Collaborative 'Research Through Practice' Class Final

Hej there. Today we had our final project presentation for our interdisciplinary class (meaning a class with all the first year master students). I must say, I am very pleased with the outcome, especially considering the time constraint of two weeks with a complicated assignment. You can read about the project here, and here you can find a video of the piece (much thanks to Willow for documentation!) here. This is a new format of working for me, one which I hope to explore a lot more in the near future...Bye for now!

xx Beth

damnnnn

this artist makes my obsessive nature look like a goddamn joke! Tara Donovan, a 2008 Macarthur Fellow...

first piece of the season

Hi there. I finally finished (almost finished) my first piece out here. It is made of wood and plastic, thus beginning my odyssey of working with materials that are not metal. It isn't a big deal of a piece, just a sort of warm up. It is meant to evoke the general interior spatial feeling of what I have experienced in Stockholm thus far, and perhaps to be a cliché of the "essence" of Swedish aesthetics. Alright, enough preamble already, here it is (extra points if you can figure out the inspiration of the middle part):
So that's it...It might end up being a brooch, but it also may become a secret randomly placed object in various places and photographed there. In that case I'm going to call it an "environment growth" or "wall weed" or something...Not entirely sure yet. In any case, I'll document it and post it here. Now it is late and I'm glad that I have (almost) accomplished something, despite the 8-hour-a-day theory class I've been in for the past four weeks. Oh yeah, I got permission and passed the health check-up for the plastics room. Toxic resins and epoxies, here I come. I'll leave you with a beautiful scene from my kitchen window, looking down onto the courtyard of the apartment building I live in. Behold! Autumn!
Sweet autumn dreams everyone,
Beth

Major Slacker

Hi Friends,
I know I haven't updated in a while. I have been very very busy with my 'Research Through Practice' course--a theoretical inquiry about the relevance of research in the world of art/craft/design etc etc. I am also working on a couple of pieces that are most likely becoming brooches, which will hopefully evoke the typical Swedish interior landscape, or, to use a more simple word, "floors". Ah yes, language and the games it can play...but doesn't "interior landscape" sound more elegant? Elegant, hopefully like the brooches will be eventually. I am also working on/have already made some/ pieces that are sound based. I have been working with a few people, most notably Jan Carleklev, who is in the "experience design" masters program here. He is an electronic music composer, sound-collector, and generally amazing person. I hope that we can continue to work together and teach each other more about our areas of specialty, so that we can later begin to combine them more and more. One of the goals I have this year is to overcome my techno-phobia, so I am in the middle of learning, little by little, how to take apart electronics, re-wire or add circuits and buttons, and solder it back together...stuff like that. I'm becoming an even BIGGER nerd, basically. Soldering glasses, please!

Speaking of nerdiness, I leave you with a flippin' awesome link of my newest favorite artist (thanks to Jan again): Gilberto Esparza (Mexico). And finally, in love and mourning for the beautiful farmers market near my house, which has now closed until the middle of spring, I give you these:(thanks Maki for the photos!)

Kram Puss Puss Puss,

Beth


ps. Don't worry, I'm getting out and about at night...that's probably the main reason I haven't been updating this here blog. Tonight I am seeing Of Montreal! be jealous people, very jealous ;) xxxxoxoxoxoxooxox