Sunday, November 27, 2011

Love Letters

So I made these 73 love letters.
Why? Because I have a million things to do, midyears are approaching, I don't know what I'm doing for finals, I changed my BFA (only slightly, it's ok guys), I need to make things for the Student Holiday Sale, I don't allow myself to listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, and it was Monday night. So I was practically on break anyway, and I definitely deserve a break.

They're made out of 35mm filmstrips intended for classroom slideshows circa 1966 (judging by the dates of the reels that came with the blank ones). Anyway, I made Debbie one the other day, because I always leave Debbie love letters in Megastudio, and thought it was funny. Or cute. Or funny. And I also thought it'd be funny to make a lot of them. So I did. And I thought about selling them, because it'd be funny if people bought love letters from me. But I really don't know what to do with them.
They say nice things. Like "You make my dreams come true" and "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens" and "Be my baby" and "Candy, candy canes, candy corn, and syrup" and "I would walk 500 miles." Among others. And some say that I love you more than cotton candy or Charles Hardin Holley or hot chocolate. And that's a lot.

I also made Thanksgiving cards for Liz & Andrew. Liz's said "I'm thankful for your Mexican heritage. Love, Michaela" and Andrew's said "I'm thankful Liz is sexy. Love, Michaela" which I thought was nice.

But now that's out of my system and I need to make other things.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Words are more important to me than I care to admit.

And right now my lungs are heavier than my head. My BFA is changing and so is my vocabulary. My arms are covered in layered ink and my walls are filling with graphite. I need to learn how to talk about my work differently, but emphasizing words makes it difficult to speak. In third grade, Royal Oak witnessed an immaculate snowfall, and I relied on words to remind me of that night. The stars and the snow glittered with light, and gravity was perfectly balanced. I wore a size one shoe and walked only in footprints, and everything made sense. But my mom found my paper that I tucked away, and showed my teacher my words. And my words became more permanent than those I write on my veins. And suddenly I found myself at the public library throughout the summer, talking about words, and reading books about writing, a term that I preferred to be mundane. Private lessons were ok, but I am an artist, and my words have no weight. But my veins became heavy and flowed with vowels, and consonants were scraped from under my nails. Like other things, I never wanted an official diagnosis. When I was fifteen, I made people cry, because my grandpa was dead and I wrote down words. And words that were secrets were found by my mom. And I was at my aunt's house, and my mom had my words, and she showed them to relatives, who took me aside. And they said some words that were heavier than mine and weighed me down while I drowned in their tears. Maybe that's why my grandpa always used white-out. I've been battling gravity my entire life. Is it fair for me to place value on permanence, when I wish my existence were more transient than that? I value the words of others, but at night, I wash my own down the shower drain.

I was stressed out and then I watched this.



My BFA is changing a bit, right before midyears. But that's ok because these cats are cute!

Artist Biography from a Presentation on Wednesday:

Michaela Lynch has blonde and blue hair, wears size 6.5 shoes, searches for four leaf clovers, and chews Orbit Sweet Mint gum. Her hobbies include making dreamcatchers, doing work, dropping off the face of the earth, painting things gold, climbing mountains, having anxiety attacks, baking cupcakes, and correspondence. She hopes to one day create activist art about bicycle theft and mean people. Her best friend is five years old and in love with a boy named Sam Robinson. She will write a real biography when her stress level is lower than the ceiling.

Monday, November 7, 2011

The Sentimental Archive

Now that my BFA project is in full swing, I figured I should start updating here a bit more. I will also be updating the blog I set up specifically for the project, which is called The Sentimental Archive. Up until this point, I've done formal experiments, material exploration, research, writing, organizing, and thinking about my ideas. But with about a month left until midyears (can we please not talk about that?), it's time I start production. So here's a bit about my project.

ABSTRACT (as of right now, anyway)
The Sentimental Archive is an attempt to do something intangible and impossible, yet entirely important: to preserve memories. Through a systematic approach, personal stories will be collected from the individuals of a specific community, and will then be organized and archived in a way that validates them. By archiving them in a specific manner, the stories will gain a sense of authority and show that the subjective point of view can often be more valuable than the objective truth we so often seek. The system of grouping and filing, following a traditional archiving practice, will allow viewers, with the assistance of finding aids, to locate memories to which they can relate. By visualizing some of the memories, I hope to spark curiosity and invite people to delve into the archive to see what other stories exist. In doing so, I aim to inspire people to take an interest in the personal sotires of others, because the sharing of experiences evokes empathy between individuals and helps strengthen a community.

BRANDING (still developing)

In an effort to create an aesthetic that balances authority and sincerity, I decided to utilize fonts with more of a handmade feel that mimic a traditional serif and script. I have also begun integrating hand drawn lines and accents with older photographs. I aim to keep it fairly simple and clean, but I'm sure it will continue to evolve. Anyway, this is the blog I set up. You can visit it at TheSentimentalArchive.com.

EVENTS (or whatever you would prefer to call them)
In order to attract a wider audience, I'm going off campus to various Cleveland destinations, where I will speak with whomever is interested, and record their stories. These are the stories that will be archived, so if you want your memory included, make sure to come to one! The first will be held tomorrow from 10:30am-2:30pm at the downtown public library.

FLYERS (or, how I hope to interest people into having a conversation with me)

While my approach may change, for tomorrow I will be simply sitting and hoping to spark curiosity. I will have small signs sitting on a table next to my sound recorder. We'll see how that works. It may fail, or it may spark some honest curiosity and sincerity.

TAKEAWAYS (what each participant will be given)

I wanted the participants to be able to see the progress of the project, and to see their stories evolve into art pieces. So I set up a blog, and printed these half-sheets of paper with the URL and my email address, as well as the abstract if they wanted to share their experience with others and explain the project.

So? I'm always always always looking for a critique. Leave a comment?

Friday, November 4, 2011

Some Things I Feel Like Sharing

Because it's currently 2:41am, and I'm probably not going to sleep tonight (which is probably for the best because if I do, there's a very good chance I will morph into Rip van Winkle or even my sister McKenna, who can easily sleep for 18 hours at a time if you don't wake her up). So before I get back to work, I thought I'd ramble here a bit about my life and dreams as an artist, or something.

1. Today I lost three chunks of flesh. The first occurred when I swiveled around in my studio chair (with a wooden back) and sandwiched the tiniest bit of sensitive skin between the back of the chair and my desk. But I didn't actually mind so much because it was pretty much the wound of a different color. The second chunk of flesh missing is in my thumb due to a blister that developed and popped while stoning enamel. And the third was that unnecessary patch of skin on the back of the ankle that all razors know doesn't belong.

2. In 6 days, or 5 I suppose, I will be in Asheville, North Carolina, my favorite city, visiting my favorite boy, and picnicking by my favorite waterfall. And, coincidentally, my friend Joe just hung some work in a gallery for a show featuring photographs altered by the hand. Besides the fact that I love Joe's work, I love tactile media and processes, so Nicholas & I will totally have to check it out!

3. For a vegetarian, I eat a lot of animals. Nicholas often claims I'm childish, just because my kitchen is often filled with Teddy Grahams, Bunny Grahams, Cat Cookies...

4. My BFA is about to begin the production stages and I'm very happy with my ideas right now. Obviously I still have plenty to learn about and read about and think about, but I've finally stopped doubting myself. And I'm excited, which makes it a lot easier.

5. My tapestry weaving due tomorrow turned out to be a total failure. Which is probably good, because I happened onto something potentially really interesting. I hope. We'll see how I feel abut it at 9:30am.

6. The main reason I am ok with graduating is because I will be able to cook, to have fresh vegetables in my home, and probably sleep a healthy amount.

7. Sleep is for the weak.

8. I need to buy film. Like, right now.