After the 50 collages, I thought having just one thing to do (with 2 parts) would take less time, but somehow I was able to make it even a bigger project time-wise.
The project was: Diptych: An Evocation.
"Create a pair of collages that evokes (don't illustrate) two interpretations of a single theme, emotion or subject that is relevant to your thinking as an artist. The two works should be considered in the context of one another, and are intended to be shown together as a pair where one work informs the other. The two interpretations could be similar or entirely contrary to one another, but should stand as a visual articulation of the larger concept."
I think we all sat there for awhile thinking "what the???" "what are we suppose to do for this?"
I walked to my car thinking random thoughts, I had been picking up branches lately on my walks around the neighborhood thinking they had interesting shapes and maybe I should do something with them... I also had these stones I had picked up on the beach wanting to somehow put them into a fiber project, but didn't know how to attach them... I started driving and was thinking of hanging sparkly things from the branches about the same time I was thinking "wonder" as in "discovery," being "entranced by something," "star-struck;" and I thought of "learning" how sometimes we're just in fascination of something, it just totally takes us away to a magical place. I thought, "that's what I'll do, I create a fantasy place that a person could go to where they felt wonderful, twirling around, excited being in a magical place."
I had all of this figured out before I was halfway home, I wasn't sure what the other half of the project should be (probably an opposite) but I couldn't come up with a word. By the time I got home and chatted a bit with Bob, it all came into place, although the other word was still a bit vague -- boredom? trite? disinterest? the idea was there and I was ready to roll.
Wednesday after work I was off to JoAnn Fabrics for a few supplies and started to stitch the grid on the "boredom" part. Thursday it was out to dinner, Friday there was cutting of sticks for "boredom" and more stitching, I hoped to get that part done so I could work on "wonder" for the rest of the weekend.
Saturday I dyed the "wonder" background and ended up dyeing "boredom" too because "wonder" came out so dark "boredom" needed to be darker also. I did a some of the stitching on Saturday and finished the stitching and attaching the stones and branches on Sunday. Lucky for me I had Monday off and I spent the morning attaching a hanging rod and finishing up a bunch of details.
The afternoon was spent adding the "bling" to "wonder," probably the key to the whole project. Threading the little tiny beads and shiny plastic "gems" was a total pain, people who work with beads must be insane! My fingers never felt so clumsy! I finally go everything hung,, and especially in the correct light, I thought it looked spectacular! I know I could have added more detail, especially more stitching in the background, but I was really pleased with it.
I thought about if I was a little person about 3 inches high and scrambling over the rocks to reach this place that was sparkly, amazing, to be in wonder of what you had discovered.
I got some good feedback on the project, which felt really nice, but it was mostly a lot of fun to put it together -- what an exciting assignment!
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