Kokeshi Doll Chandelier

Bigger than than the sum of it's parts? For my daughters bedroom I made this chandelier, combining two of our favourite things - Kokeshi dolls and an old chandelier -a lucky junk shop pick up for $5. The kokechi dolls were a fair bit more expensive than we would have liked but by then we were fixed on the idea and just had to run with it.... 

Giving Thanks, Ex- Voto And Detatchable Frida Kahlo.

I know I complained to anyone who'd listen (Hi Karen!) about having to write an essay AND give a PowerPoint presentation on Frida Kahlo a couple of months ago but the fact is the process was enriching (learning hey, who knew?). I've always been fascinated by Frida Kahlo's circumstances but not so enamoured with her actual work - I just didn't like her style. Researching Frida however and her paintings turned that around somewhat. Now I get it. Still, I wouldn't want to have Frida's My Birth hanging in my living area (Madonna owns the original and decides who'll make it as a friend depending on their reaction) but I do love the kitsch that has grown up around her iconic image and has it's roots in Mexican folk art - the very thing I disliked about her style in the first place. The best part though for me was discovering ex-voto and retablo which were popular in 19th century Mexico and which Frida drew inspiration from. They are small religious paintings on tin which give thanks to a saint for intervening in a tragic event or illness. Sometimes the retablo will depict the tragic event, inscribe a sentence or paragraph abut it and in the corner have the intervening saint. In ex-voto it's just a painting of the saint. Searches on google images or etsy will turn up ex-votos or retablos of Frida Kahlo herself. Like she's the saint now. The saint of suffering or rather triumph of the spirit over suffering I like to think. Which is why when I had lots of tin left over from my chandelier project it seemed obvious that I should make my own Frida ex - voto with a little polymer clay. Then it seemed obvious that with a bit of  blu- tac it could be a detachable element of the chandelier - especially if I wanted to push the chandelier over the line into kitsch! As for Affluenza maybe it's just a reminder to give thanks for what we already have. Hope you are enjoying the festive season! 

Completed Affluenza Chandelier.

Phew! The Affluenza Chandelier is complete and has been put past the panel for assessment. Pretty much the most involved project I've ever completed I can finally breath a sigh of relief. It brought it's fair share of stress along the way but I learnt a lot. I now have metal wrangling skills and look at mundane objects and (non vegetable) refuse in a whole new way. I also learnt that if you are sick stay away from permanent super glue based decisions: in these instances blu tac can be your friend. I am also really lucky that we had our assessment in two parts and that I learnt in a forgiving environment that I am NOT, even about a project I know inside out, capable of speaking off the cuff. Fortunately I had a week until the graded panel assessment to get over the virus and learn my presentation off by heart - also rewrite it so it made sense  (that helped, who knew?)  and sell the concept behind my chandelier the best I could. In the end it seemed too much for some flan tins and plastic cutlery to embody  the fullness of Hamilton's arguments in Affluenza so I narrowed it down to a metaphor: the Family Meal. That is taking the time to cook fresh ingredients in enduring materials and nurturing your connections with family and friends around the meal table in contrast with the takeaway meal eaten alone after a twelve hour day at work. The flowers are of course my depiction of the "Down Shifting" Hamilton cites as the cure for Affluenza. They start at the bottom tier, multiply in the middle and by the top tier form a thriving garden. Using yellow also helped me portray the sense of energy and new life and abundance (as opposed to material abundance) that comes from individuals downshifting (shame on anyone who thinks I used yellow because I've got a BIG crush on it and it's SO hot in design right now.....).

As a final note I should probably start calling it the Down Shifting chandelier because, like the book, it ends (and I'm hoping this comes across visually) with the feeling of optimism and new possibility. And plus no body wants a depressing chandelier do they?????

The Daily Foto Project.

No nice way to say this - I'm hating the affluenza chandelier. It's a logistical nightmare. Too many pieces, too ambitious and it's going to embarrass the hell out of me in two weeks time when I have to present it to the 'panel' of industry experts. Only one thing to do when this happens: steal some nice pics off etsy and get them to pretty up my blog. These photos come from thedailyfoto - a photographer named Melissa from Australia who is self taught. The images I've chosen here are from a daily photo project where she will take 365 photos in 365 days. Whatever catches her eye on the day I guess. I particularly like her eye for colour and her sense of the graphic. The photos can be bought on etsy where Melissa also tells the story behind the image  and as an added plus $5 of each sale goes to your choice of charity!

Affluenza Chandelier Update.

Only two more weeks until first stage assessment begins on my Affluenza Chandelier - the project I am working on for the Reclaim Reframe brief that pretty much forms all the assessment for this year's course work. The phrases "Bitten off" and "More than I can chew" keep coming to mind. At least I have settled on the two manafactured pre -used materials and the form my 3D structure will take (the chandelier). Above are the (time consuming) metal flowers made from the base of used flan tins that will decorate the outer tins (I will need at least double what is done here) and then plastic cutlery used as the "crystals". Getting more 'flowers' done and the putting it together so that it looks like the picture I have in my head (!!) is the next logical step. True to form I'm having stressful dreams about the whole thing!

Reclaim, Reframe.

Have begun work on what is to be the the main project for this years study and supposed to draw on everything we have learnt so far. It will also be the main source of our grade for the year (no pressure!). As always when I see a brief I can't imagine how I'll ever begin to find a solution to it. Titled Reclaim Reframe we must use two recycled manafactured materials deconstructed and reformed into a 3D form which meets a percieved challenge in the area of one of following: Economics, Agriculture, Environment, Ergonomics...The difficulty here is the limit of two materials. To be honest I just let this go for a couple of weeks, completely at a loss. I don't feel comfortable with 3D and it did cross my mind, with the flu still in active residence, that this might just be my quit point. But it's early days to be giving up. I should at least see how I go, right? So here I am now with three old flan tins of various sizes and a book that 'speaks' to me -  "Affluenza" by Clive Hamilton. Hamilton is the founder and former director of progressive think tank The Australia Institute  and this book looks at how our increased wealth as a nation has not brought us increased happiness but instead tied us to longer work hours and a slavish devotion to consumerism. So somehow I have to reflect these issues in a piece of art. Seems a lot to ask of a flan tin doesn't it? So far my idea is to use the three outer tins as tiers for a chandelier and then cut up and rework the circular plates for hanging pieces. I'm calling it the Affluenza Chandelier (feel free to laugh). I've never worked with metal before so it's a real learning curve. Lucky I still have a second material to discover and I'm hoping when found it will magically bring the issues Hamilton so eloquently presents in his book come to life. Plastic forks perhaps??????