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Tom Ferguson |
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navigate through the images by using the "next" button at each, starting with: Islam 1. I Don't Care About Anything |
me to the delights of grid-based patterning. The hotels I stayed in had floor tile which by repeating the same image in each square but rotating them created great diversity. The famous tomb in Marakech took this to spectacular lengths. I sketched the single tile in each hotel room in a corner of my journal for that stay and made attempts to decipher some of the intricate tomb designs. I was quite taken with the way doorways gave the impression of having been cut out of a honeycomb-like material, as if the pattern continued into the stone. I did some drawings, a few years later, to decipher exactly how some patterns were arrived at. I found that many could be replicated by creating a grid, running diagonal lines both ways and erasing select lines. I adopted the method of putting a grid on canvas & improvising visual imagery, just as I had been doing but letting the grid have its effect. At first I used combinations of the patterns I had deciphered but soon left those behind in favor of creating my own. The size I was working increased at this time to a series of horizontal rectangles, culminating in, as with the previous focus, a 5 x 4' summation (Arrival). Another influence: Prof. Nissan shared some imagery whose main purpose was to illustrate psychological aspects - ambiguity, contrast effect etc; but I found it so appealing I decided to incorporate it... and it did fit nicely with the Islamic direction. During the time I spent in Marquette I was caretaking one of my sister's houses, a boarding house for women. I set up a studio in the basement. People would drop over for coffee and hang out and i'd get antsy to be working... once I just stood up and went downstairs leaving my "guest" to figure it out. I'd divide my time over the classes I had & really explore, doing extra reading... i'd ace all the tests without even cramming the night before. I'd read the assignments, underline the main points & read over those everyday. It wasn't tedious, like the army or post office, it was exhilerating to be encountering exciting information and viewpoints. This infatuation probably didn't help my relationship. But I did have several friendships that survive to this day. The marriage didn't survive. She got into therapy and got me into it also, which was really helpful in confronting my nuerosis and beginning a long journey to myself. |
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