Significant Stranger Project « Artist’s Blog for Lauren Odell Usher

Significant Stranger Project

Update – The Living Room Project

I have been asked by a few participants how the process for making my new Living Room piece is going.

I have been sketching out how I want to go about creating the work. I have created a model as a starting point.

The photo above is my living room that I will use as my base for creating a new living room out of the several photos I have received. The process will take a while, so I don’t expect it to be completed any time soon.

I am dissecting each photo I receive and separating them into sections. Each little piece of everyone’s living room is being put into labeled ziploc bags.

After I collect enough of each piece I will sew them all together into a new living room!

I still need living room photos!

If you or anyone you know has not submitted photos, send them my way. lauren [at] laurenusher.com

A little different.

For the past 5 years or so I have been making work that has people’s faces printed onto it. I dig it and it seems as though a great deal of other people do too. I was surprised at my last go at the art making thing, as the result was quite different aesthetically, although the same in terms of concept.

Project: Significant Strangers

***This piece, entitled Lost and Found, was inspired by all of the random clothing I find as I walk around the neighborhoods in Berkeley. I always wonder who used to wear the clothes and who might wear them next. Always feeding to my ever-thoughts about the strangers I will never meet.***

Perhaps my style is changing…

I don’t know yet how I feel about hanging this piece next to the other work I’ve completed for the Significant Stranger Project. Will it work with Mr. Rogers or what about Mary? Would they compliment each other? Something I need to consider. Most of my work doesn’t become complete until it is installed with the rest of its brothers and sisters in a large space. There seems to be a conversation that happens when all the work is in one space together. I’m busy trying to finish up this project to make sure that happens in the near future. I’d like to see what the work has to say to itself.

Process / Significant Stranger Project — No Comments
19
Jul 08

Oh won’t you be my neighbor

So, first and foremost I would like say that I am a total lame brain. I just received an awesome comment in my “comment box” here on my blog, but accidentally deleted it. If you are out there, person who commented on the Feminist bras and wanted to know if there was still time to be involved in the project—YES! I am still looking for some wonderful volunteers. Either leave me another comment, and this time I will make sure I don’t delete it. Or, if you don’t trust me, just send it via email to lauren@laurenusher.com and I will email you back with my address and bit more information on what I need from you.

So sorry that I totally approved your comment and then somehow deleted it. WordPress can trick you sometimes if you aren’t careful.

On to another more happy subject. I am happy to say that I have finished another piece for my Significant Stranger Project. As you might have read earlier on my post Neighborhood Piece I have been painting images from found photographs onto old photographs from CalTrans. Anyway, I was struggling with the look of it and I didn’t feel like it was really delivering the concept I wanted it to. So I sat with it a while and came up with this.

Certainly a whole new idea. But, I am much more fond of it and believe it delivers a much stronger concept and, let’s face it, it is much cooler looking.

I grew up watching Mr. Rogers and have always had a strange relationship with the idea of neighbors. My whole artistic endeavor is about getting people more involved with one another, but I have to say, I still want a tall fence around my backyard. Does that make me a hypocrite–maybe so. But, I’m sure there are more people out there who feel the same. I appreciate privacy and believe it is a right, but I do think that we should attempt to cross our own boundaries once in a while and get to know those around us.

Significant Stranger Project — No Comments
12
May 08

Elizabeth from Chowchilla, CA

Here’s is my most recent work for the Significant Stranger Project. I only know Elizabeth through the letters we have been writing back and forth for the last two years or so. When I sat down to think of what material to use to draw her face I couldn’t think of anything more appropriate than the letters themselves. And because I only know Elizabeth through text I decided to use letters as the means to show her to the rest of the world.

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22
Apr 08

Christine From San Francisco

Christine was nice enough to send me a portrait of herself along with a newspaper from the town she lives in. I ended up wanting to make her portrait larger than life, so I purchased a few newspapers of my own from San Francisco in order to sew 3 front pages from various days together.

I am finding that I’m more and more attracted to the colors black, white, and gray. I can’t say why yet, but some day I will figure it out. One reason may be that I want Christine to appear to be part of the newspaper. I’m trying to conceptually show that all persons are connected to all events. These newspapers are from the town Christine lives in. A viewer is getting a small peak into the life of a woman they have never, and most likely will never meet.

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18
Jan 08

September 11th Piece

Okay, so just wanted to give you all another glimpse into my “Significant Stranger Project”

I have a couple images to show you of what will end up being about 10 percent of the final product. I do not believe I will be done with this one until at least a year from now. We shall see.

This idea spawned from the events that took place in the United States on September 11th, 2001.

This project is about the connections we all share and I have picked September 11th, 2001 as an event that I believe reminded people of that fact.Â I do not believe there was a person alive on that day that didn’t feel connected in some way to the events or people that took place.Â In terms of my life philosophy and the concept behind this work, all of those who died on that day were effecting my life somehow.Â And them no longer being present on earth had another significant effect on my life.

They are all significant strangers.

Each face is approximately 2 inches x 2 inches. So far I am inclined to draw all of them in pencil. That may change in the future, but who knows.

This project has become quite surreal for me, if I am completely honest. While I am collecting the photographs I am reading paragraphs and paragraphs of loss. I know I will never feel what those who lost loved ones felt and still feel today, but I’m going to try. And I will most certainly try and communicate the connections we all share so perhaps more people will realize their own true significance and potential.

Let me know what you think.

Lauren

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1
Nov 07

Mary Kann

Mary Kann and her Postcards Detail

I wanted to add a few other images to give you all an idea of what I have been working on lately. This piece started with buying about 250 postcards from ebay. Upon receiving them I noticed they were all addressed to the same woman, Mary Kann. I preceded to ask the nice gentleman who sold me these postcards if he had an image of this woman so that I could join the two (the woman and the postcards) together.

I am so happy to report that he did and I have successfully combined Mary Kann with her postcards and developed another piece for my Significant Stranger Project. There is a front and back to this installation, but I am only showing you the front. The back is all the written text that Mary received, mainly from her daughter Dot, over several decades. I plan on showing it as a free standing sculpture that may be seen from all sides.

Enjoy the image. It’s still in the working phases, but you can get an idea of where I am going with this particular piece. I am working on about three more at the moment and will keep you updated as the time passes.

Again, I am always looking for volunteers, so if you are a stranger, which most of you out there are (to me), check out my post entitled New Art Project #1 to get more details.

Thanks again! Lauren

Significant Stranger Project — 8 Comments
21
Aug 07

Update on Significant Stranger Project

Well, things are going really well with this project. I have a good amount of volunteers sending me photos and newspapers–thank you all. I wanted to post an image of a piece I just completed to give you all an idea of what I mean to do with your portrait. This particular piece is done on newspaper, others will be completed on other materials which have yet to be decided on.

If you are interested in being part of this project please leave a comment and I will get in contact with you. More information about the “Significant Stranger Project” may be found under the page New Art Projects

More updates to come!

Artist’s Blog for Lauren Odell Usher