THE COLOR PROJECT  1,606 Images  One Calendar Year

The Color Project is my second calendar year piece. It was started with the idea of making images using color every single day for one year. It was a chance to consider and interpret my previous drawing project and to investigate the visual and conceptual aspects of color. The parameters for the project were to create every day at least one image, using one or more colors on 8 ½″ x 11″ vellum. The color images were dated and numbered chronologically. As the pieces were made they were put away until the end of the year when the project was completed. I was curious if I would make the same colors and shapes over and over. I assumed that I would have large areas of certain colors or that there would be a definite pattern to the color. This did not turn out the way I expected.

The project was designed so that it could be flexible in its installation. The original installation was divided into two parts. The largest piece was 1,100 pieces and it was concerned with color relationships. It was installed on five walls with the pieces hung in chronological order. Each wall was in chronological order and starts at the top left, reads across, then drops to the next row, much like reading a book. It is possible to see visual relationships worked through and rhythms created by multiple pieces that have similar colors and shapes. The smaller part of the project was separated for several reasons. Although made in color and chronologically interwoven with the other pieces, these images were primarily about drawing. They relate to the Drawing Project in their sense of mark making and diaristic qualities. These 505 pieces were installed on four walls in a much more intimate space.

The “fragments” exhibition at Cypress College shows excerpts of the project. Each wall had a slightly different theme: dots, rectangles, text related to color and concept, or lastly specific color relationships.