Patterns and Tones for A Paper Ballet

 

  Over the past several months, I've been thinking about the wood reliefs I've created over the past year and how I would like to present them in an exhibition space. With their titles cut to a minimalist description and number, I thought perhaps I would put them in the order created. It wasn't until I had placed a framed print from my Paper Ballet series up on my studio wall next to the wood reliefs did I realize what an interesting dialogue it was having with the sculptures. In the back of my mind, these two bodies of work started to coalesce into one cohesive piece but I had yet to verbalize it in writing or discuss it in earnest.

"Fleeting Perspectives: A Paper Ballet"

  When I attended an artist developement program several weeks ago, that idea started to expand. Nestled in the rolling hills of central California on a lovely ranch called Willow Pond, I attend Kipaipai for the first time. Spearheaded by Andi Campognone, this weekend workshop was a place I was hoping to bounce ideas around and to cultivate a larger community of arts professionals. Over the course of a weekend, I met with 12 art professionals for a private one-on-one discussion which filled me with insights from their various perspectives, making me look at my process and helping me expanded a view of my path forward. 

  What really stood out was how many of my conversations drew an inference between my current sculpture and my Paper Ballet series. It was a logical progression: from gemometric shapes crafted in paper produced with photography, to the "Pattern Reliefs" I had recently constructed in wood.  My gut feeling started to take shape and a vision of The Paper Ballet situated in the center surrounded by Patterns and Tones became a clearer goal to produce.

  The weeks following this inspiring and instructional weekend was filled with introspection, structural reorganizing and work on the second half of my wood reliefs. Instead of building up their structure, creating patterns, I decided to dig down and router out the wood and will eventually attached them with string, creating objects similar to musical instruments. These "Tone Reliefs" solidified my vision of the over all exhibition and is leading me to the realization that when shown together I have created a piece depicting music, dance and art in paper and wood.

Julie Green

June 30, 2024