have hands too,  as they touch their own worlds surround her.

"We are forever taking the measure of ourselves in unconscious ways. . . " Ackerman said.  So why can't we project that to all the earth's entities measuring for them too?
And, she says, "...and life has depth and contour, it makes sense of the world and our-self in three-dimensional. Without the intricate feel for life there would be no artists, and no surgeons, who dive through the body with their fingers"

 And, fingers,  I drew, and hands and the feet of our heart. I drew eyes that can sense in just being, opened or closed. I drew my man, with his touch of security and pleasure. I included the all our senses of touch and how those other senses metaphorically knit with each other to create our world. We are leading ourselves to follow the pathways of feeling. Pointing out ways to cross over the waters, when lying in them no longer soothes or suffices.
 I think I'm working a poem out of this project!

 Diane Ackerman's book is amazing!
 I could draw every section!


Thank you SO much for all your inspiring projects, Laura! You ROCK! :)

Body Sculpture Happenings

Final Project for 3-D Design

Kimmy's Protest Boots-"THUGGS"

Using one or more of the materials listed we had to design a 3-D sculpture worn on the body that had some sort of a "happening" occur.
I chose to use: 

Cardboard

Paper

Fabric

Tape 

thread

Oak wood (for the soles of my "Thuggs")

I created a pair of "Protest Boots" that includes all the things I protest about in life, with the biggest protest being against terrorism, namely ISIS. I had pictures of 9-11, Vietnam, Racism, all wars in general, words like, "Atomic", and "Lonely", "Killing, "Hate", "Aging", slogans, like, "Not Cool", anti-government, child molesters, etc., all cut out from magazines and made into a collage. I used the collage to become a part of the fabric to make the boot.

I initially carved the soles out of pressboard, backwards,  and had to redo them. Don't make that mistake! It has to be a mirror image in order to stamp legibly. 

This was my first attempt

at carving into the press board.
I went into our Art Dept. wood shop and
learned how to use a few saws and
the sander. It was so fun!

It was when I got this point into my carving,
I realized I had to create the mirror

image, and begin again.                   

To begin again. . . 

                      

With the Oak, I had to break

down and buy a Dremmel to
carve it. Oak is a very tough wood
and time was of the essence.
I found it very meditating,
 actually                          

Patterns for my boots,
 all cut.             

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

 

I then searched for my "proteststhrough different magazines pictures, 

and words, cutting and assembling
them into a big collage, then I glued
it all down onto a paper backing.

Once it dried, I cut the finished
collage to size, to fit
inside 4"x 6", clear plastic envelopes.
(I did this so the protests could be switched out easily,
You never know what I'll be protesting tomorrow)

I taped the collage envelopes

back together in their original order
and then, placed it in between layers
of doubled-up, clear vinyl fabric.

I cut out my pattern pieces from my vinyl collage fabric, 

and added a white wooly fabric to the inside
for my boot lining. I assembled all those pieces

together, sewing them with transparent thread to,
and clear tape to form the actual boots. 

I then glued and stapled the finished boot onto my

carved wooden soles.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Almost Done! Just have to add my laces!
They are SO warm and comfy

"STAMP OUT ISIS" Kimmy's Protest Boots Finished Product

PLEASE, click on the link below to see my video of this "Happening"

THUGGS gotta go!

http://youtu.be/tiawpFtkZBE

Memento Assignment

Memento Assignment...from "On Longing" by Susan Stewart 

Find an image to express these statements, and explain.

1. "The body is the primary mode of perceiving scale..."

              We have used our bodies to perceive scale ever since we can remember. "It was this big, mommy!", as we stretched our arms out wide.
I grew up on a farm and would measure the horses with my hands. My horse, Zeke, was 14 hands high. To gain a better perspective for drawing,  I can also use scale to size things up, measuring its height or width with my fingers. . .

             
               I chose this image because it reminded me of me. I am the one perceiving here, so, this is my body.  I am a Libra, and my astrological symbol is the scales. These scales can weigh life out,  in an order to balance it.  Just like measuring, it too can balance out the size of things.

               I hide my eyes in order to perceive from within, that which weighs more, that which might wave a red flag; those little  tilts, the imbalances,  that send us off sliding into the deep end.
We must keep it in perspective, on every scale,  in order to measure up and maintain this balancing act we call life. . . . 

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2. "The capacity of objects to serve as traces of authentic experience. . ." 

             This image is the negative exposure of a piece of bark from a big oak tree outside my house. I was leaning on it one day, escaping, being all bummed out. I shot this photograph of the oak and surrounding area, maybe just to focus my attentions on something other than my troubles.

I had a very emotional day,  and I believe I saw into it what I needed to.
             
              Maybe I look into things too deeply, but I think if everything was on the surface, we'd have all the answers by now.
I saw a woman in the negative exposure, appearing to , as if illuminating traces of a path I needed to walk. She was holding a peace lily in her hands. I wanted to see peace. I wanted to forgive, but my stubbornness wouldn't let me "give in", until this photograph manifested.

              So, the capacity of this photograph means a whole other authentic experience,  that led me to find the forgiveness I needed to find.
Over the years, I look at it,  and it reminds me of the ability we all have within us,  to balance out our lives,  just with mere understanding and a choice.
The capacity of my oak tree outside,  holds a lot more meaning than its mere design.
Any object can hold their different explanations,  other than their most obvious, depending on whose eyes are looking. Capacity can easily stretch us along for the ride, if we let it!

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3. "The souvenir reduces the public, the monumental, and the three-dimensional into the miniature, that which can be enveloped by the body. . ."

                               

Mixed-Media 3-D portrait, "Jesus Christ" 1996. by,  Kimmy Van Kooten
Pastels, clay, Acacia tree  branches & thorns, an opal teardrop, and oak bark.

                     After reading this sentence, I imagined when Christ died, how his Cross was probably picked away at for souvenirs, or material that might have wiped his bloody brow on the road uphill to Golgotha,  saved and treasured. 

I possess His souvenir!  His shining Light of Forgiveness, and as BIG as HE is, the Son of Almighty God, Himself, I can still fit every bit of Him in my heart, All His Divinity,  in my little soul, enveloping my whole body. . . after all,  He did create me.

You can't get anymore enveloped than that! :)

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4.     "Nostalgia cannot be sustained without loss. . . "

                                     

                     The first loss I ever remember was losing my pet bird as a child.  When I think about her,  smiles come to my face. That's what nostalgia does for loss! It helps us remember the good times, and maybe the bad too, sometimes, but mostly it helps us to just remember who or what we lost.

                     A masterpiece by Greuze, called "The Dead Bird" reminded me of me when I lost my bird, Cat. Death left me forever poised, in a state of remembering, always trying to hold onto some little thing, anything,  that would keep reminding me just how special she was. They are such dainty thoughts, like a child's silent tear welling up ready to fall. A part of the sadness emerges, but the joy of remembering ignites the inner smile to radiate into your soul, and we long to treasure the memories.

                    My large family keeps an online group page my mom named, "The Nostalgia Maniacs" She created the group because she wanted us all to keep our old stories alive, the old recipes, all our pictures, and to keep sharing all the new news too,  for all time coming. We keep the ancestral lights still burning bright. Nothing really dies, if you keep it alive in your heart.

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5. "To have a souvenir of the exotic is to possess both a specimen and a trophy..."

                    I read this sentence and saw the mindset of man with his understanding of possessions. The more exotic the better, the more we possess and more unique it is, the better we see ourselves at being "successful". I call it the Veblen Vice.

                   We are all like specimens to one another, because we are all so different. Sometimes specimens can become trophies, like when people kill one another because of their differences. I see the headlines, "Isis claims responsibility for the attacks"
                    Well, I shot my trophy inside Universal Studio's Hogwarts's Castle this past summer. I know I'm not suppose to take pictures inside, but the artist thief in me couldn't help it. How many people obey the rules?

                    Skulls under glass...that's what we are! . . . for future generations to decipher. I hope they decide we were all wrong. I know I was.

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Kimmy's "Hand-Picked Memento"

                 For this assignment we had to make a Memento from three materials of our choice. Each material must represent something from a certain past memory. 

I chose the day I met my husband, Paul.

                 Paul was visiting the music scene, downtown St Augustine the day I was jamming with the band, Matanzas. 

I was playing my drums, he was a guitar player from New York. Music brought us together, and then he sent me roses.

It was uphill from there!

I really feel we were "Hand-Picked" by the Almighty himself!

                 The goat skin was taken from my drum after it had split. The split occurred right down the middle of the world, separating one half of the world from the other. I cut it into a heart, then took Paul's guitar strings and sewed our world's back together.
It seemed so appropriate for it to have the "Hand-Picked" logo on it already,  as I really do feel we really were, "Hand-Picked" The long distance relationship lasted a long half of a year, and a whole bunch of roses came to my front door, my work . . .  lots and lots of rose petals every since. . . . 

Response to Yoko Ono’s, “Cut Piece”

I have seen Yoko Ono’s performance art video several times before, and each time I look at it, I get a different response. This time I was judging each participant when they approached Yoko. They became an added feature to this free-standing sculpture. Yoko is the free-standing (or sitting, in this case) living sculpture and each participant seems to add a new living visual to the experience.
As the pieces of her fabric are slowly cut away, I thought about my soap carving assignment…the adding and subtracting we had to do to it to make it change.
It also makes me think about,  how we all cut away pieces of art in this life and add to it. How we all take our chosen little “Cut Piece” and make it our very own.  Some of us are even willing to be exposed!
What lies underneath?
Art is always being judged, and so are we.  Let the truth be known, Yoko was always being judged too.
 The man who creepily cut the pieces off the majority of Yoko’s bra was being judged. The hisses, the laughter…not, just me, others were judging him too, and some were enjoying his addition to the sculpture, as he was subtracting from it it...  I heard somebody yell out in the video, asking the creeper, “Aren't you getting a little carried away?”

Yoko’s performance this time seemed to envelope a light and a dark side to it, depending on the stage it was in while it was being formed and reformed. Each new participant added another work to the art, as it cut away from her art.
Have you ever imagined if a statue was to turn into a living human being? I’m wondering what it might say . . .  how it might have felt to be totally formed by someone else.

I believe, if we're going to cut into art, or take something from it, we must make sure we make every step shine. . .  and always give back!  In our own way, as we chip away, as we make our cuts and mold our art it into our own, we must appreciate and take in all considerations, and always get carried away, but only if you're sure you're heading in the right direction!

Part Two SOAP CARVING "The Full-Bellied Platypus"

Assignment 2 Part 2
Soap-Carving Changes

To begin with I would like to share with you my inspiration for this project. A few years ago I wrote this poem about a platypus, because the animal just intrigues me. They have no vision, yet they have eyes, they have no hearing, yet have ears, they do not have a sense of touch or smell either, yet they have four limbs and a nose. They find their way and their food through their extra sense, like ESP. Isn't that so cool? Well, when my granddaughter was having tummy aches and not choosing the right foods, I picked the platypus to guide her, and wrote this poem in hopes she would decide on better eating habits. 

"The Emptied-Bellied Platypus"

Once upon a platypus

In the lands of Amber Sun

An empty-bellied platypus

Side’s to side’s she’d have some fun. . .

Yes, I must readjust my fare of foods

River prawn just doesn’t fill

Those wiggly worms I cannot catch 

And these yabbies pinch my bill!

She felt upon a Concord bunch, waddling

No eyes, no ears, no nose. . . 

She sensed their plump of purpleness

Amid the yore bury orchard rows

Now, Pratel is this?

I’ve come across. . .Never, did my eyes did see!

You know my belly is too empty for a platypus. . .

Ha! But not for long I be!

Seriatim. . . how she gathered them. . . 

A store within her cheeks

Only to return to the river’s edge

One bonzer feeding feast!

Grapes from vine, O’ I ne’er dined

No shrimp I’ll ever eat

No emptied-bellied platypus here

It is all I can do to speak!

Belly full, Aye! She had her fun. . .

So pleased to call it a night

That platypus curled and burrowed in, maffling

“ ugh. . . My tomorrow,  let’s do rice. . . ”

After carving my two platypuses, (PART 1) our assignment now, is to choose one of the two sculptures and make 8 changes, by removing something and adding something to the animal.

My Steps.
1.Hollowed out her belly by removing the soap. (removed)
2.Stuffed her belly full with "grapes" (added)
3.Stuffed her cheeks (added)
4.Reshaped and removed excess slip.(removed)
5.Added googlie eyes (added)
6.Made the whole body bigger by adding more soap (added)
7.Made bill bigger,  adding and subtracting slip (add & remove)
8.Removed googlie eyes then Embedded them (removed & added)
9.Removed excess slip (removed)
10. Added bigger feet (added)

 My first step was to hollow out her belly, I removed the soap from the underside of my platypus. Now she really is an emptied-bellied Platypus!

Adding water to the soap shavings,  I had saved from the initial carvings, I added a little purple ink to create some yummy soapy "grapes".

Using a medical syringe I squirted out a bunch of little "grapes"and then let them dry before putting them back inside the belly.

 After stuffing her belly full, and
  stuffing her cheeks,
 I added a layer of the white soap to cover them up.

 I did this by melting the extra shavings I had saved,  into a bit of warm water to make the "slip". I liked the texture of purple grapes bulging through. . . the purple cast it was creating through her "skin".

 I then added two little googlie eyes... but, she looked too fake. I want her more realistic.

 So, I made her a bit bigger, adding another few layers of  the white slip.
 I grew her bill, continually adding and removing layers to get it right.
 made her webbed feet alot bigger, and
 I also embedded her two googlie eyes instead.

             After letting her dry for a day, I was able to refine her even more so...

                    Meet my Full-Bellied Platypus on her Cornucopia Grapevine Base!

Architectural Relief Project.

This assignment is an Architectural Relief project instructing us to select four architectural time periods, and by merging/combining/and adapting the elements and principles of each style, we are to create a relief sculpture that will demonstrate our inspirations of two, out of the original four.

I chose these four cathdrals,(below) and then thought about 

The Four Marks of the Church... a term used to describe four specific adjectives of the Christian Church,  "one","holy", "catholic", and "apostolic". . .

"One" as in one body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one church. I drew theAngel to represent "One"
The church is "holy", because God is holy. "...upon this rock I will build my church." The Pointed stone arch is the "rock" that I made from masking tape.
The word "catholic" is a Greek adjective meaning "universal", or "whole",
where my whole cathedral  combines the "apostolic" . . . the four churches, The Catholic Church, The Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, and The Church of the East. 

The following four cathedrals that I chose, are of each of these four orders mentioned, and each one also represents the actual places mine and my husbands ancestors originated from.

Cathedral of Trier, Trier Germany

Romanesque Design -c.340AD.
The Cathedral of Trier is the oldest cathedral in Germany, still being used today. 
                              

Saint Andrews Cathedral in St. Andrews, Scotland

Saint Andrew's Cathedral is Gothic-evolved, from Romanesque architecture, that was eventually succeeded by the Renaissance architecture. Its characteristics include the pointed arch, the ribbed vault and the flying buttress.

A flying buttress is made up of two parts: the buttress, a large masonry block; and the “flyer,” an arch spanning between the buttress and the exterior wall.

Westminster Cathedral, London, England   

Neo-Byzantine - c.1903 

St. Michael's Basilica, Mirimachi, New Brunswick, Canada

Neo Gothic-c. 1921 AD.The Gothic Revival movement emerged in 19th century England.n the mid-18th century, with the rise of "Romanticism", an increased interest and awareness of the Middle Ages.

"Kimmy's Cathedral"

Response to Jeanine Antoni's video

                I was truly inspired by Antoni's works. I think they got it right when they said in the article that Antoni's works, "blur the distinction between performance art and sculpture." I never thought of combining the two.
               The concept of the cow in her pieces really interests me, as I have been collecting these adorable bovines since I can remember. I love cows! And almost for the same reasons. Her creative juices are out of this world and we are gently led to drink of hers. I love when an artist can accomodate us with such beverage!
                The "Moor" piece is very heartfelt,  and to make a life rope using all the people you are connected to is truly moving. To touch the horizon, to re-connect with the surface history of our life in this way...Antoni, inspires....