Work 2
Aguila Azteca, 2014

 

Digitally woven cotton, polyester, thread on wood stretcher
70 x 50 in.

Process: After my father died, I found a box of vintage lunch boxes in his storage unit. I photographed 2 lunchboxes and manipulated the image digitally and physically, I layered the textile images together, adding stuffing and stretching onto wood to create a 3 dimensional mandala-like textile-painting.

Concept: I manipulated my own memory of these lunchboxes by interweaving and layering the two images together. Through this piece, I found a way to collaborate with my father, to create an image evoking the past, and also the uncertain future, moving through loss and my own fragmented and changing identity.

Activity

Personal Writing - Answer the following questions with a short paragraph each:

1. Is there a shared object that both you and one of your parents value - describe how?

2. Does that object reflect an aspect of the broader culture? How?

3. Is there something you would do with the object that your parent wouldn’t? Why?

Collage Exercise - Photograph your work as you go to help you make decisions

Supplies: printed media on paper, scissors, tape

1. Find photographic or text printed images in the mass media, like an ad or piece of junk mail.

2. Carefully cut triangular shapes out of each of the images.

3. Tape the triangles together to create a unified composition of any sort. 

4. Make 2 more collages that differ from each other as much as possible.

5. Combine all 3 compositions into one large composition.