Round Two of the Mirror Wing

Round two of my mirror wing went much better! Thanks to the lovely Hannah! The wing ended up a bit longer this time due to an increase in my spacing, which I like. I also took photos of the wing with my niece Alexis (who also happens to have red hair), I am still in the process of editing hers. And thinking of ways that I might combine and/or display it with the image below.

It was a bit cold during set up but I managed. I'm getting faster. And smarter. I placed the fabric on top of the tarp, laid out the larger pieces in advance, and then just pulled it out of the garage that morning. That helped. Before, I put the pieces on the tarp itself and then transferred them piece by piece onto the fabric. I won't be doing that again. This has definitely been a learning process.

The lovely Hannah was gracious enough to come a bit early to help with set up and then apparently had to sneak a few pictures of me while she waited. I was so focused on the placement of the mirrors that I didn't even notice.

As for the next step with this project...well. I'm still thinking about it, but I have a few ideas. I want to try setting it up in some kind of landscape or location this summer. When I asked my niece Alexis if she had any ideas after we were done, she surprised me when she suggested I do it on ice! Which I loved. Smart kid. Hopefully I will have some sort of method figured out by the time winter rolls around again.

After the rain...

I'm still going through the photos (and making notes for the next time), but I thought I would share my favorite of what I've edited so far with Hannah. This is after it rained and the wind swept petals across the mirrors.

Hopefully something interesting like the petals will happen for the next time (and when I have a wider lens for my nice camera). I would love to do this during winter too, but that would be slightly more difficult. Hannah has already offered to lay in the snow. Sometimes I think she's crazier than I am. Maybe it will happen. I'll just have to buy her lots of hot chocolate.

Round One of the Mirror Wing

So the lovely Hannah came to visit and it was a very productive weekend full of photographing, seeing art, and eating good food. Her company is always welcome. The first test run of the broken mirror wing (still thinking about a title) began Friday and was taken down the next afternoon. (Special thank you to Blake for bringing his brother to open the garage door!)

Needless to say, it was a learning experience and I have plans to do it at least once more. It also felt like a performance piece for the entire neighborhood. Probably not something they see everyday. Here was my lovely setup (taken on Saturday):

The weather was perfect, surprisingly. Friday was nice and sunny and the next day it rained and the wind swept petals across the mirrors. Strange because I had been thinking I needed to do something with the petals for a photograph and then this happened.

I can only hope the weather will be like that again for the next round. Here's a shot on Friday from the ladder:

Now to edit the images with Hannah in them. Hopefully I'll be able to post them in the near future.

Mirrors and Wings

One of my current projects at the moment has involved breaking mirrors and a lot of strong words in the process. The end goal right now is to create a photograph with my friend, Hannah, as a model. Perhaps it will turn into something else as I go along. Here's the initial sketch:

The scale is approximately 9' long and 3' wide. I've had this idea for a while now, I think since high school, but didn't have the time or the drive to do it while I was in college. But it was always in the back of my mind. When I shared this sketch with Jacinda, she reminded me of this sculpture that I'd seen before (probably in one of her lectures) and had forgotten by Anselm Kiefer, Book With Wings.

I happened to find two 3' x 3' mirrors with someone's trash on the street where my parents live. The reflection of the sun caught my eye as I was backing out of the driveway. The mirrors would remain in my trunk for a few years. Until recently.

I learned, especially with these mirrors that were 1/4" thick, all the right and wrong ways to break mirror. It did not break exactly how I wanted, so I had to improvise. And only nicked myself once in the process. Surprisingly. Here's the rough layout at the moment:

Hopefully I'll be able to do a test run before Hannah arrives at the end of the month for a much needed visit.