A Review of Fall 2021
Trans-Cultural Aesthetics
During Jen Hall’s Visual & Critical Studies class, I became interested in the concept of transcultural aesthetics – the melding of Indigenous and Euro-Western aesthetics in my work. Below is an excerpt of my statement, developed during the latter part of the semester:
“My art is trans-cultural; its themes and processes are situated between my Indigenous and non-Indigenous heritages. The materials I use, the concepts I explore, the themes that drive my art practice are situated in both worlds; I look for ways to meld the two together into a whole structure. Through my dual growing up experience, I learned both Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of seeing and making, and these elements are fused together in everything I make.”
Print Making
I was able to take the Graduate Print Portfolio class, this past semester, as my elective. I had very little instruction on print prior to this class and have been wanting to explore print as a medium for several years. The class did not disappoint.
Along with the exploration of multiples, I also spent a lot of time exploring multi-layering, transparency, embossment and debossment, and fabric printing. The fabric was then cut, pieced, and quilted to further explore embossing through quilting. I find quilting interesting in that it creates a whole from many smaller pieces. Quilts are also a type of blanket, usually created by women in a domestic situation and I’m interested in pursuing this direction.
23 Pairs of Shovel Shaped Incisors
I’ve been thinking specifically about the visibility and invisibility of the Indigenous body, both in my own identity as a white passing person, and on a macro level within the population of the United Stated. One of my Indigenous features is my shovel shaped incisors. The shoveling is not visible from the front so it really hits on the visible/invisible concept.
For this work in progress, I made a mold of my front teeth, got my dentist to send me x-rays of my front teeth roots, and then carved up a set from which I created a mold and cast 23 pairs, calling back to the 23 pairs of chromosomes that humans have. I’m currently thinking through how I want to move forward with this so that I can hit both the idea of chromesomes and the idea of the elk tooth dress, which is a Northern Plains dress worn by women on which are sewn the front teeth of elk; the teeth indicate the prowess of the hunter as well as the “wealth” of the family. The dresses are worn only by women so there is also an identity aspect.
Painting Practice
Not much has happened in my painting practice other than experimenting with analogous color palettes based on some of the printing I did this semester. Landscape has always been an important part of my painting practice so I concentrated on that in these works.
Bead Work
I am continuing with this series. Previous pieces can be seen here.
This particular series shows a specific melding of Indigenous (beads, pattern, process) and non-Indigenous (contour “drawing”, realism).
