SESSION 01
Friday, 24 April 2020
LESSON 01 / DEFINING Archive (Observation)
GOALS /
__ set up a “studio space” or place to work, think, collect
__ reflect on/collect/brainstorm/write about/list/observe/take photos of what is around you what you observe in your existing work or environment –dish pattern, facture, spaces, light, color, doodles, fabric, color, figures
__ observe 3-5 loose “themes” around these interests/observations (upload to classroom)
SEE /
__ CreatingArchiveAssignment1
__ Jessica Stockholder and Ellen Gallagher, Art 21 (play, home, archive, collection)
__ Link to Google Drive for short (11 min) talk: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sd4pNHT1RcL2nLVS9mViqD9u_5l36k6m/view?usp=sharing
as a reminder:
archive is a collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people. in the context of this course, we are creating/defining archives that inform our work. this archive can help get you into the work with efficiency, write about your work, communicate to others (galleries, curators, friends, granting institutions) what lies beneath your practice, your habits and motives. archive is limitless and can be comprised of text, image, photos, shapes, color, magazine articles, binders, poetry and family ephemera. but it should be intentional. and measured, and helpful. we will address systems of organization. my examples are just that, and yours can look different.
over this short course will create a systems in which you organize your materials that makes most sense to you. this system can evolve, or change completely, but consider the variants — tumblr (digital), IPhone photos (albums), a private blog, 3 ring binders (old school!), shelves, small flat file, artist books, index cards. i see my inputs/archive as creeks feeding a river, so i keep several currents open–both physical and digital organization.
–tumblr
–clear (app for text based notes, paid app, and i never buy apps, but i LOVE this one)
-your device’s photo storage (can be useful if you use and name albums)
-a private Instagram account
-simple website/blog
ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION /
make sure you have a workspace. a studio is any space that we dedicate time and energy to a specific activity — in this case our studio practice. it can be a kitchen table, a bathroom, a bedroom closet. wherever it is, as long as you create the space and make the time, it is your studio!
observe. look around you. take stock of your existing interests and archive. think about how your archive might be better categorized (or at all). look at things around your space/home. check out family books, albums, ephemera, recipe books, letters, old drawings, etc. might you want to refer to them in the future?
take inventory of what is around you, what you love, what you find interesting. begin to document these, taking images of 10-20 items, shapes, objects, fragments, color blocks–whatever you are drawn to. do not worry about the “why”, go with your instinct at first. all work must be submitted to our online studio (classroom) by monday 27 april @ 12noon (nyc time) and all students must check back and comment on at least one other student’s work by 2p (nyc time).
some content “streams” of my personal archive (examples not rules):
–daily works on paper
-texts/print (recipe boxes, wallpaper, printed fabric, news clippings)
-organic shapes/ curves/scallops (iconography that connect to lineage and femenine)
-reading (poetry, fiction, language, words for titles)
-stripes related to the “grid” and (southern) architecture/systems
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES /
Corita Kent’s Learning By Heart
Recording Artists podcast, Helen Molesworth on Ruth Asawa
UP NEXT /
begin to think about a way to organize these observations/themes/habits physically (sketchbook, flat file, box, folder) and/or digitally (tumblr, device storage)
Discussion