Pass The Plate -- Artist Statement

with contributions from Beatrice Amstutz, Leslie Barnwell, Facundo Gastiazoro, Kirby Huminuik, Phil Irish, Taisa Jenne, Scott Malin, kit malo, Keshav Mukunda, Chris Simons, Gabrielle Smith, Nick Sousanis, Linda Stringfellow and Chris Zabel.

This image association project draws upon the notion of the creative spark: of how a certain image can lead to a new image. It is like a word association game, or the telephone game, as messages are passed along through various peoples' interpretations. This is all about transmission of ideas and images, as the chain goes through the minds and hands of many people, morphing and changing, but somehow linked.

For this work, I employed the technique of drawing into the bottom of a styrofoam plate, since it provides a distinct simplified image. It also carries connotations of passing around food at a picnic or potluck event, food often made by the participants themselves.

I began with an image of a spark, and passed it on to the first artist. Instructions were to make a sketch of an image, or provide a found image, based on what came to mind as a springboard from the received image. It can of course be logically connected or a complete non sequitur, depending on how the artist's brain was working at that moment. The image was then returned to me, for me to reproduce as best as I could into a styrofoam plate print. Then I passed it on to the next person. I cycled myself in approximately every 4th or 5th image or so. Several artists got to participate more than once, which they found quite interesting to see how the image had changed since their previous involvement. As for me, I had to release any expectation I had about where I might think the image might lead to, which provided quite an element of wonder as it evolved.

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