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Taught by Andrew Yang at Hampshire College, Spring 2024
Re-coop-erations
Eggs represent a very literal sense of recuperation, new color, new season, and new life.
In many traditions spanning geographies and time, many cultures have used eggs in customs, especially those around the time of the Spring Equinox. During Nowruz, the Iranian and Persian New Year, families decorate eggs to bring good luck and fertility. Pre-Christian Ukraine brightly decorated eggs and this was co-opted by Christianity to represent Jesus’ resurrection.
My project is composed of eggshell biocomposite cast mini Easter eggs and flowers, both of which represent the coming season and are colored with DIY egg tempera paint. Eggshells used are sourced from the Hampshire Farm and Andrew’s chickens. The biocomposite is made from ground eggshell, gelatin, and water, and the tempera is made from egg yolks, water, dry pigment from chalk, and watercolors.
In My Own Little Terrarium
My Utopias project, inspired by "In My Own Little Corner" from Cinderella, specifically the 1957 film starring Julie Andrews, involves creating moss terrariums representing an idealized version of my room and those of my three closest friends. Utopia for me entails ecological peace, preservation, and prosperity. Each terrarium depicts a room, with the moss symbolizing thriving as my friends do for me. A small chair in each terrarium reflects the lyrics "In my own little corner in my own little chair I can be whatever I want to be…". My terrarium includes a table for friends to join me when they want. Each friend's terrarium has an artifact representing matching tattoo ideas, vinyl records for my high school trio, and pool balls with our mod number for my Hampshire bestie, painted in each of our favorite colors. Additional components include the Cinderella DVD representing my mother because I thought she looked so much like Julie Andrews, and lyrics from the song for my father, as he references it often and the tune connects us even though we grew up in different generations.
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