what I would’ve wanted the project to look like…

• Magen helped me create the key for changing my identity to fit my fake ID.
• I helped Jana by supplying her with my personal information and pictures for her project.
• I helped magen cut and tear out pages from the book she created for her project.

October 10, 2010 Tampa Museum of Art

Tampa native Dominique Labavie’s Musical Lines in My Hands frame narrates the dominate relationship between music and the artist, suggestive of the understanding on time and space. The frame also mentions the correlation between artist and material process to the unique change music undergoes, from being written as a composition to being played in its entirety. The pieces resemble the musical annotations of a composition, and are presented in a rhythmic movement throughout the material. The jagged lines and thickness create a strong sound for each piece. The difference in scale suggests volume or intensity the artist must feel for the music. The pronounce lines create a visual representation of time and space when compared to the length of a composition.

The artist uses his material to create depth in each of his pieces. By arranging them diagonally, then positioning each piece to be viewed front to back, the piece becomes visually appealing and interesting, suggesting that the viewer look beyond the concept of written music composition to how it is experienced to the artist and that dominate appeal. The jagged texture to the iron material gives the artwork awaken liveliness and in relation to the size of each piece, the enormity of this energy. This representation shows the artist’s attempt to visually portray this relationship. The space the collection was given seemed to limit the experience of the collection. The room seemed to small compared to the pieces, making audiences cram these pieces together in an non-cohesive manner. If the room had been bigger, and the pieces presented in a cohesive flow throughout the room, the experience of this collection would be better.

The artwork seemed to be presented as a cohesive collection of one big piece. Each piece transitioned into the next, revealing different aspects of writing a musical composition. Not one piece stood out from the collection as a definitive work. The art work to follow a similar presence of line and depth, only to have slight changes in size and scale. Line direction was constant in each piece, but dissimilar from piece to piece.

1. Bourgeois feels compelled to express these repressed feelings from her early childhood as a way to heal herself from what she experienced and find closure. It is her way of channeling all the hurt, rage, and emotional turmoil she suffered, and express these raw emotions through her pieces as a way to rehabilitate her soul. This artistic method is significant for the art world and society overall because of the unrefined emotion Bourgeois executes in her work. The idea that a piece of artwork can evoke so much emotion is considered avant-garde in contemporary art. Society finds this approach significant through the creation of these pieces. The idea to take these strong, repressed emotions and concentrate them into a piece of art is a therapeutically groundbreaking idea that should be promoted to others who suffer from similar childhood traumas.

2. In Untitled (1996), Bourgeois uses lace, thread, and fabric to create a faceless rag doll with two heads and the body wrapped in lace from the torso down, giving texture to the art piece. The two heads, made out of off white fabric, are bounded together by blue threads. There is no sense of movement seen in the piece. Bourgeois’ intent in this piece is very clear in its execution; there is clear symbolism in the piece, inferring that maybe in her childhood she felt like a forgotten rag doll with two heads, blue thread representing being surrounded by sadness, and the white lace to show her young soul. The materials are consistent with the outcome because it is through the materials that Bourgeois is able to convey her message.

3. Throughout Bourgeois’ artwork, there is an equal constancy of textured and smooth pieces in her collection as seen in the smoothness of the white marble in Femme Maison (1994) versus the textured fabric of Untitled (2002). Each piece in her collection is made out of organic materials, including stone, steel, and wood. Bourgeois stays in dark, natural colors while staying in a grey-scale color palette. There is also a constant emotion expressed in her pieces. She conveys a clear statement through her execution and use of materials, for example, in Mother and Child (1970) a clay figure is damaged to represent the physical and emotional damage a mother accepts protecting her child.

1. The scene that successfully integrated the symbolism the color blue embodied throughout the movie was where Julie gifts her neighbor with the blue stoned light fixture. This scene is so paramount in the movie, because it is her only tie to her previous life she lost during the fatal car accident. The act of offering this last possession shows her way of having closure and demonstrates willingness to move on with her life, on her terms.

2. Blue represents the constant sadness Julie has for her loss, and the connection she feels towards them. She tries so hard to ‘swim away’ from her sorrow and create a new life without making the same human connections that brought her this pain. The director was focused on conveying the symbolism between the color blue and its metaphorical representation of what Julie is experiencing during this tragic time in her life. The director focused on applying the theme of the story through the representation of the color blue, that open cause ambiguous misrepresentations of what the color blue truly means to the story. The director used blue to represent the tragedy that Julie is faced with. Whenever blue is apparent in the film, it is complimented with her husband’s music, playing as a constant reminder of what she lost.

3. The director suggests that the way to overcome the pain of such loss is to continue living your life. Julie tries to keep moving forward with her life, without creating connections with others, which keeps bringing her back to the tragedy of what she lost. In order to move on with her life, Julie must face her demons, finish her husband’s musical piece, and learn begin creating human connections in her new life so that she can finally find closure and move on.