2010 MFA Exhibition - You Are Here I Am

The MFA show currently up in the gallery space displayed a lot of hard work and passion from the participating artists. All the works were very impressive and looked like they had a lot of thought, time and planning put into them.

Studio Journal - PSA Poster Series

In Design III-A our latest task was to create a Public Service Announcement Series.

"A public service announcement is a non-commercial advertisement for the public interest. PSAs are intended to modify attitudes and/or raise awareness about specific issues. Design a PSA series related to your thesis focus. Create a set of three posters OR three video/motion pieces that express a point of view about an aspect of your thesis focus. What do you want to advocate? How will it provoke viewers to see the subject in a new way? You may invent an organization or choose an existing one to frame the subject. Your goal is to persuade the audience about an issue that relates to your thesis focus, and to create a series connection among the three pieces."

Tying this project into the Construction of Self came pretty easily. I went in the direction of how outsides influence contributes to the growth of Self. My PSA was a series of 3 posters with the message supporting Positive Peer Pressure. I wanted to try and tear down all the negative connotations associated with peer pressure because it can be such a positive influence in developing Self. "Friends for Positive Pressure" is to try and remind people that humanity is capable of good. Seeing peer pressure with a more optimistic outlook on life can raise confidence and hope in society, and when the whole strives for the better, so does the individual.

I chose to use full bleed images of friends and siblings: these images were tightly cropped and zoomed in on the ears, hands, and mouths of the supposed gossipers. To bring more attention to these body parts arranged in such a way as to usually suggest the exchange of negative comments I desaturated every other area except the hand, ear, and lips. For the text I had the supposed "gossip" in large, italic Rockwell, the smaller text is bold Rockwell in a colored background that signifies the positive conclusion to the large gossip-esque question. The bracketed logo shares the same weight, size and backing as the positive comment. Both logo and positive comment appear in the same place in all three posters, whereas the large text moves relatively along the right hand to where it fits best.

Studio Journal - A New Cliché

For Design III-A we had a new objective: create a new cliche.

"Create a new visual cliché related to your thesis focus, and distribute it to a relevant audience.
This project is about the possibilities that lie in referencing shared knowledge; in altering meaning through repetition; and in knowing and involving your audience."

In light of my thesis focus, The Construction of Self, I wanted to play upon memories as time markers for growth and construction of Self. My plan was to have full-bleed image on one side of card stock, the other held the text alerting the viewer: "You Left This Here." subtext "Can you remember?" and link to a site I hoped to use to gather responses from my audience ( to which none have replied D= ).

The images are of "cliche" time markers that everyone experiences or witnesses: Birth, Birthday, Holiday ( Christmas ), Graduation, Wedding, and Death. My hope was that the image combined with the text would provoke my audience into recalling their personally experience or knowledge of such memories. I wanted the people that happened upon my new cliche to do some soul searching and bring them back to a time marker so they could understand it's significance in their growth and development, even if the time markers seemed cliche and unimportant at the time.

Design III-A - Thesis Statement, Annotated Images and Readings Part 2

Thesis Focus Statement

My thesis focus is on the construction of Self. The construction of Self as dictated though others (friends and family). The construction of Self that evolves and changes through the passage of time.

Studio Journal - Information Design | Autobiographical Poster

I'm going to include the work I do for my Design III-A class in with my studio journal because I have been applying my thesis focus to each one, preparing for the future. In Design we've been assigned a poster project. This project need to use information design to depict something autobiographical.

My original idea was to take the concept of time-line and convert it into metaphorical distance. I wanted to make use of a map as a type of container for the information. My information would be points in my life and how I mark them. In other words, it's a very personal way of keeping track of time, I could compare it to someone who remembers driving directions not by road names but by landmarks (ie a restaurant at the corner, big red house with three windows, etc etc.)

Just for Funsies. My Photo I-B Pinhole Contact Prints!

These were taken in a 6" wooden pinhole camera. They are paper negatives cut to 4"x5" film size and their contact prints. [Cropped in Photoshop]

Studio Journal - Summer Work Post

I'm posting my summer work for all to enjoy.
For both of the work I am about to show I gave basic guidelines to all my friends on facebook. They were to write an anonymous description of how they saw me (physical and non-physical aspects) on the website formspring.com.

This spawned two different projects from the same data.

One is a book design center around specific comments I took out of the data. In turn I drew different parts of a paper doll that would eventually construct myself. After talking with Jackie Thaw we both agreed that if I added about 100 more pages (so-to-speak) and got really creative and abstract with my add-ons for the doll.

Making Me

The second project was a strictly typographic and definition based web display. A fun concept but when it comes down to it, doesn't really do much and not AS effective as I would have hoped. I'm keeping this one on the back burner.

Mecabulary 

Enjoy dumplings!

Design III - Oops, I forgot to post my revised thesis statement

My thesis is going to be about constructing Self. I am hoping to create a template my viewers can internalize and expand the definition of Self in their own mind. I am also entertaining the idea of having it in book form, it's intimate and engages attention for an extended period of time.

Boyfriend X Girlfriend design team... why can't I have that!!!!!

Anyways their design is phenomenal! I absolutely love it. I'm thinking of really letting loose with this project and rolling with my love of colors and cute graphics and just see where it leads me. It worked for these two and I can't see why their design wouldn't be taken seriously, it's thrilling!

Design III - Information Design Project: Inspiration Dump

Design III-A: More Bibliography

http://www.iwrotethisforyou.me/ - Iain Thomas

The Nature of My Body

 
"That sound you hear, that's the sound of someone realizing that sometimes, it's easier to change the world than it is your own life." - at 12:37 AM on Monday, September 27, 2010

The Molten Core

"This world is hard. It has sharp edges and points that cut. It'll make you choose between love, money and sleep. Choose love each time and sleep when you can, money - only when you must.

Because this world is hard. And at times, it is too hard, for me."- at 1:17 AM on Monday, September 20, 2010

I Wrote This For You is a blog I found while using StumbleUpon. I read through a multitude, but not all, past entries and follow it to this day. This a project by Iain Thomas. He uses words and pictures in ambiguous ways so that whomever is reading the short story of the day inserts them-self into it and is able to tell them-self an even greater story after piecing in their own information. This is all done in the mind of the reader.
TEDx featuring Iain Thomas

This style of writing is something I'm heavily interested (and determined) in seeing how I can apply it through design into my thesis. Creating something that doesn't give all the facts, that leaves out details, and that engages the viewer in such a deep, emotional, and moving way is what I want to do most. I want my viewers to look at my work and fill it in with pieces of their Self.

"Is It Possible to Touch Somebody's Heart with Design?" - Stefan Sagmeister

I had just posted about Sagmeister's essay in my blog about our reading packets. Well I just order two of his books and I can;t wait for them to get here so I can read them. Sagmeister is all about passionate, heart-moving design. His book "Things I have Learned In My Life So Far" is a compilation of his diary of sorts, with phrases that apply to everyday and can be seen through his design.

I really enjoy Sagmeister's "rule" approach. The idea of using guidelines or commandments to reveal Self to viewers is a possible outcome for my thesis as well.


The memoirs and essays of Augusten Burroughs

Just to put this on the blog record, I absolutely love Augusten Burroughs and his collection of book, 3 memoirs, 3 books of memoir essays, and one fictional novel. Burroughs writes about his life; tragically, hilariously, and sensitively. He brings dark humor into every page, some moments of his writing are haunting and others will literal make you laugh out loud. The way I feel when finishing a Burroughs book is incredibly optimistic.

Just purchased...

"Things I've Learned in My Life So Far" - Stefan Sagmeister

I'm so excited! I just recently read Sagmeister's essay as part of our Design III reading packet and I fell in love! I'll post more about it once I receive it and read the heck out of it! I also purchased his other book "Sagmeister: Made You Look"... and Bryan Lee O'Malley's "Lost at Sea". I love books so much!

I had finally finished Bryan Lee O'Malley's "Scott Pilgrim" comics, a six volume series. I was really impressed by the design and layout of the book. He really executed his placement of text, drawings, and graphic elements very well. The graphic novels were really emotional, something I feel one would have to read for themselves to understand what I mean by that.

Design III - Writings on Readings (packets 1+2)

In Design III we were given two packets of readings. I chose a select few that I found very inspiring:

"Track Record" - Danielle Aubert

Aubert wrote her thesis statement on her interest in 'paths' we leave behind us in life. She gave several different examples of what she means by tracking: it is the footprints we leave after a walk, or even the invisible path our eyes had followed when scanning a piece of text. It all came down to how she said she would approach it through graphic design, to make what would be usually overlooked by other visible and thought provoking. Aubert mentions CSI's way of portraying tracking is something that interests her. She also goes into depth about how she wants to conduct her research to uncover the beauty of the tracks we humans or our machines have left behind us. In the end it is proposed that what ever form, be it book, post, or video, she will be able to only portray a sliver of the greater idea.

This was a very good example of how a thesis statement should be. In my case I need to really hone in on how I am going to utilize graphic design to portray, if only, a portion of what makes up 'self.' I still am investigating how self is defined by outside sources and physical surrounding or accessories but it gets so much more spiritual, emotional and thoughtful so it's something I still need to work out. Currently I am focusing on book design but I am still not sure if it's just something I really like to do or if I need to look at a wider scope in order to successfully portray my thesis.

"Mimesis" - Hyounyoul Joe

Joe's image collection on his thesis idea of mimicry is varied and show many different various that can all support "mimesis." The images are as visually supportive evidence similar to Aubert's words in her statement. He has picked up on various images, that are also derived from movies or performance art. These images are from vastly different sources and contexts. They all in some way support his theory, but this type of research makes me wonder about how much the context has changed for some of the art work. It was discussed in Thesis class when we were looking through a gallery that sometimes when a gallery is curated and the artist is not there to explain the meaning of his/her work, the art piece is then place where ever and its context may be changed. I do wonder if we look from work to support our aspiring thesis ideas, are we trying to force it's support in a sense?

"Is it possible to touch somebody's heart with design?" - Stefan Sagemeister

Sagemeister's writing and gallery combination were particularly inspiring because as designers / artists/ and human beings, we ask ourselves these questions on a regular basis. He gets straight to the point in saying that when design does not come from the heart it become cold and unmoving. He gives us further example of what he has done as moving design and what design or art work has moved him. He also remarks upon the ongoing argument 'Is Design really Art' and just eliminated it completely with a Brian Eno quote "not to think of art works as objects, but as triggers for experiences." which I appreciated and found it really got to the core of what art really is.

When it all comes down to it Sagemeister tries to create a list of guidelines that if you plugged your design into each category and it checked off, it would be heart-moving design! He even admits that there is no right way to create heart-moving design unless your heart is in the design, that you simply need the guts and that when people see it and know your heart is in it, they will be moved.

"An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth" - Bruce Mau

"14. Don't be cool.

Cool is conservative fear dressed in black. Free yourself from limits of this sort."

Mau wrote a manifesto of guidelines we follow before creating design. He even left us an empty space in case we thought of something else. I thought this was also incredibly inspiring. Similar to what Sagemeister was trying to tell us, but different in a sense that he didn't insert his own emotions or opinions into it. He is simply giving us rules that we should follow for growth and does not limit that to design or art. This list applies to life itself, he talks about working in context, how "creatives" and "suits" labels are eliminated because real design happens when you do what you do best.

Studio Journal - 24 Hour Narrative: The Power of Emoticons

In Design III-A we were given our first official project, the 24 Hour Narrative. The parameters were that we had to document 'something' over the passage of time through whatever means necessary.


Trying to dance within the realms of my overarching thesis focus: The construction of Self, I came up with the idea of documenting the sending and receiving of emoticons via text messaging.

My plan for the 24 Hour Narrative was to see how many emoticons could I collect in a day. Observing their trends and patterns, the reaction of myself and my contacts to the changing stream if conversation and the represented emotions. Through the 24 hour period I have to say I received mostly "smiley face" emotions. If there were any cases of a negative emoticon, such as a sad or angry face, it was met with either a similar, understanding emoticon, or attempted to be uplifted by a loving, caring one.


The really cool part is, that not only was I documenting the conversation of emoticons that day, but in a sense I was documenting a vast part, or parts, of myself. Conversations touched on what I did that day, that moment, how life has been, how friends have been, so on and so forth. It painted a typography picture of my 'self' and even some of my friends and family too.


A big part of self identity comes from who we interact with. Now that most of our interaction comes from an electronic screen at our fingertips, our days can be shaped and our internal and external reactions triggered by an creative arrangement of characters and glyphs we've come to know as emoticons. There is something very emotion about these emoticons (no pun intended) but it's almost a necessity that we need clear proof of how our friends are feeling. The absence of emoticons from a text tends to leave the receiver feeling an uneasy seriousness or disconnectedness from the contact.


Now, how this all comes to something as deep as shaping the self is simple as cause and effect. One person sends an emoticon and thus gets one in return. It is gratifying to see the reminiscence of facial features, we respond to the fact that our friends and family are happy, sad or angry (and every other emotion under the sun depending on how creative you are with you handling of characters.) It's a new way of face-to-face interaction, depending on your emotional level it can get very personal and truly affect your 'self'.

Thesis - WLCM BCK 2010

The Fall 2010 gallery show, WLCM BCK, was composed of a variety of a works from graduates and professors. This show had no overarching theme, the only rule was to submit a work that was medium sized (every artist may have had a different interpretation of what "medium" was.) Each work that was hung (except for Professor Ortiz's Dark Side of Liberty) was hung at 60". Each artist took a piece and placed it where they thought it looked best, after many observations and readjustments, everyone who participated in the curating process was finally pleased after walking through the entire gallery.

 The fact that there was no over all theme to this gallery show really allowed those who set it up to get playful in terms of organization and flow. This flow is based on connections of color and composition of each piece and how it has fit into its place near, or far from, the other art work.

Steven Westfall, Cosmadin, Oil on Canvas

The great thing about how this gallery was set up was that as amazing as some of the work paired next to each other was, the even better part for me was the works set across the room from one another. Take Westfall's Cosmadin for instance. This is simplicity at it's finest. Art has been stripped down to the four basic colors of red, blue, green and yellow and the white that separates them. Westfall has carefully calculated and executed a repetitious diamond pattern which starts at the corners of the canvas as diagonal lines, eventually joining together to become connected and ending in an infinite yellow in the center.

Martha Rosler, off the shelf, Digital Print

 Parallel to Westfall's painting was Rosier's print of a collection of books. The very graphic nature of this print is seen in that almost the entire composition is of vertical and horizontal books (spare the one on the top left of the white background print.) The details come in with the text of the titles and authors of the book.

I sensed a connection right away between these two works. As I looked across the room from one to the other I saw a relationship connection in the very similar color trends. There was also careful attention to direction of subject matter, one just went diagonally where the other was up and down/ left and right. As much as I could see the similarities between these two, I was happy they were not placed together but far enough apart, so that one could appreciate the playfulness. If they'd have been placed together they would have undoubtedly clashed.
This trend of across-the-room connections can been seen in a few other cases in the center gallery room, such as Gary Kuehn's “Untitled, Work in Progress” steel and granite sculpture seen across from Bryan Whitney's "Neo Kabbalah" print mirroring and the cube/circle shape seen in the sculpture on the podium.

Katherine DeGaetani, Insulate, mixed media

It was expressed that each room was supposed to be a separated show space. Each room certain was it's own, and all had running trends that were similar to what could be observed in another room.

When I reached the corner of the room to the back right of the entire gallery, I took note of the trend of "orange" to this half of the room space. DeGaertani's piece "Insulate" was interesting to look at. I spent a few minutes trying to take it apart with my mind and pull out what materials were used. The most attractive part was the orange border that surrounded the cream colored paper in the middle (the cream or off white also reoccurring in other pieces along the wall.)

Megan Flaherty, Plaid, digital print

And then towards the back corner of the room there is Flahrety's "Plaid" print. This print seems to only be tied in by it's common color of orange and white, and in some cases the blue is shared as well, This print seems to be a two-dimensional copy-cat of the "Insulate" piece, however the colors only appear to be sewn together like one would normally see in a fabric shirt or blanket. The piece, although very pleasing to the eye and hypnotising, still lacks the shading and texture of even the two-dimensional rendering of plaid fabric.

The other pieces that come to be part of the theme of Orange (white and blue) are Liv Aanrud's "Hanging in the Mystic Whispers of Supernatural Cave Shadows" and one other piece.
There were other rooms curated for an instillation video donated from the Zimmerli's Water Exhibit and another curated in memory of Lyda Craig imaginative illustrations.



Overall, I really liked the flow and piecing together of the gallery as a whole. I suppose the lack of them is a huge plus in my opinion because it leaves those installing to work so much room and potential for playfulness. Though, as discussed before, placement does need to be considered because the surrounding piece can affect how the individual piece is interpreted, so working with the artists, and the group as a whole, there needs to be universal agreement.

Thesis - My Peer Interview with Randi Feldbauer

I am interviewing Randi Feldbauer. She is a BFA Photo major. She currently prefers digital photography, but has experience with several different kinds. Most of her works over the past year have been focused on the forgotten, discarded, and decaying objects that she goes out and searches for. This quality of work is what her peers and teachers know her for.

We met up on the third floor lounge of the Civic Square Building and she showed me her portfolios that consisted of past work up to what she has been currently working on.

R: This is my older stuff. I had wanted to do more portrait work, which I really strayed away from. I really don’t do portraits anymore. It was mostly a learning experience. I had done portraits to understand… I had wanted to do magazine work when I first came in, but I’ve completely strayed away from it.

[Flipping through the portfolio]

 Mixed in there’s a little bit later work; Junior year work. Junior year I really came into my own and I really planned out what I was going to do. What I did with my later portfolio is what I’m going to do for thesis.

K: What are you thinking of doing for Thesis? What’s you main idea?

R: I’ll better explain it when I show you. It’s hard to conceptualize and to explain to people.

[talking about earlier work as I continue to take in the contents of one portfolio]

R: I think then I was just trying to get by. This is a newer study I had gone to Myrtle Beach with a couple of friends for spring and I was trying to take pictures with different angles. I was told in class that even though the area was busy and crowded I got isolated aspects of it. You would never know that I was in a different place.

K: You attention to detail; you see a lot of texture in all of your pictures. I personally love detail, it’s gorgeous and you really can pull a lot of information from it.

[explaining a picture]

R:This was when we were at Myrtle Beach. This was actually a beach, but there was actually some kind of run-off that went to a large swamp. Here’s the beach and the ocean and it ran-off in the middle of the sand. Something like that would not happen, or be seen in New Jersey so I was paying attention to the differences that were between. I didn’t want it to be like “Ooo I’m in Myrtle Beach, I’m going to take pictures of all my friends drinking and getting drunk and all that.” That’s just not something taken seriously.

K: No. These are very serious, deep, and beautiful.

R: I wanted to get a coast guard kind of aspect. I couldn’t just imagine these. I print large now, 11” by 14”. I just like the large scale. But I couldn’t imagine these larger. It didn’t seem right. They were more like postcards. They were meant to be looked at and appreciated for what they are but not to be taken much more seriously than that.

K: Absolutely.

R: These are all digital. I do all digital work now, I don’t use film at all.

[we discuss one of her more recent images]

K: I really like the separation [the viewer feels].

R: That’s actually one of my favorites!

[when coming upon some work from freshman and sophomore year mixed in]

R: In looking back I just thing I don’t really like my freshman and sophomore year stuff because it’s so much more different than what I do now.

K: Well I’m really excited to see what you do now then. Because I always loved your stuff. Your work always had these very emotive undertones, you could really tell there was a lot going on, a big story there.

R: Okay so this next series, I had gone to visit my grandparents for the summer. It’s a series on my family. For some reason, with my family, I am close to them but sometimes I feel like an outsider. This is meant to show that.

I also feel that, printing bigger, you appreciate it much more. These were scanned negatives but the rest were digitally shot. There a more emotional, dark kind of feel, to get the feeling of isolation.

K: And these [the pictures] are all in the same series?

R: This is the same series. The family series. Thise is where I’m taking shots around my house.

K: But it’s all underneath the same kind of idea that you’re telling me about?

R: Yes, a series of being isolated.

K: You can really feel that with just the way that you have an individual standing way off to the side or in the distance. Even the dog. We’re just looking at this big, open space and you really do feel that separate, isolated feeling.

R: This is the next series. I’ve been working on it for a while. I haven’t decided upon a name, people have given me different ideas; The Discarded Series; The Forgotten Series. This is basically to capture things that are falling apart and decaying over New Brunswick to show the true beauty in that. I always noticed that things were falling apart and decaying and I’ve always seen something that was unusual and I would bring it up to people I was with to show “Oh look at the way the light is hitting the ground, how there’s a crack in the wall…” I feel like with non-artists they don’t really appreciate that. They’d say “Oh no that needs to get fixed!” instead of looking at the true beauty of it. In this series I was trying to show the true beauty of each thing.

This is what I want to do for thesis. I want to have a whole wall dedicated to my work. It would be half installation piece and half photography. I feel like if I just do a photography piece it will only take me a month. I need something that is going to challenge me physically emotionally and spiritually so I feel like if I do an instillation piece it will definitely work better. I was thinking of maybe creating a fake wall and maybe adding some kind of decay to it so it’s like an encapsulating space on top of having these photographs in there. They’re actually showing the decay so it’s a play on two.

K: That definitely sounds challenging.

R: Yeah, well I’ve never put up sheet rock, I’ve never built a wall before!

K: Well, in challenging yourself, you might even find yourself crying while doing that. That in the end is going to be worth it because you know that you really tried so hard.

R: Put in my blood, sweat and tears.

K: I’m just really happy to see work like this! Because you’re right! It [photographs] looks so odd and so unique. Sometimes you don’t immediately understand what it is when you initially see it. Especially this [image]

R: I’m not even sure what that is. It was near Boyd Park. But, see, a lot of people would just look past it. When I saw this special scene, this specific scene, I said “I want to start something new!” I want to walk around New Brunswick. So that’s what I do. I walk around New Brunswick with my camera, with a friend, and I take pictures. That’s all I do. And I’ve gone to different places, but for some reason New Brunswick is something that I’m stuck on. I can't get off the series. It’s something I got a lot of compliments for in Junior Review. They told me to continue it; to not stop.

K: I really do agree. This is very good. No one would pick up on these things. Nobody really sees it. And you’re now bringing it to everyone’s attention.

[talking about corroded bride picture]

R: This one is where the color actually printed off. I like the way it printed though, so I didn’t change it.

K: That’s really adds to the effect. I was wondering, “Is there even a place like that?” The brighter blue color makes you really question the situation. It’s a very positive effect.

R: This is actually a bride that’s so corroded away that this is supposed to be cement here [points to picture] It’s so corroded away that the cement came off and it’s just the metal left over.

Things like this. They’re like small aspects that I’d like to bring to attention. Here, there are some skittles sprinkled all over the ground, and a tired that’s there too.

K: That’s really amazing. You know, even I didn’t see that until you pointed it out to me just now!

R: That’s what I wanted. With my earlier stuff I picked up on things that were a little bit more obvious but now I’m focusing on things that it would take a second after you looked at it, and then look again to understand.

K: If I could try and explain how I see this… it’s almost like you’re using your camera as a highlighter to the world we live in.

R: My next experiment I’m trying to focus on isolated environments and having a piece of myself in it. So it looks isolated but it’s something you wouldn’t really notice. Says I had my shoe strewn though here, it’s something that you'd think about and go “Wait a minute! Is that a shoe?” And then you would try and understand what it is and how it got there. I want to be the one to bring life into and isolated environment. I’m putting myself into it. That’s what I want to do my next series on, I’m not sure if I want to continue it for thesis, but I know I’m going to use this theory, this theme of decay.

K: You have a very nice way of show us this decay, but for the most part there is always something bright near it. Like this fence, the skittles, and the “accidental blue” from the bridge. It’s jut something that you’re eye travels to first and then you explore the rest of the pictures as you try and make sense of what you’re seeing. You’re again, bringing these unseen things to our attention.

R: I stumbled upon this whole series. I was thinking at first that I like this. Then I started thinking about places I can travel to to get more pictures of this.

I actually got lucky with a lot of these. I got someone who was able to take me to these places.

K: And you can really factor that in and explain that as part of this series. It’s also about luck and chance. That should definitely be considered in the fact that, like we discussed, no one sees these things. Not many people just stumble upon this, you’ve got the eye for it.

R: I can’t just walk past something like this when I see it. If I have to, I’ll make a note to come back and photograph it. I’m not sure if I’m going to continue this when I graduate, I was planning on going to graduate school for art history. I feel like I have a stronger background in that and that I know more about art history. Sadly, with the way the economy is, I don’t want to put all of my eggs in one basket that might break. I don’t want to fully rely on being an artist, to have it just not be working out, and I couldn’t imagine doing a job that I hate for the rest of my life.

K: I understand. I feel as though a lot of people express similar feelings. Even myself with design. I’m more so taking it slow and enjoying every moment because, like you said, I don’t want to be doing a job that I just don’t like. It’s always good to love what you do, it might not always be easy, but it’s something that you can be content with.

R: That’s why I decided to go to graduate school for art history. I’m thinking I’ll fine tune that and become a professor.

K: I can see you doing that, you love art history. You always have really strong writing and teaching skills. A real leader persona.

The great thing is that you’ll always have this [photography]. It’s possible that you may go into the field and lose your love for it because it’s not just your job. You never want to lose your love for this.

R: I feel like since I didn’t do any of this over the summer, because I took a lot of art history over the summer, that it lessened my focus on art. I’m more so focused on the actual learning of it. That may play into things. If I have a semester full of studio courses I’ll get back into the creating art mode, but if I have the semester full of art history classes I won’t.

K: Yeah, once I finished tackling my entire liberal and art history courses I was so into the education part I needed to get back into creating art. Now that I’m mostly taking studio’s it does become easier.

R: I definitely think I’ve grown a lot since freshman year. We talked about this in my photo class, it’s more about the concept, we’re doing it because there’s a project, we’re doing this because there’s a concept behind it. It’s like everything has to be explained. You can’t just take things blindly, you have to try and find a theme… that’s what we did freshman year.

[referring to a previous picture]

R: This is what I was talking about how it’s [bridge] corroded. Half it is there and half not.

K: It’s almost something to worry about too because things that we think are indestructible… time can just really destroy anything, and then not taking enough care can really break anything down. That’s another trend I see in all of your photos.

R: Time... I’m still having figured out a name for the series. I keep getting more ideas and suggestions. I’m just a little conflicted.

K: I think you’ll know when you figure out the right name for it.

R: I have to let it come on it’s own… maybe it’ll end up just being the Untitled Series.

K: I think it will just hit you when you realize what you want to call it. Everything is eventually going to click in an epiphany and you’re just going to know “This is it.”

R: This [series] is what I’m known for in all my classes. My professor will say “This student has this style, Randi has the decay…” So on and so forth. I’ve done it for a year and I’m sticking with it.

K: Definitely stick with it. It’s incredibly emotional. There’s a huge impact. You can really tell about your growth since freshman year. Your eye for things has gotten stronger, especially in your work for this series.

R: It’s interesting to see how things change. I wanted to be a magazine photographer and that changed too. This series, I’ve never really seen anything quite like it. I’ve seen bits and pieces of artists having done a series with similar content but they haven’t done it in the way I have, or the way I see it it. They haven’t done it in the way that I like it.

K: So you’re going to be the first.

R: Yeah. And most of them are male photographers too. So there’s just a bit a women power in that.

K: We talked about thesis, your portfolio, subjects, themes and growth… do you think that anything; any artists, music, movies… any kind of artistic writing influenced you?

R: I was thinking of one artist that influenced me, William Agleston, who wandered around and took pictures. That’s sort of where I got this idea from. There hasn’t been an artist that just make me feel “OK this is what I want to do” With my old portrait series it was that way. I had done portraiture about those with some sort of a deformity, I had done a lot with the homeless around New Brunswick, asking to take their picture or just taking it without them realizing. I got inspired by Diane Arbus. That was sophomore year. This year I can’t really say who influenced me, I really just stumbled upon it. I’ve been finding more artists that relate to my work… but in doing that I feel like I’m forcing people into that place. I stumbled upon it myself; nothing influenced me. I did it myself. With the decay series William Eggleston put the idea in my head of just wandering around and the idea of impersonal, outside the studio photography. There isn't really a photographer that really pushed me into this. I have a list now of photographer that relate to my work, but no, I wasn’t influenced by any certain photographer.

K: Alright, well I think we got everything. I think we’re good.

Design III - Focus Statement #1

My focus is the construction of self-identity through the collection of outside information.

My thesis statement was originally, simply: the construction of self-identity.  In the several projects I've been really utilizing information that comes from not myself, but what friends and family have to say about me or to me. Much of what shapes the self comes from the outside, how parents raise and teach, how friends interact with, and how one collects and carries the information they receive from these various sources.

Annotated Image Collection

Sticks and Stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me, Various Students, Berlin, June 2010

  The Sticks and Stones project put these student outside their comfort zone and into a very vulnerable position. They proposition strangers walking around on the streets of Berlin to write what they though of the students on the back of their shirts. This project really inspired me because it's very similar to how I've been conducting my research. The labels we carry with us have been made physical and sometimes prove to be a very heavy burden.

When you is only you, Toro Elmar, September 8, 2010

This is one of many works from the website collection of "Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far." This collaboration that asks us all to artistically express through photography, type, video, and so on some important bit of information that we've learned in our life so far. This is inspiring because it's built up of important blocks of information that are important factors in someone's life. We can look at all these examples; internalize and apply the to our own lives. This is a good way of constructing self-identity.

I Love You, Graphic Hug's Group Project, October 2008

 The I Love You Project was a collaboration by all the contributors to Graphic Hug. The idea was to see how many different way can someone typeset I Love You and have it read as emotional as it was felt or intending someone else to feel. This ties into my thesis, as well my 24 Hour Narrative, because it's about the typographic, most of the time electronic, transfer of emotion. We are constructed by how others feel, how we make them feel, and how they make us feel.

Thesis - Water Exhibition at the Zimmerli

On Friday, September 10th, our thesis class went to the Zimmerli museum to see the Water exhibition. Once we were lead down the spiral stairs we approached the entrance to the gallery on the lower level. The walls were painted an intense aqua blue and the word "Water" was written in white along with the description this exhibition hoped would be understood as the viewers walked through the different rooms and encountered many different works.

View of Water gallery entrance coming down the stairs.

The first work that caught my eye was the net filled with water bottles hanging from the ceiling. This is Ross Cisneros' Ice and Ark. Without any explanation of the piece, I recognized it as "water," that is to say, if we were asked to think of something when the word "water" was mentioned it would probably be water bottles. These are our most common everyday encounters with water, a plastic bottle filled with 12 ounces of purified liquid. One might even think this wasn't much to base a gallery off of, but the way the color of the room compliments the art and displays the written definition you suddenly get the sensation of being completely surrounded by water.

Moving through the entrance doorway, I entered a room filled with several different ways of looking at water. It seemed to me that these sculptures, installations, and paintings represented a more physical, worldly way of seeing water. I got the feeling these artists were really amplifying the presence of water that occurs naturally in our world.

Hans Haacke "Condensation Cube"

Maya Lin "Dew Point"

Geoffrey Hendricks "Sky on Sky" & "Sky Boots, Tuesday"

This room's soft blue-gray color in combination with some of it's contents gave off an atmosphere of a rainy day. Especially when looking at Haacke's "Condensation Cube" the water droplets cling to the top of the cube and drip down the sides reminiscent of a rain storm. Going past the condensation box there is a corner filled with blown glass "dew drops." This is Lin's "Dew Point", a 3-dimensional piece that works well in the room by taking the small sparkling droplets from Haacke's cube and enlarges them so that we can admire the shape of giant dew drops, something normally overlooked. Hendricks' two pieces "Sky on Sky" and "Sky Boots, Tuesday" connect water as condensation into clouds on canvas as well as on a pair of boots. The colors in this entire room sit very well together and in my opinion had the most "watery" feel because of the colors and contents.

Women in Waves

Men in Boats

The room I found really stretched the usual ideas of water by delving into art history was filled with the idea that women are in waves and men are in boats. It was a fascinating display of paintings and drawings, giving the room the most historic feel. Almost all the works were hung on the walls, which did make the room seem the most crowded of all in the gallery (though not at all unpleasantly so.) We were able to talk about how when the curator had to set up the show, a pattern was noticed that most men were seen as the working force on boats. Women were always playing in the waves, this also tied into art history painting, mainly of the Goddess Venus being born of the waves.

This brought up a very good point of how the curator could work with certain pieces, taking them from their original context, say an oil painting from the nineteenth-century French art collection, and placing it into the water exhibition. The change of surroundings can completely change how the painting will be perceived and it's over-all message can be changed. This in turn, brought up a question to the curator about how a piece is handled if the artist is no longer alive to object. The curator makes descriptions based on his or her education of the piece, as well as where it will fit in best. However, is the artist is still around to have a say in their work, they can make it clear how the piece is supposed to be understood amongst viewers and where they would, or would not, like it to be seen in the museum.

Albert Bierstadt "Glen Ellis Falls"

Maya Lin "Pin River"

Another good bit of discussion came up when Gerry Beegan noted the mirror effect that presented itself in the careful placement of certain works in the exhibit. It's another part of the curator's job to make sure that the art cooperates with one another, in this case to support the theme of water. It was in some small, sometimes almost illusive, instances of the play with what simply just looks nice next to another, or how little details in a painting mimic the detail of a sculpture on the other side of the room. This creates a beautiful flow through the gallery as you follow through the different installations.

Gennady Goushchin "Sunset in the Bolshoi Theater"

A final reaction to this particular gallery was awe. The curators, artists, and other participants in setting this exhibition up made "Water" a literal experience, something exciting to gaze upon and sometimes listen to. The stated intention was that all that participated in this exhibition wanted the viewers to "reassess their relationship to water and renew our appreciation," and that is exactly my opinion when I exited the gallery and passed underneath the netted water bottle.