Cassie's Long Overdue

Oh my. What can I say, I am so sorry to be so late. Ridiculously late. I am not good at this! Okay, so the midterm critique. I heaped a pile of grass onto my desk and a stack of cardboard boxes. And then I called it a waterfall. I tried to loosely imitate the movement that I saw in the Arno waterfall - the changing stages, the gravity pulling the water (or top substance) from one level down to the next, and the feel of one material covering/laying over top of another. For me, this felt good. I liked the way it looked. But as an object, as something that was put on display for "the viewer", for others to see and react to, it did not arouse much of a reaction, other than Zoe asking, "Can I roll around in it?" and Alessandra wanting to stick her feet in it. After this critique, I question what it is, exactly, that I am trying to do. Am I making this for myself and only myself, or do I want to offer it to others? The answer is yes, I do want to give something. To the world maybe, or maybe just to my friends. Maybe just to this class because I know that the people in it are excited to see what I have to say. But what about everyone else? Sure, I'll do it. Photo and video material have been the media that most accurately portray to others the thing, the feeling that I want to communicate.
What is this thing?
It's the feeling of being comforted by being covered, even if that means covered with sunlight or submerged in open air.
It's the visual sensation created by a steady, constant, either slow or fast but definitely pulsating movement.
It's the smell of earth and things that are natural to it (grass, dirt, mud, mold, wood, moss, flowers, manure.)
It's the tactile sensation of plushness and softness.
It's the oratory sensation of quiet that arises from a combination of absorbing and tuning out background noise at the same time.

I think it might be meditation, although I'm not really sure what that is.


Whew! So this week, I talked to Julia about some of this, and decided to make a series of bed/chairs that will be called "resting places". They will be cushion-y seats placed in various places near school (depending on weather: the courtyard, the sidewalk, a seldom used street with a nice view...) and will be meant for people to use as an escape from...anything. They will be filled with substances (so far I have settled on "grass" and "cloud", surprise surprise, and for this project's time line, they might be the only ones) in which the sitter can feel submerged and comforted, but at the same time, still has access to the surrounding environment.
I hope that this project will work out. In some nervous moments (nervous because I was afraid this project would not cut it), I thought I would also like to try filling a room (one of the classrooms upstairs) with grass, like FILL it, and create a welcome-ramp at the door, invite people to come in, and then place signs on the wall (made out of grass, as well) inviting people to lay down and/or play in the grass. This invitation would be entirely set up through visual clues, I would not play a physical role in the piece. I'm not sure how possible it would be to convince Regan to let me do this, but I think it would be awfully nice and I'd love to try it...

Jana - I hope all is well back in the states and thank you again for a wonderful two months! (and I promise I will be better with the updates in the future...)

:-)


ps. the photo site: www.flickr.com/photos/cassiehamrick