January 21, 2018

Little Boxes

Surreality: Modern Woman : Opportunity

Recent duh! moment; the Little Boxes* and Surreality: Modern Woman themes are related

insert *forehead slap* here.

surreality | modern woman series
surreality | modern woman series
surreality | modern woman series
surreality | modern woman
surreality | modern woman series
surreality | modern woman series

The song played over and over in my head while working out the sculpture for Surreality: Modern Woman. What if… the song played while the same image repeated over and over? Might that reinforce the message? And if that happened to be a flip animation, then it could lend to an interactive experience. A heavy-handed experience, but interactive all the same.

And so, we have… Surreality: Modern Woman : Opportunity

The installation, and the video. Please take the opportunity to critical examine a cultural myth and decide if conforming to this version of reality is for you.

*a huge thank you to Nancy Schimmel, Malvina Reynolds's daughter, for permission to use the song Little Boxes.

April 29, 2017

Time Exchange: Disconnection

Putting together the last bits to finish off a fun, and emotional, project. Time Exchange is meant to express the mental disconnect we feel at times from a physical routine, punching in and clocking out.

Time Exchange, Installation
Time Exchange, full installation

The wonderful antique punch clock I found in a coal mining Pennsylvania was just inspiration needed to finally do something with xeroxes of my head from 20 years ago. Bored silly at a banking temp job in my early 20s, I snuck into a copy room and xeroxed my head. Not just once, but three times.

The punch clock, which is also an emotional connection to prior generations of my family who worked in the mines in that area of Pennsylvania, inspired creating videos of physically punching in while mentally clocking out. I can't even imagine what punching into the mine must of felt like to my great-grandfather, his father, brothers, uncles, and father-in-law. As immigrants at the turn of the 20th century, it was steady work if dangerous and back breaking. It's easy to imagine they'd rather be elsewhere and also were in their minds.

Time Exchange as a whole piece will be the punch clock on a pedestal with the video playing above it, one of the xeroxes printed on brushed aluminum also on the wall above, and definitions of time exchange and disconnection on the wall to the right of the lot. Ideally you'll be able to participate, but that depends on the venue.

Look for Time Exchange at TAG's annual Le Salon Show in Frederick, MD this summer. The show runs August 4th - 27th with the opening on August 5th from 5-9pm. See you there!

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