Date of Submission
Spring 2020
Academic Program
Studio Arts
Project Advisor 1
Arthur Gibbons
Abstract/Artist's Statement
This project initially started out as a collection of found wood pieces, which I then sorted, sanded, and painted. I took some parts from recycling bins at Fisher and UBS as well as finding some random chunks at my house. Other wood was either collected in similar ways except for 3 2x4’s which I purchased. Through the process of mixing and matching the color and shape of each wooden chunk I found it easier for each piece to find its place among the rest. Like a puzzle for me to find the correct spot for the item at hand. It wasn’t until I had made a few of these bright pieces with individually painted parts that I came to the realization that I was trying to fix something that had already been broken once before (by myself or another). Through this understanding, I started breaking the wood up myself. I believe this trial of material mash helped me think about the wood differently than I had before and seriously try to make this 2x4 mine. Trying out more combinations with less vocal colors. Once I started using textiles throughout the first semester I started to pick up on the fact that I was likely making my work as some sort of memorial and connecting with feelings of nostalgia both positive and negative from my childhood. I make these pieces with the idea of a “family” in mind. The pieces belong to one another, or one is related to another but not the rest. I want to fix the broken family and in order to figure out how it works it must be destroyed and put back together. Not just by breaking, but pounding, destroying, obliterating, until what was left could only be understood as wood. And once this wood is unfamiliar, mend it back together with the tools at hand.
S, P, C
Snapping, playing and crunching
Like feet stomping in the forest
Chirping children
Tattered twigs
Scraping, prying and clipping
Like opening a gift
From surprise
To shock
Salvaging, patching and crafting
Like a Surgeon
From static
To stagnant
Splitting, popping and cracking
Like bones
From the Earth
Back to the dirt
Sanding, polishing and cleaning
Like Morticians
From the bed
Into the coffin
Saving, protecting and cubbying
Like a mourning Mother
From disbelief
To grief
Smothering, priming and coating
Like a role model
Gone now
Never forgotten
Spraying, pigmenting and coloring
Like flowers
From vibrant bloom
To Winter’s grey
Searching, prowling and collecting
Like a hungry animal
Once stuffed
Now empty
Stoning, plummeting and cascading
Like a landslide
Head under a boulder
And it feels real
Sleeping, psychoanalyzing and cuddling
Like a velvet couch
The ceilings are always grey
And they’re never comfortable
Sparking, pitter-pattering and catching
Like a fuse Tik-tik
Boom
Speeding, producing and cruising
Like a machine
Gears squeaky
Gunky stuck
Slipping, parading and crashing
Like a drunk
All smiles at day
Cries at night
Salting, powdering and crusting
Like a grill master
Mouthwatering sweet
With a fiery kick
Splintering, pulling and creaking
Like a heavy wind
Trees falling down
Precious wood
In the ground is a birch tree
Planted along with half of me.
Open Access Agreement
Open Access
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Rich, Corey Alexander, "Corey Rich" (2020). Senior Projects Spring 2020. 339.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2020/339
This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.