Looking Out, What Looks Back

    This is the second piece of my degree project.  I rebounded from the homemade temporal objects of sugar and wanted to make something using my craft and skills but still something that was me. Someone told me my tea sets were very me, which made me consider how I am perceived by the people around me. For most of my life at RISD I have felt like my true self was not good enough to be here, to work alongside the craftspeople or to pin my pieces next to the fine artists. I felt like I needed to change myself, the way I dress, the way I spoke, so that I could be respected and appreciated. So for this project I wanted to make something for myself, about myself, with myself. 
     The making of this peice became very important. I wanted to prove to myself and others that while it was a personal and “feminine” piece, I could still use and excel at traditional and skillful woodworking.  For this object I wanted to think about my reflection when alone and how I am perceived in the world, and delve into the liminal space between these two feelings. The contradictions of wanting to be seen but not looked at wanting to be noticed but not perceived. The vanity sits at the window, framing the user in a small mirror with the outside world behind it. But it also shows the user with the mirrors on the side. Light coming through the tarnished areas, obscuring and clarifying the reflection.