Inventory / The Tokens - Christopher Turner 

This article is extremely emotional, I cannot begin to imagine what life must have been like at this point in time. Something that stuck with me when I read the article was "These trinkets are transitional objects––Severed umbilical cords––that embody the grief of separation." This is a melancholy idea yet it is beautiful in a way that there is an everlasting bond between the mother and child. The mothers who are grief stricken have something tying them to their child. I can not compare this article in any way to personal experience however, I can compare it lightly to the idea of separation and what comes with that. Separation is hard to deal with, we all live with a kind of loss or separation from something, for me I have family that live in all corners of the world, that separation, (although it is very different to the idea in Turners article) is hard and I am reminded of that when I am away from them and when I have moments of being with my family, I have to cherish them and after hold the memories close to me. The apartment that I live in now used to be mine and my sister until she moved to New Zealand, throughout my apartment I find small tokens of hers that remind me of our time spent living together, memories are important to us, especially when we have an object that reminds us of someone. When I was younger I used to collect and save my families empty perfume bottles. As a child I loved the small glass bottles to decorate my room with, but what I didn't realize is that when I got older those bottle meant more to me because the bottle still smelled the same, and that scent reminded me of my family members and of times I had spent with them. It is interesting how scent and sound have such a great impact on memory. These small bottles are mementos of my family. 

It is unbearable to thing to think about that these mothers had to give up their child in order for them to live a better life. A better life for the mother and for the child. These mothers had to part with nothing to remember their child by other than knowing that their child had a small token of their own in some way to have a lasting bond with them this is a sad but perhaps hopeful thought that maybe one day they would be able to come back for their chid. Or that the token left with them was somehow a wish for forgiveness when the child got older. 

Janine Antoni Video - Personal Response 

I enjoyed learning about Janine Antoni, her words and work are very inspiring. I like the way the video begins with the idea of the umbilical cord and how it connects two things together, the idea that her life is a rope connecting all the people, this idea really struck me. I love how she talks about these materials as different peoples lives coming together. Saving the story behind how something was made. I found it interesting how she emphasizes the idea of using her whole body in order to create her art work I haven't experienced many artists like this, I think she brings up an important point about creating art with the whole body. She has a strong relationship with her art, connecting her body with the art. She is involved in it rather than just creating it, she steps into the art rather than just sitting outside making it. Her voice is very inspiring and important in understanding her art. She expresses this even deeper when she creates a mold of herself in chocolate and soap, again she steps into her art she becomes a part of it which is a concept that I haven't experienced as much or liked as much as her work. Going back to the beginning of the video, her idea of an umbilical cord connecting two things together she does this with her art connecting it to herself, she is bound within it. Her soap mold's reflect perfectly how we deal with the idea of self, she explains she is slowly erasing herself through washing with the soap. Our internal conflict the, "love hate relationship with our physical appearance" This is a powerful idea and one which to me is quite truthful in our society today, we do have a love hate relationship with our physical appearance. 

Architecture Relief 

In process Picture

Experimenting with thread and pins

Final Pictures

Artist Statement - 

I chose to use Gothic and Art Deco Architecture as inspiration for my piece. I used a circular shape inspired by the rose window seen in all Gothic Cathedrals as a starting point for my design. I then chose to cut out a design of a simple rose window, to resemble a stained class window using white and black paper. I then used white foam core to create the circular structure with black paper placed on top. I used pins and string to create the design over my rose window. I chose to use string because it is thin and lace like which is how gothic architecture looks with the stone stretched out to become like lace. The repetition of the string in circles and small triangles was inspiration from Art deco which uses a lot of repetition in the designs. 

Architectural Inspiration 

Chrysler Building, New York 

Chrysler Building, New York 

York Minster rose window, York, England 

York Minster, York, England

Memento 

In process pictures

Final Pictures

Artist Statement - 

The memory I chose for "Memento" was my childhood summers spent in my summer house in Cesme, Turkey. My three materials were paper, glue, and dried pressed flowers. I chose to use paper because I like the clean white surface of it reminding me of how clear and clean it was in my Cesme house away from the busy tourists. I used glue to varnish the surface and stick my flowers down. I chose to use these flowers because Cesme was always filled with wild overgrown flowers, and I wanted to capture the scents of nature in Cesme; jasmine, honey suckle, and many other clean fresh scents from the beautiful plants. The shape of my sculpture was designed to represent a few different things that I remember from this place, the sea gulls, wind surfing sails, sailing boats, and also windmills which are all things that I am reminded of when I think of Cesme.

Paper City 

Sculpture #1 In process pictures

Sculpture #1 Final pictures

Sculpture #2 In process Pictures

Sculpture#2 Final Picture

Artist Statement - Using only paper and adhesives (as long they were not visible) I created two sculptures with one visible moving mechanism on each sculpture. The first one I chose to create an elevator with a cut out design for the exterior. The second sculpture I chose a cylinder shape which rotates. These sculptures were created using folding methods with little glue to hold them in place.

Masking Tape Shoe 

In Process Pictures

Final Picture

Artist Statement - 

Using masking tape to create a 3 Diminutional shoe, designed to scale and in proportion to the original shoe size. 

Susan Steward 

1) "The body is the primary mode of perceiving scale."

2) "Capacity of objects to serve as traces of authentic experience."

I think this is true in many ways, we cary experiences and memories in objects whether they are supposed to serve that purpose or not. Objects hold a lot of sentiments no matter what they are. I like to keep perfume bottles from people in my family or my own, because they remind me of a time when I wore that particular perfume, or they remind me of a person. The bottle is significant because it reminds me of my experiences and memories. 


3) "The souvenir reduces the public, the monumental, and the three-dimensional into the miniature, that which can be enveloped by the body."

4) "Nostalgia cannot be obtained without loss."  

As I child I moved from place to place brining memories from different cultures, growing up with, and meeting people from different cultures. I loved this experience it brought me great memories and important experiences but it also comes with loss because each time I moved, I lost something as well as gained something. 

5) "To have a souvenir of the exotic is to posses a specimen and a trophy."

We hold on to souvenirs tightly because they remind us of a place that is new, and exciting to us, we carry it as a trophy to remind ourselves that we visited somewhere special.