Carrington Boyd, Student Work, Natural History of the Senses Assignment

Texture Quilt

Plastic, cotton fabric, paper, gauze, grip tape, cardboard, human hair, 

foil wrappers, facemask, wax coated paper, and thread

11"x 9"

"After all, our palette of feelings through touch is more elaborate than just hot, cold, pain, and pressure. Many touch receptors combine to produce what we call a twinge. Consider all the varieties of pain, irritation, abrasion; all the textures of lick, pat, wipe, fondle, knead; all the prickling, bruising, tingling, brushing, scratching, banging, fumbling, kissing, nudging."  

-Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman, page 80

Statement: 

This piece was inspired by the complexity that surrounds the sense of touch. While temperature and pressure levels influence our reception of certain objects that we interact with, there are much more subtle details we pick up on, as Ackerman explains.  I wanted to create a piece which puts the level of sensitivity that the sense of touch possesses on display.  The piece features several different scraps of items including wad of hair taken from a hair brush, a piece of fabric from a cropped t-shirt, and the inside layer of a piece of cardboard. Additional items stitched together include a pop-tart wrapper and the seal from a container of cashews, both of which are foil, though have drastically different textures due to their sturdiness, a detail which is not necessarily detectable by sight, or any other sense aside from touch.  

Foiled

Digital Collage

15"x 8"

"Language is steeped in metaphors of touch...In fencing, saying touché means that you have been touched by the foil and are conceding to your opponent, although, of course, we also say it when we think we have been foiled because someone's argumentative point is well made." 

-Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman, pp. 70-71 

Statement: 

Linguistics and the origin of words is an interesting concept to me and I wanted to pair the meaning of the word touché with the origin of the word "touch".  The black and white simulated texture of crinkled foil speaks evokes memory of touch while creating a high contrast image.