Kim Cridler

I was completely inspired by last Wednesday and the time we got to spend with Kim Cridler both in the studio but also during her lecture. One of the main reasons she inspires me is because she is so down to earth, funny and of course greatly talented. She kept making comments like "I'm not good with math" or "I suck at this." She was comfortable in her own skin enough to admit she wasn't great at every thing and that she has had her fair share of struggles to get where shes at. Many people and teachers that I have encountered lately have been suggesting that the art seen sucks and that being an artist you wont make it. She inspired me when she said she worked at Starbucks and did her art work on the side. I thought that was great. The other part was how good she was at teaching this new technique to our class. I had a blast! Her work is interesting to me because of the form she uses is generally thought to hold things and how she constructs them, they are no longer functional objects. Her concept is strong and shows though in her work that the history of the object is very important along with the decoration that goes with it. I enjoyed her works that used the soldering of steel wire the most because of the class. I plan on following her work.

I had a great talk with Frankie about a few things one being the Bespoke object and how the history of the object may play a more important role than what I had first thought. Later that night I was discussing this conversation with my parents and then the weirdest thing happened and I am not sure how it did but the perfect object appeared on the kitchen table. It was almost like the object came to me for a reason and was begging to be re-used since my dad who is my objects first owner has discarded it as useless now since he no longer uses it for work. I have a personal connection with this object because when I was young I would go with my dad on service calls and I would see my dad carrying it around. This object was near and dear to my dad and lately my dad and I have been disagreeing on many things just because we are so much alike. So I want to make a connection with my dad though the idea of "one mans junk is another mans treasure" and to use the history in a new way by refurbishing this object. I have a very Strong sentimental attachment to this object so this will force me to take my time and to take a great deal of care in how I treat this object.

Jackson Pollock is one of the artists I take inspiration from. I enjoy his out look on how art should be created with little thought but more emotions and feelings. It was important for him to work on the flattest surface possible so instead of working on a traditional stretch canvas he worked on the floor and instead of a primed canvas he used un-primed so that the paint could soak in deeper and become even flatter. The reason he inspires me is because I find myself being too organized and too structured. I like the unplanned, unstructured work that doesn't represent any one thing but instead conveys a emotion. Even though he was a painter I still think there are things I can take away and use in my metals projects as inspiration.

A few things from life that inspire me include chandeliers, diamonds, anything shinny like silver or gold, fishing, hunting, snowboarding, dogs specifically wiemeraners, fast cars like my VW, flowers specifically orchids, patterns in fabrics, cheese, horses, nature trails, textures in materials, jewelry, family and my friends just to name a few. I am sure I will be adding more to this list.

Hey its me: Kendra

Hey, my name is Kendra, I am a fifth year senior and I am a BFA major with a focus on metals and ceramics. I am also an art history minor. I want to be a bench jeweler after I graduate in Spring 2010. My goals this semester are to learn new fabrication methods building on my current knowledge base. I also want to become better at soldering pieces with minimal clean-up. I look forward to Frankie's class.