Katie Shanks – Awash in a Sea of Riches

7/7/2014

But first, MORE BABY LAMP!

I think I love this one even more than the first. But don't tell Baby Lamp 1...I don't need my art children getting jealous of one another. Though it is currently in the middle of a facelift and expansion. So who knows...it could win me back.

This is the piece that I put together for Noel's Little Marks show, and these tiny pieces are such a fun way for me to experiment in different ways of making mark through drawing, sewing, cutting, materials...but then I need to get back and apply that to the larger pieces.

I have been working on two new larger lamps as well. Both are currently in middling stages of development, though I did include them in Awash, the installation that I did out in Venice, a couple weeks ago. I've been playing with repetition, using the same forms on different scales, or on the same scale in different materials, as well as combining warm and cool light sources.

The installation was a fun, if a bit crazy beast. Working in an outdoor location was a new experience, and I loved having the different levels and architectural elements of the staircases, railing, walk ways, and doors to work with. Started setup Wednesday evening, finishing touches Thursday after work, show, and de-install immediately after—36 hours all told. Some of you may recognize a lot of the old paper elements that are getting to make one last appearance. I rescued a whole bunch of my "paper burritos," relics from my final semester at CSULB, from my mother's garage the weekend before the installation. I thought they'd all been sacrificed to the spider gods, but it turned out the infestation was superficial. So after a good hour of sweeping and careful shop-vac action, I found myself unexpectedly paper rich. There wasn't much time for modification in that period, but the deconstruction process has started, and while I love these pieces and the transformative period they represent for me, it is time to let go and move on. It was nice to give them one last hurrah before that happened though. Having so much base material made the composition process very fluid.

Once again, I find satisfaction in the balance between very large, immersive, physical, almost frenetically created work and small, intricate, and involved pieces. I'm at my happiest when I can make the latter jewel-like focal points within the former.

And special thanks to Steph for providing photo services for this round!

This is the first of the new lamps: combining the larger LED lit lantern, and string of little lights, with a warmer set in the little lanterns suspended in a wire frame with button joints.

The second you can see in the background here: a cluster of the small lanterns held together with similarly sized wire circles, as well as rings crochet from various types of string, twine, yarn, and plastic.

Plus some general shots of the full installation, both in daylight, to better portray the structure and scale, and after dark to give an impression of how the piece was experienced.

6 Comments

Sherwood

07/10/2014 8:34am

Awash is a nice title!

I am lucky to have experienced both of these pieces in person, and to get to photograph them. The baby lamp is so precious, it's exciting to see you work on a small scale like that, I think it helps you get out some other ideas of how to construct. I think all of us have been playing with large and small scale work recently, it definitely pays off! Having a short stint project can help us understand where we are going a little easier, sometimes the big ones can turn into crazy monsters. I know this all too well.

But it was super cool to see you utilizing some of the material you made many years ago in the big piece in Venice. I think it is very interesting to see artists re-approaching older bodies of work, appropriating from an earlier you. It can be very interesting. And as myself, Jackie and Cece are finding, some of the things we used to play with tend to creep back into new work in mysterious ways. It's a whole new discovery!

I am interested to see what comes about in the next month in your studio. I feel like the space you have there is somewhere in between both of these works, so it may give you an opportunity to bridge both studies.

Cece link

07/10/2014 2:55pm

I LOVE the cool tones of the LED light in your small piece, it is such a refreshing tone. It has a much softer, subtle glow, which I think is very flattering on your crafted structures. This piece is thoughtful, concentrated, and delicate without feeling over worked. I love it. (I kinda wants it…)

I am glad I got to see your overnight installation at Venice. It was basically an explosion of all these different meticulous processes you are developing in the studio, while throwing in some of your older stored works on paper. There were some beautiful moments, but you were at a disadvantage having very limited time to install and I think your large installations need more connecting transitions among the various elements and more thoughtful arrangements to be as success as they could be. This got me thinking about your process, how it’s intuitive and methodical and almost stream of consciousness. Moving forward, I am wondering if you might consider inserting another methodical process into your installations, drawing blueprints before you go to install. You make very beautiful line drawings, I wonder how your installations would be arranged if you started making drawings of these spaces you have to fill, and compose your structural ideas before hand. Not that these drawings have to be rigid and followed when you go to install, but perhaps it will give you the opportunity to think in a more thorough way about the composition of space and give you time to mull it over, while creating beautiful drawings at the same time. I don’t know, perhaps you already do this, but I am envisioning drawings from various angles, birds eye view, from the bottom looking up, out from a corner. I am also envisioning your installations working directly with the space. Repeat visits to the location before you install, doings sketchbook drawings just sitting in the space, almost like meditation, feeling what it needs. In a perfect world where you had more time - your installation could have directly interacted with the structures and played off the elements of the unique space, rather than just overtake it. These drawings could help you figure out some of that deliberate configuration before hand. I know you already do this to some extent, draw abstract linear structures and the ideas make their way into your sculptures. You could then make sculptures out of these blue print drawings that have beautiful marks on them, and cycle them back into the work. Drawings that may be precise and exact, and other drawings that are very fluid and doodle like, but have the purpose of working out a 3D space on a 2D surface. Anyways, that was my long spiel of me interpreting your process through my planner like mind set.

What is your process in general, when you go to make your large scale installations?

Sherwood

07/10/2014 3:47pm

I second this drawing notion. Also I now kind of want to draw Katie things :)

Katie link

07/17/2014 2:57pm

Cece, you're pretty much right on the money as far as my process for large installations goes.

I've ONLY ever really been able to do sort of "fast and dirty" installations where I have a very short amount of time to do something once I got into the space. Thus, they are very intuitive and stream of consciousness based. Typically, I tend to spend the first hour or so moving the key focal elements around the space, trying different configurations, and then stepping back and moving through the space to see how they interact. After that, I tend to go in with the larger, less detailed elements to create base movements, and follow it up with smaller detailed connections.

I would LOVE to do something that was more considered and thought through though. I’m getting to the point where I think I’m going to have to start building out simple wood framework to base it all on. Maybe I can actually make that happen by the next Artwalk—block the window on my side, control the light, and spend that extra time building and drawing.

I was also thinking about your suggestions. I think blueprints are a good idea. I remember talking with Dianna Cooper about that in regards to her work, and apparently they spiraled out into a whole additional series of work for her. She had her installations, and then whole detailed manuals on how everything fit together that were practically art in their own right. I’m also thinking that once I have a framework and begin to play with the basic composition of the elements in the larger space, it would be great to make some large scale drawings by basically papering the walls and the floors, and then recording a series of silhouettes by shining directed light from various angles. It would take that aspect of light/shadow creating the form to another place.

Also, Steph, you can come draw my pieces whenever you want. I’d actually be really interested in seeing how they came out of your diagram process.

Jamie

07/21/2014 9:12am

KT!
Are you appropriating prior work here? some of your black and with washes in the large installation remind me of your solo show at CSULB.
Hahaha- I just re-read the third bulk of your introduction: suspicion confirmed!
I think involving prior installation pieces and re-appropriating them is kind of sweet and shows maturity and respect to your previous art-self. I love it.

I was going to say that when I see your small "baby lamp" it feels so loved and precious to me. I can feel the amount of thought and adoration you instilled into this object. Your use of reflective materials is reminiscent of opalescent shells, like slices of abalone. They feel weightless and carefree and happy. They reflect the love you put into creating them, as well as light and their image.

Your lamps feel enshrouded and remind me very much of something glowing after it's been buried. They turn the page of fossilization; an orb petrified with an inner light.

The layers of materials or "caverns" used to build up these walls make it all the more curious. I suspect you will be playing with different ways to make each light have it's respective unique environment to live in; whether it's a sparkly cave with button joints and old honeycomb papers or an ikea light stripped of half it's paper shell, I think you are definitely going in a meaningful and beautiful direction.

Jacki G

07/21/2014 10:32am

Did anyone ever end up watching Cave of Forgotten Dreams???

I wonder this because of your installation and it's cave-likeness. I definitely love the intricate webbing that swing and bind the space together. They totally become your drawing lines and I love how delicate the look in comparison to the larger pieces. It's like a magical fortress. Is it a space you can walk through or just walk into? I wish I could have been there to experience it. We need to get you some part time laborers to help you cut and weave and whatnot!

The baby lamp is awesome. I don't even look at it as a lamp anymore - it's above an beyond that. The visual textures are stunning - great choice of materials. Plus, I just love this palette...and glitter (when did I become such a girly girl?!)

Katie Shanks – Awash in a Sea of Riches

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