GABBY COLEMAN 'more than a color'
gabby coleman master of architecture kansas state univeristy graduation: may 2019 email: gkc@ksu.edu blog: www.gabbykirsten.com
gabby coleman architecture portfolio
perspectives
GABBY COLEMAN DESIGN I’ve wanted to be an artist for as long as I can remember. It wasn’t until I began my college search that friends and family suggested design engineering or architecture, and I began my first day of architecture school with a new goal – I aimed to figure out how I could blend my love for art with this new path. After four years of design school, I have realized that I am very interested in the power architecture has to influence change and create better lives for people. Service-minded involvements have helped me see that I seek an architecture career can connect me to people. I want to see and interact with the people I am designing for. I want to make change with my architecture degree. PERFORMANCE I firmly believe that all people deserve to be surrounded by good design – design that strives to create a positive and lasting impact on one’s life. We often have good intentions as we move through the design process, but the impact is greater than one person’s vision. I want to positively contribute to craft an improved experience for people with varying physical abilities and social backgrounds. I want to be an activist in my field and a leader in my community. PRIDE The typical use of portfolios in my chosen profession of architecture is to communicate design ideas realized through designed spaces. While the intent of the portfolio varies by the intended audience, the use remains the same. This portfolio was crafted to showcase the best work I have created during my time in architecture school. While we never express design in terms of pride, I believe that this is an important value to consider when thinking about good design. Being proud of one’s work is a leading value of a human creative.
gabby coleman architecture portfolio
PUBLIC ART INSTALLATION IN MANHATTAN, KS Fall 2018 - present concept: “more than a color” competencies: site analysis, color, storytelling
more than a color a public art installation
This collection of panels aims to host a conversation about skin color by choreographing chance encounters between people and art. The term 'social justice' is realized headshots and personal testimonies. A rendered graphic projects the social dynamic of skin color through a sign-like panel.
Original Photography: Desmund Weathers Videography: Savannah Thaemert Models: Laken Horton, Tyler Burns, Francisco Cardoza, Bailey Porter, Michael Leverett, Xavier Deguzman, Paloma Roman, Darrell Reese, Tayyeba Muhammad Khan, Tristan Davis, Ayanna Phillips, Mario Garcia, Trihn Tran, Adam Carr, Evelyn Lucio, Grant Thompson, Jordan Kiehl, and Ryan Kelly Creative director: Gabby Coleman Artist & site designer: Gabby Coleman
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
THE CONCEPT
My first iterations focused on finding the "appropriate" way to display a face. My first model, Alexa, stands next to a few of my final pieces. Early mockups are protrayed above.
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
the beginning As a female person of color in a predomintely white + male field of study, I've struggled to feel like my voice carried the same weight as my peers since my first year of architecture school. It wasn't until the end of my third year and the beginning of my fourth year, during a time of racial tension, that I noticed that my peers weren't involved and speaking out the issues that affected me daily - topics like diversity, inclusion, and identity just weren't being talked about, and there was little support for these converstion within my college. It was then that I vowed I would use the rest of my time in architecture school to be a voice for my fellow students of color and other marginalized identities with the hope that people would simply pay attention. (below) cognitive mapping: My final design studio began with an art instillation rather than a traditional architecuture project. We were instructed to find a site and disclose something about it. I created this collage to communicate the spaces that have impacted my identity during my time at K-State in order to reveal an intersection that could allow me to face my fear of sharing my story and make space for others to do the same.
(right) Site plan and diagramming: Bosco Plaza has a unique pattern of pedestrian traffic during peak class changes. It is most appropriate to passively disrupt people by placing the art at the intersections of paths. (below) Site photography: Bosco Plaza is seen through a variety of views. It's a large, rectangular hardscape with multicolored concrete pavers framed by trees.
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
site analysis I found I was interested in disclosing something about social justice in the most signfigant intersection on campus, Bosco Plaza. It's the host to overlapping actions like student and community group events and major pedestrian flows in and out of the Student Union. Bosco Plaza is an edge for adminastrative change (Anderson Hall) and student opinion (Student Union).
public art + vision Through preliminary research, I concluded that public art is a disruption with a point of view. Public art allows us to capitalize on the socially-unaware. It is a means to reach people in their everyday enviroments and confront them with social justice. Social justice is a structure that acknowledges the inequalities present in a community based on perceived & factual identities, adocating for equality. Physical appearance is used as a basis to seperate people through assessed differences. This project emerges as a means to disclose something about social justice on the K-State campus via the interpretation of phyiscal appearance. "more than a color" arose from this idea. (below) preliminary rendering The rendering below describes my inclination that students will engage in conversation about social justice if provoked by a an exibition of art work portraying their peers.
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
a concept
more than
image story panel
a color
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
THE METHOD
vision meets panel Precedents that harnessed emotion and revealed a story were investigated to inspire the creative direction and painting style of this project. A series of students' stories were shared in reference to their physical appearance. Using no more than 16 colors, these faces are rendered using a variety of intersecting layers that reveal their perceived differences while unifying their respective experiences. The stories of campus leaders were provoked by the following questions: What does social justice mean to you? How does your physical appearance impact your K-State story? How are you more than your skin color? (below) digital rendering The rendering below describes my understanding of the atmosphere of the plaza with the addition of my panels.
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
process instagram story highlights - @_gabbykirsten
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
breaking down the image Once I discovered my platform, my next move was to establish a consistent narrative. The image begins with a photograph taken by my friend Desmund. The initial photographs were shot outside with the intention to capture the way shadows cast across the models faces'. Each photograph was manipulated in Illustrator and rendered using 16 colors image tracing in order to reduce the color story to a consistent palette. The color stories were edited to benefit the overall composition before painting. Each rendering was projected onto the yellow panels and handpainted, and the colors were individually-mixed for each face and applied from lights to darks. Each face and its color swatches were adjusted as the composition developed. The words were carefully lettered, sharing two to three sentences of the models' story. Each painting took approxiamately 10 - 15 hours to complete. (left) final panel The panels are hosted by a steel frame. The steel frames have four steel plates that wrap the frame, like fingers holding a protest sign, to hide the bolted connections.
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
THE STORIES
"I always try to go into situations knowing the color of my skin dictates how people see me, but I try to let my personality outshine the color of my skin. My skin color doesn’t necessarily determine what I am and what I’m not. MY PERSONALITY AND SPIRIT ARE WHO I AM, AND MY SKIN COLOR IS A BONUS." - Laken Horton
THE STORIES
"Being mixed, in a lot of ways, it made things easier than that of a darker-skinned black person. SOMETIMES, YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE WHOLE BLACK RACE. In my head, I must make sure I’m being better than the stereotype. I’m always thinking about that." - Tyler Burns
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
"Skin color - that’s like the first thing you see right? There’s so much more to me. That’s like judging a book by its cover. It’s a cliché, but it’s the truth. THERE’S SO MUCH MORE TO PEOPLE THAT WHAT’S ON THE OUTSIDE. You shouldn’t worry about it – the outside. We should worry about character and value." - Francisco Cardoza
"I have very light skin, so a lot of people didn’t realize it or think that I was Asian. I never really confronted them about that either, I just kind of lived my life. I’M STILL NOT SOMEBODY WHO IDENTIFIES A LOT WITH THEIR SKIN COLOR as much, but I’m more receptive to how people perceive me and also the privilege that I have being more light-skinned than other people of color." - Bailey Porter
"Even though my skin color affects how I move around the world, I AM MORE THAN WHAT OTHERS MAY SEE IN ME. People automatically have assumptions based on what we look like and it may not be my skin color - it could be the shape of my head, how I walk or how I talk – it’s but especially my skin tone." - Michael Leverett
"I’m half Filipino and half Mexican, so WHEN I DO SIT IN THE CLASSROOM AND LOOK LEFT AND RIGHT, THERE ARE NOT MANY PEOPLE WHO LOOK LIKE ME. That’s made me have to adapt and get comfortable with the uncomfortable. It’s made me who I am." - Xavier 'X' Deguzman
"I THINK THE UNIVERSITY CAN USE YOU AS THE TOKEN IMAGE OF A CERTAIN REPRESENTATION. I get to be one of the individuals that paves a path for my community. Although I try to use my platform for the better, it can be tiring. " - Paloma Roman
"I DIDN’T REALLY START COMING INTO MYSELF, MY SKIN COLOR, AND MY BLACKNESS UNTIL I GOT TO K-STATE – THE FIRST PLACE WHERE I FELT MARGINALIZED AND THE REAL EFFECTS OF RACISM, harsh remarks and microaggressions. I saw it face-to-face. It happened to me." - Darrell Reese
"When I was in Pakistan, my physical appearance was normal – the way I look and the way I speak. When I came here, I felt like a single piece. I WANT PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND THAT I AM STILL A NORMAL PERSON." - Tayyeba Muhammad Khan
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
"I REPRESENT THE MISCONSTRUED IMAGE OF A BLACK MAN, AND I’M OFTEN PERCEIVED AS A THREAT. That’s just surface level - you must get to know me to understand who I am. - Tristan Davis
THE STORIES
"YOU ARE MORE THAN YOUR COLOR WHEN YOU USE YOUR COLOR TO DEFY STEREOTYPES, STEP OUT OF YOUR OWN BOUNDARIES AND CREATE EXPERIENCES FOR YOURSELF AND FOR OTHER PEOPLE. It’s being an example for other people." - Ayanna Phillips
"Great leadership opportunities have come my way during my five years at K-State, but BEING A PERSON OF A MULTICULTURAL BACKGROUND, I FELT AN OBLIGATION TO BE, IF ANYTHING, A GOOD ROLE MODEL FOR FUTURE STUDENTS." - Mario Garcia
"Being a minority, I UNDERSTAND THAT I SHOULDN’T COMPARE MYSELF WITH OTHER GROUPS. MY SUCCESSES ARE MY OWN STORIES, and whatever work I put in are my responsibilities. " - Trinh Tran
"It’s something that has been defined for you, when people see your color, they have created the definition of who you are from it. I am more than that in every sense. I CREATE THE STORIES THAT MY IDENTITIES HOLD, AND I GIVE THEM MEANING AND I GIVE THEM POWER, I CAN’T ALLOW OTHERS TO DO THAT, and so I think that, in that moment, I am more than my color."
THE STORIES
- Adam Carr
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
"People throw around stereotypes like 'you're not brown enough or you're the light-skinned Mexican'. WHEN PEOPLE SEE ME SPEAKING SPANISH, THEY ASSUME THAT I AM MIXED. AT FIRST, I WAS EMBARRESSED TO SPEAK SPANISH BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO DEAL WITH THOSE COMMENTS. Now, I'm just like, hey, I'm Mexican - we all come in different shapes and colors. People have an idea of what Mexicans should look like, and I'm glad I can represent a different side of that." - Evelyn Lucio
"Being a white man on K-State's campus has probably helped me in ways I don't even realize. BEYOND SKIN COLOR, BEING A GAY MAN ON THIS CAMPUS PLAYS INTO MY APPEARANCE AS WELL - the way I dress, the way I act, and the way I move. I've definitely had to adjust how I see myself becuase of how people see me." - Grant Thompson
"I have a lot of privilege in this world. For me, SOCIAL JUSTICE IS USING MY PRIVILEGE TO ADVOCATE FOR OTHERS. When we talk about skin color or race, that’s not enough to understand where they come from and how that’s shaped their experience at K-State." - Jordan Kiehl
"Am I being too white for the black people? Am I being too black for the white people? I FIND MYSELF IN THIS CONSTANT TUG OF WAR, AND IT HAS PRESENTED CHALLENGES NOT ONLY IN THE WAY I VIEW MY IDENTITY BUT ALSO IN THE WAY I APPROACH LEADERSHIP." - Ryan Kelly
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
spotlight: michael leverett what is social justice? "Social justice, to me, if you just use the two words “social” and “justice”, social justice is about being equitable for all. It’s really simple. What does that look like? It could look like physical protests and it may even come off as violence, but that’s how some people express themselves. It may be through violence, it may be through art , protesting, or even being quiet. We cannot dictate how people express themselves, and though we may deem some qualities as bad because we don’t understand, that’s their means for social justice – that’s how they speak what’s equitable and what’s fair." how does your physical appearance affect your k-state story? "People automatically have assumptions based on what we look like. It may not be my skin color - it could be the shape of my head, how I walk or how I talk, but it’s specially my skin tone, they may. For example, I went to an interview [recently] along with another applicant. While we were waiting for our interview, he asked me what I was there for and if I was another applicant. [He said he] wasn’t sure if I was just there helping out or if I was there because you were applying for that position. This was a formal interview, and we were both dressed accordingly. There are still those type of assumptions – [the idea that] people with my color of skin do not apply for these types of positions and do not reach higher. Even though my skin color affects how I move around the world, I am more than what others may see in me."
gabby coleman more than a color - in progress
press social media collaboration - @manhappeninmagazine
education
Kansas State University Manhattan, KS
Master of Architecture Leadership Studies Minor Aug 2014 - May 2019
APDesign Italian Studies Orvieto, Italy 14 credit hour education abroad program Jan 2018 - May 2018
honors and affiliations Women in Design Vice president Design organization focused on celebrating and encouraging the interdisciplinary success & leadership of women
software + addit. skills
National residence hall honorary Vice president
Revit 2017 Rhinoceros 5 InDesign CC 2017 Illustrator CC 2017 Photoshop CC 2017 Wordpress Bluehost
Creative collaboration Schematic synthesis Content creation Watercolor media Acrylic media Graphic media Digital graphics
professional experience Architectural intern STG Design, Nashville May 2018-Aug 2018 Prepared schematic design presentations for two multi-use commercial highrise buildings in Downtown Nashville Implimented design changes for a series of small-scale healthcare facilities to meet strict client deadlines Collaborated on schematic concepts with interior design professionals Architectural intern BRR Architecture, Kansas City May 2017-Aug 2017 Produced construction document sets for 20 small-scale retail projects while learning professional practice skills in a collaborative, team-based environment Participated in a series of six architectural focus sessions aimed at educating students and incoming designers about the business of architecture Resident assistant Kansas State University Haymaker Hall, Aug 2018 - present Goodnow Hall, Aug 2016 - May 2017 Putnam Hall, May 2015 - Aug 2015 Assisted in administrative responsibilities such as writing reports, confronting conduct violations, responding to resident issues, and hosting prospective students
Administrative assistant Kansas State University Aug - Dec 2017 Sep 2014 - May 2016 Provided clerical and administrative support to residence life professionals and student staff Graphic designer, team leader Stand Up for Your Sister Jan 2017 - present Designed a hand-drawn, computerrendered t-shirt graphic for a non-profit organization that provides an empowering community to young adult women facing mental illness, loss, abuse, eating disorders, assault and other taboo topics
Leadership-based honorary comprised of exemplary residence hall students who value recognition, service and recognizing the ‘invisible leader’ LEAD 212 class leader Teaching assistant Facilitated small group discussions, lead active-learning exercises, created a learning community with students, and performed administrative duties Mortar Board Senior Honorary Class of 2018 member National honor society that recognizes college seniors for their achievements in scholarship, leadership and service, promotes service to colleges and universities and encourages lifelong contributions to the global community APDPro Profesional Development 5 yr member Active participant in workshops, lectures, seminars, professional mentoring and leadership activities 2019 Dean of Student Life Outstanding Graduating Senior Award Recipient
College ambassador College of Architecture, Planning, and Design Jan 2016 - present Representative, tour guide, and host of K-State’s College of Architecture, Planning, and Design’s environmental design and undergraduate program Homecoming committee KSU Alumni Association Mar 2017 - Nov 2017 Planned Paint the ‘Ville, an event that partners with the local businesses in Aggieville to host KSU Greek life, living communities, and student organizations in a creative decorating competition
GABBY COLEMAN
gkc@ksu.edu 210 896 3308 blog: www.gabbykirsten.com
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