Works from Chautauqua Artist Residency

Week 8


monocopy commas

8.5"x11 each

Summer 2006


Chautauqua: Week 8

Giving time and tempo to a pause- the comma. Paying attention to the action and happenings within rests.

Rests and pauses in music have various indicators like tempo and beats to communicate their resting length, so specific that the difference could be a fraction of a second. If I took the comma, for example, how could I communicate its relationship to time, and my relationship to this 'rest'?
Here on the top right was an exercise to think about those two questions. To explain briefly, I begin making a comma on a scroll of drawing paper whenever start working (work= drawing comma with pencil). The comma extends during the period of time I work. When I decide to take a break from it, I finish up the stroke of the extending comma, then begin a new one again when I return.

The "Monocopy" (Mono- Photocopy) series were the last few pieces I made in Chautuauqua. They came from cutting comma shapes from the note-less music scores seen on the previous page. The paper comma was then placed on a photocopier machine, and with the cover of the machine open, the comma was dragged along the surface as the photocopying started. Resulted shapes of each monocopy were based on the speed which the comma was moved during the process.

The last three images were done the same way, but with a blank paper comma, and on flame-treated copying paper.