Juvenile Humor

I guess I've always had a weird sense of humor, but only recently have I thought of a way to describe it. I'm not sure when I first thought of putting humor into my quilts, but I do remember what a big impact one art show I entered had on my current work.

When I went to the gallery on opening night, it was very disturbing to find that a small and personal collage about my family tree that I had proudly entered had been hung above the keypad to the alarm system for the gallery. Even worse, it was a dark corner in a back room.

While I was pouting about this, a young college guy came up close to my collage, pointed at the corner of it, and joked with his friends. "What I want to know," he said, "is what is that weird guy doing up in the corner of this one."

Wow, like wow, I was so impressed. That little funny photo of my grandfather (he was Japanese and wore little round glasses) got that guy to come across the room into that dark corner and look at my collage that was not much bigger than the alarm keypad. I don't really think the guy was making fun of my grandfather, I think he was trying to figure out why I put it the collage.

So I thought, if I can just get people to stop, come a little closer, really think and maybe ask questions about my art, that's all I want. They don't have to like it. I just like the idea that they didn't pass it by on the way to something else.

Now I'm making bigger stuff. I think bias towards large or small scale can be a personal preference, but also it's important to ask what scale is appropriate for what an artist is trying to do. I've seen big work that will knock your socks off, and small work that can too. I've also seen big work that is boring and overblown and small work that looks timid and banal.

I like working big, for practical reasons because it's easier for me to cut out many complicated shapes and fit them into a composition, but also for aesthetic reasons. I'm trying to create crazy fantasy world that I want the viewer to come closer, get absorbed, and become a part of for a brief moment.

Russ always says that there is a real physical difference in the emotional response of a viewer to a sculpture that is at least a little bit larger than lifesize, than the response to one that is just a little bit smaller than lifesize. I think this is true also for fiber work, and I usually make the head of my main character in my quilts slightly larger than lifesize.

I want the piece to read from across the room, but I also put in little stuff you can't see until you come up really close. Sometimes it's little jokes, like the hairspray in the drawing today, but sometimes it also has a serious side -- like my concern about breathing in noxious chemicals right now.

So here's the drawing you saw before, but now I've colored in the background and added more things in the back. I'm having trouble with the shower, what I really want is a bathtub with a shower curtain, but I'm having trouble drawing that and making it work behind PaMdora's head.

Here's some of the fabrics I picked out based on my drawing. Looking at it tonight on my computer, I realize the other thing that keeps me going on these projects -- Fear! Am I really going to be able to make it all work??!! Sometimes I really stress out over finding the right colors.

Oh, and if you haven't figured it out yet, I didn't go to NC. When they left without me yesterday I was feeling kind of down. But then this morning, I realized that I had worked hard to get everything done for the trip and told everyone I was leaving, that now it's like I have a surprise vacation for the next few days.