Todays City Photos

Ive seen this tag in a couple places around my neighborhood


shoes


"Ladies Entrance"...umm...

reminds me of my shopping list stencils a few semesters back...

Memorial/Holy Well/Shrine

Since I'm been working on memorials I started thinking about shrines and making my own. I like the idea of starting one in a public space and getting other people to contribute to it. it would be a way of engaging with the community.
These are some photos of the Holy Well of St Bridget that we saw in Ireland. Looking at these is kind of a starting point for how i might make my own.


Things to think about...
Location-where would seem like a fitting place for a memorial/shrine? It would need to be seen but maybe not extremely obvious, maybe something to discover.
Materials-traditional shrine materials, things that would denote who/what the shrine was for. non-valuable.
Topic-for cancer victims, yeah?
What else...?

It's all coming together...

Revised Thesis Abstract....

As an artist, I'm more interested in engaging an audience on an emotional level as opposed to an intellectual one. Emotions are messy. Art is messy. But there is beauty in how they come together.

For my thesis, I am doing a series of portraits in a somewhat none traditional sense. The portraits go beyond just a face of a person and explore who they are or what the represent but on an even deeper level, they as serve as a portrait of the artist, me.

The theme of memorialization is important in my work, as I work through the death of my mother. I am also exploring how other people grieve and memorialize. Religious figures and memorial shrines seen around the city become a fascinating curiosity to me. And I recognize the city as a metaphor for life, death and rebirth. I see a beautiful poetry in these themes and the cycle of life and hope to convey that in my work.

Cherly Dunn

Cheryl Dunn "Sometimes The Answer" from Ivory & Black on Vimeo.

"So to say something is definitive, like an artist statement, like an 'I AM THIS,' 'I DO THIS' it doesn't apply to me. and I don't think it applies to a lot of people and we're forced to be categories and to be describable. I just wanted to say something that is a little bit about everything and that its ok to think about that many things and ask a lot of questions."

"when i point my lens at something i'm asking a question and the photograph is sometimes the answer."

....wordddd

http://arrestedmotion.com/2012/03/preview-cheryl-dunn-ivory-black-soho/

More City Photos....

So staying on this path of Portraits and loss... I've come up with another piece idea that uses these images of the city I've been taking. I'm thinking of calling it "Portrait of a City Landscape" The title is meant to be tongue and cheek. Especially if I make it in the shape of a square. It's neither and both at the same. But I've been collecting a lot of city images that feature something missing, old, broken, torn, etc. And graffiti that shares this similar idea of broken and loss, so a lot of memorial pieces and Virgin Mary statues. Here are photos from today...

Portraits... Loss. Longing. Gaps....

It's looking like my thesis show is going to be a portrait series. Non-traditional portraits though. I think i'm going to have a section of the wall with the post-its in a grid like pattern...but an imperfect grid. Much like they are on my studio wall now with some gaps from me taking down some of the post-its to look at or use.

I've also started a portrait of my mother...or about her... But it's also about me. and reflecting back on her and who she was, what she meant to me and how I feel now that she's gone. Here are a couple quick shots as i'm working on the layout. It's going to be a combination of transfers, stencils, collage, and text -- both handwriten and printed.

I think underneath of it will be a long box with about 6 compartments roughly 4 inches in size that will have a collection of items relating to my mom and the portrait. One will most likely be ashes. And another sea glass. Still thinking about what will be in the other boxes. Maybe one with yarn or thread...

I started thinking about what the next portrait will be... I'm considering the title "Portrait of an Ex-lover" ...but it would be about all my ex-lovers combined. and again, its more a piece about me. There's also that sense of loss with this idea too.

Loss. Longing. Gaps....

Photo Adventure

Some photos from an outing in north Philadelphia...


Northern Liberties, A block from the Piazza...note the Hipsterness in the street art


The tree was hungry


Written on a old delivery truck with the window shot in the driveway of an abandoned house


Pretty sure this used to be a pen that held dogs for fighting.


Through the fence of a school playground


My friend's air freshener in her car, and odd choice for her but fit perfectly on this outing.


Memorial for someone outside of a house


Virgin Mary vigil in a yard


Jay, Daryl? and Wiz


Graffiti that mocks you


Recycled tire flower basket, nifty

the city within my head

Meg's world...the city within my head.... what if I built my own city? ...or city structures...then graffiti with my art work...?

This came from me thinking about the context of my work in the city, as if i were to put it up on a random city wall... in particular i was thinking about a memorial piece for my mom. But the placement of it on a random city wall doesn't make sense. When memorial murals and graffiti throw-ups pop up in the city they are usually for someone who died in or was from that neighborhood or a famous person from that particular city. In the case of my mom, she wasn't famous and she only briefly lived in Philadelphia when she was about my age, but she passed away at our home in the suburbs. The only place I could think to put the mural would beacross the street from the house on the wood fence by the CVS parking lot. A little odd for placement but she might get a kick out of sticking it to CVS one last time after trying to stop them from building there.
Even if i did find the right local that doesn't do me much good for work in the show... And I've been thinking about building a structure on which to cover in stencils and stuff. Thinking back to "Meg's World," the land inside my head, if it were such a place, then a mural of my mom on a Meg's World wall would make sense.
But is the work going to get this personal? Is it about my life? or contemporary life? or life in general? blahhhhhhh!