{TRUE/FALSE Film Festival} Ragtag Cinema!

I recently prepared for the opportunity to visit Columbia Missouri to be a Resident Window Installation Artist at the TRUE/FALSE Film Festival. With the challenge of my proximity in Wisconsin, I constructed the peices with images and measurements from afar. Charged with the duty of filling 3 large window spaces along with the lack of ability to attach anything to the ceiling and the guideline of impermanance and easy clean up, I was pleasantly forced to learn about some new materials and processes in order to properly fulfill the assignment!

This dowel (***see more uses for dowels) worked great for making this large drawing on the top of a pile of 7 sheets of 5 foot by 10 foot recycled kraft paper rolled out on my carpet with all the furniture moved out of the way.


In order to keep the branches together at the top, they all attached to the top margin in a closed configuration. cutting the thick layers of paper worked just fine, but the fun was peeling out the negative space.


Down the line, this took about an hour to cut the branches


I added a deer at the end, thinking i should do something bold and then cut it away at the end if it wasn't necessary.


It turned out like this:


It rolled up okay, from the bottom up so the peninsula branches wouldn't tangle, and off into the carryon luggage.


Ragtag Cinema, a small independant cinema within a space that also encompasses two separate enterprises: a video store and cafe called Uprise Bakery on the windows of which I was able to installed the trees!


The trees unrolled just fine and with tools in suitcase,


a ladder, and a lovely lady named Annie to help, I started working on the 9 foot windows taping the paper to itself, and then taping the tape to the metal window frames.
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In the past, i have created trees on windows in other ways: with poster paint ***see Wedding Decorations and with contact paper****see Windows of Rochambo> Neither of these methods were suitable for the impermanence and easy cleanup factors. Cut paper was fast in layers, and very opaque!


*Some factors of visibility with window art are the opacity and color of your material interacting with lighting and glare in a tension of contrast for figure/ground relationships. Appearances changes at all times of day on either side of the glass. Assume that all the elements were affixed on the interior environment. Tints and translucents reflect the light because of the white in them and look better when they are front lit, they even survive the glare of direct sunlight on the glass from the exterior view during the day, (in general frontlit glass causes glare enough to be a total mirror) and risk disappearing from the interior against a backlit sky. With tones and opaques that absorb the light because of the black in them, they contrast better backlit and will disappear when lit in front revealing the black against a black backdrop. Tones look better on the inside during the day with the backlit window, and outside at night with the backlit interior.
The tinted light brown paper stood out pretty well because of both its lighter color and its opacity which caused bolder contrasts.
this photo is deceiving because despite the brightness in the room it was dark because of the paper opacity.


And the luxury of opacity comes at the cost of overshadowing. So i trimmed it back to the archways



Front doors

Patio doors

Back lit from the cafe!


And that was just day one! More soon! Thanks for reading!

xx,
v

{ANIMAL CLOUDS!} MOMentum

Apologies that the shop wasn't open today! I have to take advantage of the warm dry weather for moving my apartment, ahoy! I cleared out everything but my bed and packed an overnight bag.

Tonight I am working on the files for the floating balloons and swarmway animal migration and am going to try to get them lazer cut at uwm in black tagboard! In the meantime, windsor theater doors have been finalized (below)and sent for test print.

Here are some of the shapes for geese in the transums.



i hope everyone had a great day.

all the best,
vanessa

{TREES/FOREST} transums, migrating geese, paper cutouts

In preparations for the TRUE/FALSE FILM FESTIVAL where I will be a resident artist preparing the windows of three theaters where the action happens. Here are the preparations via sketches and mock ups that I have put together for the show!

Transums: migrating geese paper cutouts with fishingline and magnets
Doors: printed cloud animals with blue glass film for shadows, raindrops painted on them in navy blue
Side: black paper painted balloons with nylon and magnets, random clouds, cardboard city and mountains


wax paper on the window is cool, but also pretty translucent depending on the light.


I used rubber cement which i'm not sure is the easiest clean up. maybe as much as paint. not a prefered option.


printed black on clear, animal footprints will scamper through the lower portion of the frames of the swarmway


painted cut outs of animal silhouettes leaping from one direction to the other, leading to the cinema


there is a nylon string across the segway with magnets holding these objects: a fabric leaf, and a 8x10 cardstock cutout leaping hound. They did not feel too heavy on the strand


paper forests will expand the floor to ceiling on side panels and enclose the central area. green paper chains with leaves and tendrils will drape through. possible grass border with painted cardboard


i pinned the butcher paper down to the carpet. it cut easily as i removed the negative space with an exacto blade


finished cut out with enclosed shapes and closed configuration for easy placement on the window frame. top and bottom edges can be taped for support, wrapped around a dowel like a scroll for transport and retaped on the window frame over the taped edge. mini peninsulas are kept short and dont flop down.


leaf links are applied directly to the branches, but can be applied to a paperchain and strung through the window. Another technique includes spirals for tendrils.


Ill be back with more pictures of the preparations!

xx,
vanessa
madam chino
penny spencer

{SNOW DAY!} mke wi 2011

at the fortress we have free parking! luckily, if you can get your car up the hill to park there before the storm, you are safe from the usual mess of street parking or even extracting your car from an alley. That also means walking a mile to and from the office. also, luckily, we had a snow day from school. Tyler and I walked to the fort and made things all day!

the bluster was creating snow drifts taller than people in some places

even the snowman was buried

but to build a new snowman you didn't even have to roll a ball, you could just grab out chunks of snow

we didn't see any bikers

to cross the street was a special challenge

but we made it up to the studio for hot ovaltine and some photoshoots and tyler is even using the serger to make pouches.
we had a great day!
xx,
madamchino

{PEEPHOLE PEOPLE}

I am going to go ahead and celebrate some of these peephole people who visited the look nook and took their handsome photos in the booth. Enjoy the entire set of PEEPHOLE PEOPLE on flickr!







see you soon!
shops open every saturday noon to 6! swing thru after brunchies!
Madam Chino's LOOK NOOK
100a east Pleasant Street
3rd Floor!

All the Best,
essa

{UNLTD} Look Nook in the media!

This is the writing i did earlier today as an exploration of the discussion that Bob and i had for this INTERVIEW at onmilwaukee.
This interview was like a therapy session for my conflictions. Thanks Bobby!
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My main point of contention is with "branding" certain aspects of my life and work, vs making one-offs. Its like "art vs craft" in the theoretical sense it implies. The repetition involved in marketing and production can be satisfying but also boring. Unfortunately the streamlining involved to reach broader audiences draws away from a part of the one-of-a-kind quality that built the handmade industry in the first place.


The process of creating unique articles is hard to streamline

I struggle with where I should be biding time in the sense of having templates while preferring to work on the next puzzle peice. One-of-a-kind listings are a bounty of work because you have to list a lot more items. Its good to have a few key peices that you can remake and relist, but that doesn't always support the culture of entropy in using recycled/found/vintage fabric in production. And a culture of planetary virtue.


hand made crochetti necklaces from recycled t-shirts available in all colors.

Books in print are the closest thing to maximized production that I've gotten as an artist, even where I am folding, punching, coiling and packaging books myself. My goal is to get each of my second printings of my books done completely on recycled paper, a cost that doesn't cover itself at its initial market value.

Certain objects are easily reproduced without the struggles of inconsistancy in the availability of your raw materials

Selling vintage is, compared to hand making one-offs and marketing them individually: hilarious, awesome and easy. Vintage listings are usually one-of-a-kind, however you are getting market value for something you didn't have to make. I see a vintage take over of the handmade arena both in suppliers and demanders. I endorse it because I am a collector of beautiful second-hand inspiration, and because people should actually be buying second hand too. However, it is not the end all for an artist.

vintage finds are one-of-a-kind listings but you are getting a market value with out having to actually produce anything

I like online, but for my work I prefer the integrative personality of the show room, doing the markets and having people handle things and try them on. My show room is stocked with both quality handmade and vintage clothing and supplies, books and zines. There is an Amigurumi (small crocheted animals) gallery show scheduled for may and june!

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LINKS:
{MADAM CHINO} clothing
MADAM CHINO BLOG
MADAM CHINO SHOP

{PENNY SPENCER} publishing
PENNY SPENCER BLOG
PENNY SPENCER SHOP

{RIGATTIERE} vintage
RIGATTIERE VINTAGE SHOP

[My FLICKR} a little bit of everything
FLICKR

xx,
Vanessa Devaki Andrew

{SLEEPING IN} a winter photo essay

xo,
vanessa
milwaukee WI
all photos from my FLICKR