Initial Ideation, Inspiration for this Semester

Initial Ideation, Inspiration for this Semester

Releasing the Ephemeral

         As a creator, I am constantly immersed in the process of bringing up truths that I have absorbed into me, and seeking to express them, through whichever media. I am fascinated with this idea of translation and the limitations it puts on creation. Writing involves a certain undying thirst to express through words these emotions, thoughts, experiences, impressions, that are most profound, and which are often the most subtle and difficult to express. Art is the same, and so is music: all creative endeavors stem from the pull to draw things forth that are in many ways unutterable, too sacred for the entirety to be ever directly communicated. This is why the act of creation is often so painful— to feel so much, and so dear to oneself like it is in fact embedded in ones skin, and yet so difficult to disseminate, like picking pieces of salt up from the sea which can be tangibly felt and seen and believed, when after all the work it is most wholly experienced when it is invisibly dissolved into the vastness of the ocean itself. This is what I feel— that the act of creative expression is noble and bold, but that the human being itself holds oceans and universes of truth that can never be put into words and expressed concretely, which are indeed more meaningful because they remain unspoken. I think that picking up a rock is a more expressive experience sometimes, can hold more sacred and simple communion, than the mind can confine and configure into mere letters and syllables, visual or auditory patterns. The ephemeral— the vastness inside us is what makes us want to create, and also which drives us to connect with the vastness in others. 

What I want to do with this book is to explore the human body as a vessel for all the millions of observations, expressions, experiences, that a single person accumulates over a lifetime. More than just memories, which are of the past only and dwell vastly in the mind, I want to think about how, above the things we create in this life, the human being itself is its own greatest creation— an ever-weaving song, or poem, a masterpiece of the greatest complexity, of simultaneously existing innumerable layers, components, histories, mysteries, the visible and the invisible, all seamlessly converging from one moment to the next to create an individual, inside out, which is greater than any external creation because the process is never ending, and exists not only from us but in us (Even when we die, we go on creating ourselves into new aspects of life and being). Creation for me only stems from this greatest creation of ourselves, where we are constantly seeking to make ourselves purer vessels of these truths.

The Vision:

With all of these ideas permeating and moving through me, I am thinking that for this semester’s project I want to create a book which is read in the same way it is felt within the writer. Meaning physically, I want to create a life-size human sculpture form, which contains many myriad of chambers, vessels, boxes, or nests where sacred objects are placed. I am heavily inspired by Walt Whitman’s preface for Leaves of Grass where he writes “and your flesh shall be a great poem, and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body… . The poet shall not spend his time in unneeded work. He shall know that the ground is always ready ploughed and manured … others may not know it but he shall. He shall go directly to the creation...”. I want to create a physical, tangible body which contains accessible and tangible objects for the viewer to interact with, in a way where nothing is being translated— holding a rock in one’s hand may mean different things to different people, but the physical mode of communication is the same one which caused it to be embedded into the being of the creator, and which now finds it so eager to be expressed. 

I wonder in this piece whether I will not in fact use words— these chambers may or may not contain poetry snippets, it is quite possible they will. There are many variables. Physically, the figure may or may not be translucent in material, or even vastly comprised of empty space: I have one idea which consists of creating the figure from one branching tree form, with the spine as base and branches extending outwards from there. The figure could be constructed/delineated by adjoining fine branches, or could be see-through with this tree inside, and then perhaps the ‘compartments’ could actually be physical nests inside the person. (Nests are an imagery which has been fascinating to me lately, as the site for all potential for creation, as well as a symbol of home.) I think the placement of objects and/or poetry into a vessel such as a nest can give a sense of the sacred which I find very appealing in my overall endeavor. Another idea was to comprise a figure made wholly of tiny boxes. These could be translucent, or opaque. If so, will all boxes be the same size? Still another is to create small drawers inside a figure which appear seamless on the surface but are actually able to be opened and discovered.  What will be inside of the chambers? (I have so many sacred objects, and capacity to make chambers that are composed and created meaningfully.) In any way, I want this figure to be fully interact-able so that people can ‘read’ the book by opening chambers and experiencing what is inside of each. I want this to be a meaningful way of reading what is vastly inexpressible within me, as I am the creator of this book. I want this to be a process of discovery for the viewer, as intimate and personal as these objects, words, emotions are to me.

I am very excited about this project, and open to seeing where this idea takes me. Inspiration takes wind in me, and I am already alight with it! I am also willing to see it wherever it goes within this time span and beyond, feeling full and well that this is but one ephemeral moment in my journey as an artist, and the development of this project here in this class may very well lead me down many paths and to larger discoveries in years and decades to come. These themes are so core to me, I feel they have always been present in my work, and as sure as I have reached a certain level of understanding them in this moment that is beyond anything before, I will just as surely grow and deepen in my understanding and expression in the future as I continue on in living and creating. I am so deeply engaged with this project and this class, and ready to set sail forward to all that is to come!

A Little History About Me:

I have always been inspired by ways of connecting more profoundly and deeply with the people around me, and through art, I have undergone a transformation moving me in many directions: large scale and small, 2D and 3D, still and moving, silent and sound— all with one common thread, which is the desire to connect more fully and freely with the human beings that experience my work. I am also pursuing a minor in creative writing because my soul needs similarly to express itself through poetry, and I am often engaged to combine these two for more meaningful expression. I also play the guitar and enjoy playing songs on the Diag, where I can see people’s faces and touch their day in some way. :)