A Day in the Life of a WWII Prisoner

The bravery of Mr. Kirk enables all of us to get a glimpse into the daily life for a WWII prisoner.  

Terence Sumner Kirk was a Marine who was captured in China on the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He then spent over 1,300 days — up until the end of the war — in prison as a Japanese POW. 

While inside a camp and being used for slave labor, Kirk decided that he wanted to document the conditions inside the camp, including how malnourished he and his fellow prisoners were — so he set to work building a pinhole camera.

more here: http://petapixel.com

An exhibition is on its way!

I am so excited to announce that A Day in the Life will be installed at the Wiseman Gallery in Grants Pass, Oregon during July and August of 2014!

WHAHOO!

There are no words to explain how amazing it feels to get the opportunity to complete this project with an interactive art installation. You can read about the concept for the gallery installation here.

Mark your calendars and stop by if you can.

The application process begins.

It's time to enter the final step of this project, the installation stage.

Here's what I propose for an art installation:

Imagine a rectangle where one side represents past moments and the other future moments. Altogether the space becomes a room full of experiences and connections. On the left hand walls of the gallery I intend to write, directly on the wall, each of the 263 different moments experienced between the 10 women during the project. The size of the text will correlate with the number of women that experienced that same moment. In the center of the room each mixed media portrait will hang from the ceiling with fishing line so the viewer can approach the work, walk around it, and watch it move as they and others interact with it. Continuing on to the right side of the room a viewer will find the “future moments” chalkboard wall that asks them to check a box next to a moment they have already experienced that day as well as add a moment that isn’t already listed. As moments, minutes, hours, and days pass during this art installation the room will grow into a space of collected moments and memories.

I'm hoping to have a solo show of this work in at least one gallery within the next year.  Fingers crossed!

A Day in the Life of Lisa

I think that Lisa's image is so interesting because it is so abstract.  Even though there are just a few lines you can still make out a face.  It adds something a little extra to the entire grouping of artworks.

A Day in the Life of Andra, Netherlands

I know, I know, why is this project taking forever?  I would apologize, but I have a wonderful excuse.  His name is Everett and he just about 3 months old.  Needless to say, I took a bit of an hiatus from this art project last year getting ready to have my first child.  But, now I'm back!  The project is just one artwork away from being complete and the final installation design has been decided on.  I'm about to submit proposals to some galleries in the area, so keep your fingers crossed.

In the meantime, here's Andra.  As you can see, her favorite color is green.  I am in love with her handwriting!

A Day in the Life of Lindsey

 When I first started to map out Lindsey's print, I realized there were 7 pages.  No matter what I did, the canvas would be oddly shaped.  It turned out to be such a blessing in disguise.  I started to think about how much of my work is about the moment in time when I viewer stands in front of it.  At that moment the artwork is complete.  Since my viewer completes my work conceptually, I thought I'd give them the opportunity to complete it visually (in his/her own mind) as well. 

I absolutely love the expression that she is giving in this image!

I love the way this turned out.  Lindsey's favorite colors are rainbow moonstone and labradorite.  I decided to take the blue from the rainbow moonstone and use it for her image and let the white of the paper represent the white of the gem.

A Day in the Life of Kayla

Kayla was (and maybe still is) teaching English in South Korea when she participated in this project.  Here's a photo documentation of the steps I took to complete her piece.  I love the detail in the blanket Kayla was using when her portrait was taken.  It adds such substance to the composition.

A Day in the Life of Cindy

I would like to introduce you to Cindy.  She currently resides in Paris, France.  This is the first artwork of this series to be completely covered in ink.  When I saw that Cindy was using her bookcase as her backdrop for her self portrait, I knew I had to incorporate that into the final artwork.

Now, I haven't sewn the pages together yet, but I am just too excited and want to share it this very second.  So, imagine it is sewn together!

A Day in the Life of Jen

I am so happy to have the time to commit to making more work for this project!  Over the weekend I finished up the work using the notes and image for Jen of Fort Collins, Co.  This time around, I decided to concentrate a bit more on some of the detailing.  I was really intrigued by the cowboy hat that Jen was wearing in the photograph and it sort of become my focal point.  It was a welcome carving challenge!

A Day in the Life of Yolanda

Like Sue, Yolanda's favorite color is blue.  I had the pleasure of reading about a day in the life of a woman living in Paris, France.

I can't really express what this project means to me at the moment.  It is so fascinating getting to know someone through a portrait, hand writing and a diary of his/her day.  I am starting to track the statistics behind each participant's day and hope to have some sort of graph when I have a few more pieces complete. 

I most excited right now about the possibility of starting to show some of the work in group exhibitions.  I have another work that has one more layer of color to go and then I will start to submit the work.  I really want this work to get out there because I feel like it has the possibility of speaking to a great deal of people.  It is more vulnerable, personal, intimate and honest than my past work and I think that will pay off in the end.

I would love to know what you think!