Well, Hello!

Yes, I am still alive and did not fall in a deep dark hole! Ha ha! I have just been immersed in my thesis work (the paper and the art). I feel like I am a little behind, but I should be just fine. The theme of my thesis is the lack of my childhood memory and my art being a substitution for that lost memory. I have not come up with a title for the thesis yet, but maybe it should be something like "Lost Memories" or "The Memory of Forgotten Things"? Who knows!?

The problem with writing papers or making art is that I always think too much. This may come off as procrastinating from the outside because what people don't know is that I am not putting off but thinking about how I will write or how I will create before I do it. I have learned though, that starting the task rather than thinking it to death is more productive. You can think about doing something all you want, but you really have to do it to work through the details. (Note to self- practice what you preach!)

My current work acts as a substitution for my lost childhood memories. For my thesis installation, I have created an environment in which bits of my memory are combined with created memories. As the definition of dream states, “dreams are a succession of images, ideas, emotions and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind…” I wish to transport the viewer into this dreamlike space by immersing them in my world.

My first TV appearance

I was interviewed in December for the show pARTicipate: The Cultural Advantage and the film has been edited and now available online and on Orange TV between programs! I was a little nervous and realized that I didn't smile enough, but I guess thats ok. I also couldn't seem to find the right words for some answers because my mind went blank, but I did the best I could do.
Tada!

pARTicipate!-The Cultural Advantage - Brittany Metz

It's coming along!

The theme has been defined---------- Memory and my lack of memory

a 6 page outline so far that I will keep adding to, in hopes that it will form a paper :-)

Thesis, Thesis, Thesis

I am so nervous about this semester! I first need to make some work for the thesis show and then write the thesis paper! Ugh, this is going to be hard but it will all be over around the end of March, which is actually pretty scary because we all didn't realize that the show was like half way through the semester and not at the end. Buuuuuuut, this means that after the show we have a month-ish where we don't have to do much of anything and focus on getting jobs!!!!! I am stuck right now on the theme of my thesis or should I say the thesis of my thesis. I should be meeting with the chair of my committee any day now and will be pointed in the right direction. Until then, I will start writing the portion about myself and my past because that is something I know somewhat about (haha, I don't have the best memory, it's kind of sad).

Unlike the my peers, I have never really had a strong theme or series in my work. I am always all over the place and always will be. For those of you who know me, I don't really like talking about the meaning of my work and most times do not think that I have an intended meaning in my work. My work has always been about process, materials, color, texture, and design. I guess I shouldn't try to force anything else and just write about exactly what I just said. I am an honest person and am not good at "BS-ing", so it might be in my best interest to be myself and write what I know. This will make it easier to defend my thesis. Oh yes, did I mention that we have a thesis defense. This is when you stand in front of your 3 committee members who try to attack you and question you to death about what you wrote. That is what I am most scared of. I not a great writer and I am an even worse speaker! I will get through it, I always do. I just want to get through it with the least amount of stress possible, which means no procrastinating and being completely ready for what is coming way before it gets here :-)

Wish Me Luck!

Art Basel Miami 2010

Finals are over and I made it through! Now I have time to reflect on the artwork I saw in Miami last weekend. Of course, Miami, lack of sleep, and stress has taken it's toll on my body and now I am sick! I got to see a couple of pieces from one of my favorite artists Guerra de la Paz. I'm not sure if I have mentioned them before, but they are an artist duo based in Miami. I found this great video of their booth at Scope that I saw last weekend. Its nice to see the set up for the show and hear about the work from the artists themselves. I was surprised to see art from Jen Stark, who I recently stumbled upon when browsing the internet. I liked her so much that I bookmarked her page! So it was great to see her work in person too! I really enjoyed a lot of the work and noticed that I saw a lot of work from the same artists that I saw last year. The fairs I attended were Scope/Art Asia, Nada, Pulse, Art Miami, Aqua, Ink, and Fountain.

Well, hello "day before finals" day

So, I am just coming off of a weekend filled with art at Art Basel Miami, which was a whirlwind of fun. Now I am back to reality and faced with the fact that I have my final critique tomorrow. Actually, I signed up to be the first one, what was I thinking? It doesn't really matter either way because I have to have everything set up tomorrow morning, but if I would have picked the afternoon, maybe everyone would have been too tired to pick on me. As you know from my previous entries, I have been in somewhat of a rut this second half of the semester. I have had ideas and projects in the works, but nothing I am really that crazy about. I need to wrap everything up today and set up for tomorrow. I hope that I can get my thoughts straight over the winter break and churn out the first draft of my thesis. Then this will give me all of next semester to edit and format in preparation for the deadline/thesis defense.

This is my latest installation/sculpture/deconstructed book work in progress, or whatever you want to call it. I have torn up my Post Secret book and dipped the paper in milky resin. I will hang the pages on clotheslines like you see and will most likely use this stand in my installation as well. I am still dealing with other peoples lives, secrets, and the home. Hanging packaged up porcelain houses will also be a part of this (I will repost pics when everything is set up). I love working at my dad's shop because he has stands like this and all the tools and materials I need. It's kind of funny because my dad's shop is the place where I first started creating things as a child. 



Very strange, but in a good way

So, I stumbled upon this artist today in the Arts section of the Huffington Post- Jody Zellen. As her bio states, "Jody Zellen is an artist living in Los Angeles, California. She works in many media simultaneously making photographs, installations, net art, public art, as well as artists' books that explore the subject of the urban environment". Her animations are so strange and so different. I really like the simplicity of them. She obviously has more knowledge of coding than I do, but she is still keeping it simple. I am assuming that in her "code art" that the drawings were created using just code. This is kind of over my head, but we did take a processing class last year, so I am a little more familiar than I would have been. You will also notice that when you hold your mouse over some of the animations that the hand pointer shows up, which means you can click on it and the animation becomes interactive. I was able to find one of her animations on youtube (youtube version not interactive):


I do like her use of installation, photography, video, and books. She is like a variety pack! This is right up my alley, minus the coding! I am always drawn to an artist's process and use of medium. That is always more important to me than their concept or meaning. She seems like someone who is worth researching a bit more.