molasses studies

I can easily find things to distract me from grading.  Now is one of those times…

I have already been thinking about what my new blog post could be about.  I have a confession to make.  My studio has been a series of stop-starts and my weekly life populated with being a drill sergeant of a professor.  But even though the studio isn’t moving along like I would want it to- I have been thinking and I have been experimenting with new materials!  So Exciting!

The past few months I have been fascinated with tar, honey, and molasses.  Actually, the fascination begins with tar however in not really wanting to expose my studio neighbors and myself to the stench of tar- I was thinking of other materials that also have the slow rolling goopiness.  Molasses seems to be the winner.  I’m still sorting out what I am actually thinking of doing with molasses- I’m not sure but I do love the covering film it has and the mark it makes as it drips.

I hung three little samples in my studio and see what they do over time and how well they set up to be sealed.  Adriano commented- “always the baker!”  I feel like the molasses is a great complement to what I already do with sugar in my work but unlike sugar, molasses has a more sentimental resonance for me.  Adriano’s baker comment was a great validation as to what molasses was bringing up for me… so much memory.  My mother’s grandmother- my nanny- was “always the baker.”  When I was young, I remember her baking molasses cupcakes.  Nanny was an amazing baker.  My dad’s favorite was her pies and he requested them for his birthday or any special occasion.  My mom is also a great baker and my dad loves when she bakes pies even though baking is contrary to keeping the kitchen clean :)  But while none of the materials I already use  in my work has such a significance- molasses seems to be evoking such strong memories about who I am and how I developed.  Baking is something I like to do and something that I have always liked to do- both with Nanny and my mom.  One of my favorite times was when I was baking with my mom and my sister as a kid and I remember ABC playing “Poison Arrow.”  We acted like mom shot us with poison arrows as we mixed the batter… yeah, I was a pretty dramatic kid (ever hear the wonder woman story).

So where this is going, I’m not too sure but I am following the trail.  In following the trail, I really thought about the molasses as something significant of my heritage but I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention my grandmothers.  Both are artistic in their own right.  My Grammy (dad’s mother) has always been involved in a plethora of crafts and my Grandma (mom’s mom) was a seamstress.  Fibers is something that also runs strong in my family.  My sister in fact is a fibers artist.  My mom, my aunt, and I hold knitting parties where we work on knitting or embroidery projects and eat scandalous food.  I learned knitting from my aunt who learned from Grandma.  I have learned many of the fibers processes that I know from my family- crochet, embroidery, cross stitch, latch hook, and sewing.  Many times when Grandma would babysit us as kids, she would start me on a project and I would work on it a while until I crashed for a nap or went to bed for the night.  The funny thing is that I would wake up and it would be finished.  She almost couldn’t help herself!  But it’s really cool to enjoy something so much that you want to pass it down and have your family enjoy it as much as you do.  Anyone who knows my family knows that no one ever sleeps.  Grandma often was up all night sewing.  I know my Aunt Shirley stays awake knitting and that my mom is known to knit or embroider through the night.

In thinking about the molasses and then thinking about afternoons baking and making crafts, I began to experiment with thread in the molasses.  It didn’t work out that well.  Molasses seems to overwhelm everything it hits but it is something I am trying to play with.  Like I said, I’m not sure where it’s going but I’m following it down the rabbit hole.