TJ Barczak

Below is another video I made with a “small tour” of my piece, “Stiched Alexandrine Parakeet” along with my artist’s statement.

Audio Clip Used in Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMfllLeLQ3c – Calm by ØDYSSEE x Florent Garcia

This piece of music really resonates with me because of the style of music and the simple but important name given to the song. I’m being really honest here, lofi/instrumental jazz music got me through this project. I have probably listened to at least ten hours of this style of music while I’ve worked to finish this embroidery piece. I love how the music simply flows with great beats to calm your mind but also kind of bleed out the outside noise, so you can work on your project. Also, the title Calm is exactly what I needed to be when toiling over my project. If I wasn’t calm, chaos would ensue like pricking myself with my needle or stitching into the hole outside the piece leading to twenty to thirty minutes of me trying to undo these stitches I made. All in all, this ambient music piece fits perfectly into the stitching world I lived in for the past couple of weeks, and thanks to lofi hip-hop music for staying with me while I loved and struggled through this project.

Guiding Questions for Discussion:

• When people focus on different aspects of a mosaic, how does the point of view of an audience change from piece to piece?
• Is using a square tile the best way to portray a mosaic or are more unorthodox shapes the better strategy?
• Were certain aspects of a mosaic better to replicate since they are easier to connect between the original and the replication?
• In what ways can audio/music change an author’s perspective on the piece they have just constructed?

Above is a photo of the floor from the Vincent Van Gogh Art Experience in Washington D.C. Even though there is a lot of simplicity in this photo (only having raindrops as a focal point), it ties in perfectly with the theme of the mosaic I created. My personal goal was to contrast foreground and background in my stitchery to the point where you could enjoy both separately while also enjoying the whole composition. That idea applies to the short time the raindrops were simulated on the floor because the two were so sharply different you could take in both or either one by itself and enjoy its simplicity. Another small continuity between this photo of a floor and my mosaic is the use of circles. Both compositions make use of a bordered outline (farthest circle) and then place the rest of the piece inside of that bordered outline. I find this as a really interesting similarity because it allows each bubble on the floor to shine individually while also being a cohesive set, and my mosaic can also have its own individuality when placed with all the Parrot Pergamom recreations.