paper clay

Day 182

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It’s always interesting to stop and realize what has influenced the decision making up until this point. When I was in 6th grade, I remember reading an article on stop-motion animation and doing a report on it. No one believed me when I said that it took the animators three weeks to shoot thirty seconds of usable footage. I believed it and now I’m living it, although technology has improved beyond imagination from 22 years ago. Who knew I’d be animating in grad school? When I was in 6th grade I had no idea this could be so awesome. And thanks to Toby and his scattered wooden gears, I have another element to animate. Sketches to come soon. By the way, I love epic instrumental music. Been listening to it while I’m working and it makes everything seem so much more exciting. That, and having Lulu in the studio space.

Day 175

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Random thoughts. Please bear with me.

 

I’ve been witness to some pretty fantastic disciplining in the past couple of weeks. Susan has had some late kids and some disappearing kids and some let’s-not-do-any-work kids. Unlike some teachers she does not embarrass them in front of the whole class by calling them out on their slacking. She walks over to them while others are working and asks them to come out into the hallway. She then explains things gently but firmly and sends them either back into class or home, depending on the situation. I admire this method. It focuses her attention on the students and the problem, it avoids gossip, it focuses the student’s attention, and it avoids embarrassment.  Awesome.

I’m making boxes. Meticulously. 

So, I was driving home late on Friday and was attempting to not end up in a ditch somewhere on 29. It was snowing and the roads were quite terrible. Add cloud cover, snow covered fields and light pollution together and it ends up being slightly eerie. The clock says it’s 12:04, but I could see well enough to turn off my lights. I didn’t- don’t panic. The crazy part was when I could no longer see a horizon. The sky and the ground had melded into one color and I could not differentiate between them. It’s the strangest optical illusion I have ever been privy to: Pale light, no horizon and constant movement. Very twilight zoney.

I love working with Dragonframe. Just need an updated video card. And decent weather so I can drive around Columbus without dying.

 All of this snow and ice, freezing and thawing has created some amazing icicles outside of my back door. There is a group of them that have grown legs, splitting at the bottom. Along my drainpipe is one that is currently over six feet long and thicker than the drainpipe. The perfect murder weapon… but that’s been done before. 

Day 168

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I’m playing around with Dragonframe. This is my first sketch. Short and simple. The next one might have sound. I’m working on what sounds, if any should go into these animations. It will probably be music. Instrumental definitely, piano maybe. I had a good talk with my mentor today, about textures, technology, Eva Hesse, connections via titles or words, and maybe how to touch without touching. I’m doing a lot of thinking today. And I think best when I’m working. Good thing my pieces are so detailed oriented, it gives me extra time to do all this thinking. Lots of mesh squares. I’m going to go make some boxes.

Day 142

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Well, dear readers, it is the beginning of a new semester and I will do my best to outdo myself from last semester. We’ll see. I just learned how to use Flash. Not the program I need for my animated sculptures, but I like learning new things. Technology! Animation! Paperclay! This is not crazy! Seriously, this is not crazy, right? Animating my inanimate sculptures via technology that’s in my hand? Dragonframe and qr codes. Manganese washes and screen-printing. More building metal bits out of clay and possibly using less of organic looking metal pieces. Hopefully this works. Fingers crossed.

Day 72

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 I’m not the most technologically advanced person. I fire my kiln with wood if that tells you anything. I have enjoyed learning new things in Charlotte’s class, so I’m not against technology, just a little behind the times. And so, adding technology to my art work will be quite the challenge. Not sure if I have to add it to my piece or just use it seperately. I’m thinking animation. I haven’t made a gif of Sir Paperclay recently and I’m wanting to know what has happened to him. Maybe an animation of his life up until his entry into the world of Galleries. Gifs that follow him from birth to death, highlighting the important moments of his short life. Little films. Nothing impossible to finish in four weeks.