Dinner Party

At the start, we went to the Brooklyn Museum as a class and saw the exhibition of Dinner Party by Judy Chicago. The installation was in a dark room and the tables were placed in a triangle. Each table has its own identity and personality, each one of the table is represented by a woman from another culture. After, seeing the exhibition, our class got inspired by it and started to plan the class’ installation.

For our final project, each individual need to make their own cultural identity table with a significant tablecloth.  Also, we have to create items that use the techniques of ceramics, laser printing and casting. Moreover, printmaking posters of your own design for your dinner table.

My Design proposal

 

 

Laser cutting 

For laser cutting, I decided to cut the Chinese letter “龘” for my tablecloth. You can see the letter in the following picture. Moreover, the material that I used for it is 100% black cotton fabric.

Tablecloth

For me, I am from China, therefore my cultural identity for my dinner table will be showing Chinese aspects. The tablecloth’s fabric that I have used is silk and the color is red, which represents good fortune and it is the representative color in China. If you look closely at the bottom of both ends of the fabric, there are 6 traditional Chinese Knots and in total 18. I specially chose 6 for each side, because 6 in China is a lucky number and number involved with 8 too. Above the traditional Chinese Knots,  on both ends of the fabric has a letter “龘”, which means how a Chinese dragon flies in the sky. Combining all these features, this tablecloth brings all the traditional Chinese identities into visual.

Ceramics

I made a plate and a flower vase and then glaze them in white. After, I bought some red and golden glaze paint to paint the patterns. Gold is also another color that is often used in China and in New years. The pattern on the plate is visually minimal, so it can match with other any objects.

Casting

For casting, I made a chopstick resting block, where it is an item that we use normally or informal dining. The one that I made, is a typical rectangle block and I paint it all white, however, I painted a splatter pattern on the surface.

 

Printmaking

To stay consistent with the traditional culture, I used red color for as the main color and a bit of gold paint that is splatter in some spots on the poster. The circle with the blossom tree within it, is a window. Round shape windows are very popular in past years of China, it is sort of a vintage style of window.

Final Display

On the final display table, I have put an hourglass representing time, where we all value. Then, there is the flower vase with little pink flowers that mean wishes. The metallic tray with candies in it is a really very famous candy in China; it helps to reduce a sore throat. Also, there is a Chinese fan, which is a traditional Chinese item and a box of pins representing Chines labor. Moreover, the ceramic plate representing sharing, where we value sharing the most during dining in Asia. Afterwards, the Chinese eating utensil- chopstick and the resting block. Lastly, a book by my favorite artist called Coco Captain, that is opened to the page which shows the Chinese millartiy. I chose the image to show my country’s unity and collaborative energy; putting the candies and pins in a sequence with aesthetic visual to correspond the image of ‘many’.