I’ve done two assignments lately which I’ve been satisfied with.
The first is a pen-and-ink drawing for drawing class (what else?). It was the first only time during the class where we had the opportunity to select our own subject matter, so needless to say I enjoyed the process a lot more than I have with previous “projects” in that class…
Whenever I put a piece of work on the wall next to all of the other students’ work, I notice that what I have done is about half as dark as what my neighbors have done. I suppose that doesn’t matter so much, it’s okay to have a light touch with some things, but I am a bit uncomfortable/confused about it. Is it a product of being afraid to mess it up unreversibly? (Is that even a word?) I like things light, just like they are.
The second thing is a mini-installation in a secluded (and by secluded I mean “in the basement”) little critique space in the art department building. We were all required to make a collection during the quarter. Lots of people collected receipts. Out of our class of about twenty, four of them did projects with collected receipts! They were all very different from one another, though, and it was interesting to see the same somewhat obscure medium used in four totally different ways.
All quarter, I’ve been collecting images of “graffiti” in the women’s restrooms around campus, especially in the library. I wanted to do something really unusual, something almost taboo. It was kinda awkward at first to be darting in and out of bathroom stalls, camera in hand, hoping girls didn’t give me funny looks… When I told my boyfriend about the project, he thought I would see lots of dirty jokes and, well, potty humor when I went looking. He was a little surprised (not me) when I showed him the pictures – turns out the walls of the ladies’ rooms are a favorite space for anonymously venting your frustrations with life, the universe, and everything.
So I put the photographs on the critique space wall, and lined them up as they might be on the wall of the bathroom stall. A couple of industrial toilet roll holders acted as a huge clue to the origin of the graffiti and brought the bathroom space to the viewer in a place where you wouldn’t expect it to be at all. My favorite picture (and what I decided to title this… thing):
I wanted to have an actual restroom partition in the critique space. But I was unable to find one on such short notice. It would have been cool but I think this worked out too. The class seemed pretty positive about the piece, and they really liked the toilet paper holders – I guess it’s because they (like me) had never seen them out of their original context before. Maybe.
I’ve never done anything like this before and I know there’s tons of room to improve… but it was pretty fun.