studio / summer 2009 / work in progress for the upcoming Pittsburgh Visionary Arts Festival / August 7, 8 and 9

studio / summer 2009 / work process

a bright blue cotton dress revisited (work in progress 2009)

A friend of mine gave me this dress form and a big box of blue and green surging thread. I looked at the thread cones and wondered how I could turn these cones of thread into a material that I could use to make art. I separated the cones by color and took inventory. Five cones of bright blue sat off by themselves on the table... and I thought “five strands into one... yeah, I can do something with that” , then my eyes traveled to the dress form and I knew what I would do. I will make a dress.

The first step is crocheting, and that is where I am now.

studio / summer 2009 / former living things

‘New Works’ Exhibition / Brew House Space 101

“when it rains” · layered paper (work in progress)

BLINDSIDED
paper, plants, dirt, water

The plants survived a month of neglect.

PLANNING
27ft w x 10ft h · paint, pencil

A 27' wall painted the color of sunshine, depicts the path of the Lincoln Highway, the path I will take when I start my journey west to Monterey CA. Inside the white line are my thoughts of how I came to make the decision to travel westward. Blindsided and Planning are related projects. I plan to create healing gardens as I travel across the US. A sculptural form similar to Blindsided will be the centerpiece of each garden and the sculpture will transform over the course of time. The thought I wish to share with others is that with time and reflection, life’s negatives can be turned into powerful positives.

BLINDSIDED; the second plant to fall
paper. plants, water, dirt · 2009

I will see you in the Garden
Layered paper; paper clay, tomato plants, dirt and eggshells • 34"h x 51"w x 17"d
©2008 ROSE CLANCY

day one · 7 JUNE 2008
Opening day of the garden. Public reception and garden blessing

the placing of the plants · 7 JUNE 2008
My sister Peggy and I placed the tomato plants that symbolize ourselves and our siblings upon a paper framework that represented our mother’s lifelong mental illness of major depression.




blessing of the garden · 7 JUNE 2008
I smudged sage in this blessing of the garden. Sage is used to remove negative energy and to provide a fresh start.

A special thanks goes out to Tom Sarver for documenting the opening of the garden and for providing video footage of the event.

I will see you in the Garden
Layered paper; paper clay, tomato plants, dirt and eggshells • 34"h x 51"w x 17"d
©2008 ROSE CLANCY

day three · 9 JUNE 2008
Seven of the eight tomato plants fell after an evening of heavy rain. Five plants fell as expected and landed directly below their starting points. Two plants fell in a way where they hit the framework and rolled outside of the good dirt growing area into an area of poor dirt.

I will see you in the Garden
Layered paper; paper clay, tomato plants, dirt and eggshells • 34"h x 51"w x 17"d
©2008 ROSE CLANCY

day three · 9 JUNE 2008
Watering the grass and making mini rainbows.

I will see you in the Garden
Layered paper; paper clay, tomato plants, dirt and eggshells • 34"h x 51"w x 17"d
©2008 ROSE CLANCY

day thirty-nine · 16 JULY 2008

I will see you in the Garden
Layered paper; paper clay, tomato plants, dirt and eggshells • 34"h x 51"w x 17"d
©2008 ROSE CLANCY

day one eleven · 26 SEPT 2008
tomato plant removal and garden clean-up

if I listened to my own advice...

I would document events as they happen and this blog would be current.

I knew that I was neglecting my blog — not because I had become lazy or disinterested in blogging, but because the subject matter of my previous entry changed the direction of my work in a major and in an unexpected way.

With a bright blue cotton dress, I exposed the personal pain of my relationship with my mother and her mental illness in a very public way. And in the process of doing so, I found that I was not alone. I found that the world around me was full of people who needed an outlet for the pain that they themselves were carrying relating to the subject of mental illness within their family or within themselves.

a bright blue cotton dress also marks a change in my thinking as to the materials I use for creative expression. In previous works, paper was my primary medium and the former title of this blog reflected it. While I still like the original title (In my first life, I was an egg carton), this title just isn’t appropriate to the expression or philosophy of my current work.

Now to catch up. The only way I think that I can do this is to start posting as if I hadn’t taken a year and a half long hiatus. But first, I need to take myself back to January of 2008 and gather my thoughts...