Look In Glass

The images presented here are in the order of the development of the piece. Please scroll through from top to bottom to view the entire process. Newer images will be added to the bottom of the page until the process is complete.

This is a sketch of the mirror box which I plan to have built for the piece "Look In Glass". The box will be slightly larger than an iPad in all directions. The box will be hung at approximately 150-160 cm from the floor flush on a wall. The exterior of the box will be covered in mirror, with the front face being a 'one-way' [a mirror one can look through]. The interior of the mirror box will also be fitted with mirrors on four sides. The back wall of the box will be an iPad screen upon which a slideshow presentation will be running.

Drawing created in Sketch Up by Enno Fritsch.

The mirror box's support structure will be made of rigid pink construction foam. The interior and exterior will be covered in mirrors, with the front face of the box being covered in a mirror that can be 'looked through'.

The dimensions of the box are determined by the dimensions of the iPad: exterior dimensions approximately 7 1/4 inches w x 9 1/2 inches h/ 18.5 cm w x 24 cm h. The interior mirrored walls will create a space in which only the iPad screen is visible: approximately 5 3/4 inches w x 7 3/4 inches h/ 15 cm w x 20 cm h.

Drawing created in Sketch Up by Enno Fritsch

To test how the slideshow might look in a mirrored box I purchased a few mirrored tiles, taped them together to fit the dimensions of my laptop screen and then placed them over the screen with different slideshow selections running- single image, image distortions, image disintegration, multiple image display, etc. I have not yet been able to test how the see through mirror looks with the box and image display.

This is a peek inside the prototype mirror box with my chosen slideshow theme of "Sliding Panels". In this theme multiple images are shown ranging from a single, full screen image, to up to six images simultaneously to fit the screen. The images are cropped and the slide order shuffled based upon the slideshow themes' algorithm, not an algorithm of my own creation. I select the images to be shown, the theme [Sliding Panels], the option to shuffle the slide order, the background color [black], the minimum play time for any slide [three seconds], no titles, and set the slideshow to repeat.

The constant shifting of the images which are then multiplied through the reflections in the mirrors invokes feelings of dissociation from space and time.

Video Mirror Box prototype

The following photos document the construction of the substructure of the mirror box. The materials used are rigid pink construction foam, heavy duty construction adhesive. A knife was used to carve a recess in the foam in which the iPad rests. Brass tubes are embedded and adhered with the construction adhesive in the upper back side of rigid pink construction box. This surface will not be covered by mirror, but hang flush against the wall. The recessed tubes will serve as points by which the box can be hung by sturdy nails or screws from the wall. Space for a slight gap has been left so that the edge of the mirror extends beyond the construction foam and forms the flush edge with the wall.

Mirror box substructure constructed by Enno Fritsch.

Recessed area for iPad being carved out

iPad resting in carved out space

Front view of iPad in box

Brass tubes being embedded in rigid pink construction foam

Embedded brass tubes and adhesive

I purchased the mirrors for the box on November 3, 2014 from Rhode Island Glass. This photo and the following depict the iPad on the back wall of the box and the interior mirrors on the top, bottom and sides of the box. The mirrors at this point were only pressure fitted inside the box. The slideshow with the journal pages is not yet the final version.

This photo shows me testing how the two-way mirror will fit on the front of the box, reflecting both the viewer's face and the interior slide show.

While testing how the two-way mirror will work with the interior mirrors and slide show I had my husband photograph me with my iPhone. I then edited the image using the standard editing features on the phone to create this image. I find it very fitting how my hair appears to break through the corner of the box where the interior mirrors are meeting, although it is only the reflection of my hair in the two-way mirror that is seen. This image has led to a few thoughts on the next self-portraits in this body of work; possibly a series of photos which will serve as the surface of future paintings.

This photo was cropped to a lesser extent than the previous one. It is meant to give a better idea of how the edges of the box will look for the viewer. The edge of the two-way mirror where it adheres to the support structure will be masked and painted black so as to hide the adhesive and create a "solid" surface which will only reflect the exterior side and not show the substructure.

The fabricator of the mirror box added pressure and support to the mirrors during the adhering process by using whatever he could find laying around the studio.

In order to provide support around the entire exterior of the box while adhering the mirrors the fabricator used the remaining piece of pink construction foam from which he built the box's substructure, cutting an opening which fits tightly around the box. Masking [painter's] tape was also used to align the mirrors and provide additional support.

The interior and exterior mirrors are now adhered to the substructure. The next step is to mask and paint the area of the two-way mirror that the adhesive will be applied to black, and then glue that mirror to the box. I am also in the process of selecting the slideshow format I will use for the piece. Images of the pages have been saved to a separate folder from which they will be played.

I will be holding a private viewing of Wanderland and Look In Glass on December 6.

The door at the end of the hallway in which Wanderland was installed leads to a bedroom. In this bedroom I installed Look In Glass. This photo shows the doorway prior to the installation of the journal pages.

Upon opening the doorway the viewer encounters a bed covered with a plain black cover. On the wall above the bed I hung the final painting in the series "Keeping It At Arm's Length". This painting is titled "Wherever You're At Pumpkin, It's Okay" and depicts the vague recollections I have of the extended post-itical state I experienced after my first tonic-clonic seizure. The room is painted a yellow-green on three walls. The wall on which the door into the room is located is painted the same flat black as the hallway. The room was lit by three metal standing lamps from Ikea, arranged in odd contortions, as well as a single clip lamp on the edge of a shelf. The two windows in the room were draped with black felt.

My original intention was to use only the space next to the doorway so that the viewer did not enter deeply into the room. But as I worked on the installation of Wanderland during the week leading up to the showing I began to thin more about the significance of the bedroom space. At one point I considered filling the shelf space in the room with canvases from the series "Pituitary Portraits" and "PSH=Whatever" which were created in response to my diagnosis. Here I placed the Look In Glass box on the shelf among the paintings.

Here the Look In Glass box is hung on the wall next to the doorway. In the reflection one can see not only my face, but a lamp and a canvas on the shelf. I decided not to include the multitude of canvases, preserving instead a calmness to the space which would serve as a contrast to the chaotic-ness of the passageway the viewer must pass through to enter and exit the space. However I did prefer the placement of the mirror box on a shelf on the far side of the room. This encouraged the viewer to fully enter the space, engage with it. Sit on the bed and view the box from a distance, as well as get up close to it and look inside.

This is a view of how the mirror box was placed in the space. It sat asymmetrically on a plain white shelf. To the right hung on the wall was the painting "Mind Body Juggling Act" which is from the "Pituitary Portraits" series. On the wall where the box was intended to be hung another painting from this series was hung. On the floor beneath the shelves were two black document archive boxes stacked one on top of the other. One of the boxes will become the container for the journal pages in the piece "Just Between Me and You" which will travel to the Winter Residency in New York City. The other box will be the container in which the mirror box will travel. In the top box I had placed the smaller, 8 inch x 10 inch paintings from the "Pituitary Portraits" series. The lid was on the box. Only one of the viewers admitted to opening the box and looking through the paintings.

A view of the mirror box on the shelf looking from the side.

The shelf on which the mirror box sat was slightly high, The person reflected in the box is just over 5 feet tall [152 cm] which meant it was harder to see closely into the box and have the frame disappear for people less than 5 feet 6 inches [167 cm]. However the wall behind the viewer was blank, painted a yellow-green so that beside the viewer's own face little else reflected into the mirror box when viewed straight on.

Video December 6, 2014, filmed walk through of the installations Wanderland and Look In Glass. The complete set up of the bedroom in which Look in Glass was installed is visible in this video.

After the December 6, 2014 presentation of Look In Glass along with the installation of the journal pages in Wanderland I turned my attention to the details of bringing the piece as part of my presentation to the Winter Residency 2015 in New York City in January. By this point the piece Just Between Me and You had been conceived and it was clear to me that Look In Glass need to remain a companion piece to the journal pages. Therefore I decided to create an encasement for the mirror box similar to the one I was creating for the journal pages. This and the following three photos document the alteration of the black document box in which the mirror box would be housed. The interior of the box was painted a flat black, like the walls in the space that Wanderland had occupied. The interior lid of the box was also painted and then covered with black tulle and stitched with red crochet thread also in recollection of the Wanderland space. As the intention would be for direct human interaction with the mirror box by means of lifting it out of the document box, holding it in the viewers hands, etcetera, I chose to cover the exposed back side of the mirror box with a flap of the sparkly black vinyl fabric which had been used on the floor of Wanderland and now lined the document box of Just Between Me and You. The flap still allowed for access to the iPad.

The next step in preparing Look In Glass for its journey to New York was to create a cloth in which to wrap it when placed inside the document box. I decided to reuse an irregularly shaped piece of the black felt used in Wanderland and a piece of the black tulle. The two fabrics were sewn together with a random, free form stitch of the red crochet thread. The fabric was much larger than it needed to be for the practical roles it was meant to play in protecting the mirror box during transportation, and eventually holding together the shards because I wanted to create a structure that acted not just as a basic support, but enveloped, comforted and protected the piece which seemed so vulnerable. At this stage a fellow Transart student, Kelly Reyna, had agreed to help out in my presentation by interacting with the work. She was unaware which piece it would be, but I had decided it would be the Look In Glass because it was most removed from the art she makes as a painter. Yet I did want to bring a bit more tactility to the piece, I felt the piece needed it, I needed it, and I knew Kelly would also appreciate it. I had been using machine sewing in my journal pages throughout the fall. I had sewn the red crochet thread through the tulle in a free form manner in order to create the structure from which the pages were suspended throughout Wanderland. Kelly and I had throughout the fall numerous email conversations about the significance of thread and sewing, its relationship to drawing and painting, and why we are both exploring its use in our art, ranging from highly personal, to practical, to historical reasons. So by taking the time to stitch this drawing I was in a sense putting a small, tactile portrait/self portrait of/for Kelly into the Look In Glass.

Just Between Me and You and Look In Glass packed up and ready for their trip to New York City. I was fortunately able to drive them down in late December and house them with friends prior to the residency which enabled me to focus on finishing up Index and prepare for my presentation.

I presented my work on January 12, 2015. Kelly Reyna agreed to help out by interacting with some of my work. I gave her the box with Look In Glass, told her to take the lid off and she would find an envelope instructing her what she should, or rather could, do. I let her know there would come a point near the end of my presentation when I would ask her to step away from the box. This image shows her after having taken the lid off, reading the instructions, opening the blanket and staring into the mirror box.

In this photo Kelly had removed the mirror box from the document box and wrapped the blanket around herself. At one point I glanced towards her and saw her beneath the blanket. On the wall the animated slide show of the journal pages is being projected. In the foreground the paper bag which contained the hammer and safety glass is visible.

Another view of Kelly interacting with the box while the projection of the animated slide show Pages on the wall. On the lid of the document box the card with the instructions for interacting with Look In Glass is visible as is the binder clip which clipped the blanket closed. In the piece Wanderland the journal pages were clipped with silver binder clips to the red thread. I brought the binder clips into both Look In Glass and Just Between Me and You. Some of the pages in Index also incorporated binder clips.

I did invite those present at the presentation and others if they desired to view both pieces on their own to arrange a time with me to do so. Most did not take me up on this as time is tight during the residency week. Later in the week I did setup both Just Between Me and You and Look In Glass for the friends who kindly stored the boxes for me at their apartment prior to the residency. Prior to the presentation I had discussed with the my thoughts on finishing the Look In Glass through its shattering. They did not view the piece prior to this happening, and while they were on one hand frustrated by this, they also understood why the shattering was a vital step in the conclusion of the piece, and both thought, based upon seeing images of the box prior, that the shattering did add depth to the piece which although it might not have been apparent in its absence, was lacking. When I invited them to view both pieces, which they did on separate evenings, I had one person alone in the living room with the Just Between Me and You box, I had made him a cup of tea with a Leibniz Butterkeks and instructed him to follow the instructions provided in the box, take as much time as he wanted and let me know when he was finished and the box was packed away. Once that stage was reached I asked him to leave the room and I set up the Look In Glass. It became apparent to me at this point that because of the fragility of the piece, the glass shards, and getting the iPad to function- it still works, but takes finesse to get the slide show running thanks to the shattered touch screen- I would need to set the piece up as a sculptural object. I did this on the living room floor. The following images and video show Look In Glass at this stage. I repeated the showing for another friend on another evening, but had him interact with Just Between Me and You in the bedroom so I could have Look In Glass ready to go in the living room. And I served not tea, but Pho prior to his viewing the work.

Video of Look In Glass post-shattering

Video of Pages