A Host of Options (Teacup Wallpaper I), 1300 screen prints on lasercut paper, varies, 2012

“A Host of Options (Teacup Wallpaper I)” is the first is a series of pieces that will use small lasercut teacup shapes to create a fluttering wallpaper in the space.  Installed with mother-of-pearl headed corsage pins, the teacups dangle by the handle–shifting as the viewer walks through the space.

“A Host of Options (Teacup Wallpaper I)” is a display of 1,300 of these shapes that have also been screen printed with 56 different Haviland brand patterns.  Each individual print is then ‘titled’ with a different pattern name from the Haviland corporation production history.

The next “A Host of Options” will be closer to 10,000 teacups to emphasize the patterns that begin to develop on the walls and the true multiplicity available in porcelain production and through the democratic medium of printmaking.

"A Host of Options (Teacup Wallpaper I)" detail

"A Host of Options (Teacup Wallpaper I)" alternative view

“Dinner Music” is a collaborative video by David Colagiovanni and Melissa Haviland. It is a ten-minute visual and sound composition of a full set of fine china breaking on a large dining table. “Dinner Music” will be edited from slow motion video and audio footage collected in July 2011 and will debut in Raleigh, NC in fall 2012.

“Dinner Music” draws attention to and allows us to examine a single destructive moment as the china gracefully explodes and then reconstitutes before our eyes. The discordant sound of breaking china will transform into music as the footage is slowed and accelerated, allowing us a transcendent interpretation of disaster.

More can be learned about the “Dinner Music” project at dinnermusic.org
You may also view other videos by Colagiovanni and Haviland on YouTube.

A full set of Haviland Moss Rose china.

The aftermath of the drop of a full set of Haviland Moss Rose china.

"Happy..." & "Between two kisses...", digital prints, 20" x 16"

This series uses all the china in stock at Replacements, Ltd. in October 2010 whose pattern name was ‘Melissa’.  The images examine my relationship with china tableware and its associated etiquette and class structures.  They also examine the role of the hostess and my historic use of sweets to placate others and myself.

"Sweet, sweet, sweet..." & "I started my sweet tooth early...", digital prints, 20" x 16"

"A story behind every cake..." & "pau se...", digital prints, 20" x 16"

Pattern of Refinement, incorporates drawing, printmaking, sculptural objects, performance, and viewer participation.  This series consists of the installation of three circular, mixed-media drawings (Cyclical Pattern, Mingled Pattern, & Pattern of Refinement) and their accoutrements, displayed on the floor in the exhibition space.  This work draws the viewers’ attention to obsession and frustration with etiquette rules and issues around class divisions in our culture. The drawings function as spaces similar to the three rings of a circus.  Each drawing, on treated canvas, measuring 6 feet in diameter, depicts a round, fine dining table, seen from above.

"Cyclical Pattern" (detail), charcoal on canvas, 6' x 6', 2008

Cyclical Pattern, is a realistic charcoal rendering of the given table, setting the stage for the trio on the whole.  Being displayed directly on the floor counterbalances the drawing’s elegance by bringing feet in contact with the table surface.

"Mingled Pattern", graphite on canvas, serigraphy prints framed and laminated to 228 wood pieces, varies, 2010

Mingled Pattern, an abstracted, graphite drawing of the same table—mingles a mass of delicate floral patterns together on its surface.  Similar to a child’s large play set, this piece incorporates 228 faux china ‘playing pieces’ of serigraphy prints adhered to wood tiles.  Encouraged to ‘play house’ within the gallery space, the viewer imagines their own interaction with fine bone china.

"Pattern of Refinement", serigraphy of canvas, full set of Haviland china (Pink Garland), performance, 2009

Pattern of Refinement, the title for the complete trio and the final piece, is a screen print interpretation of the same table laid with a set of Haviland china.  For the performance element, each piece of china is balanced on the head in turn as I walked the edge of the large print.  This piece combines elements of the tragedy of breaking a piece of the family china and the once more common exercise of balancing books on the head to perfect posture.  As I perform, each broken saucer brings me further from the ideal of a full unblemished set of family china, but closer to the refinement of her posture and balance.

"Contemplating a Need for Indulgence," tent form, velvet cushion, flocked wallpaper, black sand, tea set; 2009

Contemplating a Need for Indulgence is a large installation paying tribute to the aesthetics of the classic Victorian parlor.  A tent form at the far end of the space acts as a large skirt beckoning the viewer to crawl underneath onto a velvet cushion to play tea with the ornate child’s tea set. Hand-printed flocked wallpaper covers the walls to a wainscoting of black grosgrain ribbon.  In the style of Indian rangoli, an act of Hindu prayer, the floor has been meditatively decorated with patterns using black sand.

"Contemplating a Need for Indulgence" tent form, velvet cushion, flocked wallpaper, black sand, tea set; 2009

"Syzygy--Tea Tides 1 & 2", graphite, collage, & gold leaf on board, 6"x 6", 2009

Within this phase of my artistic work, I am visually examining the rhythm of one daily ritual that revolves around a single Haviland china teacup and its saucer.  (48 drawings total)

"Syzygy--Tea Tides 3 & 4", graphite, collage, & gold leaf on board, 6"x 6", 2009

"Table Meditation 1 & 2", wood engraving, chine colle, & screen print, 15" x 20", 2008

The India Prints series includes two sets of four prints that began as wood engravings blocks completed during a Artist Residency at Artspace India in Kolkata in November 2007.

The Rupees series was directly inspired by rupee notes and the arches used in Mogul architecture.  The central image for each of the four prints is a two-inch by three-inch wood engraving that combines and indulges in these two design areas.  The prints own an abundance of color, pattern, and layering to comment on the overall visual intensity of India culture even in something as seemingly insignificant as their paper currency.

The Table Meditation prints contemplate this same visual abundance.  The central image for each of the four prints is a three-inch by four-inch wood engraving that depicts a dining table, whose silhouette is again connected to the Mogul arch, set for two individuals and seen from above.  The engravings show a mapping of table movement or conversation between two individuals.  The astrological maps and rules that exist within Hindu culture inspired these mapping elements.  The engravings are then contained within an ordered chaos of color and pattern.

"50 Rupees" & "2 Rupees" (details), wood engraving, screen print, chine colle, & embossment, 11" x 14", 2008

"she is learning to use her inside voice IV & III", lithography & serigraphy, 15" x 20", 2007

Within this series of lithography and serigraphy prints, I focused on the refinement of restraint in image and in practice.  They are representations of vintage hankies, quietly hanging.  The backgrounds are printed with understated white-on-white patterns.

(12 prints total)

"she is learning to use her inside voice VIII & V", lithography & serigraphy, varies, 2007

"Everyday China (obsess)", inkjet and charcoal on paper; 19.25” x 19.25”, 2007 & "Everyday China (foundation)", inkjet and charcoal on paper; 19.25” x 26.5”, 2007

My ongoing drawing series, Everyday China, set the foundation for the Pattern of Refinement work.  The charcoal self-portraits look at class structure through family upbringing, questioning my connection in name to the Haviland China industry.  They wonder, visually, what my life may have been like if I had been raised using fine bone china daily.  They also mark a more indulgent use of visual pattern within my work, as a formal element and a symbol of the domestic realm.

These dark images, mired in a sea of repeated pattern, become an obsessive dance with materialism, daily ritual, identity, and class structure.

"Everyday China (fortunate)", inkjet and charcoal on paper; 22” x 40”, 2006

"Indentured Threats," porcelain & aluminum rod, varies, 2005

The following images are from the body of work, Choose Your Weapon, a combination of sculptural objects and charcoal drawings.  Within this body of work, I have converted objects into weapons or armor for use in battles between the classes.  Employing scale-change and placement as significant devices, larger-than-life sewing pins challenge the viewer to have a perceptual shift. You are invited to rethink how you relate to these everyday objects. The pins lose their intimate association and take on a menacing quality. The drawings included in the project depict a woman trying to protect herself from the world, with the only items at her disposal: a string of pearls, china platters and teacups, hankies, and assorted garments.  She becomes Tweedledee or Tweedledum, foolishly strapping all her useless possessions to her as she prepares for “battle”.

"seem stress", porcelain, aluminum rod, and velvet; 15’ x 5’ x 1.5’; 2006 & "Coat of Arms", charcoal on paper; 57” x 40”, 2005