More Ritual

The first piece I started for "I Live Here Now" was "Silently (I Saw a Robin Today)," a piece about my mother using her wedding gown. The dress hung on a wall in my studio for some time before I began working and the day I started taking the dress apart, I tried the dress on. I had never done this before and had never even thought about it until that moment. It occurred to me that many girls try on their mothers' wedding dresses and I felt I had to experience this tradition, too. I put the dress on in my studio and took a few photos with Photo Booth on my laptop. I really love these pictures and I'm so glad I tried the dress on and took photos. I know this act was an important part of the process and the exact place to begin. I like that the pictures capture the serious of the act, as well. I felt serious when I did this and it made me contemplate my mother and the story of the dress and her wedding. Afterward, I documented the details of the dress and then began taking it apart. 

Please visit Flickr to see lots of pictures of the deconstruction process.

Thanks for reading.

Ritual

A few weeks ago I mentioned my increasing interest or awareness of ritual in my work. I used ritual in many of the pieces for "I Live Here Now," including "We Walk on the Same Ground." Ritual feels like a natural part of my process and I am excited to see it developing. It helps me move through my work, solve problems and figure out details. It also allows my intuitive/emotional self and my analytical/deliberate self to coexist.

a detail of "We Walk on the Same Ground"

"We Walk on the Same Ground" began with an idea for a ritual. Over time it grew to involve several steps performed by 23 different friends, and myself, in places throughout the United States and later in Sweden. I asked friends to collect dirt from their homes and think about times we spent together as they did it. When they were done, I asked them say either out loud or in their minds, "Help Amy find her home." Once I had received all the samples in the mail, I arranged the packages in front of me and took a pinch of dirt from each person, focusing on each as I worked. When I was done with one person's sample, I kissed the package and moved on. A few weeks later, after I had finished the piece, I took more dirt from each package, again thinking about my friends individually as I worked. I mixed these samples together in a bag and packed it in my suitcase. I took the remaining dirt and poured it onto the ground in the backyard of my childhood home, yet again, concentrating, even meditating, on each person. I also wished them a happy life and thanked them for helping me with this project.

in the backyard of my childhood home

Finally, in Sweden, the day after the opening of the exhibition, I walked to the park near the gallery with my new friend, Karin Roy Andersson. I found a beautiful spot under a big tree and knelt down. I closed my eyes and thought about each friend. I poured the dirt onto the ground and I sat there in silence for a few moments as the faces of each flashed through my mind. I finished the ritual by touching the dirt and pausing.

The whole process felt amazing. It was charged with emotion and memory and simply felt right. It felt like me.

Thanks for reading.

We Walk on the Same Ground (because) I am With You, You are With Me

We Walk on the Same Ground

In addition to my family, the house I grew up in and all the places I have lived as an adult, my ideas of home come from my friends and community. I am fortunate to have friends all over the place, and not just acquaintances, but very close, dear friends. I also have a network of artists around the US in jewelry, art and craft. "We Walk on the Same Ground" is about all of these people and reflects my feelings towards them and the memories I have of each person. I also wanted to show generosity because my friends are incredibly generous people and I feel a wonderful, balanced "give and take" between us. Through a multi-layered ritual, I collected dirt from 23 different friends and based the main form of the piece on the reliquary, a container for sacred objects. Later I added spoons to symbolize generosity and to create visual balance. Once the piece was complete, I made an accompanying necklace with a cluster of spoons. This piece is also a brooch and should be worn with the spoons pinned over the heart. 

I am With You, You are With Me

The ritual included participation from 23 different people from a number of cities, as well as my input both in the US and later in Sweden. Next week I'll get into the details of this process and show some images. 

detail of the reliquary

packages of dirt from 23 friends

Please visit my Flickr page to see some images of process. 

Thanks for reading.

I Live Here Now, Part 11

removing threads

I've been thinking a lot about rituals and have realized the use of ritual in my work is becoming important. I am an intuitive maker, but also have this analytical part of me and I think ritual fits in with both of these. I used ritual in several new pieces, creating a unique process with a sacred or spiritual feel to it for each one. Sometimes the ritual happened without trying, while other times I purposely choose it before I began. For a piece about friendship, I asked a number of friends to collect a material for me and to follow steps that required them to recall moments in our friendship, finishing the process by make a request for me. This process could be done silently or out loud. In another piece using deconstruction that took several days, I thought about very specific things as I worked, basically meditating for hours. In yet another piece, I recreated mix tapes that belonged to my brother and then listened to them back to back, again, meditating as I listened. There is something very satisfying, grounding and beautiful in ritual for me. It also feels natural and I plan to explore this more in the coming months.

dirt collected by friends

listening to my brother's mix tapes

More about all of this soon…

Thanks for reading.