Sunday, January 20, 2008
ABOUT ARTIST
ART CREW OFTHIS PROJECT
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- Watching movies...
- for a moment...
- Catherine Raymond came with her class
- Sandy
- Helen took her class
- On halfway, of 100,000 flowers
- It's ready
- We've just arrived!
- One of the pleasures of this project has been seei...
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It takes a surprising amount of concentration to pick up a delicate square sheet of fine paper (only about an inch-square), examine the hand-printed blossom in the light to figure out which side has the sheen of mica dust, and place it squarely on a dot of glue in preparation for its attachment to the wall. That’s me at the table, completely absorbed in the process. There were other things requiring attention, as well, like selecting from among six or seven types of blossoms (I still don’t know exactly how many there were)—some full bloom, some half opened, some appearing from a side view, some with slightly longer or rounder petals—and mixing up the types so there were no long strings of the same kind of blossom lined up in a row. I also needed to make sure the blossoms I prepared weren’t all the same in coloring. Some blossoms were printed with an eggshell white, some a pinkish white, some a more silvery, shimmering white… some looked different again depending on how the light hit them. The square-inch sheets needed to be positioned at an angle on the strip of glue dots…
I was fascinated by how much attention these simple tasks required. I was pleased by the pursuit of perfection and conscious of my desire to train my hands and actions for optimum speed and efficiency. It occurred to me that my contribution was so small in the vast scheme of the installation’s creation, yet it also still mattered. I began to think of the printing process when these 100,000 blossoms were carved in wood and hand-printed by Ayomi in Japan, the cutting process when the printed sheets of blossoms were sliced into one-inch squares. I even thought about the paper-maker who could make such a fine, almost translucent yet strong paper from the inner bark of a shrub, and wondered what it must be like to create the shimmering powder. Behind me, each blossom was being attached to the walls one by one…
Such rich complexity in the simplicity of the steps; such endless variation in the patterning of blossom shapes and pink-tinted whites; such fearless hope embedded in the simple concept of adhering 100,000 blossoms to the walls…These are the things that I will be contemplating long after the exhibition is over and the blossoms have come down. And that is only the beginning.
I could not have said it better myself! I came up with the technique of organizing the six different types of blossoms first, thinking I was some sort of master mind! I really enjoyed helping out, and it was the longest I have sat still without knowing how many hours had past. Great conversation, self reflection, and peace of mind! The opportunity to be involved in such an amazing process and watching how it has developed was an honor, and I am looking forward to the reception on Thursday!
I noticed how much work it took to complete this installation when seeing the amount of helpers that were involved in applying the blossoms to the trees. I really enjoyed following the trees around the wall with all the open space in the center of the gallery. The lighting really makes you feel like the sun is shining above the trees and creating highlights on the tips of the pedals and the tree branches.
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