2014 1st draft

 

ARTIST STATEMENT:

SEVERAL STACKS OF WORLD WORDS ORGANIZED INTO A SELF SUSTAINED PORTRAIT OF WHAT CELESTEAMPAROPFAUPALOMINOSPROBRES HAS MADE AND WILL IN THE FUTURE MAKE...SOME CALL IT "works" SOME CALL IT "art" SOME CALL IT "crafts........

 

Categories are useful for description, but I beleive the idea of CATEGORIZATION is both essential and unessential to my working process. YES. I MAKE "sections" or "collections"or to use the word I dislike, "categories." But most of the time my materials are organized(LIKE ORGANS) to be re-assembled in a different but natural like body: ordered chaos..

 

For instance, one of my first LEAF PRINTS was made through the tedious process of cutting up several skeletal leaf pieces so that the veins of this "new" leaf could all flow in the same direction. The exterior outline of this newly constructed leaf at first glance seems natural, but with further investigation, one can see the shapes within the leaf have been altered.

 

The shape of the leaves are not altered or arranged in different ways because they "need to be."

I know that in their natural state, they are profoundly BEAUTIFUL. However I re-arrange and alter them and hopefully honor them to show to myself and to the viewer what I find most compelling:

 

WHAT COMPELS ME is the GEOGRAPHY of each leaf. The LIFE FORCE. The harmonious flow of form. The figurative as well as landscape nature of PLANTS and all LIFE.

 

And with this PROJECT in PARTICULAR, (the explorations of Leaves and Plants through print-making), I find there is something very powerful and symbolic to LIFE in a GROWING PLANT:

 

THE PULLING UP OF WATER through CAPILLARY action and DEFYING the FORCE of gravity! ALSO the adjustment of a plants own very sensitive body, as it adjusts itself to find its most essential rays of sun light!

 

I LOVE ALL PLANTS!

 

But I do as of now have a preference for vines and epiphites. Vines, because they may be small ephemeral bodies at times, but they are able to climb and co-exist with much bigger bodies, like TREES or BRICK WALLS. Epiphites I like for similar reasons. These epiphites are able to grow in peculiar places because they are able to gather all the moisture they need from the air. Also both the epiphites and vines happen to have very harmonious forms. The space on the insides being just as important as the outsides.

 

SO I TANGLE and I UNTANGLE. I EXPAND and i contract

 

My hands have eyes and memories.

My hands can see and hear the nuanced tones and texture

of the materials and architectural interiors & exteriors

These hands & the Peripheral vision of my EYES SEEK

the Thin but strong thread that connects

ORDER & CHAOS=  " ordered chaos "

Inspired by the Japanese ancient art of

Flower Arrangement; IKEBANA

Inspired, Influenced by improvisational DANCE

conversations: a non-verbal communication between

bodies; BODIES and the spaces they might converse with...

 

"is the floor dirt?"  " or is it polished concrete?" " is the air fresh, stale,

a breeze?" "Is the sun filtering through the clouds?"

 

Inspired by the most new, middle aged,& oldest

peoples & the interaction between these continuously

shifting generations, similar to the multiple generations

of plants and trees in the  old growth forests.

WHEn I Say MY HANDS HAVE EYES & MEMORIES,

I say, its just as or even more important to focus on how something

like a material, feels, smells, sounds, weighs.

 

YES, it should be visually harmonious,

but all ASPECTS of the Image/Form/Arrangement

should have some sort of RESONANCE

THIS INSTINCT TO UNRAVEL

THAT NECESSITY TO UNTANGLE

thread~vines~sticks~wires~tapes~bodies~etc.

O R G A N I Z E.  derived frim the

word ORGAN. Yes organization is a natural

phenomenon, but there are some modes of

organization that are more natural and

help contribute to a more fluid functionality.

For example, if all of the the ORGANS in OUR BODY are

working OPTIMALLY, then you feel over-all quite HEALTHY!

SOME ORGANIZATION, according to my preferences,

is too focused on sterility.

STERILITY is fine in certain situations, LIKE Hospitals, but even so, the designs of sterility, using mostly metal, plastic, and glass, as well as flourescent lighting can make one feeel even more ILL and secluded and stagnant as oposed to feeling good, ( like in the New Academic Building)

 

I ALSO HAVE CONFLICTED FEELINGS ABOUT

Standardized Organization. On ONE HAND, standardization,

can make everything LOOK EXACTLY the SAME, but this SAMENESS can handicap the beauty of Difference.

 

Maybe my bias, is that it is SO easy now to buy pre-fabricated CONTAINERS for just about anything, that the beaut of a hand bound book or portfolio, or a hand woven shawl or basket is not seen as often. HOWEVER Accessibility of STANDARDIZED THINGS, makes things more available, but with less quality( most of the time)

(but I do beleive in a healthy amount of reproductions with slight variations, as you can find in the medium of plants, or even when humans reproduce, they can never make someone exactly like themselves)

 

CLAY POTS   vs  TUBERWARE!

 

Practical does not always make the most sense!

 

Hear this argument,

Maybe a clay pot is made "standardized," even though there may be a 1000 of the same po, most likely and ideally you will have subtle uncontrollable natural differences with each individual pot.

 

I do have a PREFERENCE for NATURAL, or in more precise words, un-altered by bumans, materials, bacause its really fun getting to work with materials " right off the vinE"

 

AS THEY SAY IN COOKING. COOK'S OFTEN want to use the most tastey, fresh ingredients for their most TASTY compositions, and similarly I AM STRIVING TO USE THE FRESHEST AND MOST NATURAL MATERIALS for the assortment of things I make. All that being said, I also ENJOY and LIKE to use what ever ingredients/materials I have around me in my immediate environments. I AM NOT A FOOD SNOB or AN ART SNOB!

A potato chip can sometimes be just as important as a filet mignon

An authorless sculpture woven out of grass in the image of a goat, is just as or even more interesting and powerful to me than a very commodified famous piece of ART!

TO PUT IT MORE SIMPLY I BELEIVE IT'S OK, AND ALSO VERY IMPORTANT TO CREATE AND INVENT WAYS TO RE-USE MATERIALS. The idea of using ONE thing ONCE, or  throwing something out just because one component is broken is repulsive and inefficient. Why not try and fix it? Or why not try to RE-PURPOSE what ever materials ... we have around... There are so many untapped possibilities with materials that Already exist:

 

Some thoughts of things and people that I know if that deal with repurposing materials:

Yarminiah and Yaminah Rosa are two sisters that make beautiful jewlrey out of re-purposed Materials. A Glass Recycling company in Montanta(can't remember the name) takes glass and transforms it into dull glass pellets that can be used for many different design/building projects. A NEW BUZZ WORD, UP-CYCLE, is trending right now. Many women and men are taking ANONYMOUS/BORING used T-shirts & Sweaters & re-compositioning them into purses, and skirts. There is actually quite a substantial GENRE and movement to USE, RE-USE, and RE-PURPOSE Every day to day materials. BUT, I think there is plenty of room for improvement and innovation. Packaging design could be improved(less waste) New Manufactured materials could be made with even more recycled components and ELECTRONIC WASTE? that is a whole other topic, but I do know in Birmingham we have THE RED MOUNTAIN MAKERS, and these folks know how to re-purpose and tinker with electronics...

 

 

 

TANNK