Pillow making event
Craft Center, Bucknell University
4/20/2018
by Erin Clark
by Erin Clark
by Erin Clark
I watched Season 6 Episode 1: Change. The way that the photographer talked about change resonated with me. She said that she often views change as an escape of sorts. For one of her works, she harkened back to her childhood where she would go to a specific lake to escape the stress of things going on around her. She photographed these very serene images when she was in her 50s for a commissioned work at a hospital, and chose this location because that change in location would help her to feel at ease. The video showed the photographs in the hospital, and it was interesting to see these images in that location after having this background knowledge. At face value, the calmness of the images is apparent. It seems suitable for this location because patients, or their loved ones, would be looking at art possibly to distract themselves from the reason why they are at the hospital in the first place. Having the knowledge that the artist saw this place as an escape contextualizes the work so much more. The way I see it, she wanted others to find a similar feeling of escape or relief by looking at these images as she felt in her childhood.
by Erin Clark
I watched the episode about artists in Mexico City and many of their works were politically motivated or tried to challenge systems of bureaucracy. For example, one of the artists created musical instruments out of guns that have been removed from Mexico City’s streets. This project was not only combatting gun violence in Mexico City, but it also aimed to change the perception of guns and violence by physically transforming the object from something with the potential to kill to something to make music. Also, one of the artists created fake student ID’s, tickets and other kinds of documentation in order for people to be able to receive things for free. I thought that this was an interesting way to make a small stab at the system. Although it will not make a critical difference to the establishment to provide people with fake student IDs so they can get student discounts, it makes a difference to the receiver of this piece of art. Additionally, another piece that struck me was the artist who was spotlighting all of the missing young boys and the political crisis that surrounds this. Her art (and all of the pieces described above) are an interesting way to create works that are also pieces of activism.