Fall Break, Maybe Breakthrough?

Last Friday

As I mentioned last week, I was able to visit the ReUse center on Friday and bought two great things for just five dollars!  I purchased a dirty window frame that I can use to help me handprint my blocks in my studio and a dry erase board.  The ReUse center has officially made it to the top of my list for places to go for steals and deals.

Last Weekend

I searched for images and ideas for further prints.  Sketched and contemplated how I was going to approach the next set of toys and from what angle I would display them to evoke a child’s perspective.

2 hours

 

This Monday/Wednesday

I worked further into my carving of the big dollhouse and made a drastic move.  I made the snap decision to carve into the background of my block and I am very happy with the results.  I think these changes will add a great deal of drama and help to push me in the right direction.  I am excited to start my second block for this print, which will hopefully make it clear that the image is of a dollhouse.  I plan to add a chair leg in order to dwarf the image and give it some context.

5 hours

This Tuesday/Thursday

During studio this week I started a new block that shows an image of a rocking horse.  I’m not sure how I feel about the image and I think I just need to step back from it for a little.  I started to get a little restless and I hope that I didn’t cut too much in to the background of my block.  I was also able to sketch in my notebook and write down what I wanted to accomplish in my next set of prints.

6 hours

Fall Break and My Goals

Although my parents are coming to visit this long weekend, I hope to spend a lot of time in the studio working on small “sketch” prints.  I got the idea from watching Takeshi Takahara present his work method to my print class.  He said that he sets a goal of finishing a small block each day and printing it.  He had a set of about 20 prints that I thought were gorgeous and I hope that I can print a bunch of smaller blocks this break.  I plan to go to Home Depot tomorrow to purchase small 2” by 2” wood pieces that I can start to carve.  I was thinking I would do a sketch of a dolls face to start off with and hopefully this will get the ball rolling.

Just a peak at my IP Proposal:

Exploring the concept of lost childhood memories through the rediscovery of abandoned and disposed of toys displayed through woodblock cuts.

My own childhood was cut short by my sister’s illness and led to my adult curiosity about forgotten memories and its connection to my abandoned childhood toys.  The only memories that I can recall now are traumatic events that overshadow the importance of daily creative and mundane play that I experienced as a child.  This childhood play and the toys we played with can help the audience and myself remember valuable information about what we thought, dreamed, and wanted as children.  Hopefully, these recovered memories and desires will help lead us to realizations about the children we were and who we are going to become.

A series of prints involving imagery of handcrafted, classic American toys, such as dollhouses, rocking horses, and building blocks, will cover an entire wall in a gallery.  The images, shown from a child’s viewpoint, will inundate the viewer with memories of their own toys from childhood.  I hope to evoke a sense of loss as well as spark the audience’s curiosity about their abandoned toys and their own forgotten memories.  I hope to explore different types of woodcut media such as double block printing and reduction prints.  Images of distressed and abandoned toys, displayed without any human interaction, will drive home the feelings of loss and the desire to think as a child again.