Ladies and Gentlemen, The Whispering Pods

 Pods.

    For the last year or so, I have been obsessed with creating what I call my pods.  I stumbled upon this form, by initially wanting to make a set of piggy banks.  But as fate would have it, banks were not what they wanted to be.  It is important that I mention here, that a huge part of being an artist is listening to your chosen medium.  Crazy or not, you should.  Anyway, the banks were not working out, so instead of giving up, I played.  I was having fun with the form, but noticed that they were starting to look...well vaginal.  So what does any girl do when faced with a crisis?...Call their Mom.  And that is exactly what i did.

    I told her my worries for the work, I thought they may get too vaginal, and began doubting them.  In true mother fashion she replied, "If they're vaginal, then run with it!  Make it intentionally vaginal, just go all out."  Long story short, that is exactly what I did. 

     They were a huge hit at my crit.  All the girls loved them, and most of the guys did as well.  They became these pieces that made you acknowledge sexuality.  I found out that people who weren't very comfortable with themselves, didn't like the pods. To me these are my babies, and have been the inspiration for many paths towards thesis this year.  I chose to call them Whispering Pods, as a sick joke.  The whispering eye, is such a crude slang for a vagina, but I chose to embrace the term and make a joke of it.  There is a fine line between crude humor and a subtle nod, and The Whispering Pod walked the line well.

Whispering sketches. 2011

-The Whispering Pods are from a planet, where

pods are the dominant species.  On a quiet day,

when the solar winds are low, you can hear their whispers

throughout the forest.

Whispering Pod 3. 2011

Whispering Pod 1.  2011

Whispering Pod 7. 2011

       The pods also allowed me to play with the idea of narrative in my work.  Creating a back story gave the pods life, it made them characters. Each one had personality, and I found that different people were drawn to different pods.  This made me very happy!  When people enjoy your work as much as you do, its a huge success in the eyes of the maker.

    As an added trait, the pods began to have names as their titles as opposed to #1, 2, or 3.  I feel like this helped them take on even more personality.  

Thelma.  2011

     Overall, my pods are a nice break from functional work.  They have been evolving with me over the past year, and I love having the ability to play and experiment with them.  Having these forms be completely my own allow me to be totally uninhibited while experimenting.  Seeing their influence in other areas of my personal work is incredibly rewarding.  I can't wait to see where they go from here!

Martiné. 2011

 Congratulations to Gertrude on her acceptance into the Student Biennial Juried Exhibition!  

Gertrude. 2012