I’m planning a large wall installation for this show, the biggest I’ve tried. It will be made of many (50? 70? 100?) paperclay discs, arranged in a grid on one wall of the Visitor Center. The discs are made of paperclay; the incomparable Maria Young has made 24 12” diameter discs in black and in white thus far, with me in the logistical support role. I’m envisioning a 14” grid of 5 x 24 points, with discs at most points–but not all. I’m planning on making many more 24” discs, but also 10”, 8”, 6” and possibly 4” discs as well (viz the graph paper sketch included here). 

I’ve learned that the simple hanging method used for the Wall Fungus process at Zendo (thank you, Pilar!) will work here as well, though I’ve had to make my own right-angle hooks from wire and a die set. 

To hang the piece, I imagine that I’ll make use of a process similar to that improvised at Zendo–I’ll look at these objects as a kind of kit for a spatial game akin to painting, with the gridded wall as the canvas. Does the space ask for a spacious arrangement, or a dense one? Can these discs become a part of the space, or must they colonize it? Is the kit (the grid plus its inhabitants) capable of allowing multiple communities to coexist, or does it erase difference too thoroughly? Though I will be preparing for the meeting these questions suggest, I believe I won’t know the answers until actually installing. Just as a painter can’t completely predict the acts of painting until the process is underway. 

Next steps: grid off the display wall in my studio, and begin playing with arrangements of what I have thus far. Make many, many more Discs.