Monday, January 31, 2011

I've been working on a layout to start my embossing, think I found one I like. I'm going begin the embossing this week on the press downstairs, see how that goes.

TRANSMITTER/RECEIVER


This weekend I wrote up a schedule for myself. Last semester I was pretty unfocused, so I am determined to make the most of my time now. I have broken up the semester into fifteen weeks, and have assigned a project to each week. Some projects last for two weeks, but most of them are one-week explorations. This is, of course, just a guide for myself. New projects may be added and existing projects may be changed or removed.
This first week, 1/30 – 2/5, will be spent on what I am tentatively titling Transmitter/Receiver Masks.












These masks will be made of an opaque, stretchy fabric. One mask will have holes only for the ears to poke through, and the other will have a hole only for the mouth. They will be tight around the skull, and loose around the neck.
I began a simple mock-up, but it didn’t come out very well. It was much too tight, and though I was able to put it on, it was incredibly uncomfortable to wear. I will have to be more generous with my sizing next time around, and will take it in as needed.
Alternate costume design for The Gilded Sentry (unfinished).

Over Winter Break

At the end of last semester and over the winter break I spent most of my time reading Peter Zumthor's "Thinking Architecture" and "Atmospheres." Both books I have read through many times and have pulled single words or sentences that will be used as the content for my project.

Some examples:

fragments

clusters

elements

fragmentation

fulfill

challenge

developing

innumerable

various

dimensions

rational

edges

joints

points

surfaces

intersect

different

formal

determine

sensitive

transitions

within

Proposal

I am studying a number of buildings in Boston designed by prominent modern and contemporary architects. I will develop a series of books in which I reflect on the buildings and what I can learn about their designers’ original intent.


I will design and edit the content of these books: the content will be my own photographs of the buildings, and text — poetry either by others or by myself. Photographing the buildings is a means by which I can focus my attention on the buildings; I have already begun this process. I am also developing lists of words and phrases, from my own visits to these buildings. Working from these lists, I will either create or find a poem or poems that express my impressions of the buildings and of their designers’ intentions.


In my development as a graphic designer I have discovered and others have observed that my design style is architectural. My work is marked by an emphasis on line and space, and by reliance on grid structures. This project allows me to investigate further into the roots of this style as I reflect on built architecture.

Added shadows and highlights.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Colored illustration of a Gilded Sentry and symbol concept sans shading and highlights (to come).

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Dogs from the Michael Vick case

I follow a blog called Bad Rap Blog which is dedicated to raising awareness, educating people on Pit Bulls and showing them in a positive light. The people that run the blog were involved with trying to rehabilitate the dogs involved in Michael Vick's case. The link below is to a video from PBS, fast forward to 35:11. People have the opinion that dogs once used in fighting cannot be rehabilitated, but this video shows that it's not necessarily true.

http://video.pbs.org/video/1757686316

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

This morning I printed out a few of my dog illustrations planning to apply watercolor to them just to see how it would work out and see if it would possibly spark some ideas. The idea that came across my mind was the possibility of creating a children's coloring book or activity book. 

The focus of the book would be taking the information I have learned and gearing it towards children, trying to help with teaching them the responsibility of owning a pet from a young age. I would maybe have five dogs which I would give a little back story to and give each of them their own personality. I've only had this idea since this morning so I haven't figured out all the details, but it's something I would like to explore.

(This is one of the drawings I was working on when this idea popped into my head... ignore the smudges.)

Here is a link to my main blog if you want to view the dog drawings I have been working on http://jennifercobrien.blogspot.com/

Seminar Post 01


For this second half of seminar, I'll be continuing where I left off with my work. Ambiguous figures with interchangeable captions and contexts. However, I am also hoping to expand on the variety of images I am creating for the 100 captions I have collected so far. This will include images of stand alone objects and possibly some minimal photography rather than just stencil figures that look similar to t-shirt designs. However, I don't want to reach a point where I am making images that are too varied from each other. After all, they should go together with minimal conflict.

I have had the joy of completing several images during the break and I'll be posting copies of them to this blog to show in a few days or so but right now I think it is more important to establish where I am in this process:

22/100 completed

Not my ideal number for this far into the year, but given that I wasn't producing very much during the opening portion of last semester then it doesn't come as a surprise. I'm hoping that introducing some variety will help speed this up a little more, but if worse comes to worse I'm going to have to aim lower and cut my goal down by half. I would prefer to have 100 but seeing as I'll will not only be making new images but also editing and polishing up already existing ones well will have to see.

I have started looking into some of Keith Haring's work for ideas, since his graffiti art is similar to what I am trying to make, these ambiguous figures might be able to help me come up with new ideas without straying too far from the original stencil figures.

I'm feeling good about where I am going with all this, I ended last semester decently and I think that this will a chance to make up for lost time.

1/25


This semester I am actually planning to leave behind the majority of last semester’s work. I intend to head in a different direction, and work on projects that deal more with the human form. Though this direction is admittedly very unlike last semester’s, I believe that it is a natural progression from the work I was exploring earlier.

Last semester I harvested a large number of mechanical parts from various machines. I intend to put these parts to good use this semester, and I expect them to play an integral role in my projects.

My plans for next semester involve costume creation, flexible sculpture, and adornment of the body. Lately I have been very inspired by expressive, avant-garde, haute couture fashion. I intend to create works of art and design that use the body as a vehicle for expression, works that require the human form in order to be complete.



Last year, I created this mask/hood. There are panels for the eyes, the nose and the mouth. My intention was to create an accessory for myself that would allow me to control how much of myself I expose to the outside world, and how much of the outside world I expose myself to. Ideally I would also create ear-flaps created from some kind of sound-proof material. 

This hood is meant to serve as a form of voluntary sensory deprivation. As a very private person, I sometimes find it overwhelming to be out in public. This hood is a sort of symbol for the ability I wish I had, the ability to hide/have ultimate control. 

Next semester I plan to create more work like this. Not necessarily about privacy and protection, but work that specifically involves being worn on the body, work inspired by “fashion,” in an extremely loose sense. 

Some artists that inspire me are Matthew Barney, Rebecca Horn, Philip Treacy and Alexander McQueen, among others. I am also doing some research into African and Asian cultures, and the importance of body decoration in the every day lives and rituals of those cultures. 

I am very excited and pleased with the direction I’m heading in. I feel that I have more focus and motivation this semester than I did last.