Student Research
Students currently enrolled in the Interdisciplinary Arts Department's graduate programs are each leaders of research, which is formally evaluated numerous times during a students' education with us. Among these are a series of week-long critique sessions in which the entire department participates. From the research presented at the most recent critique sessions held in spring 2012, the Faculty selected several projects to highlight.
Still image of video performance
work in progress, drag.
Dennis Michael Burke
I am currently developing an expanding series of performance based video projects that began as an exploration of the aesthetic and conceptual possibilities of transforming my physically centered drawing and painting practice into live action for an audience. Since it's inauguration, the Work in Progress series has evolved from its simple beginnings into a multi-faceted examination of the duality that exists between my experience as a construction worker and my pursuits as an artist. As both a laborer and an artist, I am compelled to question the relationship that physical exertion can have on meaning. Within this ongoing body of work, I have subjected myself to risky and confinable situations in an attempt to produce intriguing and provocative juxtapositions that probe the depths of what it means to be an artist. Presently, I have executed over six interpretations within this line of inquiry and I see myself continuing to research, develop, and expand this series over the next few years, if not more. To read more on this subject or to see more of my work, please visit me online at www.dennismburke.com.
Afropicyan, Cyanotype on handmade
paper, 2012.
Krista Franklin
During my second year as an Interdisciplinary Arts – Book & Paper graduate student, I desired to move back to some of my collage roots, and became deeply inspired by D. Scot Miller’s “Afro-Surreal Manifesto”. In his manifesto, Miller writes: “3. Afro-Surrealists restore the cult of the past. We revisit old ways with new eyes. We appropriate 19th century slavery symbols like Kara Walker, and 18th century colonial ones like Yinka Shonibare. We re-introduce "madness" as visitations from the gods, and acknowledge the possibility of magic. We take up the obsessions of the ancients and kindle the dis-ease, clearing the murk of the collective unconsciousness as it manifests in these dreams called culture.” This section of “The Afro-Surreal Manifesto” as well as the ethnographic and folkloric work that engaged writer and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston in her lifetime, led me to develop a body of work titled The Afrimerica Archive. The collection is in and on handmade paper, and chronicles notions of the black iconic and the black nostalgic in historical and contemporary terms through the lens of the Afro-Surreal. Using hand papermaking and cyanotype, the series serves as permanent visual documentation of African Diasporic life, experience, and cultural memory through image and text while exploring the idea of “archive as art object.”
Recipe for disaster, 11 3/4" x 12", Multi gum transfer
on 100% cotton paper, 2012.
David Jones
I am piecing together a loose visual narrative based on the Bayeux Tapestry plus pen and ink drawings derived from photos of scrap heaps and images of toy robots. This disparate subject matter is manifesting itself in the form of prints on hand made paper and in artists books. In the near future there is the possibility of creating a robotic like structures and montaged photo-based images of robot-manned assembly lines. This is an opportunity for me to weave personal narratives, juxtaposed with images related to consumption, excess and waste. I am exploring new imagery and developing challenging methods of working, by integrating digital and analog printing technologies. I see this as an opportunity to bring all of my experiences together as multi-media performative components with book projects thrown in for good measure. It’s all open! It’s about searching for linkages. Making sense of the past and tying it together with the present. To see more visit: proppjonesstudio.com.
Artists' book in progress; found accordion,
handmade metallic pearl paper.
Jackie McGill
I have currently been developing an autobiographical line of inquiry revolving around my family’s history and relationships, specifically through the maternal Italian-American side. My process circulates back and forth between creating handmade objects and experimenting with digital media. The most recent narrative I’ve been exploring is that of my Great-Grandfather, whom I never had a chance to meet. He was a self-taught artisan and musician who made and repaired accordions and concertinas in Chicago beginning in the 1930’s until his death in 1983. I have stripped, cut, and dissected a found accordion to explore the inner workings and pick out pieces to recycle into an artists' book. In progress, it includes two rounded-corner handmade boxes and pages slipped inside the bellows, which have been printed on handmade papers. Most people who knew what he knew how to do are gone and the process of making and repairing these objects is quickly becoming a lost art. This started to raise more questions for me about legacy. What happens to that information? Why does your work survive you? And how does it continue to resonate later? In conjunction, I’m also developing an iPad app to include his musical recordings, which were taped from his basement studio, and to parallel my process as an artist with my Great-Grandfather’s process. To see more artwork, visit Jackie's website www.jackiemcgill.com.
Life in the driver's seat (detail of cards and pullouts),
5" x 7", letterpress printed handmade book.
Jenna Rodriguez
I create interactive and participatory art to inspire self-reflection, thoughts, and human connections. My content constantly revolves around the idea of collecting and interviewing. I use myself to create these interactions in hope of receiving engaging responses. In Reflect I interviewed my eight family members to see how they depicted themselves as individuals, as a family as a whole, and how they viewed the other family members. After constantly weaving my family throughout my work I wanted to engage with other communities. Moving to Chicago gave me a wider lens to look through and more sources for material. I am intrigued with the idea every time one rides in a taxi you have this short interaction with a stranger. With Life in the Driver’s Seat I wanted to learn about who these drivers are as workers and humans. Every time I took a taxi I interviewed the drivers and kept track of the documentary information. My interactions with humans have inspired me to create work exploring the ways art can help people create dialog and take a positive role in their community. I have started to collaborate with another artist and when we disseminate work out in the public sphere we work under the name peoplemade. I am creating art by using my community to gain content in hopes of making a better connection with Chicago. To see more visit:www.jennarodriguez.com and http://www.people-made.blogspot.com.
Isang gucci aklat-panalangin (a gucci prayer book),
faux gucci bag material, developing work, 2012.
Christopher Saclolo
I am currently developing an artist’s book titled Isang Gucci Aklat-Panalangin (A Gucci Prayer Book) that investigates consumer identity of luxury goods in the dominantly Catholic country of the Philippines. Inspired by my parents’ native homeland, the Philippines – a Southeast Asian country with a history of mixed colonialism dominantly from Spain and United States, this artist’s book will explore the material consumerism of the country’s religious state and its cultural influence from the West. Counterfeit bags patterned after the luxury brand Gucci are often bought in the Philippines to create an image of class status. I am developing the artist’s book by refashioning a prayer book using materials from a fake Gucci bag and juxtaposing altered text from Filipino prayer books to contradict the false idol worship and its consumer presence. Isang Gucci Aklat-Panalangin (A Gucci Prayer Book) expands on my artist inquiry of the Philippines – its complex history of colonialism, consumerism, social class, religious and cultural influence in a form of a prayer book.
composite image of www.youareme.net.
Leonardo Selvaggio
I am an interdisciplinary artist who explores the themes of identity, the body, and gender. Recently, I have been fascinated in post-human discourse as it applies to identity, and the open-source movement. Open source, a method of providing and promoting free redistribution, use, and public access to technology, has been traditionally applied to technological applications such as software and hardware.
My current work, www.youareme.net, explores what happens when the methodology of open sourcing is applied to identity. In effect, I have relinquished control over the creation of my persona online, and have provided to the public my identity and image as material to be manipulated, created, and even destroyed. In our highly surveilled and sensitive society, I am interested in what a public might do with open access to my information. I am not only concerned with the dynamics of supposed public and private information, but also with the carefully curated creation of an online identity. How do social technologies like Facebook shape the way we present ourselves, and how do we go about editing the realities of our lives for online consumption? And if we create or recreate ourselves through our technologies, who exactly could I be, if that process is one open to public discourse. Could this expand the possibilities of who I am, or ruin my cyber-social relations and credibility. The answer to that question lies in your hands. BE ME.
vella working on a sound piece, 2012.
Valentina Vella
My work originates in a place of darkness and harnesses raw, potentially destructive energy,but my process is a movement toward greater understanding. I strive to recompose
dichotomies and find solace in humor and beauty. Lola, a video that I assembled from family footage, deals with autobiographical material, exposing family secrets and processing stagnant grief. Unlikeable is a sound piece about honesty and its pitfalls. It moves through different scenes and moods, ultimately converging toward the final cathartic moment. I am currently planning my next project: I will travel by horse through several states, equipped with a video camera, a zoom recorder with binaural microphones and pen and paper. I will deconstruct my own romantic fantasies and interrogate literary, cinematic and popular mythologies associated with the Great American Outdoors. You can find out more about me on my website: www.valentinavella.com.
