humor

My research explores and embodies queerness and comfort as a way to discuss how we as queers navigate and shape spaces. By using discomfort as a way to position my work, I hope to make connections with people by sharing my interpretations and contribution to queerness. My visual thesis titled Fields addresses orientation, associations, impermanence and queerness. The concept of having multiple ways of approaching work is very interesting to me, because it moves away from a linear path. The non-linearity is a way to address queerness in that both process and queerness are fluid and open, not necessarily concrete. To me a space can be physical, but also imaginative, and it is through the way that we interact with objects that a relationship is created between an object and the viewer. In this paper I discuss my research around queerness, comfort, discomfort and orientation as a supplement for the visual work. The paper is a framework and considers queer artists and authors that address similar ideas to support how I interpret queerness.

Emotions and their causes are difficult to define, as are the boundaries of what makes an illustration different from a work of craft or fine art. Regardless of medium, a shared image that interprets the everyday and serves a communicative function can be considered an illustration. By reproducing and placing embroidered work in non-traditional spaces, needlework can be viewed as a medium for communication and not simply a traditional craft technique. While tracing the importance of embroidery to my personal artistic practice and the historical importance of embroidery to the everyday lives of women around the world, I will argue that embroidered work has a place within the field of illustration. Using humor, illustrated products, and cathartic making to confront difficult subject matter, I will demonstrate how I and other contemporary illustrators are using a deeply personal perspective to connect with and question the world around us. My thesis project, Cry If You Want To, is an embroidery kit for the frequent cryer. Customizable embroidery patterns and instructional materials teach users to hand embroider images and phrases on a handkerchief that will let those around them know whether to tell a joke, call 911, or leave them the hell alone.

Using excess, decoration, kitsch, camp, dress-up, drag, anxiety, crying, and humor is how I navigate my life. I want to gently poke fun at adulthood, by relating and confessing how I'm doing it wrong. The camper is the stage for my "home" and all of the glittered thrift store objects stand in for nice new ones. In paying for materials and my time, I probably could have just as well bought the pretty new version at the big box store. But do they accept my jumbo-sized checks?