Well it's already nearly Fall break (O.O omg... time goes fast) and I feel I have just barely begun getting my stuff together and preparing to pump out work for my senior seminar. But worry not dear readers, I am on my way.
First of all, I have studied up on Braille (which in case you didn't know is a kind of writing for the blind ... examples). Braille is a totally awesome form of writing, consisting of raised dots placed on a 2x3 layout per letter. The reader is supposed to run their fingers over the letters to read them. Its also very beautiful in both its raised patterns and shapes visually as it is in a kind of language metaphor. What I personally find so great about Braille is that most people don't know how to read it and as a visually able person I feel it is a sign of a veiled secret, almost sacred language; a barrier of language and communication, not because its not readable, but because people wouldn't stop to understand. I feel this also happens a lot in my poetry. I write poetry to explain and display my innermost thoughts and feelings, but they often are unheard or not understood by others. In my senior seminar I will play with these ideas by making works with Braille in them.
Secondly, I have begun trying to inspire myself daily. I have started looking at sites such as http://500photographers.blogspot.com/ http://abduzeedo.com/ and http://www.artistaday.com/. These are both really great sites for learning about other artists, what they do, how they do it and why. One example of someone I found on Artist A Day is Amy Shackleton. This artist is from Canada and makes paintings with an unusual technique of squirt bottles and letting the paint drip down the canvas in a controlled manner (see the video about her). Shackleton's work usually contains a mix of the urban and the natural. I really enjoyed learning about her and seeing how she made her work.
Also while doing this sort of online searching I find articles about how to succeed at being an artist. This one in particular seemed like a good idea of how to get your work displayed.
And the final thing for this post is that much of my poetry is about my struggle with mental illness. So, because I'm using my poetry for the Braille writing in my art, mental illness is also a theme in my works for this semester. I found this cool article about a woman who makes art as a kind of therapy for her mental illness.
...and that being said I thought I would just include a link to the site I use to publish my poetry online, here.
I will be posting about some of my finished artworks soon!
