ReVision 120: Magnolia Tree Assemblage

Dear Laura,I have finally finished the ReVision 120 in response to your Vision 120.  I got sidetracked by summer travel and beginning a new teaching year.  However....I have followed through and made a piece that is getting back to my assemblage and found object work.I started by photographing the magnolia tree in my backyard (see photos above).  These trees are common among the live oaks here in Charleston.  On to drawing I was inspired by Georgia O'Keefe's book Some Memories of Drawings.  Do you have this book?She says "The use of materials wasn't a problem for me.  But what to say with them? I had been taught to work like others and after careful thinking I decided tthat I wasn't going to spen my life doing what had already been done.  I realized that I had things in my head not like what I had been taught- not like what I had seen- shapes and ideas so familiar to me that it hadn't occurred to me to put them down.  I decided to stop painting, to put away everything I had done, and to start to say the thing that were my own."Isn't that fantastic?  It is what we have talked about what lacked in our own studio practices before attending Goddard College for our MFA's.....our individual voice.  We could paint all day but it lacked our voice.  It may be why you were having this struggle of reworking  your ReVision 120.....getting at that voice requires patience and trust.It is also what drives my passion as a teacher.  I don't want to teach another child to paint like Monet or Rembrandt.  That is another story though for another time.....Today I assembled the pieces together for this ReVision. You can see the ugly screws on the back, but these will securely hold the panels.  These three panels are set inside a larger frame.The last part I wanted to add was glass to cover the drawing, photograph, and seed.  This proved challenging because I had to purchase a glass cutter and teach myself how to use it.It turns out that cutting glass is super easy.  That glass cutter was under $5 too.  I hammered double sided nails into the corners of the glass to secure without glue. This is always a gamble because I may miss with the hammer and crack the glass.No cracked glass.  Voila!  ReVision completed.......

Looking forward to our next collaboration Laura!