a feminine perspective on Maslow's hierarchy of needs

During the past years of grad school, I’ve been exploring hierarchies and utopias; my role within both (unwitting participant? contributor? creator?); and what happens when upward progression is thwarted. With tongue-in-cheek, I’m designing wearable objects for women that explore the duality of our desire for growth, and our fear of it.

I’m knowingly skirting a line between art and design; between wanting to illuminate the issue and wanting to solve it. And so to help clarify, or maybe further obviate it (I'm still not sure about this), I’ve borrowed a philosophical framework to hang this exploration on: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

MASLOW
In the mid-fifties Abraham Maslow developed his theory of self-actualization, a process of healthy growth through a never-ending series of free choice situations in which we choose between the delights of safety and growth, dependence and independence, regression and progression, immaturity and maturity.

Safety---<PERSON>--Growth

Maslow identified five levels of need that must be achieved, in order, to reach self-actualization starting with physiological needs and followed by safety, the need for belonging and love, self-esteem, and finally creative self-actualization, or self-development. 


Image from SimplePsychology.org

I’m fascinated with the objects we women employ to give us mastery over each level of need. I'm also interested in what happens when a lower-level need level such as shelter is suddenly missing; when a piece of the pyramid is cut out. Both will be illustrated in my SMFA thesis exhibition May 29-June 1 at Carroll and Sons. 

 

 

It was frigid

in ,

FRIGID PHRASES: a game of outdoor mad libs poetry played with gloves, developed by Kate Gilbert and Emily Lombardo for the Rose Kennedy Greenway, Boston; Feb. 20, 2013

Frigid Phrases was submitted to the Greenway Conservancy’s Winter Lights call for proposals. Though it was rejected as light-based art, we were asked to develop it as an event “to bring warmth and cheer to the Greenway during the darkest part of the year”.

 

photo: (c) Connie SawyerFrigid Phrases turned out to be aptly named. Despite a wind chill temp in the twenties, approximately 125 people played with us and received free gloves. Participants included international tourists, businessmen, Greenway neighbors, parents and children on school break, artists and faculty from SMFA Boston, the contributing poets, and our hardy friends.

 

Many were initially unwitting participants, such as the pair of businessmen on their way home, or the family walking by after visiting the New England Aquarium. It gave me great delight when these passersby accepted my invitation to play and later proudly held their gloves saying SOUL CAKE or DENSE MIND.
Lessons learned:
  • There’s something magical about the combination of spontaneous play and free stuff when you’re not expecting it.
  • People like rules when playing a game; too structured and its not fun; without boundaries, we feel uncomfortable.
  • Participation is increased if one can directly affect the outcome of the work; poems were submitted by area-poets and they kept changing each time a participant swapped out a word glove.

FRIGID PHRASES poem during play; photo: (c) Connie Sawyer 

My intent for any work I create, be it event or sculpture, is that it have a life after its first display. Frigid has that potential, whether as a personal memory that one recalls looking down at your gloves, or the collective history that we created on Twitter and continue to create when we're asked, "Why do your gloves say WEARS COLD?"

 

If you’re interested in continuing the event’s life and hosting Frigid Phrases between now and April, please contact me. We have about 100 pairs of gloves left. We’re also interested in reinterpreting Frigid for warmer climates and seasons.

 

See FRIGID PHRASES gallery page for more images, the blog for more information on how the game was played. And Tweet us @frigidphrases when you see a pair!

 

FRIGID PHRASES, a social experiment

FRIGID PHRASES began as a SMFA class exploration into relational aesthetics, the term coined by Nicolas Bourriaud, and subsequent art movements involving the art object's relationship to people in a social context. Emily and I wanted to take this idea beyond the classroom, the galleries and the institution, and out into the real world. The Greenway during school vacation seemed like the ideal testing ground. 


Greenway Wharf District Parks in the late afternoon. Let's add color...and people!We're curious to see what happens with this dynamic social environment we're creating. There's no individual winner. There's no solving the poems. Their meaning will be in constant flux as we trade out word/gloves. Does that frustrate the problem solvers among us?

Will people follow our rules (swap gloves within the poems) or will they set up their own bartering system? Will they take their gloves and split? Or will they stay for a while and share in some tea and conversation? We'll see, and I'll report back here.

FRIGID PHRASES
Wed. Feb. 20
Play anytime between 4 and 6:30
Greenway Wharf Parks

For more information: http://frigidphrases.blogspot.com/ 


upcoming collaborative event

I'm excited to test what I've learned about events and sociacially engaged art in an upcoming work...and to be in the role of artist, not administrator! Emily Lombardo and I will be hosting our first collaborative public art event on the Greenway (Boston, MA) on February 20. 

Right now we're looking for poets and wordsmiths to help us create Mad Libs that'll be used in the event. See the FRIGID PHRASES page for more info.

FRIGID PHRASES: Feb 20, 4-7PM Greenway, near Aquarium
Call for Poetry Deadline: Jan 14 

a pa product for Nick

My friend Nick just took a big time job in the arts. He's a smart guy. Clever, warm and persuasive too. I know he'll be a huge success.

Since I couldn't think of anything appropriate to give "the guy who has it all", I invented the PA Keychain. It's an itty bitty thing, about 2.5" tall, and goes undetected. In case of extreme art emergencies though, you simply pop it open, remove the inflatable bag (our largest yet) and breathe deeply. After composure has been regained, gaze at the the bag's vibrant orange interior to stimulate creativity.

Remember: consult your physician before using any artwork for functional purposes.

PA Kaychain, 2012. Fabric, thread, elastic, plastic and metal fasteners, straw.

BLTL: first installation report

The installation better living through levity TM (BLTL) was installed October 20-21, 2012 in a former office space among artists selling their wares at Boston’s annual Fort Point Open Studios. The installation occupied a 12’x10’ office with two aluminum framed glass walls, a glass door and two white walls.

BLTL, a non-existent company, is intended to appear as a spin off or sub-brand of my studio. The company’s mission is to “help make your life better through design that provides comfort and happiness.” Products range from the somatic shift dress with an inflatable neckline that puts warmth and pressure around your chest to the pa wristlets, personal inflatable bags to combat panic attacks. All are intended to make “[you] feel happier, relaxed and just plain lighter”. 

The products are designed to appeal specifically to women ages 35-55 suffering from anxiety. (The high-profile career woman and stay-at-home urban mom are my target demos.)  Great care is taken to make the stitching look as professional as possible. Colors are chosen from the bright Pantone palette that one might find on a designers desk (or in MoMA store products) and humor is employed in product-use instructions written on oversized tags. They let the customer know “its ok to panic”.

The joke of BLTL is on us. We create our own stress. And we can decide how we cope with it. We don’t need a straw in a bag to make us live better. Even if it looks kinda neat.

The products in BLTL were not for sale. But by situating BLTL in the middle of a commerce-driven atmosphere I presented a gray area, and for those not familiar with installations, a complex environment to navigate. Some didn’t even enter in the door. One young man joked, “What, you’re too big-time to sell?” And even after acknowledging the joke, a few people wanted to buy the wristlets anyway, as gag gifts. This is where the installation got interesting for me.  BLTL is a commentary on better living through design and on the multitude of products we don’t need.

Yet we still need.

Do you need a thing on your wrist to remember to breathe deeply? I hope not.  Do you need art to live a better life? That depends on how you define living.

Opening reception 11/1 5:30-7:30

Please join me at 5:30 on Thurs Nov 1 at 35 Channel Center Street for the opening reception of Synapse, a solo exhibition of paintings that take inspiration from meditative practices.  The paintings on view range from the 2009 Denoument series to smaller oil paintings created this fall in response to my new neighbor, Os Gemeos' Giant.

Synapse was selected by the Fort Point Arts Community Lending Program for the lobby at 35 Channel Center.  With the exception of the opening night, Synapse is by appointment-only. Contact me if you'd like to stop by at another time.

Synapse
35 Channel Center
Sept - Dec, 2012

"Opening", 2010. (detail) Ink, charcoal, Duralar and gesso on paper. 20"x20"