Memento

Times to Remember

Materials: grey oven bake clay, green paint 

Dimensions: 1 inch in width, 1.5 inches in height 

Artist Statement:

For my memento project, I choose to use a personal memory. A few years ago my younger sister passed away from cancer. It was a very hard time for my family, especially my mom. She didn't know how to cope with the situation and move forward. My mom and I did something together every day during this time to take her mind off of the tragedy. It was very hard for me to see my mom distraught for so long and all I wanted was for her to get better. One day, we went to a new wine bar that had just opened near my house. It was a very upscale place and I distinctly remember the shape on the wine glasses; it was a wine glass without the stem. The glass it self was also leaving and looked like a piece of art. The waitress we has was wearing a silver dragonfly pin that caught my moms' eye. She complimented it and the waitress told us the story of a dragonfly. A dragonfly is born as an ugly creature, but eventually they shed their skin and become something beautiful. The dragonfly is used a symbol of rebirth. My sister was like a dragonfly, she was sick for so long and didn't look like herself, but when she passes away she was at peace and would be a beautiful angel in heaven. This story touched my mom as well as me. Right after lunch my mom went and got a beautiful tattoo of a dragonfly. This memory is where I got the idea for my memento. The shape of the whole piece was in the shape of the wine glass at the bar. The stems and grass represent my mom's and my emotional growth from that moment on. The green represents the actual color of her tattoo. I kept the dragonfly grey to represent the dark and grey place we were both in. This day is a memory that heavily impacted me and that I will never forget.

Research:

1) Joan Lurie 

https://www.artsy.net/artist/joan-lurie

2) Martin Azua 

https://www.martinazua.com

3) Aaron S. Moran 

https://aaronsmoran.com

On Longing

"Nostalgia can not be sustained without loss" 

The first photo was taken on my fourth birthday, with my mom, dad, and sister. That was a big day for me because I was finally allowed to take dance classes, which is something I had longed to do. The second photo was taken on my 16th birthday, with only my mom and dad. That was also a big year for be because I would finally be able to drive, something I was also longing to do. In the moment of that photo the only thing I could think about was the loss of my sister, she had passed away from cancer a little while after the first photo was taken. The nostalgia of that moment was very strong, I felt the same longing I felt when I was four, expect it was due to the loss of my sister, she was missing from the moment. 

Masking tape shoe

Running to the Degree 

Masking Tape Shoe

Materials: masking tape in various widths, a cutting Matt, exacto knife, banning wheel, and scissors. 

Dimensions: 8.5 inches in width, 4 inches in height. 

"Touch fills our memory with a detailed key as to how we’re shaped. A mirror would mean nothing without touch"

For my first example of touch I painted a friends back without telling her what I was painting. The purpose of this was to show that we memorize what objects feel like and even without seeing the object, we can tell what it is based off of touch. She was able to guess what each object was that I was painting based off of the brush strokes. Even though she was not able to see what I was painting, she could feel it.     

"Touch allows us to find our way in the world in the darkness or in other circumstances where we cant fully use our other senses"

For my second example of touch I blindfolded my friend and made him guess the liquid that was in the cup. I used a coffee cup, wine glass, shot glass, and plastic cup. Naturally, he guessed that the coffee was in the coffee cup, Wine in the wine glass, alcohol in the shot glass, and some sort of juice in the plastic cup. He was able to guess the liquids without seeing because touch guided him. He already knew what a coffee cup felt like, hence he was able to guess coffee. Like the quote stated, "touch can guide us even in the dark"