mapping: where we've been

The reactions I received from this critique were great. The class was very perceptive of the symbols and ideas I intended for them to catch. They were dead on when they were figuring out what The piece was about. After my painting critique which went pretty much in the same direction  I was quite excited to show this one- which was/is a variation of the original painting. I feel like this drawing was charged with energy and meaning and it got across what I needed to say in a more subtle way. When I first walked in with it I was a bit nervous because I didn't feel that it was as good as some of the other work from the class. That reason is why this critique had such a positive impact- I was so relieved the class didn't make any comments that confirmed how I already felt; that I was inadequate in comparison to the rest of the class.

Mapping My Life

Tuesday of last week I scrapped my previous idea of Mapping hell according to me. Instead I got my hands on a map of river falls and surrounding cities, where one of my best friends and I grew up. We did everything together. Her mother was my hair dresser, my piano teacher, and my babysitter. My friend, Tina was like another sister to me. She was my best friend in middle school. She was the only one I could talk to when I needed to the most. She taught me how to paint my nails, got me hooked on my still current favorite band, introduced me to a couple of my current best friends we celebrated our birthdays together since she was only 2 weeks older than me. She saved my life and last year she took her own February 26 2010. She hung herself. Since that phone call I haven't been able to get it out of my head. In sculpture and painting II last spring I used my projects to make a commentary about what happened. I kept hoping it would get it out of my system. But it hasn't yet. My painting concept this semester is extremely symbolic and is a narrative on what happened and how. Since she hung herself Ive really emphasized the use of rope. I also use a broken pearl necklace and hung it from the rope the pearls represent order and the fact that the necklace was broken and beads were missing suggests that there is a lack of order and the broken necklace is a commentary on her broken neck and the aftermath. the objects were organized in a hanging still life in front of a red cloth. The still life seems rather empty but that is exactly what I want the viewer to feel. I love the work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Unless you know the story you don't totally understand what is going on in the work. That is similar to what I'm trying to do with this body of work.  For my drawing project I drew the still life on the map of River Falls to narrate what happened, where, and how.

Mapping- An Epidemic

The use of maps is actually quite interesting. There are several more ways mapping pertains to our lives that many of us don't even think about- or at least I don't. For this project I wanted to be creative but not so much so that it doesn't appear to be much more than scribbles. My work is more about the final project and not so much the act of creating it. If it becomes more the act than I lose my self in the abstractedness and I prefer not to delve into that realm of thought. I want to tell my story with my piece. I want to illustrate where I've been and how one thing someone does can affect someone else so thoroughly. I was thinking about my life and what I could do with it and instantly the comparison of my life with Dante's Inferno popped into my head.

He describes the wrong-doings of mythological characters throughout history and plants them within each level. He gives each level a title and creates a punishment for each crime that was committed. I did the same. I assessed my life and the events that have affected me over the years. I came up with six levels of abandonment: 

-Friend abandonment- Those that have left their friends behind for silly reason like popularity or such. They are forced the be alone indefinitely. They will be in separate cells where they cant see or hear or come in contact with another being.

 - Break-up- People who don't give good reasons for breaking someones heart or for toying intentionally with other peoples emotions; cheaters. They will have a knife through their heart that is twisted every hour. They will be walking along a never ending staircase towards the person who is twisting the knife- no escape.

- Emotional detachment- People who refuse to listen to or care about what someone else is going through and only cares about themselves. forced to listen to everyone's problems, feel their pain and can't help but not care and try to prevent said pain. *I haven't totally figured out the setting for this level yet. I'm thinking something along the lines of a large group of people with no room to move around in a cloud of thoughts and emotions that fly in a constant stream.

-Runaways- People who have run away from the things they refused to face; issues they caused; illegitimate reasons for leaving people behind- basic cowardice (not including those that ran away from dangerous situations- abuse, neglect etc,). They will be forever chained to what they ran from. There will be a long wall with a cage around it and the figures will be chained to the walls surrounded by what they ran from.

-Child Abandonment- People who leave their children, abuse them, or neglect them. They lose all memories of happiness. They will be surrounded by stone; absolutely no color.

-Suicide-  People who ended their own lives. They must face the pain of the people who they left behind. They will be placed in a room full of mirrors that shows the people mourning their deaths- for eternity.

This is just my basic ideology. Nothing is set in stone at this point. I am trying to figure out how to arrange it on paper- whether to have it as one large sheet, or several sheets with layers, or having clear sheets with the floor plan drawn on them and have them stacked. I'm open to suggestions. So if you have any, please let me know...

Until next time... :)

Mapping My Train of Thought

I'm not sure exactly what I want to do for the mapping project yet. Interestingly enough I did have a pretty good set of ideas before the brain storming activity. But since we've started with those questions my train of thought has gone off it's track. It was a bit difficult to come up with different sketches of ideas and different ideas in general because the ideas I originally had and wanted to branch from had gone out the window and I'm left with ideas that really don't interest me and I'm not motivated to think in those directions. When this project was first introduced my interest was altering a map that already exists- to tell my story. I had an idea of showing the different places my mother moved after my parents divorced since she hasn't been but a fleeting part of my life for the past eleven years. another idea I was tossing around was shading in or cutting out states that I have visited because I am very proud of all the places I have been and would like to some day make it to all of the states. Another idea I liked was making the man in the US map stand out a bit more. when I was learning the US map and where all the states are on the map I learned them starting with the man down almost the center of the map. Apparently no one else learned about the man in the states. After explaining it to my roommates I've concluded that it must be a River Falls thing.

I don't remember exactly what abstract questions threw me off but abstract questions in general don't sit well with me. I'm slightly leery about this assignment. I've never been interested in maps or anything they pertain to. I only handle maps as a necessity aside from "mapping" out a drawing or painting- which i do quite often considering my major and favorite pass-time which happen to be the same thing.
I do have a GPS but it always gets me lost. It is pretty much an unreliable hunk of junk which tells me I have reached my destination while I'm in the middle of a highway I am extremely unfamiliar with. Other than reaching a specific end point I try to steer clear of maps I find them rather overwhelming.

Intro

My name is Kirsten Iehl. I am a studio art major with a painting concentration at UW stout. I'm in his drawing class because through drawing I can get a better understanding of how to form objects and make them appear realistic. I'm a little leery about this class because I was expecting t be able to have free reign over my own work for the semester and finally not have to bow to the limits given by my instructors. I was hoping to be able to explore my own ideas and fail on my own time without having to follow guidelines.

Mainly I work quite small and incorporate lots of details into my work. I had hoped to use my drawing skills in this class as a building block for my painting 3 class I'm currently in.  I like to draw on paper and wood for the most part with charcoal, chalk pastels, and graphite. I would like to explore oil crayons and the like this semester.