Sarah Lacy

Sarah Lacy

Media

01. Concept sketch
JPEG: floorcloth study
FILE: 71402620459-Media-01.jpg

From Fall 2016- I was beginning to toy with shapes to get an idea of what visual direction I would go towards. I liked the overall composition feel of this, but not for three-dimensional pieces like the furniture. I returned to these larger compositions at the tail-end of the spring when I was painting my canvas floorcloth.

02. Blockprint sketches
JPEG: Spring 2016 sketches
FILE: 71402620459-Media-02.jpg

These began as what I thought would be the backgrounds to small representative etchings. I abandoned my idea to work in etchings when I was originally turned off of the idea to upholster matboard, which I thought would be too tedious. Instead I redirected my energy toward diving deeper into creating new shapes from patterned linoleum blocks.

03. First inkling of installation May2016
JPEG: May 2016 installation sketch
FILE: 71402620459-Media-03.jpg

A conversation in critique turned me onto the idea of forcing the vague block-printed shapes to react with furniture. I liked the idea of going into the three-dimensional field, but liked the strange coziness of staging the furniture with two-dimensional prints behind the scene.

04. Slipper chairs1
JPEG: Slipper chairs torn down and dacroned
FILE: 71402620459-Media-04.jpg

I found these slipper chairs at an estate sale in a Victorian home in the summer of 2016. They were my first upholstered pieces that I completed in night classes at Votech in the fall 2016. I had some mission drift with the shape drawn onto the right chair, but eventually settled on more sensual, feminine interacting shapes.

05. Slipper chairs2
JPEG: Finished slipper chairs
FILE: 71402620459-Media-05.jpg

Soon after completing these two chairs at VoTech, I applied to an apprenticeship under a Master Upholsterer working in Ocean City. I liked the trial-style setup of night school, but wasn't truly satisfied with the quality of the completed slipper chairs. The surface of both chair seats is acceptable to me, but I overworked the backs where I could have said the shape better in simpler visual terms.

06. Slipper chairs3
JPEG: Return to original concept
FILE: 71402620459-Media-06.jpg

I wanted my senior project to include a smaller vignette nodding towards my original concept: representative domestic scenes surrounded by vague, geometrically constructed shapes. The reality of the setup is also amusing to me. Traditional paintings sit on sketches of chairs in an almost anthropomorphic manner, in direct comparison with the traditional seating plan across the room.

07. Paintings
JPEG: acrylic paintings of domestic Cypriot scenes
FILE: 71402620459-Media-07.jpg

While in Cyprus in 2015, I was enamored with the domestic ironwork used throughout the country. I was struck with the communal gesture of investing in an ornamental security feature. Both the patterns and function of this ironwork are beautiful.

08. Hiccup print
JPEG: one color print
FILE: 71402620459-Media-08.jpg

The four wall-prints help the installation to nest better in a large, cavernous gallery.

09. Compass print
JPEG: one color print
FILE: 71402620459-Media-09.jpg

10. Bloop 2 color print
JPEG: two color print
FILE: 71402620459-Media-10.jpg

11. 2 color print
JPEG: two color print
FILE: 71402620459-Media-11.jpg

12. Juju chair1
JPEG: Original tufted Victorian chair
FILE: 71402620459-Media-12.jpg

Found out front of a Victorian mansion on the mainland, dating to sometime around the turn of the century to late 1910s. Tufting and ornamental carved framework added a design challenge.

13. Juju chair2
JPEG: juju chair 2
FILE: 71402620459-Media-13.jpg

After creating too many overworked sketches for this chair, I settled on using the half-circle shape seen in the arm of the chair.

14. Juju view3
JPEG: juju top view
FILE: 71402620459-Media-14.jpg

15. Juju back view
JPEG: back view of juju chair
FILE: 71402620459-Media-15.jpg

Same half-circle shape, seen on an undisturbed vertical plane. Contrast gimp trim help to emphasize the framework contributed by the wooden edge.

16. Sofa1
JPEG: Original sofa
FILE: 71402620459-Media-16.jpg

Victorian sette picked up from an estate sale in the Gardens in Ocean City. The springs broke from their twine ties, burlap covering, peet moss, and vinyl upholstery. The back was done in a tapestry woven material. Seams in the material were eventually simplified since the denim offered enough stretch for me and Trevor to manipulate around concave back.

17. Sofa teardown2
JPEG: interior structure
FILE: 71402620459-Media-17.jpg

Interior structure pre-tear down. Burlap was largely disintegrated, and springs were breaking free from twine and webbing.

18. Sofa wood repair3
JPEG: sofa down to its bones
FILE: 71402620459-Media-18.jpg

All pre-existing material was removed from wooden frame. Peet moss for back seat and springs were the only things able to be resurrected for final upholstery. Wooden frame needed mostly superficial repairs, with only a few braces reinforced.

19. Sofa new springs burlap4
JPEG: re-webbed, springs re-tied, back burlap
FILE: 71402620459-Media-19.jpg

Interior structure was rebuilt. Wood had to re-filled, hardened, built up to support staples, nails and stress from weight and use. Webbing was stapled in tight basket-weave to hold clinched springs. Springs were re-tied in perfect crown for comfort and durabiity. Burlap was stapled and sewn tight to support the peet moss, which was sewn into the back by hand.

20. Sofa test sketch5
JPEG: sofa mostly done
FILE: 71402620459-Media-20.jpg

Springs were covered in burlap, then new high-density foam was attached to fabric and stapled tight to newly built up wooden frame. Peet moss was sewn to back, with gaps filled in with cotton. Another cotton layer was applied over everything for comfort, then wrapped tight with dacron for a soft, but tight feel. Here, the dacron was not yet razored tight to its staples, so it peeks over wooden frame. We first did a practice run of the reupholstery with a leftover piece of fabric in the shop. This gave us an idea of if we could use one piece of fabric for the back without seams, as well as what my flat pattern I should eventually print on. Lots of pencil sketches on paper and directly on the sofa were made before settling on a minimal design that moved over vertical and horizontal planes.

21. Full installation
JPEG: full installation
FILE: 71402620459-Media-21.jpg

The full installation with cute little footrest I found in a cottage in the gardens, and a 6'x10' floorcloth that I painted. I loved this central location in the gallery, but was concerned with its almost heavenly lack of cover. I used the wall prints, footrest, and floorcloth to secure the visual weight down at a stronger foundational level. I didn't want the furniture to be orphaned in a gallery after all of the labor put into their creation. The floorcloth inched up the wall to ground the installation in less angular dimensions.

22. installtion side view
JPEG: 3/4 view
FILE: 71402620459-Media-22.jpg

A different angle that captures the undulations of the shapes and cast shadows. I also wanted an image to show how the crest on the sofa exists even from different views, with the cooperation of its back.

Sarah Lacy