Spring 2008

Studio with Rokshana Kahn

The semester focused on the creation of an item that can easily be assembled and carried that was considered a body wrap.  My thought process surrounded the idea of a dancer.  A dancer’s movements can be interrupted in so many ways.  Thinking about the dancer in slow movement caused lines to form as if a pathway was created, but one that at any moment can be altered and conformed to its surrounding.  It’s as if the pathway formed by the lines of movement created by the dancer were wrapped around the body.  The first step was the take the idea and lay it down on paper.  The warmth of the colors included in the drawing shows the warmth of the dancer.  Next, was the construction of some sample ideas.  Thinking about the body and the way it moves made me dissect it and think of the individual pieces like a puzzle.  Thanks to the muscles and the joints, the process of moving seems so easy.  Taking that into consideration, the creation of a model consisting of wood blocks with holes and wire acting as the joints, this took the form of a body.  The way it was constructed allowed for each wooden piece to play a role in the ultimate look of the model.  These led to the development of my final piece, which contained wooden frames.  Some of the squares remained hollow, while other ones had fabric stretched across them.  The beams used to connect each wood piece together allowed the project to be adjustable to the terrain.  To embody the person within the project an additional fabric piece was created to attach on to certain spaces to create a cover.  The cover enclosed the space without set walls, while at the same time providing protection from the elements.  A consideration was played on the part of the construction of the project down to the very nuts and bolts themselves, since it had to relate to the body.