Looking

In addition to looking inward during this time, to attempt to revive the way-of-working that I feel has been compromised over the last 5-6 years, I will also be actively looking outward and posting the influences that I find. One such recent view is the work of Atelier Bow Wow. Particularly interesting is the recent work "Life Tunnel", located within "exhibitions".  

It has begun

With the end of the fall semester last week, I am "transitioning" into sabbatical. Since I've never had the pleasure of doing so, I'm a bit unsure how to proceed. I am, however, keenly aware of time passing. With my children off for the holidays (joy in itself), I'm taking the time to prepare the "system" for recording progress, and scanning many of the sketchbook pages for inclusion here.

One of my goals is to produce a series of material investigations that can be presented in an orderly way. At this moment, the module is 12x12, but I'm beginning to feel a bit uneasy about the constraint. I'll put off that decision until the actual sample manipulation begins. I would be remiss not to acknowledge the influence of the book Mondo Materialis on this process.

The scan to the right shows a page from March of this year. I wanted to be able to have a starting point when my sabbatical work began, so I began sketching along the right hand side whenever I had a notion of what one of the material investigations my entail. In almost all cases to date, they employ a variety of materials. I also plan to be less "planned" once I get in the studio and produce these without "designing" them. I hope to continue a process seriously begun in grad school at the School for American Crafts whereby I consciously attempt to break from my design training and work more intuitively.