APPLICATION
PORTFOLIO
HANNEKE VAN DEURSEN
On paper, I am the typical academically accomplished student. In Rochester, Minnesota, home of the renowned Mayo Clinic, the standard is for bright students to become doctors and engineers. To suit these interests, my school pushes math and science classes, giving me the opportunity to take many advanced level courses. I love the challenge presented by difficult classes, but a scientific career satisfies only one aspect of my intellect. I have always needed creativity to balance my analytical side. I began directing living-room productions at age five, and since have craved expression in everything I do. For eight years now, playing the flute has been a means for me to articulate emotions that are beyond words. The notes I play separate themselves from the technical complexity they require. I become enveloped in the story I am telling with the melody. It was only recently that I was able to channel that same creative passion into art. Last year, as I began to look into the process of applying to architecture schools, I realized I would need a portfolio. It was overwhelming, because I didn’t have a single piece of artwork that would qualify, and I haven’t been able to take an art class in six years. Consequently, I selftaught most of the work that is now in my portfolio. Each new medium was first confronted with my analytical brain. I had to discover and develop the technique necessary to communicate my vision. Once I overcame the technical challenges, my creative brain could take over, and the ideas would flow through the paintbrush, pencil, or exacto knife. With art, I began to realize the same bliss of freedom I experience every time I play my flute. This summer, I spent six weeks at Syracuse University studying architecture. It was a final check to be sure I wanted to commit to the intensive study that I have been interested in since seventh grade. The expressive feelings were evoked anew while devoting hours to my architectural projects, but I found that they were interlaced with an intellectual challenge I had not expected. The first lesson at Syracuse slapped me across the face with complex language and material, but it opened my eyes to a conversation between scholars far beyond my perception. Projects that required critical thinking, problem solving, passion, and creativity simultaneously captivated me. Never before had I been asked to do work that demanded both aspects of my intellect, and returning to high school classes has left me craving academic challenge. As the hours in studio flew by, I poured my heart and mind into my designs. It never felt like work. I was entranced with the study. I love architecture’s historical and cultural connections. I love its influence on the experiences of people, even if they don’t realize it. I love that architecture engages me both academically and creatively. With all that I learned in only a six-week span, I cannot imagine how much knowledge I will acquire in five years. I cannot imagine who I’m going to become. Six weeks of architectural study at Syracuse have already changed the way I see the world and, for me, there’s no going back.
Razzle Dazzle Pen and Marker 18x12 In WWI, artists and military strategists worked together to develop a camouflage system to create misreadings of the edges and boundaries of ships which they called Razzle Dazzle. I took basic forms based off of blueprints for a Razzle Dazzle ship, and expanded them outward— theoretically at infinitum—to create this pattern full of movement. Syracuse Summer College Summer 2014
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Bound Pen 9x12 It is interesting to me that the concept of being constrained is associated with both comfort and terror. With this piece, I wanted to evoke these conflicting emotions by showing a figure bound by the figurative and literal constraints of society. Independent Spring 2014
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Minnesota Sunshine Photography 2448P × 3264P Many people love beaches and warm weather, but I find a special kind of beauty in winter. Although all life seems to be sucked out of the zerodegree air, nature still finds a way to produce beauty like with this piece of ice I came across while cross country skiing. Independent Winter 2014
Iced Gaze Acrylic on Canvas 16x20 Painting inspired by photograph Independent Winter 2014 6
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Finger Painting Acrylic 16x12 It was a Sunday afternoon and I was fed up with the restrictions of paint brushes, so I relinquished control to a more natural tool: my fingers. The expression and free flowing nature of a flower is reflected in the purity and freedom of working with only my hands. Independent Spring 2014
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Michelle Pencil 12x9 My favorite portraits are those which light upon something unique about the subject. This is my friend Michelle, and this facial expression has made me laugh so many times I had to capture it on paper. Independent Winter 2014
Study Drawings Pencil 14x11 10
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Apparitions Acrylic on Canvas 18x16 Underneath this painting lies a dead end work with muted shades of green and gold that had lost inspiration, so I grabbed a brilliant shade of red and covered the entire canvas. The ideas surpassed my mind and flowed straight to my brush; I have not yet decided what it is of or what it means. Independent Winter 2014
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Room 2-107 Pen 9x12 Observational drawing from life of the bookcase in my Economics classroom. Independent Winter 2014
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Line Paper Pen 18x12 (Right Page) In the representation class in the Syracuse Summer College program, I was posed with the challenge of representing a crumpled piece of trace paper drawing only horizonatal lines that were printed on the trace. I communicated the boundaries and surfaces of the object in an unexpected way. Syracuse Summer College Summer 2014
Crumpled Paper Planes Pencil 18x12 (Above) Another portion of the crumpled paper exercise was to represent the paper drawing only the individual geometric shapes formed by the planes resulting of the folds. I started my drawing in the lower right hand corner with more realism, and as I progressed towards the left, I used simpler and larger geometries to define the faces of the paper. Syracuse Summer College Summer 2014 16
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Heartless Acrylic 16x20 This crystallized heart hangs in a tangled web of veins. The heart was suddenly petrified and the remaining spirit is steadily draining out leaving it cold. Independent Winter 2014
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Experimental Blooms Pen and Ink 8.5x11 I’ve studied and observed Henna, an Indian art form that is used to decorate the body, for several years. In this drawing I took inspiration from the signature patterns and swirls to create an original henna-style work that could be translated into the ancient body art. Independent Fall 2013
Body Henna Mehndi Paste Independent Spring/Summer 2014 20
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Mayo High School: Home of the Spartans Digital Media My high school had a logo design contest in order to replace the outdated crest that no longer fit the personality of our school. Using Photoshop, I created the winning logo using a bold and recognizable “M� with our mascot standing strong behind it. Independent Winter 2014
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Anyone Acrylic 68x24 Since bullying has become a major topic of concern in schools today, I created this Piet Mondrian-inspired mural that now permanently hangs on the walls of my high school. The piece depicts the three roles in a bullying situation (the victim, the bully, and the bystander) and shows the faceless bystander reaching above bullying to the victim promoting the message that anyone can help. Independent Winter 2014
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Caveman Acrylic 16x12 In this painting, the overlapping geometries begin to read as a humanoid figure. I call him caveman because the primitive shapes parallel a simple human before the abstractions and distortions of modern society. Independent Fall 2013
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Overlapping Stools Pen 8x12 From a freehand observational drawing of three precariously balanced stools, I created this symmetrical form. By reflecting the stools over themselves, I generated a new reading of the everyday objects. Syracuse Summer College Summer 2014
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Lover’s Last Glance Graphite 11x14 Inspired by the amazing portraiture I observed in Italy and France over the summer, I wanted to experiment with portraiture that captures emotion. Drawn from my mind’s eye, I imagine him to be a young man who is taking a pained final look at his love before departing for a long journey. Independent Fall 2013
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My Mona Acrylic on Canvas 16x20 What’s in a smile? This piece could be anyone, but instead she’s no one at all, just an artist playing. Independent Summer 2014
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The Misaligned Cube Part 1 Museum Board 6x6x6 This project aimed to disturb the reading of a cube and its edges using various graphics and three dimensional forms. In Part A of the assignment, I created a graphic on the surface of the cube that plays with the transition of figures from negative to positive space. Syracuse Summer College Summer 2014
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The Misaligned Cube Part 3 Museum Board 6x6x6 (Right Page) In order to translate the graphic from part one into a three dimensional form, I pushed triangles from behind the shells into the cube and had the interior volumes form a sculptural element. I removed the background where the shells end to allow the remaining triangles to explode and disintegrate the boundary of the cube outward. Syracuse Summer College Summer 2014
The Misaligned Cube Part 2 Museum Board 6x6x6 (Above) With this iteration of the project I created a misreading of the edges of the cube defined by its interior planes by using a dense graphic at a 45 degree angle that continued seamlessly over the various faces. The graphic plays a trick on the eye that makes it difficult to discern individual faces. Syracuse Summer College Summer 2014 36
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Spirals and Building Blocks Collage 24x24 This collage was done as a study of the Everson Museum by M. Pei in Syracuse, New York in preparation for a pavilion design in a later phase of the project. I aimed to highlight the contrast and marrying of the blocky, cantilevered exterior forms and the spiral staircase floating within the atrium found between the parts. Syracuse Summer College Summer 2014
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A Cantilevered Block for Isaac Newton Museum Board 8x4x16 (8� extruded base) As the final project in the Syracuse Summer College program, I created a pavilion, based on the cantilevered parts of the Everson Museum, where the viewer enters under a precariously balanced concrete block into a circular void with thick apertures jutting out from the center. If one cares to look at it poetically, it is as if the viewer is standing in the center of a black hole, surrounded by the stars, but simultaneously hovering over an abyss. Syracuse Summer College Summer 2014
Study Models Foam 8x8x4 (Above)
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Exploded Axonometric Ink and Gouache (Right Page) Exploded parts drawing of my pavilion design. 23x24
Sectional Axonometric Ink and Gouache (Above) Sectional drawing of my pavilion design. This drawing helps better understand the interior volume of the pavilion. 23x23 42
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Hanneke van Deursen 2014 hevandeursen@hotmail.com 1910 11th Street SW Rochester, MN, 55902