Henceforth I am my Own Good Fortune

Henceforth, I Am My Own Good Fortune

Artist: Elise Beckman
Materials: Lucky bamboo plant, pine wood, acrylic, plastic glue, fabric, metal hinges.

The name of this plant, the ‘Lucky Bamboo’, is a hoax concocted by the consumeristic Western world. In truth, the plant is neither ‘lucky’ as related to the practice of Feng Shui nor is it bamboo at all. It is actually a part of the lily family, and native to the rain forests of Africa, not Asia.
For this plant I have built a new housing to reveal its true identity through several stages of transformation. It begins as a transportable wooden box, painted black and worn as if for a gypsy to travel her fortune-telling. The box opens to a dramatic display where a black painted surface and purple fabrics behind surround the plant with a sense of mysticism and the divine. This display seems befitting for a crystal ball, but instead the plant stands alone as its own free entity. The clear drawer below it displays its proud statement: “Henceforth I am my own good fortune”.
With this shift of expectation, a rediscovery of the plant’s true identity may be experienced as a new reverence for its pure life force. The mobility of the plant allows me as its keeper to bring it with me wherever I go, collecting small wonders of nature in its drawer, and offering the opportunity to forge an ongoing relationship with this plant that is based on a respect for the luck it holds simply for what it is— a living being.

New Development! Soil in Kaleidoscope Suddenly Sprouts

Reporter Elise Beckman, April 2, 2012:

Over the weekend, the roots which had shown up just before critique of the latest project on waste suddenly shot up into the world as a plant sprout. The arrival of this new life was welcomed with awe and wonder by the creator of the kaleidoscope, considering the fact that the soil from which it sprouted was collected in the middle of winter from a frozen hole near a parking lot, spread around the floor of a classroom in the art school for a performance art piece in mid-February, left in a plastic bag in a backpack in her closet for a month and a half, and finally stuffed into a salt shaker with a tube in it. Apparently all this human trauma and the current confinement of the roots/ sprout between two panes of glass does not stop it from noticing the change from winter into spring, proving physically the concept behind the piece itself: that despite man's destructive force on the natural world, nature lives on, breaking down in invisible ways the waste humans leave behind and turning it into rich soil- the chance for the sprouting of new life.

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