University of Iowa Iowa Research Online Theses and Dissertations Spring 2014 Macaroni couture Samantha L. Mitchell University of Iowa Copyright 2014 Samantha Leigh Mitchell This thesis is available at Iowa Research Online: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/4699 Recommended Citation Mitchell, Samantha L.. "Macaroni couture." MFA (Master of Fine Arts) thesis, University of Iowa, 2014. https://doi.org/10.17077/etd.pyri32qv. Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd Part of the Art Practice Commons
MACARONI COUTURE by Samantha L. Mitchell A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts degree in Art in the Graduate College of The University of Iowa May 2014 Thesis Supervisor: Professor Steve McGuire
Copyright by SAMANTHA L. MITCHELL 2014 All Rights Reserved
Graduate College The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL MASTER S THESIS This is to certify that the Master s thesis of Samantha L. Mitchell has been approved by the Examining Committee for the thesis requirement for the Master of Fine Arts degree in Art at the May 2014 graduation. Thesis Committee: Steve McGuire, Thesis Supervisor Kee-Ho Yuen Mathew Rude Anthony Castronovo
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to my son, Conner Reese, your strength, humor, and kindness is a constant source of inspiration and continually leaves me in awe. You have taught me what I am capable of and I love every second of watching you grow up. I d also like to thank my partner, Andrew, my sister, Nika, and my brother-in-law, Scott who have both supported me every step of the way. Thank you also to my niece and nephew, Ciara and Landon, who have taught me the meaning of resiliency. I would also like to thank Dr. Steve McGuire, Professor Kee-Ho Yuen, Professor Mathew Rude, Professor Anthony Castronovo, Professor Rachel Williams, and Ben Anzelc for guiding me through this amazing experience. ii
ABSTRACT The work I create attempts to explore the vast precipice between adolescence and adulthood. Our whole lives we are essentially labeled one or the other yet we are often striving to be the one we are not. Childhood is fleeting, gone the moment we realize how truly special it is. Adulthood is elusive, ever looming yet continually out of reach. I choose to work with materials and imagery that is commonly known to us as children and attempt to make it a more "grown-up" version of itself. This allows for several layers of meaning. It can be a simple reminder of days past and an encouragement to not take ourselves too seriously. It is also an attempt to find the fine line between children acting like adults and adults being children. Often we dress ourselves up and pretend to be something we re not. Maybe we're fooling everyone. Maybe we're only fooling ourselves. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES...v CHAPTER I. MACARONI COUTURE...1 Introduction...1 Background and Inspiration...1 Techniques...3 Form...3 Conclusion...4 APPENDIX. FIGURES...6 BIBLIOGRAPHY...13 iv
LIST OF FIGURES Figure A1. Al Dente Necklace #1...6 A2. Eat Your Greens Necklace #2...6 A3. Conner at Work...7 A4. Conner s Drawing...7 A5. Eat Your Greens Necklace # 1 Detail...8 A6. Eat Your Greens Necklace # 1 Back Detail...8 A7. Al Dente Brooch # 15...9 A8. Macaroni Couture Exhibition...9 A9. Macaroni Couture: Grownup s Table...10 A10. Macaroni Couture: Kid s Table...10 A11. Macaroni Couture: Grownup s Table Detail...11 A12. Macaroni Couture: Kid s Table Detail...11 A13. Whoopee Cushion Flask...12 A14. You Smell Like. Perfume Bottle...12 v
1 CHAPTER I. MACARONI COUTURE The only true source of art, is our heart, the language of pure childlike spirit. A creation, not flowing from these springs, can only be mannerisms. Every true work of art is received in consecrated hours and born in jubilant inner urges of the heart. -Casper David Friedrich 1 Introduction Good or bad, memories are my most precious possession. I inject these remembrances into every piece I create. My aim is to celebrate through the reconstruction of intimate moments into wearable adornment. The occasion then becomes a badge, both an honor and a reminder. I pull from imagery, and choose materials that are commonly recognizable by the children of my generation. These specific forms, colors, and materials are representations of my memories: both as a child growing up, and those I have accumulated interacting with my son. I have only my own recollections to pull from, but my hopes are that others can find glimpses of their own past from which to tell their stories and house their own commemorations. Background and Inspiration Growing up art was a means of distraction both for me and for my parents. Get out of my hair, go color or something was a line often thrown at me. For my parents this distraction was a tool used for the sake of silence. For me this time was spent finding my voice. Art grew into a release and a more adequate form of communication. I became a visual person who could more easily express myself through imagery than words. 1 Jonathan Fineberg, The Innocent Eye (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1997),
2 Creating macaroni jewelry in elementary school was my first introduction to jewelry and the world of self-expression through adornment. I composed marvelously colorful necklaces that were a great source of joy and pride. I gave many to my parents, and though I m sure they still live in a box dedicated to my childhood, I don t ever recall them being worn. The reoccurrence of pasta in my work today calls back to those days of making macaroni jewelry as a child (Figure 1 & 2). For myself I wanted to recreate those feelings of uninhibited creativity paired with joy and pride, and to request attention for an art form that can often be disregarded by most adults. By focusing my attention on and adding my own refined sensibilities to the macaroni necklace I am bringing a greater appreciation to what many consider a childish object. Being a mother adds another level of appreciation towards childhood, and is a never ending well of inspiration that constantly influences my work. I m extremely motivated by the many aspects of watching and interacting with my son, Conner, age 8. We often have vigorous drawing and coloring sessions together for as long as his attention span will allow (Figure 3). His bold, unfettered lines and wild color choices prove brilliant every time (Figure 4). I find his aesthetic bleeding into my own and I strive to emulate his work. I m also pulling from books, toys, and cartoons that we enjoy together. This imagery infuses a bold and bright quality into the jewelry, but my artistic choices are much more deliberate than his. I m striving to be childlike, not childish. Much like the ceramics artist Don Reitz, who also infuses his work childlike imagery, I don t try to make children s drawings. I can t do that because I ll never be a child again. But I know how to read children s drawings because they are simply letters without writing. 2 2 Donald Reitz, The Gift, The Studio Potter 15 (1997): 8.
3 This emulation does mean loosing some of the immediacy present in Conner s work, but for me it gains a needed sophistication and allure. This refinement brings attention to the importance of these moments I share with him and the importance of his own artwork. I m adding value to something others might not always understood as meaningful. Techniques To achieve bold colors in my work I rely on dyed pasta and powder-coat. The pasta is colored with rubbing alcohol and food coloring, common household items, that give the work a loud, often-primary color scheme (Figure 5). The powder coating, the process of coating metal with a plastic finish applied in powder form and baked to a fluid state to bond it to the metal surface, allows for a number of different surface colors and finishes (Figure 6). 3 It also adds a plastic-y tactile language that is learned from a young age. It imitates cheap plastic toys and adds a sense of whimsy that bare metal could not convey. Form Form is another area of importance. I heavily reference mid-century modern design and modernist art in the structures I build (Figure 7). These shapes are representative of an ideal, be it family, moral, design, or future. I grew up watching television classics on Nick-at-Nite, lots of I Love Lucy, Happy Days, Leave it to Beaver, etc. These shows indicated to me what life was supposed to be like: perfect family units where Dad works a 9 to 5 and Mom stays home to hold down the fort. The children live a picturesque life full of harmless antics and valuable moral lessons. My family, and those of my peers did not match this societal norm. I realize now that this was nothing to be 3 Powder Coating, last modified February 20, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/powder_coating.
4 ashamed of, and that very few fall into the category of normal. Yet I can t help but be drawn to the propaganda. The 50 s hold a special place in America s collective imagination the mythology of the time looms so large that even generations that didn t live through the era yearn for it today. 4 This yearning is deeply captivating, and I use this time period as a reference in order to develop my own truths about childhood and family. For my MFA Show, Macaroni Couture, I displayed all the work in a mock 1950 s style dining room (Figure 8). It was a way of drawing a second layer of reference to childhood and family dynamics. There were two tables, the grownup s one (Figure 9) and the kid s one (Figure 10). All the place settings and platters were painted white to camouflage them into their gallery environment and focus more attention on the jewelry. On the service stations, and the grownups table I laid out the jewelry on plates and platters (Figure 11). At the children s table there was a gold-plated crayon box and many of my son s drawings (Figure 12). Scattered around the room there were also childish objects left to bring a sense of humor and whimsy to the environment (Figure 13 & 14). The children s table is where the true genius occurred. Everything else was trying hard to capture the fleeting moments of childhood and pure art. Conclusion My desire is that all these ideas: material, color, and form can come together to create a grown-up version of macaroni jewelry. Jewelry that brings back memories yet quenches our nostalgic desires and allows the wearer to live in the present. I m capturing 4 Kate Novack and Nadia Mustafa, How Retro Can You Go? Time, Summer 2004, 20.
5 moments to hold on to, because they are valuable to me. This is a way for me to celebrate and affirm the beauty of childhood.
6 APPENDIX. FIGURES Figure A1: Al Dente Necklace #1 Figure A2: Eat Your Greens Necklace #2
7 Figure A3: Conner at Work Figure A4: Conner s Drawing
8 Figure A5: Eat Your Greens Necklace # 1 Detail Figure A6: Eat Your Greens Necklace # 1 Back Detail
9 Figure A7: Al Dente Brooch # 15 Figure A8: Macaroni Couture Exhibition
10 Figure A9: Macaroni Couture: Grownup s Table Figure A10: Macaroni Couture: Kid s Table
11 Figure A11: Macaroni Couture: Grownup s Table Detail Figure A12: Macaroni Couture: Kid s Table Detail
12 Figure A13: Whoopee Cushion Flask Figure A14: You Smell Like. Perfume Bottle
13 BIBLIOGRAPHY Fineberg, Jonathan. The Innocent Eye. New Jersey: The Princeton Press, 1997. Novack, Kate, and Nadia Mustafa. How Retro Can You Go? Time. Summer 2004. Reitz, Donald. The Gift. The Studio Potter 15 (1997): 1-16. Wikipedia. Powder Coating. last modified February 20, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/powder_coating.