Material Choices:
The choices for my material were largely passed on MoMA’s Making Space show. The show was based around the idea of how certain materials are regarded as craft and not art based on their history of “women’s work.” The show dealt with sexism within the art world, and how “craft” objects were presented and reframed as “art” objects. My essay and concept in general deals with feminine domesticity and the ways in which female craft, growth, and thought are undermined, and how ideas of femininity are often portrayed via plant imagery in craft objects. I was particularly inspired by Magdelena Abakanowicz’s Yellow Abakan, Sheila Hick’s Prayer Rug, and Ruth Asawa’s Desert Flower. I wanted to mimic the same feeling I experienced when viewing these works, pieces of women’s history brought to life via display while using traditionally “domestic” materials. The materials I chose were yarn on fabric, crocheted yarn, and originally ceramic (later plaster due to damages.)
Reflection:
Overall, my project had a lot of thought behind it. As a student rooted in research, I enjoy going to exhibits and picking up on what it means for a material to be displayed and how. Last year’s exhibition at the MoMA was the first time I regarded materials as gendered in a way that dealt with art objects. Seeing the art world as a source of freedom, it was hard to digest the fact that patriarchal biases exist in a world that is supposed to allow free expression. To cope with this, I have been coming back to that exhibit, drawing from the artists shown and trying to find retribution for historically disregarded materials. As for the process, it was a difficult one. Over break I was in Florida, and finding proper materials, time, and space to complete this project was a challenge. (TSA and Greyhound employees proved to be inexperienced art handlers.) If I could re-do this project I think I’d rein in my abstractions. Hearing the critiques, it was clear that the pieces, although well-made, did not convey enough of the literal form of the object. I went to far with the conceptuality of my piece that I may have lost sight of the literal nature of the assignment at hand. I would like my next piece to be fabric-centric. I have an idea to make a giant yarn cactus that is free-standing, unruly, and true to its original form. These art works were based off The Yellow Wallpaper, Verge, and eco-feminist theory and art. I realize that gender and art (and pretty much everything) are inextricable forces. Essays about gender do the job, but I think giving gender relations a physical form create a lasting inner-feeling rather than a peripheral understanding of how and why we perceive our lives as gendered.
Images:
