The subversive nature of the everyday object
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| Language: | English |
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The Ohio State University / OhioLINK
1999
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1327340894 |
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NDLTD |
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English |
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NDLTD |
| author |
Williams, Sandra Marie |
| spellingShingle |
Williams, Sandra Marie The subversive nature of the everyday object |
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Williams, Sandra Marie |
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Williams, Sandra Marie |
| title |
The subversive nature of the everyday object |
| title_short |
The subversive nature of the everyday object |
| title_full |
The subversive nature of the everyday object |
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The subversive nature of the everyday object |
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The subversive nature of the everyday object |
| title_sort |
subversive nature of the everyday object |
| publisher |
The Ohio State University / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
1999 |
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http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1327340894 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu13273408942021-08-03T06:04:33Z The subversive nature of the everyday object Williams, Sandra Marie <p>Discontent is the first step in the progress of man or a nation. -Fortune cookie fortune, from Moy's, on High Street.</p><p>The pursuit of the everyday object became appealing to me as a backlash against everything I had been educated about the "Making of Art." I felt that the general education of art history had done myself, and indeed many others a grave injustice: that the pleasure of making was removed from everyman's hand, that validity could only be achieved by the elite. I became interested in the making of the cup which was something that every human being could relate to. The pursuit of the familiar has demanded a closer look that has revealed the subversive nature of the functional object.</p><p>The history of the functional object is a record of any society's etiquette and technology. The triumphs and injustices of the world are recorded on commemorative vessels, as well as secret alliances which are concealed by the innocuous nature of material and function. This paradox intrigues me, and I have spent two years making objects that belonged to this vein of history.</p><p>The process of storytelling is similar to the process of making art: the longer one knows something or someone, the secret or story is going to come out. This is similar to the gestation of the idea. The longer one thinks about it, the larger it grows, and eventually the project or piece will come out in some form, in some way. As a collector of stories and a maker of objects, it would be an inevitability that the two would merge into a single form.</p><p>My stay at The Ohio State University has resulted in a type of facilitating or giving myself permission to make the type of work I had thought about for a long time. I acquired the tools and processes that had intrigued me for years, but I had no way of knowing where to begin my pursuit. It led me to the conclusion that I wanted to invent an environment suitable for my work to live in, an environment that was reflective of the basis of the collection of the secretive personal histories of those around me as well as events and histories that are shared culturally, particularly those that occurred during the 1970's and 80's, which would reflect the formation of what could be construed as the portentous nature of not just myself but perhaps a generation.</p><p>Given my interest in the everyday object, I set about making a dining room which is titled "The Fabulous House of Hot Peep." The dining room is eight feet by twelve feet and wallpapered with "Serial Killer Wall Paper." The wallpaper is spring green with equal value yellow and orange verbena flowers, the center of which contain the portraits of various serial killers. In the center of the room is a table set for a party of six. The table setting is titled "Tales of Burning Love", (Figures 1 and 2) and each place contains a dinner plate, salad plate, soup bowl and wine goblet. The plates are covered with narrative drawings that are derived from love stories gone awry. The center piece is a three tiered, hors d'houerves tower carved with drawing relating to urban terrorism.(Figure 3) A vegetable server recants the tale of finding religious items in the Hispanic aisle at Kroger. A print titled "Blue Skies Above and Below" takes the form of the window. The window frames images that relate to the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion as well as do the curtains and knick knacks on the windowsill.</p><p>Therein lies a new direction for my work: the domestic space, the everyday objects bearing evidence of the passing of time through the telling of stories both personal and cultural. The making of dining room was a construction, actualization and documentation of daily life spelled out in plates, curtains and wallpaper. The objects and environment contain the facts as I see them, and my goal was to invent an event and place that was a little closer to the truth.</p> 1999 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1327340894 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1327340894 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |