This blog post is for those of you who are visiting this website in preparation for my presentation at Winter Residency 2016. Here you will find information on the presentation as well as direct links to the most relevant pages on this website. If at anytime you get lost, click on ‘Blog/Monthly Blog’ and you’ll find yourself back here.
If you are not familiar with my previous year’s project I encourage you to check out the Year One Archive. This year’s MFA project, though different in scope, does build off the previous year’s work. However if you find yourself short on time, then this would be the part to breeze through or skip, with the exception of the M502 Twinning page, it’s important!
The place to start is the Proposal.
From there I’d recommend visiting the Galleries.
Please note, at times the pages are slow to load due to a combination of factors. I have found that the images are best viewed on mobile devices. There are intentional ‘white spaces’ on the pages, and the disjunction of text and image is also intentional, so keep scrolling.
Again, if you are running short on time I suggest focusing your attention to the Painting Studies Process Galleries and the Photographic Painting Studies Process Gallery. The smaller painting studies I will bring to the presentation can be found in Gallery Two, and Gallery Three is dedicated to the development of the larger painting Motherboard. The Photographic Painting Studies Process Gallery documents my explorations with the photos from which the paintings evolved.
After the Galleries I suggest visiting the Writing pages.
As I wrote in my project proposal, writing, particularly explored as a self portrait, is an integral part of my studio practice and this project. Again, acknowledging that time is short, I suggest focusing your attention to Between the Easel and the Wall, Words of Wenders and Words of Schier on Wollheim. These writings will feature in my presentation.
Now to my presentation, here is what to expect:
Between the Easel and the Wall
A performed self portrait of the painter Robyn Thomas in her studio.
The performance is comprised of a visual component, a written component, and a spoken/performed component.
The performance is conceived to fulfill the presentation requirement for the 2016 Winter Residency in NYC.
Total time allotted for the presentation is 45 minutes.
The time will be broken down into an initial 15 minute segment in which the written component is spoken/performed in relation to the visual component.
The remaining 30 minute segment will be an open floor discussion during which the viewers will be invited forward to engage directly with the paintings Robyn Thomas has brought to residency.
Robyn Thomas will time, present and moderate the presentation and subsequent discussion.
Visual Component [details]
The visual component consists of a single image projected on top of the backs of paintings stacked and leaned against a wall.
The paintings are the four sections of Motherboard, each section measuring 24 inches x 36 inches, for a total span of 96 inches x 36 inches. The canvases will be raised slightly more than 1 inch from the floor by blocks of wood. The tops of the canvases will rest against the wall. The painted side of the canvases will be turned to face the wall so the painting is not visible to the viewer during the spoken/performed component.
In front, to the side, and laying on the floor surrounding Motherboard will be studies done in conjunction with the larger painting. These studies of oil and acrylic paint on paper, measuring 11 inches x 14 inches, 12 inches x 16 inches, and 19 inches x 24 inches, have been partially mounted on artists’ wood panels with a 7⁄8 inch depth. Others have been left unmounted. These studies, like Motherboard, will be initially turned away from the viewers.
Robyn Thomas will be dressed in her studio clothes with her hair tied up, ready to get to work. She will be seated on a chair in line with the point where the image of the easel and the image of the wall meet. Her back will be to the viewers, she will face the projection and the paintings. On her lap will be a sketchbook whose pages contain the written text she will speak. On the floor next to her will be her coffee cup containing water.
Written Component [detail]
The written component is a collaged text, the words of others, the words of Robyn Thomas, words that pass through Robyn Thomas’ head and come out as translations.
The text will fill the required 15 minute presentation time. There is also the transition times at the start and end of this part of the presentation to consider. Therefore the overall time the written text is being spoken/performed should be around 13 minutes.
The pages of the text will be printed out and glued into a 9 inch x 12 inch black, spiral bound, sketchbook similar to those used by Robyn Thomas in her studio.
Spoken/Performed Component [details]
During the installation time Robyn Thomas will unpack the canvases, panels and papers, arranging them along the projection wall so that the paintings themselves are not viewable.
The image of the easel and wall, saved as a Keynote slide to a thumbdrive will be projected via the TI MacBook. The MacBook should be set so that it does not go into ‘sleep’ or screen saver mode.
The video presentation is the single slide.
Assistance will be required to set up and monitor the projector, and turn off the projector when requested.
Additional assistance will be required by someone sitting near the light switches to turn them on when requested to do so by Robyn Thomas.
There might be another person who announces the start of Robyn Thomas’ presentation, she will not introduce herself, the title of the self portrait, or give any additional information to the presentation at its start. This information will be part of the 30 minute discussion period, if needed.
Robyn Thomas will time the presentation segments on her iPhone.
During the spoken component her back will be to the viewers and she will be speaking to the projection/wall so it is important for Robyn Thomas to speak loudly, clearly enunciating each word, at a pace that is neither too fast or too slow. Although pace, pitch and volume may change as necessitated by the text, should viewers begin to call out or remark they cannot hear or understand her, Robyn Thomas may choose to either raise the volume, or ignore the remarks and continue on.
The texts are available online prior to the performance, as are these notes, so that viewers who have looked at the blog/website prior to the presentation, are informed to what is happening, being said, etc.
When the spoken/performance is complete, Robyn Thomas will ask that the projector be turned off and the lights turned on. She will then get up from the chair, placing the sketchbook on it, walk to the paintings, and turn them to face the viewers.
The viewers will then be invited to stand up and enter the space for an open floor, moderated discussion of the paintings, as well as ask any questions or provide feedback/comments on the performed writing they have just witnessed.
The viewers are invited to pick up, touch, and move the paintings around the space, playing with order, direction and configuration. Small nails and a hammer will be available for anyone who wishes to hang one, some or all of the smaller paintings on the wall.
The larger paintings will be leaned against the wall, raised off the floor by blocks of wood. The larger paintings will not be hung, but direction, order and grouping may be played with by the group either by leaning the paintings against the wall or laying them out on the floor.
This segment will fill the remained of the allotted time; 30 minutes.
At the end of the presentation the paintings will be quickly removed from the projection space and repacked. Assistance in removal from the space will be requested.
So, that’s it. I look forward to seeing you all in NYC, seeing your presentations, responding to your work and hearing your responses to mine.
And don’t forget to come to SPACEBODIES at The Gym at Judson, Sunday January 10, 2016. Doors open at 3 PM!