This past weekend the lovely Rhiannon came down to visit me - I hadn't seen her in close to four years so it was a very welcome reunion!! We explored Brooklyn and parts of Manhattan, including the Museum of Sex, Brooklyn Museum, and South Street Seaport. It was a tiring, yet fun-filled time :)
We took an Art-Making workshop at the Brooklyn Museum to learn to make found art mixed media sculptures, taught by Arthur Simms whose work is featured in the Infinite Island Caribbean Art exhibit. We got to tour the exhibit quickly, and I was especially struck by this sculpture, Mambru. I wanted to get a postcard but they didn't have any, and they wouldn't let me take pictures. :(
Anyway then we got to make our own found art sculptures. I was pretty inspired by Arthur Simms's work - the way he incorporates his found objects into a piece that speaks to a theme but also draws from personal anecdotes and memories. I poked through the bag of found objects that Rhiannon and I had brought (we 'found' them in my room haha) and decided that I wanted to make a sculpture that represents my current state of mind about love in New York City:
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Title: 'I Love New York.' It's a dichotomy between romance and the taboos of sex - the heart is lined with pearls, but also bound to a tube of cheap lube. The watch represents the passage of my youth, and the bra strap can be both innocent, practical, romantic, and coyly sexual.
Rhiannon made a crazy doll:
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The best part was that everyone kept walking by and going 'that's so GREAT!! that's so surreal' and Rhiannon was like um it's an ugly doll that resembles a crazy lady from Boca. And no one really got mine. Haha!!
Anyway, it was a really great time and I am going to have to make a trip up to see Rhiannon sometime as well. For now though... back to the grind. Oh New York...
