Strange Worlds
The next project assignment was to take photos with a digital camera and use selected images from our photos to create our own version of a strange world. The same day of the assignment I took a break and ate dinner at ‘Farmburgers’ (mmmmmmmm) and decided to take some pics of Decatur. I have also been fascinated with the falling Magnolia leaves on campus, using them for watercolors in Painting 341.
If you have visited my Capstone page you know I am also continuing my work from 3-D Thinking with ‘trash into art’ for my senior project. So it makes sense that my strange world would include the possibility of other-worldly intervention……
“Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…” J.L.
Imagine we get some help from another world with more experience. Perhaps a race that has learned from their mistakes and wishes to share their knowledge with us before it is too late……
And once we are given the benefit of their knowledge we understand the importance of changing our approach to the environment.
And our benefactors leave us to carry on in harmony with nature.
In critique suggestions were made to continue the theme within the signage, add people waving goodbye to the last image, and make the ‘people’ in the first image different sizes. I have made some changes within the time I had and will continue to update this series with changes and additional images following the storyline.
Letterforms
So…. after all my work on my letterforms along with a Photoshop animation of their creation was deleted by accident by a tech from ITS, I had to start over. Needless to say, the first thing I did was purchase a new 4G flash drive so I could back up my work. (insert a big ‘Homer’ Doh!)
Anyways…
I did complete the assignment:
V and J from Palatino regular and O and B from Skia.
I call them The “Mighty VJ” and “Oh Baby!”
The second part was the ad assignment:
And so it goes. I am still in the process of re-creating the animation.
Inspiration
I googled ‘upcycling’ to find these images….
Old chairs made new.
Plastic cups.
This first prize winner is an old photo, hand-painted and mounted on a paper shopping bag.
Toilet paper and paper towel rolls.
Tax forms and political junk mail.
Tires. In case you couldn’t tell.
Box cars and other vehicles.
I’m stoked!
Nietzsche’s Eye’s
“I teach you the overman. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him? … All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood, and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is ape to man? A laughing stock or painful embarrassment. And man shall be that to overman: a laughingstock or painful embarrassment. You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm. Once you were apes, and even now, too, man is more ape than any ape…. The overman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the overman shall be the meaning of the earth…. Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman—a rope over an abyss … what is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end.”
Okay.
Skia
Our first class assignment is to choose one serif and one san-serif font and in each example use two letters to create a 27th letter for the alphabet. I have chosen Palatino regular and Skia regular.
“Skia is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Matthew Carter for Apple Computer in 1994.[1] Skia is Greek for “shadow,”and the letterforms take inspiration from 1st century BC Greek writing. The typeface was the first QuickDraw GX font, featured in System 7.5 and higher, including Mac OS X. It is the only font Apple has shipped with their OS which makes use of TrueType variable axes (a feature akin to Adobe’s “multiple master” technology).
Skia was also the code name for the QuickDraw GX project.”
Wikipedia
Palatino
“Palatino is classified as old style serif and was designed by Hermann Zapf in 1949. Palatino’s classical proportions have placed it among the most universally popular of all roman typefaces. Palatino was named after the sixteenth-century Italian writing master Giambattista Palatino. The broad letters and inclined serifs of the Palatino font family evoke a Renaissance grace. In 1999, Zapf revised Palatino for Linotype and Microsoft, called Palatino Linotype. The revised family incorporated extended Latin, Greek, Cyrillic character sets.”
Information from searchfreefonts.com
Studio Space Rocks!!!!!!
Can I just say that having a studio in Dana is so cool!
Getting to hang out and work with other artists is really good fertilizer for the creative garden. I’m so happy for this chance to learn and grow.
Fruitful Efforts
Our first critique this past Wednesday was a very satisfying time of sharing our thoughts and insights on the results of the first class assignment. Everyone’s effort was appreciated and I especially enjoyed how each person prefaced their comments with “What I like about this painting is…”
To begin we observed all the paintings, choosing the three we felt strongest about, and wrote down what we liked the most about how the artist used her materials to interpret her subject.
Victoria’s playful use of layering creates both a sense of space and movement as the red and ochre markings appear to lift up off the surface of the apple in stripes, triangles, and dots. Even as the apple’s color floats apart the basic roundness of its form is firmly rooted to the surface it sits on by the use of two realistic ‘shadows’ underneath. She then repeats the green shape around the stem of the fruit and transforms it into an abstract that stands well alone.
I am in love with the way Devin created a story by using position, size, and repetition. She applies watercolor with skillful washes and use of ‘dry-brush’ to render very believable turnips. Turning them to look at each other gives them tons of fun personality that I never knew turnips had! The position of each ‘actor’ in the second piece makes me think of all kinds of interesting possible story lines. Good use of the white space really supports both of these paintings. Both warm and cool colors make my eyes happy….
Seung-Yoon made a careful study of this little shallot and revealed many of its layers to us. I liked the way she created a palette with a broad range of colors from what at first glance seems to be only purple and brown, proving that she looked very closely…. reminds me of the ‘deep looking’ we did this past spring in three-dimensional thinking. I am adopting her practice of writing in her observations on the page. I can see from her example how it is beneficial. The onion is rendered very well, it looks to sit right on the paper, and has beautiful ‘realistic qualities’. My favorite part is the little roots on the end that are so delicate. Nice technique!
Some feedback from the Professor included observations on how to suggest the subject without overly describing it and using direct observation of a form in its space. We discussed realism vs. non-realism, “cared for” work, and using materials in a manner that is informative and plays with the realism.
This was a great class and I get a “fireworks-juicy-apple feeling” when I think about the morning! Thank you, Suzy!
Quote of the Day
“this is not an apple, but it is, but no this is just paint but it’s not….really”
Responsible Community
“Anything can be art, all you have to do is change your mind.” ~ John Cage
Finding this quote in a book about the artist John Cage reminded me of the ‘trash project’ in 3-D thinking spring semester. When I began collecting my recyclable trash for that project, I was amazed at the amount quickly accumulated. Magnified billions of times around the world felt suffocating (I’m a very visual thinker). Over the summer I read, surfed, and watched many documentaries not only about trash and ecology, but also concerning the areas of the world that have been ‘harvested’ of their natural resources…. always at the detriment of the people who occupied the land within the countries from which these resources were taken. Corporations that saw HUGE profits without having to return much to the people have been negligent, often criminally, leaving the people with consequences of extraction processes that left their homeland so polluted they were contaminated with carcinogens or forced to leave their already impoverished existence and try to start over. The policies of these companies have not evolved and there is continued destruction. Three questions have been haunting me…
Where does it lead?
Where does it end?
When is it going to be too late?
Adobe Illustrator gets better with age…..
Re-creation of Adobe illustrator 7 ad
My first experience with ai was in the fall of 2001 at Washington-Holmes Technical Center where I completed the work for a certificate in Printing and Graphic Arts. My assignment after I completed a tutorial was to choose an advertisement from a Mac magazine and use ai 6 to re-create the ad without scanning and tracing…. “just eyeball it” the instructor, Keith Forehand, told us. Well… ai 7 had already been released so I chose an ad depicting all the wonderful illustrations possible with the updated program. Challenging and fun! Since that time Adobe has updated ai several more times and added more fun stuff! As demonstrated in class on 9/1, you can work more easily with layers, a function that makes it possible to manage different areas of your image with relative ease.
Every element has it's own layer!
Play
That was the theme for the first painting day in Painting 341.
New paint! New paper! New brushes! OH MY!
And here are some of the results….
I have not played with watercolor for a loooooong time! How wonderful to be reminded of the soothing and meditative qualities it possesses. Watercolor teaches patience. Also how to look for light within your subject. AND it does so many fun and funky things if I don’t get too OCD about the process.
And in the end……..
the love you take is equal to the love you make……..
Our final critique happened in the courtyard on a really beautiful day. As my classmates shared during their presentations I reflected on the past semester and what I have learned from the process. I was overwhelmed with emotion when it was my turn to present my table to the group. I recognized the traditional elements in my “piece”, a table I intended to use for drawing, as a thread from my past. I realized I have come to a point in my life where I am no longer being held back by the limits imposed on me as a child. I now have the opportunity to accomplish my dreams in a supportive environment. I am here now.
The Death of Waldemart
In the end it took less than an hour to dismantle and dispose of “Walde” in a manner consistent with the projects theme.
14 hours of work reduced to a can full of recyclables. What I learned from this project, however, will stay around and continue to grow with me. Never again will I grab an item off the grocery shelf and toss it into the cart without examining it for certain elements that deem it “sustainable”. I am much more cautious in my approach to consumerism. And I found a place to keep a small part of my friend where he can keep an ‘eye’ on things…..
Crafting Wood
So our new project is for each of us to design and build our own personal table. The instructions are to figure out the dimensions for the kind of table we want keeping within a few guidelines based on the sizes of the clamps we have available to use when glueing. After we each figure out the size we want and construct according to the guidelines and instruction provided by Nell, we can then be as creative and/or functional as we desire.
We received preliminary instructions in class on March 29. On April Fool’s Day a few of us headed off to Home Depot to buy our wood. Had I not forgotten my camera I would be able to post some pretty amusing photos of myself, Natasha and Seung-Yung as we tried to find the best pieces of pine for our project. I did appreciate having my comrades with me, I felt less self-conscious and out-of-place in that “man world”! We returned to ASC victorious and unloaded our beautiful wood from my truck to await its fate the following morning.
I need a drawing table for my lil’ apartment that I can move from room to room as needed. I also want an easel I can use on the top or take with me if I want to draw or paint in the field. My plan is to dismantle and re-assemble an easel I bought from a craft store that is not really very stable and convert it to be a shorter more stable version for my table project. I designed my table to be 30″ long and the width of five 1″x6″ boards which in reality comes out to be 27 and a half inches when assembled. In short, my table top will be about 27″x30″.
Sawing and Sanding
(or the real reason men have muscles)
A chop saw is a big circular saw that looks and sounds a little scary if (like me) you have no prior experience with power-tools.
But with a little common sense they are really not that difficult to use. The hardest part for me is the measuring and figuring out dimensions. After this was made a lot easier by our esteemed Professor, I proceeded with the cutting of the wood. Just let me say…..
I FELT POWERFUL USING THAT SAW!!!!!
Seriously, it was a very cool feeling to use that saw. I think I could chop wood all day. At least some days!
Anyway, moving on, the next step was to glue the sections that would form the table top together and when it was dry to sand the wood smooth. Using handheld Sanders the wood was finished nicely.
As I started the glueing process I really began to like this project. I have always loved creating things with my hands; whether it is a piece of art, a garden, or just a clean and organized living space, I’m all over it. So as this project developed I began to visualise ALL KINDS of wood projects in my little head. More on this later……
Figuring Out The Unexpected….
Some of the challenges I had included how to fit rungs between the legs. We used biscuit joints for the table-tops and the skirt to leg joins.
This involved using a saw that plunges a groove into the wood where the join will be.
So that after assembling with glue and clamping tight for 2-3 hours, you get something like this:
But I was making the rungs out of 2 x 2 which is really more like 1.5 x 1.5, so there was not enough width to make biscuit joins. Following Nell’s suggestion, I bored holes in the ends of the rungs and the sides of the legs where the join would be:
And used a wood dowel (3/8″) instead of the biscuit:
After glueing and clamping 
I had this:
Next step is to plunge for more biscuit joins:
And glue the top to the bottom structure. Unfortunately, my wood had some hidden defects that showed up as soon as I tightened the clamps………
I tried using more clamps to counter-act the bending/cracking thing that was happening (to no avail) and in the end I had “FrankenTable”
So I adopted a wait and see attitude and went home for the night!
Next: The Result!
Only a bit of a droop left on the right side! The crack disappeared and the glue sanded off leaving a nice smooth finish. The table is not perfect but it fits into my life right now.
The next step was to make the piece I want to put on the top to keep the easel from sliding off when I’m trying to draw. For this I used a piece of leftover 1×4. I mirrored a pattern on paper and traced it on the wood. Using the jigsaw, I carefully cut along the lines I drew as closely as possible. Then I sanded it to near (not quite) perfection to match the table. Using the same method for joining I attached it to the table and viola!
Ready for the finale!
The Birth of “Walde”
My personal evolution from frenzied, enthusiastic consumer to environmental consciousness has steadily come full circle over the past 35 years. When I was a teenager in the 70’s I fell in with a lovely, lively group of “hippies” who enjoyed traipsing to the north Georgia mountains almost every weekend. There we often back-packed up the beautiful Appalachian Trail to N.C. and camped at Bly Gap. Sometimes we hung out along the banks of Moccasin Creek, camping in tents and swimming in a waterfall you could only access if you were brave enough to cross a very slippery tree that had fallen across the water. On one infamous trip over winter break we barely made it to a cabin belonging to someone’s parents before snow made the road in or out impassable. The cabin was very primitive with gaps between the logs allowing the cold to continuously seep in unmolested and no indoor plumbing. We cooked our meals in the stone fireplace, gathering wood from the ground when our supply ran out, positioning it to steam near the flames of our existing fire until dry enough to actually burn. It was the hardest work for survival I have ever done, but the act of making my way through the snow looking for twigs, vines, and fallen logs, cemented an appreciation for the beautiful fierceness of nature that has never left me.
Not too much later I married and began a family, birthing my children at home hippy style. My husband was in school and we had little money, since I chose to mostly stay at home with my babies. We did not own a T.V. for the first 10 years and entertained ourselves with books, music, walks, and trips to local parks. Real consumerism did not hit me until we joined a church attended by some of the more prosperous members of the community. I felt somehow less than other members, our car was 15 yrs. old, we did not own a home, and my children wore second-hand clothes. In retrospect, I realize my immaturity and lack of self-confidence was the real problem, however, I focused at the time on what we did not have materially. Then came a brand new local Wal-Mart! At the same time, my husband received a promotion and I was able to stretch our dollars to cover newer accoutrements for the home like never before! Drapes, pillows, dishes… all sorts of decorative items to make me feel more like ‘them’. Did it work? Sadly, no. In the long run we ceased to be a family, going our separate ways.
Eventually, my oldest daughter, Sara, became my teacher. While attending University of Az. studying political science, she began to discuss the ways in which our economy and community are affected by a capitalist economy’s approach to consumers. She spoke of one business in particular, Wal-Mart, as being a “big box store” and decried their abundance of “practically useless junk” as being especially harmful to the environment. Since I often shopped at Wal-Mart, I began to refer to “the store that must not be named” when mentioning a purchase. When our class was assigned the trash project I began to think of all the ways my own habits were contributing to the ongoing problem of too much trash. I started out by collecting all of the plastic and paper leftover from one week in my household. I have been recycling for a long time, but I seldom take the time to really pay attention. Usually, I sort leftover packaging as I go and then throw the bags and boxes into my car once a month and take it all to the DeKalb Farmer’s Market. While exploring themes for my sculpture I returned to the eyes that I had used in my previous work. Suddenly, BOING! it hit me, and one quick sketch later I birthed “Waldemart”.
“Retail Therapy” resulted from my focus on my consumer habits. I have never responded well when told I “should” do something. I normally follow the example of people I admire and care about, like my daughters. Usually after bashing my head against a brick wall for quite some time. So I wanted to make this about my change through personal growth. It would take hours to tell my whole story and I really believe most of it pretty boring and predictable. Instead, I wrote out 12 steps for recovering from “over-consumerism”. I hope to someday be like my daughters and inspire others. I also hope to find peace within myself. A process I believe is well begun.
Waldemart Lord of OVER-consumption (and waste)
I decided it might be time for some:
RETAIL THERAPY
- Step 1: Admitted I was powerless over big-box stores, and my plastic consumption had become unmanageable.
- Step 2: Came to believe that “green” knowledge could restore me to sanity.
- Step 3: Became willing to turn my buying habits over to the idea that less REALLY IS more.
- Step 4: Made a searching and fearless personal “trash inventory” of the stuff I throw away.
Okay now, step 4 was really revealing. In one week my household (myself and one 10 yr. old child) accumulated three bags of material for recycling!
- Step 5: Admitted to myself, my spirit, and all who read this blog that over-consumption is in my nature.
- Step 6: Was entirely convinced I needed to change the way I “consume” the earth’s resources.
- Step 7: Humbly began to approach reduced consumption as a means to help save my planet from destruction.
- Step 8: Made a list of all the ways I can reduce and reuse.
- Step 9: Began to reduce my unnecessary consumption whenever and wherever possible.
- Step 10: Continued to take “trash inventory” and promptly adjust my consumption as needed.
- Step 11: Sought through research to improve my conscious understanding of eco-friendly principles and meditated for the power to carry them out in my daily life.
- Step 12: Having had a spiritual reality check as a result of these steps, I will try to promote the idea of consumer accountability by setting an example and practicing eco-friendly principles everyday.
Let it begin with me (once more, with feeling!)
The “Boing” on immigration…..
A long, long time ago, a bunch of Europeans got fed up with how they were treated in their own country and moved to “The New Land”……..
In the apparently inheritable logic they possessed, these “settlers” began to take over the land and resources of the people living on these once vast plains. Eventually moving further and further west, claiming any and all land for themselves and refusing to recognise the rights of the people they encountered, these first “Americans” established towns and settlements for themselves. Ultimately up-rooting any community in their way, mostly on the basis of “primitive culture” more accurately translated “white makes right”, the new Americans murdered, plundered, and tricked the native population out of land they had lived on from time unknown. This included going to war with Mexico to “claim” the land now known as Southern Cal, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Arizona, etc..
And here we are, a couple hundred years later acting all indignant over “illegal immigration”……….
Watch as some local yokels abuse a descendant of the native people of the southwest area of this country who has the courage to confront their racism. Warning!! Strong Language!
Move over Godzilla!!!
Bwaaaahahahahahahahaha!
When I found the image of the Statue of Liberty, so many thoughts immediately crowded my brain. “Bring us your poor…. your down-trodden…”. Just what did this mean at the time? What does it mean for us now? More on this later…
The Bump
In the beginning was the bump. I went to my personal diary for ideas. I carry my little green book everywhere and try to write any interesting (to me) thoughts that shoot, stagger, fall, rest, linger or malinger inside my head. Most of my notes make sense only to me. I do find this practice useful for recording fleeting ideas before they disappear forever. Anyway…… I came across some words I had jotted down a year ago while reading Under the Tuscan Sun, by Frances Mayes. Benison (a spoken blessing), apogee (point in an orbit most distant from the center), oneiric (pertaining to dreams), porcini (an edible mushroom).
My mind kept drifting over apogee, benison, and porcini, as I physically drifted around the classroom browsing for materials.
I was first drawn to the cardboard tubes so I cut one into sections and arranged them into a circle on the table. A half-formed idea developed into a drawing.
Looking around some more I selected some beautiful gold cloth and a sheet of corrugated packing material. By the end of class on Thursday I had a pretty clear mental picture of my sculpture to be. Shaped like a bowl and filled with the circular shapes resting on the elegant, gold fabric, I envisioned something simple and beautiful.
“The Process Changes” or “Another Bend in the Road”
Over the course of the rest of the day and into Friday, my life took an unexpected turn. Feeling overwhelmed and heartbroken, going through the motions of running errands while trying to wrap my mind around events from the week, I found myself in a dollar store holding a cellophane bag of googly eyes and thinking “look! a bag of me! “. I also grabbed a bag of pipe cleaners in spring colors that reminded me of childhood. Back in class on Tuesday I played around with the idea of loss of control.
"Look! A bag of me!"
Life is messy. Without a doubt. Any order achieved is not easily preserved. Just when I think my ducks are in row the seasons change and off they go headed south for the winter. No matter how carefully I protect the fragile order of things it often blows up in my face. Leaving me, well, all googly-eyed and lost.
The Maquette
Although still enchanted with the circular shapes from the original plan, I was not happy with the weight of the cardboard tubes. They felt too rigid and the thickness of the cardboard was distracting. Instead, I used the paper I had peeled off of the corrugated packing material and rolled sections up into delicate cylinders.
Repeating my process from the maquette, I “corralled” them with a piece of the corrugated packing material. I liked the contrast between the smooth cylinders and the corrugated paper. It repeats the shapes and compliments them at the same time. The appearance is ordered, grouped, neat. The material itself is used for packing and protecting fragile items.
The idea of gluing the eyes on the ends of the pipe cleaners, after twisting them into springs, came to me in the store. Once I had created cylinders it was logical to have the eyes springing out, exploding into a frenzy. This is what happens when the lid comes off. When the carefully constructed life meets reality.
Life is boing.
I shaped the pipe cleaners into cork screws by twisting them around a drawing pencil.
Sometime during this process I realized how representative this was of the role art has played in my life. With art at the center of my life, whenever things did go boing, I have always had my creativity as a source of comfort and distraction.
Presenting:
“The Carefully Constructed Life”
Taking photos allowed me to see this piece from a different perspective. The creatures seem to have a life of their own.
As does the shadow……
Coming soon…. Tales of the Creature!
belindahartishere 