Reduction
Schuyler C.
-
After moving into our new home in 2011, my family and I started making large felt wall panels to populate the blank and unfamiliar walls. We were inspired by artists like Damien Hirst and Ellsworth Kelly because of their vibrant colors and geometric shapes. With high ceilings, we were able to decorate our home with modern hanging mobiles.
When the pandemic first rolled around, I was tasked with designing something new to go above the couch. I had always been fascinated by one particular mobile hanging in our living room called 'Circula' (https://www.hangingmobilegallery.com/circula-mobile-multicolor/) by the Swiss company, Tät-Tat. It has free-spinning rings attached horizontally to a single thread. The colorful rings are arranged in sets that both increase in size and number from bottom to top. I realized that these spinning rings could be the basis of my new felt project. Instead of looking at the rings three-dimensionally as hollow cylinders, I visualized them in two dimensions turning them into rectangles.
Using materials we already had in the garage, I was able to make a 70" x 28" frame from thin strips of cedar wood held together by an L-bracket. The background is a large gray colored piece of felt that wraps around the frame. The eighteen rectangular strips were cut from seventeen different colors of felt scraps. With careful measurements and calculation, I was able to space out the eighteen strips evenly and glue them onto the gray felt using fabric glue. The end result, which I've named "Reduction", captures a dynamic, three-dimensional mobile as a two-dimensional panel frozen in time.
-
Creativity is using one's imagination to turn an idea into reality. Creativity draws upon being able to see things with varying perspectives. The artist may have a particular concept, but the viewer might see things differently from the artist. Creativity provides a platform for such experiences.
