Spark & Cinder Year one in the MFA Illustration Practice Program
An Idea Book by Sarah Jacoby 2012-2013 MFA Illustration Practice Maryland Institute College of Art
Thank You To all who helped inspire, support, and encourage me; thank you for the kindling. Especially to Whitney Sherman and Jaime Zollars. Of course, my flame, Timothy.
Contents INTORDUCTION IMAGE HARVEST ART MARKET REACTION PIECE PATTERNING HAND LETTERING WORDS on WHEELS MADE AND SOLD ANIMATION SUMMARY
An Idea Book There are two years. This is the first one. We were asked to try new techniques, to explore applications and to deepen our processes. MICA’s MFA in Illustration Practice Program specializes in pushing imagery beyond its bounds. I feel that I’ve met this sort of work head on and, as a result, my creative practice was set ablaze. To quote our own mission statement, “The MFA in Illustration Practice prepares artists to elevate their artistic and business abilities, blend media within new cultural contexts, and integrate research and critical analysis into their work.” Indeed, I have been working towards re-defining and developing my own sense of style and encountering all sorts of different mediums. When trying to find an apt way to describe this first year, my first thoughts alight on the concept of learning. This year was a learning year, full of experimentation and the processing of ideas. A series of workshops have guided us along our way. They’ve ranged from polymer plate printing to paper engineering and stop motion animation. Creative assignments followed these workshops and have served as our touchstones throughout the year. This book presents to you the results of the creative assignments. I view these as many small elements that contribute to an overall sense of ignition. Hence, fire, flames, cinder and spark. This entire year has set my practice ablaze; each workshop and assignment have stoked my creative fires. Now, as the year comes to a close and the flames die down, I am left to reflect upon how I have encountered and reacted to each project. I have roughly parsed my work into two categories here: sparks and cinders. Spark is the more obvious category. Some projects have immediately awakened my senses and have allowed me to make work is immediately exciting to me. These are projects were usually product based, like my Image Harvesting work or my Art market line of pencil cases. Cinders are projects that I did not immediately delve deeply into, but I sense the wisdom gained through carrying out the work will develop as a slow, low-burning flame would. I expect that they could burst into their own fires in the future.
A System
spark
CINDER
There are two icons, that of a spark and that of a cinder. You will see these icons next to the appropriate project. The page edges are color coded as well for additional visual guidance.
The image harvest project asked that we revisit our past work to gather the elements that seem pervasive our creative history. It was at once a reflective assignment and a jumping off point; we ultimately proposed ten new ideas based upon our past material. My ideas initially ranged from producing wall decals to ceramics and toys, but as I spent more time looking at my inspiration I was able to articulate the shapes I prefer and why. Once I unlocked this reasoning I was better able to continue to build and shape my work. I had never created packaging or experienced brand building, so I explored the possibilities of tea packaging here. I built a tea brand based on ‘spirit animals’ such that each type of tea would reflect a particular type of creature. Chamomile tea, for example, would be matched with a sloth.
Image H
Harvesting
above: “Spirit Animal� tea branding series hand screen printed and sewn bags
above: “Spirit Animal� tea branding series, screen printed labels and custom tea flavors
rough sketches for Image Harvesting projects
Art Market happens but once a year. It’s a holiday market in the craft fair vein, but is distinctive because of the student work. I decided to create a product line of pencil cases and journals. The generated from the concept of making an “Idea Kit” where one would keep track of their thoughts in an analog fashion. These cases share the same patterns as my Image Harvest work the reasoning being the Idea Kit could work as an extension of the tea brand. It could be more of a lifestyle brand, one that asks for patience, simplicity, and well made product.
Art Market
above: hand sewn and printed pencil cases and journal
above: process photos of art market products right: screen printing the canvas
“Dust Bunny� emerged from our small book publishing unit. The tale follows a bored little girl up to to her attic in search of adventure. We see her dream up different characters from strange worlds as she sorts through the boxed up artifacts. Ultimately, she discovers and befriends an old stuffed bunny. Though the story remains underdeveloped, I feel I made good progress with the characters and the general concept. This project certainly excited the side of my brain that loves narrative and storytelling. I hope to revisit this idea and expand the story.
Reac
ction Piece
right: Dust Bunny book
above: process illustrations for “Dust Bunny�
This workshop was successful for many reasons, one of which was that Julia Rothman visited our studios to help show us how to make this work. I have long admired Julia Rothman for her ability to work across many platforms and for her smart use of patterning. I chose to create a series of endpapers for well known works of literature. This alone opened some serious thoughts future work along this theme and potentially opening it up as a thesis project for next year. A significant spark to be sure.
Patterning
above: ‘To the Lighthouse’ pattern with boats, lighthouses and waves
above: ‘Of Mice and Men’ patterns with rabbits, wheat, and field tools
above: ‘Why don’t you dance’ pattern with elements from a yard sale
above: ‘Swan’s Way’ pattern with Madelines and teacups
above: Our first patterns with Julia Rothman right: Julia Rothman teaches us patternmaking
I wrote and storyboarded a simple anecdote about the fate of a stick having a momentary existential crisis while lying on the ground in a forest. Much of the enjoyment of this project came from the visualization of the work. Making the animation was a meditative process and one that I enjoyed, but the technical aspects were difficult at times. I appreciated building the pieces of the project the most; it was impactful to see how my style worked in a three dimensional manner.
Hand
d Lettering
above: first hand lettering work
above: photographs from FrankenPoetry handlettering show
This was a collaborative project between charter schools of Baltimore and the Mica MFA ILP program. I received work from Kia Davis-a poem about the experiences of the heart. It was my task to conceive of the art to decorate and illuminate her writing. This proved challenging; there were many elements to consider especially the perspective of Kia herself. I asked myself many question along the way: this project was an excellent learning experience with the wonderful reward of meeting Kia and placing our work on a bus together.
Words
on Wheels
above: Davis and Jacoby Words on Wheel poem
above: Kia Davis and I placing our work on the bus
above: ILP class in front of the official Words on Wheel bus
This was the most experimental unit for me. I was able to create an art print and generate several different types of applications for the piece. This was my first attempt at applying my art onto ceramics. Tomi Vollauschek was a kind and patient guide for this workshop, he led us through the process of developing the art and eventually buttons that he plans of merchandising through his business Stereohype. The prospect of this is exciting and it was inspiring to apply the elements of the art in such different ways. I would like to keep working with ceramics-it was quite a feat to learn the process of decal application and to work with the ceramics department.
Ma
ade & Sold
above: ceramic decal work
above, below: ceramic decal work right: art print for Tomi Vollauschek workshop
above, below: ceramic decal work right: button design for Tomi Vollauschek workshop
I wrote and storyboarded a simple anecdote about the fate of a stick having a momentary existential crisis while lying on the ground in a forest. Much of the enjoyment of this project came from the visualization of the work. Making the animation was a meditative process and one that I enjoyed, but the technical aspects were difficult at times. I appreciated building the pieces of the project the most; it was impactful to see how my style worked in a three dimensional manner.
Animation
above, right: small felt dog for stop motion animation workshop
above, right: ‘Fetch’ animation storyboards
And More Greatness Upcoming Shows: Framer’s Gallery London, Mail Me Art DC Illustrator’s Club Juried Show Chapterhouse Gallery, Philadelphia Space 1026, Philadelphia, PA Past Shows: Show in China Mica Fox Four Gallery x 3 Mica Fox Gallery (what is this Gallery called?) Vintage Heart Gallery Austin, Tx Interning at Random House with Rachel Cole, Rodrigo Corral at Farrar Strauss and Giroux and hopefully writing for Julia Rothman’s blog
Summary
This year was very much about process work and experimentation. I had certain material goals like learning to put work on ceramics and to experiment with fiber. This first year enabled me to achieve these goals and even exceed some of my own expectations. I am looking forward to my thesis year wherein I hope to apply select processes that I learned about this year to my work. I believe that know that I know how to do certain tasks, like apply my work to ceramics, I will be better prepared to refine my projects. I also hope to spend more time working on developing truly narrative pieces, because I believe the pieces that contained a narrative element were the most successful. At the moment, I believe my work still functions in a segmented way. I’d like to set the goal of elevating my drawing and composition skills while crystallizing my sense of style.
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