Nothing is a mistake.

via SFMOMA tumblr, from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and all over the place.
 

Collection of photographs

I took a short walk down to Half Moon Pond this weekend with a few friends. My original goal was to collect a few things from the beach to bring in to class and use as inspiration for a collage. Unfortunately it was extremely windy and chilly out shortly after I arrived so I wasn't able to collect anything, but I was able to take a few photos. I wanted to share these photos so that my seminar class can see the beautiful view of the lake. I am going home again in a few weeks so I will try and collect some articles from the beach then.

Half Moon Pond is located on the town line of Barnstead and Alton, NH. The part of Half Moon Pond that I live on is a small community called Fernhill.

"Research as studio practice."

Continuing to gather clippings.

Northern New York Historical Newspapers

Thinking about the upcoming book. What is the book trying to say? Why is it funny? How can the book structure generate context?

Hand Drawn Type

My first project is to create wood carved typographic posters. I have purchased a few mdf boards two 18x24 and one 12x24 to practice hand carving with no grain. I began working on some hand drawn type treatments of memorable quotes.

Functional Fashion Forward

A marriage of clothing and audino technology to improve daily life

My original plan was to incorporate transit maps into clothing. As I explored that idea, the concept of wearable technology was introduced to me. Something I found out about was Arduino technology. These are small chips which can be programmed and stitched onto fabric. They are washable and run off a battery. I would like to attempt to make clothing that incorporates Arduino chips.

My clothing may turn out practical or completely impracticable.

I am still interested in the idea of incorporating transit maps, direction, and journeys into my seminar work. I believe it could be possible to combine those concepts into my clothing and Arduino technology.

One of my main plans during seminar is to do multiple projects at once and explore multiple paths. I tend to get too focused on one idea and then charge straight ahead. Through seminar I am hoping to break this habit and become more explorative in my design work.

However, after thinking during this week my thesis has changed yet again. I think what I want to do is combine fashion and the concept of pain. What I want to keep in mind is the pain that women will go through to be considered 'beautiful.' Things I want to look at are torture devices and how i can combine that with clothing.

Thoughts.

My computer died on friday and it took me a few days, and a few mental breakdowns, to get it all back together. I had no time to create anything, but spent a lot of time thinking. After my computer died I made a notebook specifically for my thesis....





I got paranoid. This is the beginning of my process book. I will write all my notes in it, cut and paste any images I create in it, and essentially have it be a rough copy of my process book.

I started thinking of using my "habitual chaos" title and creating a series of works of art that make people notice habits. all titled "Habitual _______". (i.e habitual categorizing, habitual advertising, habitual vices).

John emailed me plenty of comments/info. and I made a few notes.. they probably wont make too much sense but this is where I am...

• I think that I mis-worded my proposal and therefore it was misunderstood
• I'm not trying to "breakthrough" habit. More make people aware, but I have no solution to solve habits. I'm looking at various habits and trying to make people aware of them.
• I think that habit is a beneficial part of life. It does allow people to do things well..."practice makes perfect" .. but, I think that we need to challenge our brains and not stick to the same things in order to grow.
• I need to look at "chunking" more. I only read about it in one book and I need more information. (I'll look into John's suggestions)
• "get us to reflect on habit in our lives, what it offers, what it conceals" ----- John. That's what I'm trying to do.
• John also asked me to look at the relationship of design and chaos:
• i liked this article/quote that i found:
  When the primary material for thinking is limited to a small series of ideas, things seems to be in order, the world looks simple, the solution near : idea 1 + idea 2 = idea 3. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it is never that simple. Simplicity is not the first phase of a project but the very last one. Let's reflect on what Steve Jobs said
• “When you start looking at a problem and it seems really simple, you don’t really understand the complexity of the problem. Then you get into the problem, and you see that it’s really complicated, and you come up with all these convoluted solutions. That’s sort of the middle, and that’s where most people stop… But the really great person will keep on going and find the key, the underlying principle of the problem — and come up with an elegant, really beautiful solution that works.“
• In design, if you want to reach a certain level of quality - or simply exist -, you need to go through complexity, chaos. It is a necessary step where you might feel lost for a moment. Things start to be confusing, you have too much stuff on the table, you're not sure anymore that these inputs make any sense. Be reassured, that's a good thing, you're on the right path. Actually, you don't really have a choice: it seems that complexity naturally evolves from any ordered system.

I guess I meant that "chaos" is a disruption of "the normal" Anything that breaks habit, to me, is "chaos." A disruption in 'habit' forces man kind to create new solutions, new ways of living or thinking, and thus move "forward" (perhaps a better term is adapt?")


I also spent some time working on my website. It doesn't directly relate to my thesis, but my goal is to have a website I'm proud of up and running by the time of my show.

Natural Dye Experiment on Lokta

I spent some time labor day weekend walking around collecting some material that has grown in abundance around Gloucester forever. For this experiment i used Goldenrod, Staghorn Sumac, and Virginia Creeper berries/ stems. The different values happen during the process, whether it is the potency of the dye bath or the amount of time the material is left to soak, changes are bound to happen. When i begin using fabrics, the color may be much more subtle due to washing and setting.

I've noticed that interesting things happen to the Lotka paper when you leave the plant material soaking on the page, leaving a sort of organic pattern/ eco print. I would like to explore that technique later in the project, it would make for interesting wall art, throw pillows, or even quilts.