Beginnings

For the summer, I've been granted the opportunity to work alongside artist and professor Michael Shaughnessy. Having known him for a few years, I knew that this internship would be equally enjoyable and beneficial (hopefully mutually) and that it would be a good experience to see professional practice in action. Thus far that is proving to be correct! Tomorrow will be my fourth day working with Mike as we have been getting together one day a week so far but there is potential to increase the work days.

Mike's primary medium is hay, using it to create beautifully winding, dancing and undulating forms. Like most art, one must create the building blocks before constructing the house, which in these pieces consists of "hay lines." During our most recent session, I was shown how to making a hay line by laying out handfuls of hay in a row, gripping it firmly with one hand while wrapping the hay with the other hand using twine. It takes a great deal of finesse to get an even line that is wrapped in an aesthetically pleasing way and I did not succeed in making any that I'm proud of yet. Even though my lines were lumpy, messy and wrapped inefficiently, there was still a satisfaction in looking at them and thinking, "I made these!"


We've covered many different grounds so far, including:
-cleaning/painting studio spaces
-working on hay lines
-making GráKakes (Mike's edible creations- quite delicious and more on this later)

-touring Westbrook to get a sense for our future community work 

-occasionally tending to the chickens and goats (so cute!!)

-in my spare time, I will be and have been amassing a spreadsheet consisting of places that Mike can potentially have work in.

-working on my own body of art, a new phase in particular

So far this internship has been a lot of fun. Mike has imparted quite a bit of wisdom regarding connecting life outside direct creation to the act of making in itself and how parallels can be formed in small, unexpected places.