Where was I again?

So I think this pretty much explains where I sit with my project currently.  It definitely doesn't feel like it should.  Maybe that has a lot to do with how it evolved from the beginning to now, but that seems counter intuitive as while the evolution happened it felt ok... good to do, the right thing.  Now?  I don't know.

Well, let's look at some pictures of progress shots skinning the armature...

So there is a progression from some screen to one side fully skinned.  In direct and indirect lighting and a close up of the eyelets and lacing.  When the first panel went on, I didn't like it.  It didn't feel organic enough, and that probably has to do with the materials chosen and the design I laid out for the armature.  It does have a feel to it (more on that in a bit) but the feel I wanted to capture in it... and to be honest, I don't know if this project will capture what I want out of it.

A curious thing has been happening though, several people have had their own relations to the form.  Through all sorts of associations... "it looks like a..."  Bat Boat, an ID project, an African mask, a shield, it's hydro and aerodynamic.  So it is evoking something in the people that view it, one part of me thinks this makes it successful.  The form is dictating the mental relation realized by the viewer.  The other part of me thinks this is a failure by not getting across what I wanted to, but it may not do that until it's finished.  As of today I had started to hang monofilament from the screen and it looks ok, there is not enough of it yet.  So it may be just riding it out some more and see where the process takes it.

Now the concept is entirely different.  I have been trying to take time to write about what I'm doing but so far this feels like an empty gesture to myself.  I thought the evolution made sense, it felt right, that it was designed right, that it was looking right.  There is a huge chunk missing for me and haven't been able to figure out what that is yet, but I might be getting into an idea of where my head is at.  

I have heard that there are basically two types of artists, the conceptual types and those who make cool things.  I might just be getting the wake up call that I fall into the later camp.  I have struggled with concepts in art for a long time and in the glass world the concept of conceptual glass art is REALLY new.  New enough in fact that I will getting a book from the 70's from a glass artist by the name of Harvey Littleton called Glassblowing : A Search for Form.  Even though this book is 40 years old the information of how glassblowing is perceived and what it can be could really help.  Having read just a small excerpt from this book I think it will be a seminal reading to absorb and digest as I get ready to start thinking about my thesis for next year.  Maybe by then I'll have a handle on wtf I'm doing.