Researching Shoes ? ? ?

My research of Shoes has become a rather frustrating endeavor. Thus far what I have read on shoes has come to ... the positive - what I have already spoken about on my blog and the negative - all that I have read regarding shoes in fashion, the subjection if women and sexuality. These things are really not want I want to look at. I can see that shoes are a representation of self in regards to projecting personality and identity, but I am not making a statement about identity. I have realised that the shoe for me is a symbol for self but most importantly the journeys we take and the choices we make. A symbolic representation of passage, path and life.

So I have now expanded my research to journeys, passage and choice.
I will be looking at art as a means of journey and discovery as well. This art and film work is, in itself a journey of discovery. I will do this by looking at fairy tales of journey and at Jung theory (to begin with) and see where it takes me. I am reading Ursula Le Guin's "A Wizard of Eathsea" at the moment which relates to Jung theory as in the novel the young wizard has to face his "dark side" or "Shadow" first chased by it and then chase after it and confront it. 

"Beneath the social mask we wear every day, we have a hidden shadow side: an impulsive, wounded, sad, or isolated part that we generally try to ignore. The Shadow can be a source of emotional richness and vitality, and acknowledging it can be a pathway to healing and an authentic life. We meet our dark side, accept it for what it is, and we learn to use its powerful energies in productive ways. The Shadow knows why good people sometimes do "bad" things. Romancing the Shadow and learning to read the messages it encodes in daily life can deepen your consciousness, imagination, and soul."  

from "Romancing the Shadow," by Connie Zwieg, PhD., and Steve Wolf, PhD.     

I would very much like to explore this theory of shadow more and use it as a possible theme of the film component of my work to compliment the Shoe Tree. 

 

The Shoe in Art, the Shoe as Art ... continued

I want my viewers to think Feet? Well not exactly, as Janice West puts it in her essay - Whether shoes are the subjects  of art, are presented as art by an artist, or worn as created by a shoe maker, they maintain their status as exciting and challenging objects because of the specific relationship they have with the body and the self. This is what I actually mean by I want people to think feet.
A fantastic idiom I think of is 'Step into someone's shoes'
I can not personally wear second hand shoes as the imprint of the original owner's foot has become so ingrained and like a second skin that to wear them is torture. However this is also where the beauty lies. There is a story a journey that has been experienced by the shoes which is fascinating.  
I want the shoes in my shoe tree to represent self to the viewer and portray our place in the world. The worn shoe imparts narrative possibilities.
Another wonderful idiom is 'She has both feet firmly planted on the ground'.
This idiom connects my idea of shoes and tree succinctly. 

The Shoe in Art, the Shoe as Art

The title of this post is the title of a great essay I read by Janice West. The essay is one of many in a book called Footnotes on Shoes edited by Shari Benstock and Suzanne Ferriss.
This particular essay has made me think a lot about my own proposed sculpture - Shoe tree and has even inspired me with new ideas.
Some of the art works mentioned in this essay are ones well known to me: such as Salvador Dali and Elsa Schiaparelli's Shoe Hat and Andi Warhol's shoes drawn for advertising and commercial art. 

   

A note made about Warhol's Shoes is that they are always shown in profile and that they are not in pairs. This takes the shoe out of context of the body and by not having them in pairs the association a viewer has with the image is that of design and fantasy and not one of feet and function. 

This led me to think about how the shoes creating my tree should be represented / utilized. 

Firstly I have decided that all the shoes used to construct my shoe tree will all be pairs and in pairs not haphazardly arranged. I have chosen to do this as I do want the viewer to have a bodily association, I want them to think feet! 

Shoe Tree?

So I guess the first thing I should do is explain what I mean by a shoe tree. I do not mean an ugly wire thing you use to hang shoes on in your wardrobe at home, far from it. I plan to construct a tree made from shoes. I will be using worn shoes (not my own) but they will all be female shoes. I will most likely not be including high heels as i do not wear them myself. The shoes represent to me an embodiment of persona and of journey, of being grounded and of past and future.
The kind of tree I have in mind to construct is like a Morten Bay Fig tree but this will all depend on process and how I go about the construction.
Why a shoe tree? I want to make a tree because of the symbolism of growth, new life and cycles of life (It has been pointed out to me that the type of tree I have chosen is a deciduous tree which goes through cycles where it looks dead and then alive) I feel this is a wonderful metaphor for what I want to say with this work.
So what do i want to say with this work ... well that is what this blog is all about - developing my concept. Thus far my concept has a core of journey, growth, paths and choice.