Tiny—Invisible—Benevolent—Beings

Tiny—Invisible—Benevolent—Beings

Artist: Elise Beckman


In the natural world there exist billions of tiny microorganisms whose lives are vastly invisible to us, but which are responsible for breaking down waste in the landscape, and purifying our water which is so necessary for human life.
This small looking glass seeks to create an opportunity for participants to explore this invisible world which supports and sustains us through a small and personal discovery experience. The physical object resembles an hourglass in shape and presents stages of waste degrading vertically into soil, symbolizing the balance of the natural cycles occurring over time. By peering past these into the looking glass, an environment is revealed where tiny, luminescent beads and strings create a sense of the magic that underlies our natural existence.

Final Documentation for Project #2 'Veins'

Veins

Artist: Elise Beckman
Materials: steel rod, foam, fabric, plasma ball, sound piece

Veins serve a vital function in nature to communicate messages and send nutrients throughout the parts of a system. This interactive installation seeks to illuminate the unifying structure of these veins, which connects humans with all elements of the natural world: its rivers, plants, animals, etc; and ultimately hopes to reawaken in participants an awareness of the veins within themselves, which pump life through our bodies, finally creating an opportunity for these invisible connections between ourselves and other human beings to be made visible.

Project #3 Mini Assignment Assessment

After looking at my sound piece in class, I feel that the main ideas that inspired it can be sought at in a more effective way. For this piece I used sound from our tour of the waste water processing plant, to try and show a back and forth between the side of nature and the side of humans, pushing eventually towards a kind of balance between the two which is hinted at when the guide says “We’ll just keep following the river”. The most important part for me in this idea of balance between humans and nature is the continuous cycle which exists, that for humans to continue to live on this earth, they must use certain resources from the natural world, which they then turn into waste, and which nature renews by breaking it down and turning it into something new. It was the idea of these tiny, invisible, and benevolent beings which break down the waste and turn it into something usable again which most fascinated me at the plant, as they had taken these microorganisms which are present in natural rivers, and concentrated them to break down waste at a faster pace to compensate for man’s over-harvesting of resources, and overproduction of waste. This is how a balance is once again sought. 

I want my final project for this assignment to focus much more on bringing to light these small, invisible, but ever-important beings of nature, and how they are the key in connecting us with a new future. I want to use physical materials to make one or more objects that could seek to embody this connection, between ourselves and the forces that support our life here on this planet, and create the opportunity for a simple, new way of seeing the world.

Plant Project Iteration #2 Progress

I’ve developed my idea of the ideal home for my lucky bamboo plant since the last iteration. I realized during critique that creating something small and portable were both very important and desirable for me as a creator for this habitat for my plant. Neither were present in the last iteration, but I decided that making a construction that has these elements and focusing on good craftsmanship/ sturdy structure would be the best plan for this iteration. I have worked a lot on this over the break, and will be done by the time class rolls around on Monday the 5th, but here are some pictures of what I have so far. The finishing touches will be to paint the outside black, put touches of fabric inside, and finishing the drawer. I might also put two clasps on the front bottom panel as extra hold for it. 

I am very happy with the structure I have created, and feel my lucky bamboo will be happy here. The concept is still the same: the breaking out of the lucky bamboo from its cliche mysticism, represented by the upper portion of the box which resembles what one may see as a gypsy’s glass ball, with the starlike holes, and the glass ball, with holes drilled where the leaves burst through its confining walls. The bottom portion exposes the soil that grounds the plant in the earth through the clear container, and has a drawer with the statement ‘henceforth, i am my own good fortune’, a quote from Walt Whitman, nature poet and deeply rooted human being whom I greatly respect. This statement and the form expose the truth of the plant, that it is ‘lucky’ simply because it is a living being and growing from the earth. The drawer holds little nick-nacks and things of nature that I myself like to pick up, and which are reminders of this truth of existence. I will personally be interested in keeping this plant in this loving enclosure, and bringing it with me places, as it has a portable feature. In this way, we are living companions and friends.




By the way, his name is Oliver.

Veins

This project finally came together yesterday, when I was able to finally kick it out and get everything together to present my installation to the class for critique. Here are some pictures that are not well-considered or well-lit documentation of my piece. They simply show what is there, but I will post better documentation very soon. (next week)

Here is my current artist statement:

Veins


Artist: Elise Beckman
Materials: steel rod, foam, fabric, plasma ball, sound piece


Veins serve a vital function in nature to communicate messages and send nutrients throughout the parts of a system. This interactive installation seeks to illuminate the unifying structure of these veins, which connects humans with all elements of the natural world: its rivers, plants, animals, etc; and ultimately hopes to reawaken in participants an awareness of the veins within themselves, which pump life through our bodies, finally creating an opportunity for these invisible connections between ourselves and other human beings to be made visible.

There were many aspects to bringing this project together: there was the conceptualizing, which took place two weeks, before, then there was sketching, ordering the plasma ball, recording/ editing the sound piece which took place the week before, worrying about/ receiving the plasma ball in the mail, buying the right materials: metal rod of various sizes and thicknesses, foam and fabric; cutting/ bending/ welding together the rods and sheet metal/ constructing the structure, renting the room via emails, instructions, form-signing, etc, and finally covering the metal bands with foam and sewing fabric on them, painting the metal black, and bringing everything into the studio after picking up the key, and playing the sound with the installation.
It totally felt so great to have all of that in one room, and have people actually participate with the piece. I felt as I was listening to the audio in the room that I was feeling the meditative awareness I had hoped to evoke with the installation, and I felt a lot of satisfaction in that. Also, to hear people say that 1) they were feeling connected to the other person across from them, and 2) they were feeling connected to their own heartbeat, just made me so happy because that is what it is all about.

From here I feel I will make some corrections to make the whole thing run smoother/ better:

1) I will bring down the level of the hearbeat so it's not so ear shattering/ doesn't drown out the voice as much

2) will edit out parts of the narration that don't really apply in the finished state of things

3) will re-weld the joint of one of the support rods which has broken (not vital, but will be better re-welded)

4) will refine my artist statement so it says only what I want it to say and is more direct/ to the point

(this is my new artist statement: I think it's a lot clearer/ more direct to the point of what I want to convey

Veins


Artist: Elise Beckman
Materials: steel rod, foam, fabric, plasma ball, sound piece


Veins serve a vital function throughout nature to communicate messages and to connect the different parts of a system. This interactive installation seeks to renew in individuals an awareness of their own heartbeat, pumping life continually through their veins, and to illuminate the invisible connections that draw themselves and other living beings together as parts of a whole.

5) and finally, I will document the installation! I wasn't able to keep the key to the photo studio for another day, but I will re-rent it next week with some video equipment, and will ask someone to be the other person in the documentation and will post that to this blog.

I feel very proud of the hard work I put into this installation and how it worked out. I look forward to finishing it up, and maybe finding out where this piece can find a place to be shown/ have a life of its own!

Art is exciting.

Have a great day!

-Elise

Idea for Final Project #2

I am going to create an interactive installation, in which two people at a time can walk into a small, dark room and connect themselves to a fixture which straps around their chest and wrists, and leads from both people opposite each other into a sound-activated lightning ball in the center of the room. My heartbeat audio piece will be playing, making the lighting in the ball pulse along with the heartbeat. Each person will see the other with this glowing orb in the general area of the heart, and the purpose is to feel connected to their own veins and heartbeat, as well as to the other person's veins and heartbeat.

I am going to be doing a lot of welding for this, and I already ordered the lightning ball online, to be here within the next week and a half (in time for critique).

I'm really loving how this is all coming together-- installations are something I tend to gravitate towards, for their ability to create a tangible experience for the 'viewer', and I have experience in welding/ large sculpture and sound/ creating a space, which makes me really confident in moving forwards towards this final piece.

As a side note, the process we've gone through for this project has been immensely helpful for me, as I tend to have an initial reaction and just go for it. This has allowed me to slow down, branch my thought process out a bit, put work into three smaller projects, and then combine them into something that really is what I want to create, and not just following an initial impulse. It feels very full and complete-- something I am going to pursue to continue in everything I make. This class is such a great preparation for becoming an artist and what that would mean, and I am excited for this wonderful challenge!

3 Small Projects

This weekend I completed three small projects to further explore the subject of veins. Two have to do with the idea that for my final project I would create an installation which evokes an awareness of the veins inside of each person, and the connection these veins have with the veins in all of the world and its systems. For these two I explored visual and audial ways to convey this. The first is a visual comparison of vein systems in all its various forms:




The second is a sound piece, meant to create a meditative experience that increases awareness of the heartbeat and the purpose of veins:

(I had a hard time uploading just the sound piece, so this is the sound piece along with the video above, but if you don't watch the video, and close your eyes, you can get a better idea of what the sound piece is doing, since the video is so hectic and heartattack inducing, while the goal of the sound piece is to be meditative and calming.)

The third project took a different kind of look at veins, exploring them through a physical representation of the veins and the way they connect us all. To be worn by two people, this piece is a type of small performance to promote awareness of the veins in each, as well as the invisible-made-tangible connection between the two.
Here is a picture, along with a written explanation:

External Vein System

Elise Beckman

This small apparatus is worn on the left hands of two people to form an external connection between them through a form that resembles the vein system. 

Elastic bands around the wrists wrap around one of the main arteries which runs through the wrist, bringing attention to this area and surrounding it like the elastic walls of the veins themselves. 

This band leads up the back of the hand with foil tinsel which follows up to the fingertips in a branching vein-like pattern. 

From the fingertips of each hand, strings are attached and connect with a string from the wrists in the center. 

The intention of this worn object is to bring both of the wearers’ attention to the vein systems in their own bodies (increase interoceptive awareness), as well as to promote awareness of one of the main purposes of veins: to send vital nutrients along channels and communicate messages-- a purpose which all living beings and systems share in their concurrent use of vein systems (humans, animals, plants, rivers), and which creates a fundamental connection between these two and all of life.