the dinner party

 

 

concept –

 

the dinner party project was inspired by Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum. her concept was to represent important women in history in a work of feminist art. our assignment was to take this idea of a place setting at a dinner table and create a piece representing our own cultural identity in self-portrait form.

 

sketches –

 

 

the first thing we had to tackle was how the table layout would work to best display our work and what would make the setup engaging. we decided on a plus sign shape so that you could walk through the middle and see all of the place settings. my idea for this was to make “islands” with the tables by putting clusters of two tables placed throughout the room. however, we decided on the plus sign set up to make our projects collectively work together.

 

 

for my concept, i wanted to embody the passing down of art, inspiration, and influence to show art through generations. since my great grandfather and my dad are both artists, their style and practice has influenced me throughout my artistic journey. in creating the dinner party, we had to make a bowl/plate, cup, utensils, and a runner, with the addition of using the laser lab, wet lab, and the woodshop. for the bowl, i wanted to cast my hands as if they were in the motion of giving or receiving. i used my handprint to create a laser-cut print to show that each person has individual influences and experiences that are unique just like our handprints. i also wanted to depict my journey with art and how many inspirational people in my family have passed down their passion for art to me. for the cup, i decided to press clay into the laser-cut so that it would leave an inverted impression of my handprint on the clay. i made it in the shape of an asian style teacup, not specific to any asian culture, to show the influence and my enjoyment of many asian cultures and foods i have experienced throughout my life. growing up in america, especially los angeles, i have had a lot of access to different types of foods that i grew up eating and loving throughout my childhood until today. i painted and added decorative wire to the chopsticks, to show the interconnectedness of me and my family. my great grandfather loved to create watercolor paintings, and one of them depicted a beautiful landscape of a chinese garden that had ponds filled with lilypads and a gazebo in the middle of the water. for the chopstick holder, i wanted to give a similarly styled structure that was painted white. for the runner, i also took inspiration from the lily pond and decided to show my own take on it. i sewed real flowers over a sheer metallic greenish-blue fabric to attempt to make it soft and water-like with flowers floating on top of the surface.

 

process –

 

the laser-cut:

 

 

for the laser-cut print, i painted my hand with acrylic, pressed it onto a piece of fabric and decided between which one looked the best. then i took the one i was most drawn to and used photoshop to crop the photo and add i used threshold so that i could trace the lines easier and to create an interesting looking texture. i then put the edited photo into illustrator and traced the lines, and then made it into a vector file.

 

the cup:

 

 

to make the cup i used airdry paperclay to sculpt a teacup. i flattened the clay first and pressed it into the laser-cut. after, i cleaned up the edges and pressed the ends together so it would dry connected. i then added the bottom of the cup by pressing the dry side parts of the cup onto a flat circle of clay and using a flat lid/cap to press down the clay to the sides on the inside.

 

the chopsticks and its holder:

 

 

for the chopsticks i used an old pair we had in the kitchen of our dorm and decorated them. i wrapped gold wire around one and dabbed my paintbrush on the second one to create a textured look. for the chopstick holders, i glued recycled pieces i had previously cut in the woodshop and glued them together to create a gazebo inspired structure. i painted it white and used big globs of paint to make it look almost water-like.

the casted hands:

 

 

okay so, i did do this in my dorm but don’t worry i was safe and made sure to clean up after myself. to make the mold i used a 1:1 ratio of water to alginate and stirred it until i had a smooth semi-thick consistency. i then placed my hands into the alginate and waited until the mold hardened into a thick jello-like texture. after carefully taking out my hands i mixed the plaster. for this, i used a 2:1 ratio of plaster to water and mixed it until it was smooth and semi-thick. i poured the plaster into the mold and waited for it to harden. because i am extremely impatient sometimes (most of the time) i cut out the hands only a few hours after putting it into the mold instead of leaving it in overnight. and luckily it came out looking pretty good! the fingers on my left hand got a little squished, probably due to the weight of the alginate over the fingers in the mold. after taking the hands out i cleaned out the leftover pieces of alginate with tweezers and clay sculpting tools. this probably would’ve worked better with toothpicks, but i didn’t have any on hand to use. ;D

 

the runner:

 

 

to create the runner i went to the garment district and bought iridescent sheer fabric and i bought the flowers from across my dorm at Westfield Market. to start off i prepped the flowers by cutting off the tops of the flowers so that i could sew them from the base of the petals into the fabric. hand-sewing these on were tricky because each flower was being weighed down by the petals, so i had to try and sew it in a way so you could see the front of the flower rather than the sides. i sewed them to the ends of the runner to give a cascading feel of flowers falling down a waterfall.

 

finishing touches:

 

 

the night before the critique i tested out different flower arrangments to see which colors looked best and where.

 

final presentation –

 

 

final thoughts –

 

i enjoyed the freedom we had with the concept of this project and i was excited about what i presented to the class. i had a fun time recreating a version of Judy Chicago’s dinner party and felt satisfied in my project. although i know there will always be places and things that i can improve on, and i always wish i could do more in the end. however, i am just so grateful for the amazing things i was able to create in this class and will continue using the skills Robert has taught us. while nothing can ever come out perfect, i feel as though the imperfect parts of my journey throughout this class is what made it fun, engaging, and allowed me to create something imperfectly beautiful to share with those around me.

 

so, thank you, Robert. for giving me the best first-year space and materiality class EVER! i am so grateful for the amazing resources, knowledge, support, and encouragement you have given us.