A fellow student and I have been preparing this week for a pop-up exhibition on Monday 29 February in a specially designated white room on campus. The experience has involved another learning process as I have been using the workshop’s new laser cutter.
Our theme for the week is The Ties That Bind and my contribution to the project has been to consider the emotional and physical ties that bind an individual at birth to her mother and how those ties are severed when the child is put up for adoption.
You can see from my post on the 13 February I have been using jigsaw puzzle shapes as a basis for a future larger piece of work and this week was the week I had that opportunity.
I selected short phrases from a letter written by a mother who is relieved to find that she has finally found a home for her unmarried teenage daughter’s baby. Each piece of puzzle is from a complete rectangle of nine pieces.
Artwork ready for printing.
My work involved the technical expertise of our workshop fab technician, who guided me through the complex procedures.
The maquette coming of the laser cutter…on black card.
Light penetrating through the words…
Adjustments were made to enlarge the scale and we are off… The ‘nature of the beast’ (laser cutter) was to automatically cut away all the black, including the words which, I did not originally intend, but became an advantage because it gave the work an added fragmented appearance. It is rewarding to have these extra little surprises and I often find that my work evolves and is given more meaning through these unexpected processes!
Installation in progress…Glenda putting the final touches to her work…
Images of the final installation to follow…
