Major Studio 1: Piece #2, My Process

Concept: “Testing, 1,2,3,4,5,6”

Rationale:

Diabetics have this incessant regiment for managing blood glucose, aside from diet, physical activity, prescriptions, and insulin dosing– and have plenty of highs and lows that come with it (no pun intended). I wanted to find a way to disguise, yet also highlight, the emotional and physical perspective of someone performing this non-negotiable maintenance every 3-4 hours. I know that I wanted to use repetition as a part of my fabricating process for this piece, as well as incorporate opposing structural challenges. It’s very hard to keep a brave and smiling face some days, when you are keeping such a secret ritual under wraps. Most people cringe at the sight of needles, but now I’m so desensitized that I don’t think twice about it. It’s unfortunately part of the deal.

Artist Statement:

Who? Anyone interested becoming familiarized with the emotional, and repetitious aspects of the Diabetic condition, as well as the Diabetic Community.

What? An autobiographical chapter of my physical and emotional journey with Diabetes through fabric.

Where? Currently as of now placed on the floor in the middle of my dining room, but ideally in a large indoor space, with white walls and white flooring. I think my roommate would appreciate me being able to give this a real home at some point.

When? Anytime, I would love to ideally build a series of these Diabetic “chapters.” I really feel like I’m striking onto a narrative here, and I’m finding a stride. Now I wish that I could just take a trip into NYC to grab some more amazing fabric. I feel that the textiles are definitely a large player in guiding my hand in how and why, as well as in really speaking for my intent.

Why? I think that the everyday maintenance as a part of the everyday experience for someone with Diabetes is known, but not really felt. I wanted to find a way to emotionally strike someone with a contradicting image, because that is what this glucose checking– oxymoronic. Knowing that in a few hours you will be pricking your finger, and you don’t have a say. You anticipate the pain, but should be comforted knowing that the technology exists, to be able to measure and read your glucose accurately and help in keeping you alive the best you can. Checking your glucose is only one aspect of the job that you can’t ever quit, it’s 24/7 and never leaves you alone. I’m striving to keep finding ways to bring awareness to these different aspects for viewers, to help others living like this to find validity in solace in the shared experience and quiet suffering.

How? I had 800 boxes of lancets that I had stored for a few years now, especially in times of COVID-19, I wanted to have an extra stock. And then seeing all of these boxes in a row made me ill, I couldn’t believe how much this one aspect of managing myself was so wasteful– considering too this was aside from my glucose strips, and insulin pump equipment (syringes, screw-on needles, tube insets, cartridges, alcohol swabs, medical stickers, skin tack wipes, insulin vials).

I wanted to pick fabrics that had very different weights and composition in terms of knit/woven and stretch, with very distinct wrong and right sides. The right side being more vibrant and lush, where the wrong side was the visually washed out, or dulled out version. I wanted to pick thread colors that also held meaning. Any black thread was representative of trauma, while the yellow and gold threads where places of connection.

 

Major Studio 1: Piece #1, My Process

Concept: “7/2008 Until The Cure” 

Rationale: In recent years prior to my enrollment in the MFA BLR program, my work has been solely illustrative, followed a very specific formal process, as well as delineating from something that I have been dreading speaking on in my art for a while– which is my autobiographical relationship with Type 1 Diabetes.

The reasoning? My undergrad at MassArt was solely dedicated to exploring this thesis, and documenting my initial feelings and emotional roller coaster that was the 2008 diagnosis and catalyst for my work’s focus. I have been slowly indoctrinating myself within the commercialization of art since my graduation in 2012, and what the end goal of my “product” can be used for. It was time to tap into the practice of play, raw expression, and the language for which I feel I can express myself in the least contrived way possible– through fabric and cloth.

Details:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Artist Statement:

Who? Anyone interested becoming familiarized with the emotional aspects of the Diabetic condition, as well as the Diabetic Community

What? An autobiographical chapter of my physical and emotional journey with Diabetes through fabric.

Where? Currently as of now placed on the floor in the middle of my bedroom, but ideally in a large indoor space, with white walls and white flooring.

When?/Why?  Yesterday! I wish I would have started this a long time ago, but I think the time of now seems better than ever due to the pandemic. Being anyone with a chronic condition during this time highlights the vulnerable state for which your vessel of a body really is, and so being able to express this was very cathartic. It was time to confront my vulnerability as physical being, but also to recognize my emotional resilience, resourcefulness and strength.

I wanted to express how something beautiful from afar, can actually be quite painful, repetitious and laborious in it’s development. I wanted to indiscriminately package my past 12 years of approximately 43,800 finger pricks, 22,995 self delivered injections, and 365 pump sites within something colorful, layered and rich with texture– tough, but with a touch of femininity. This piece is meant to communicate the unusual dichotomy of pain, and the quiet isolation of a resilient experience that usually bares no visibility to others.

How? Every structural decision in this piece was intentional, from the use of all synthetic fabrics, heat-set pleated nylons and polyester blends, the use of top- applied bias ruffles (where fabric is forced against their woven grain), the body itself being a traditional cascade, the selection of stitches, to the insulin pump tubing keeping this arrangement in it’s alignment. Traditional tailoring methods without the use of a sewing machine, in tandem with the non-traditional painterly language of this instillation, speaks to the daily tension that is my experience with this condition.

Artist References: Post my studio visit with Samnang Riebe I am very much interested in researching about some painters, as well as artists past and present who have worked with fabric and installation. I want to learn more about where this trajectory of work that I am making falls within the contexts of our contemporary art community, as well as within art history. Here where some artists that Sam had offered me as a starting point for my research: Ernest Neto, Sam Gilliam, and Sheila Pepe. Sam also mentioned making many quantities using the same visual language, to experience successes and failures in one lane of expression before moving onto another.

Major Studio 1: Researching How The Art World Visualizes Data

Concept: Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes as Identity via Wearable Art and Visual Data” 

(i.e. Visual Data via Type 1 Diabetic’s Medtronic 670g Insulin Pump):

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Positionality: White, Cisgender Female, Greek/Irish/Italian American, Artist-Teacher, former Fashion Designer, raised on Long Island, NY– now Bostonian, living with several chronic conditions including Type 1 Diabetes.

Artist References:

Nettrice Baskins: Art & Algorithms

Respite

(“Respite” by Nettrice Gaskins, 2020)

Steve Locke: “Three Deliberate Grays for Freddie (A Memorial for Freddie Gray)”

IMG_1073.jpg

(“Three Deliberate Grays for Freddie (A Memorial for Freddie Gray)” by Steve Locke, 2018)

Artist Statement:

Who?  Anyone interested in learning more about the Diabetic condition, as well as the Diabetic Community; Diabetic Community; Doctors; Nurses

What? Diabetic blood glucose/insulin bolus trends in relation to representing the data that it is technically representing

Where? This concept is meant to connect the Diabetic community across the Boston are (and in the long term, hopefully the United States!)

When? As soon as possible!

Why? Diabetic people partake in the 24 hour regulation, maintenance, and documentation of glucose readings before (but not limited to) every time they eat, insulin doses via manual injections or insulin pump delivery, as well as the dichotomy of physical activity, hormones, stress, and diet. Diabetes has many misconceptions– between the “good” and the “bad kind”, or solely occurring due to poor diet, when in fact both Type 1 (insulin dependent) and Type 2 are both genetically pre-dispositioned.

Diabetics take on an invisible struggle which weighs heavily on their subconscious– “are these numbers a TRUE reflection of my identity as a person? or just my condition?” In my opinion, this commonly unrecognized resilience, and will for daily survival should be something to be outwardly proud of, admired by, and celebrated.

How? I would reach out to fellow Diabetic peers via social media groups to collect downloaded CGM (constant glucose monitor) or insulin pump data graphs. From this Data acquired, I would use a digital visualizing program, such as Magic, Dream, or the Visualizer, as per the work of Nettrice Gaskins.

These visual data artworks would be translated to the wearable garment as a vehicle for expressive identity. Each graphic tee shirt would be unique to the Diabetic individual who participated– showing an abstract and colorful visualization graphic of their glucose and insulin trends.

To pay homage to each Diabetic individuals’ Diabetic journey, the “care instructions” will be silk screened on the inside neckline of the tee– however instead of reading the care instructions for washing and caring for the garment itself, it will tailor to the mental nurturing and care of the individual’s mental health, or “Diabetic burnout.”

Works Cited:

Diabetes Burnout. (2020, July 05). Retrieved July 13, 2020, from https://beyondtype1.org/diabetes-burnout/
Diabetes Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved July 13, 2020, from https://www.diabetes.org/diabetes
Gaskins, N. (n.d.). Art & Algorithms: Gallery. Retrieved July 13, 2020, from https://www.nettricegaskins.com/gallery
Gaskins, N. (2020). Respite [Painting found in Art & Algorithms]. Retrieved July 13, 2020, from https://www.nettricegaskins.com/gallery/q0oq3yq5hhqq4h6znmtv4d5jg92aa1
Genetics of Diabetes. (n.d.). Retrieved July 13, 2020, from https://www.diabetes.org/diabetes/genetics-diabetes
Locke, S. (2018). Three Deliberate Grays for Freddie (A Memorial for Freddie Gray) [Painting found in Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA]. Retrieved July 13, 2020, from https://www.stevelocke.com/three-deliberate-grays-for-freddie
Locke, S. (2018, June 27). Three Deliberate Grays For Freddie. Retrieved July 13, 2020, from https://www.stevelocke.com/three-deliberate-grays-for-freddie
Viewing your Medtronic 670G insulin pump data. (n.d.). Retrieved July 13, 2020, from https://support.tidepool.org/hc/en-us/articles/360029548272-Viewing-your-Medtronic-670G-insulin-pump-data