Progress Report 2: Church Window

Got the sawdust vacuumed up, the window exterior blacked and the back of the thing all framed up. It's not the sturdiest thing is the world but it's made 2 trips in my hatchback now without breaking. The unfortunate thing is that I have to stick my head up between one of the openings in the wood too see while I drive, so if I get in a wreck, I will be decapitated... so it goes. Here is what I worked on last night. First the design plan in black and white. 

The central figure. 

And the 4 encircling figures on the top, 

the left, 

the bottom,

and the right. 

I'm not making good time, but I like what it looks like so far and I'm really proud of what a stellar job I think I'm doing. Delusional. Maybe... that's how I live.

Progress Report - Church Window

My landlady is going to kill me!

I didn't have a jigsaw but I do have a reciprocating saw, and I cut this whole thing out of 1/4 lauan with a reciprocating saw. I couldn't get it timed right either so I could use the projector to cast the image to cut, and I actually had to do the geometry instead. Gag. But here is where I am on my church window.

I included this angle for scale. The window is a 7'0" circle meant to mimic the Rose Window from Notre Dame or other such gothic/romanesque churches.

Artist's Statement to come...

The Mehrya Rug

This is my design for a rug I'm making in my Collaborative Projects class with a student named Mehrya, whose family came here from Afghanistan. The eye shapes are a natural geometric intersection of the style of design I pulled from actual afghan rug art, but are meant to represent the fear of her family as they struggled through the explosions and carnage and war which compelled their dramatic escape. The bone shapes also speak to the fatal path of their journey. Although Mehrya was not born yet, her family's struggle to care for siblings and eventually bring her into the world is firmly planted in her self-identity. However, Mehrya herself is a sunny and bright person, a beacon I can only imagine to her family - someone who makes them happy and strong in her warmth. I have represented her in the center of the rug with the radiating beams, and a smaller version of the eye pattern, which is round and more human and insists on looking not to the fearful events of the past but to the human possibilities of the future.