Working as studio assistant for Joan Giroux 2019/2020
Internship
Internship
As part of my work internship at Columbia College Chicago, I became Joan Giroux´s studio assistant. Joan is a professor at Columbia College and I had taken an independent study project with her during the previous academic year. Her work, as stated on her website, frequently provides context for community and personal reflections on loss, absence, and bereavement through active play and participation.
At the time of my arrival in Chicago, Joan was participating in an artist residency in Santa Barbara, California, together with Lisa Marie Kaftori, with whom she has collaborated on numerous occasions over the years.
During Winter 2019, Joan and Lisa planned to exhibit their work So As To Repair, at one of Columbia College'sgalleries. They needed me to fabricate 3 wooden shroud boards for this exhibition, which had to be ready by the time they returned to Chicago.
At the time of my arrival in Chicago, Joan was participating in an artist residency in Santa Barbara, California, together with Lisa Marie Kaftori, with whom she has collaborated on numerous occasions over the years.
During Winter 2019, Joan and Lisa planned to exhibit their work So As To Repair, at one of Columbia College'sgalleries. They needed me to fabricate 3 wooden shroud boards for this exhibition, which had to be ready by the time they returned to Chicago.
Images of the process of construction of the shroud boards using a CNC machine.
Upon their return, I also worked with them on the production of 12 etched brass shelves, each of them meant to hold a collection of objects that illustrated stories about people, and places that had been important to them.
I also assisted with the installation, the taking down of this exhibition, and the reconditioning of the exhibition space.
I also assisted with the installation, the taking down of this exhibition, and the reconditioning of the exhibition space.
Images from So as to Repair, by Joan Giroux and Lisa Marie Kaftori, as installed at the Resource Center of Columbia College Chicago. Winter 2019.
After this exhibition closed in January, it travelled to New York, to be displayed again at Joan's apartment in the East Village, during Spring 2020. To this purpose, during Christmas 2019, Joan and I and I travelled to New York, to transform one of the rooms in her apartment into an exhibition space.
The job required us to paint the room in a new colour and also prepare one of the walls to receive the brass shelves.
The job required us to paint the room in a new colour and also prepare one of the walls to receive the brass shelves.
Images from So as to Repair, by Joan Giroux and Lisa Marie Kaftori, as installed at Joan Giroux's flat in New York City. January 2020.
Because I was, at first, working independently in this project, this allowed me to gain skills like organising my own schedule in order to deliver a commission and establishing workflows to maximise efficiency. These would later become useful, once we had to go into lockdown. When this happened, I continued assisting Joan and working on my own pieces from home.
Working in this way also helped me gain confidence in the use of a wood workshop, something that I had originally found daunting, due to the nature of the machinery. I had to request the help of the technicians to learn how to safely use the equipment and to understand how to solve several technical issues that appeared during the fabrication of the shroud boards, like warping and preparing the materials in a way that would produce higher quality pieces.
I also had to find a way to work around their schedules, as they were many times busy assisting other students or performing other tasks. At first this was a bit confusing, as I wasn't familiar with their schedules, but once I got to learn them, I started feeling like I was becoming a part of the team of people that worked at the Fabrication Facility, which was one of my goals.
When I worked together with Joan and Lisa in the production of the 12 brass shelves, that were also going to be part of the show, I learnt that the process of fabricating these pieces was somehow similar to the fabrication of the shroud boards, in the sense that the materials had to be prepared before we could actually start working on them and then they had to be finished to a certain standard. Collaborating with the artists that had conceived the exhibition made it very different, though and it provided me with knowledge and skills that I wouldn't have been able to acquire working on my own.
I learn a lot from witnessing the decision making process of the artists, regarding the way the material had to be prepared and manipulated, in order to obtain the effect that they had envisaged. From the beginning they decided not to rush things at this stage and I learned that it is best to make as many tests as necessary, before starting the production of the pieces. This experimental approach gave them insight into the possibilities of the material and the ability to control the fabrication process in a more informed and efficient way.
Once the fabrication process was concluded and the pieces were ready to be installed in the gallery, the decision process that Joan and Lisa followed regarding the preparation of the exhibition space and the positioning of the pieces within it, was also unhurried. I had never thought about approaching the installation of an exhibition in this way before, and it made me realise how important this part of the creative process is, and how much attention it deserves. It allows for the communion of the works and the gallery space, allowing the show to be perceived by the audience as a coherent and integrated piece. We followed the same approach both in Chicago and in New York.
Working in this way also helped me gain confidence in the use of a wood workshop, something that I had originally found daunting, due to the nature of the machinery. I had to request the help of the technicians to learn how to safely use the equipment and to understand how to solve several technical issues that appeared during the fabrication of the shroud boards, like warping and preparing the materials in a way that would produce higher quality pieces.
I also had to find a way to work around their schedules, as they were many times busy assisting other students or performing other tasks. At first this was a bit confusing, as I wasn't familiar with their schedules, but once I got to learn them, I started feeling like I was becoming a part of the team of people that worked at the Fabrication Facility, which was one of my goals.
When I worked together with Joan and Lisa in the production of the 12 brass shelves, that were also going to be part of the show, I learnt that the process of fabricating these pieces was somehow similar to the fabrication of the shroud boards, in the sense that the materials had to be prepared before we could actually start working on them and then they had to be finished to a certain standard. Collaborating with the artists that had conceived the exhibition made it very different, though and it provided me with knowledge and skills that I wouldn't have been able to acquire working on my own.
I learn a lot from witnessing the decision making process of the artists, regarding the way the material had to be prepared and manipulated, in order to obtain the effect that they had envisaged. From the beginning they decided not to rush things at this stage and I learned that it is best to make as many tests as necessary, before starting the production of the pieces. This experimental approach gave them insight into the possibilities of the material and the ability to control the fabrication process in a more informed and efficient way.
Once the fabrication process was concluded and the pieces were ready to be installed in the gallery, the decision process that Joan and Lisa followed regarding the preparation of the exhibition space and the positioning of the pieces within it, was also unhurried. I had never thought about approaching the installation of an exhibition in this way before, and it made me realise how important this part of the creative process is, and how much attention it deserves. It allows for the communion of the works and the gallery space, allowing the show to be perceived by the audience as a coherent and integrated piece. We followed the same approach both in Chicago and in New York.