Process book q version 2 by Krista Langehennig

Q’S PROCESS D AU MEN TA M ION B O O K

CRANBROOK ACADEMY OF ART 2D DESIGN DOCUMENTATION BOOK

2 0 1 5—20 17

QINGYU WU

Charette Project

Persona While developing a persona that I wanted to portray my only criterion was that the persona had to contain more dissimilar characteristics than my own. After creating a list of words that I believe personify my personality and characteristics, I used a process of elimination to determine five descriptors that the persona I was taking on could not exude. The persona that is going to be portrayed will have vivacity and it will be represented in a non-traditional graphic design form with the creation of a hybrid object. The persona I wanted to take on was Alex DeLarge who was a fictional character in Anthony Burgess’ novel A Clockwork Orange and Stanley Kubrick’s film A Clockwork Orange, in which he is played by Malcolm McDowell. I choose Alex DeLarge because of his unique personality and it is very opposite way to my personality. Also, he played a very intereting role in the movie which I really enjoyed to watch. His the narrator, protagonist and antihero in the novel A Clockwork Orange. He is portrayed as a sociopath who robs, rapes, and assaults innocent people for his own amusement. Intellectually, he knows that this sort of behaviour is wrong, saying that “you can’t have a society with everybody behaving in my manner of the night”.

Alex, 15, living in near-future dystopian England, leads his gang on a night of opportunistic, random “ultra-violence”.

Alex lives with his parents in a block of flats in a dystopian England in which his brand of “ultraviolence” is common. At the age of 15, he is already a veteran of state reform institutions. While the youngest of his gang, he is the most intelligent, and designates himself as the leader. Another member of the gang, Georgie, resents his high-handedness, and begins plotting against him. One night, the gang breaks into a woman’s house, and Alex assaults and kills her. As Alex flees from the police, Dim hits him with his chain (a milk bottle in the film) and leaves him to be arrested. Alex is found guilty of murder and sentenced to a lengthy prison term.

Alex pulls the shaft for milky delights. Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange : Brutalism in exteriors, interiors and a quilt.

Charette Project

An older cat lady isn’t worth raping, so she’s murdered with a penis sculpture.

Personality & Characteristics Alex has an evil, unfriendly, ultraviolent, self-centered, and antisocial personality. However, the importance of evil as well as good in human nature is a fundamental theme of A Clockwork Orange. Alex is despicable because he gives free rein to his violent impulses, but that sense of freedom is also what makes him human. Unlike so many of the adult characters in the film, he, at least, seems exuberantly alive. When Ludovico’s Technique eliminates the evil aspects of his personality, he becomes less of a threat to society, but also, the film suggests, less human. He is not truly good because he didn’t choose to be good, and the utilization of that choice is vital to being a complete human being. Alex, with his many evil deeds, isn’t a traditional hero, and this is characteristic of and unique to Kubrick’s films. The good and bad in Kubrick’s char

acters are almost always inextricably intertwined. Through his characters, Kubrick suggests that dark impulses are a fundamental part of human nature. Human destructiveness and power-lust don’t go away with proper conditioning, except when that conditioning is so extreme that it makes us inhuman. Instead, we must decide how to channel those impulses, when to give them free rein, and when to suppress them by force.

9 The characters’ varied responses to and uses of art in A Clockwork Orange suggest that art has within it the potential for both good and evil. Art both expresses and channels human impulses, and it can therefore enhance or deaden life. It can bring people closer to reality or it

can distance them from it. Kubrick makes sex and violence look unreal in the film. He directs fight scenes to look like dance, slows down the camera, and distorts images. He plays with our perceptions so that we never forget we are watching a work of art. Some critics have said that the stylized and detached way Kubrick presents violence makes accepting it easier, and that the film even celebrates violence. However, the detachment we experience as a result of the film’s artistic elements can also make us reflect more deeply on our own ability to distance ourselves from violence.

Hybrid Object In A Clockwork Orange, characters view and use art in many different ways, creating a complex and conflicted picture of how art and real life interact. Alex uses music, film, and art objects to express and understand his life. During the two weeks that doctors show Alex reel upon reel of sex and violence, he is amazed that the real world looks even more real on a television screen. The cat lady, whom Alex kills, expresses her sexuality through her statues and the paintings on her walls, but when Alex Delarge touches her statue of a penis, she screams at him not to touch it because wit’s a work of art. Through art, she makes sexuality an object not to be touched, rather than an act that is all about touching. When identifying objects that reflect the values of Alex, I thought about all werid sexism sculptures, and futuristic architecture in the film, such as the older cat lady’s penis sculpture, human milk from female body’s sculpture, and the groovy pad with the pod. So I wanted to produce a set of objects from Alex’s imagination world and related to his memories from his past life.

Thamesmead South Housing Estate where Alex knocks his rebellious droogs into the lake in a sudden surprise attack.

Building from the A Clockwork Orange.

Charette Project

Creating Object I did a series of drawing from the persona’s perspective. And then, I used the traditional ceramic process for this project and generally follows this sequence:

→ Drying → Leatherhard→

Bisque Firing → Glazing → Overglaze

Clay Preparation → Wedging → Forming

← Overglaze Firing ←

Charette Project

Nicole Dyar by Q

Critical Writing Critical Writing for Cranbrook Academy of Art 2D Design student Nicole Dyar, review of her crit piece (Performance and installation) on October 13, 2015.

I walked to Nicole’s piece on a cloudy day. I got an email from her that said her work is in the courtyard of the Painting and Sculpture departments, which is also in front of Dorm Two. The courtyard has ivy all over the wall and has beautiful historical Saarinen architecture. Even though the weather was windy, I still enjoyed seeing her work and performance. The reason she chose this place for her piece and performance is because she wanted everyone that passed by to see her work and to attract attention from people and encourage them to join her performance. Nicole wore a sexy outfit with black tights, mesh stockings, well done makeup, and hairstyle. It looked like she was preparing for a party with pink moscato bottles and a couch for people to gather. There was a banner hanging out from the Dorm Two second floor window. Walking closer to the building, I saw that the banner had a beautiful color with a cyan and magenta gradient, well designed and carefully crafted. After a few minutes, I realized the size and design of the banner looked like an American flag. Instead of the fifty stars on the flag, Nicole designed fifty overlapping hearts. And it didn’t consist of thirteen equal horizontal stripes as on the original American Flag. The stripes had a three-

dimensional effect. The lettering overlaying the flag design says, ”drop off your douche canoes here” with some floating white hand-drawn hearts. Her hand lettering has a feminine likeness, and the style is consistent with the design of the flag.

Performance by Nicole Dyar, 2015.

I wished this party were happening at nighttime instead of during the afternoon of a cloudy day. I felt a little bit surprised when I saw what she was doing for her performance. I thought about why Nicole decided to hang the banner there—so everyone could see? Or was the banner hanging there to encourage men to enter Nicole’s bedroom after drinking on the couch? “Douche Canoes? Douche! Canoes?” My next thought was what is a douche canoe? According to Urban Dictionary, ”Douche canoe is someone who exceeds the limits of being a normal douche or douche bag”. She wants to attract a certain type of male by hanging this banner above her. She wants a guy who will lie to her all night about how

Nicole Dyar by Qingyu Wu

Drop off your douche canoes here by Nicole Dyar. Poly Satin Vinyl, 3’x6’.

amazing she is, and then leave her in the morning. She is doing the in-person equivalent of signing up for the Blendr or Tinder App and putting herself out there for questionable men. After I examined the banner, I shifted my focus to the human aspect of the piece. I saw Nicole was sitting on a pretty but tacky, vintage yellow couch. That used couch immediately became a social object, acting as a gathering place. It reminds me of a Chinese round table, where friends and family gather. It’s a place where the conversation starts. But why is this used couch a part of her piece? Is this the same idea as the old couch in the sorority house that everyone in the house has had sex on? Is it Nicole’s turn to break in the couch with a douche canoe? When I walked up, my expectation was for her to be a flirty, sassy character. I saw her sexy outfit, black tights, mesh stockings, well done makeup, and hairstyle. She was drinking pink moscato, which is associated with the stereotype

of a “basic white girl.” When I saw this type of drink, I thought about whethera “girly” and “manly” drinks really exist, for example, when men choose to drink cocktails or when women drink straight spirits in an act of rebellion. I thought she would act like a flagrant party girl and talk about her sexual exploits. However, when the first douche canoe showed up, I expected an interesting interaction to occur between them, but it didn’t happen. They talked like friends, very casually and their relationship was ambiguous. I thought she was looking for a douche canoe, but when one presented himself, she didn’t pounce on the opportunity. This is when I wondered if this was actually a performance or not. Nicole was acting like herself, not like a crazy, flirty party girl. The location of the piece in the courtyard was a curious choice. She created an obvious contrast between the traditional, historical, solemn environment of the Cranbrook campus and the contemporary, tumblr-esque, Internet style of

#DropOffYourDoucheCanoes #whitegurl #Whitegurlwasted #babe s #hotties #pinkmosocoto

#douchebags #keepingitclassy #moscato #tsm #totalsororitymove

her piece. I think she intentionally wanted to present the contrast to us. Besides, the choice of the location seemed relevant to sorority culture: Dorm Two could be home to a group of girls or women associated for a common purpose. Additionally, Dyar posted a series of photos on Instagram as her persona with multiple hashtags, such as #DropOffYourDoucheCanoes #...

when I clicked on some of the hashtags I saw tons of photos of sorority girls’ lifestyle, in which everyone in the photo wear same shirts, same pose (hands on hips). I think Dyar was successful in reappropriating from sorority culture by using relevant social media tags and a specific location to instigate the conversation about her concept. With respect to her performance, I am unsure where Nicole stands in terms of feminism. Is she standing up for women and saying they should be treated as potential intellectual equals and social equals to men? The character in Nicole’s performance seems like she is too attracted to men around her and she believes she has the power to have sexual interaction with whomever she pleases. Or is she the girl who is degrading herself with every sexual encounter and seeks out the men who are worst for her?

Nicole Dyar by Qingyu Wu

been declared a speculative utopia for the United Nations of Magical Girls. The idea of her work is about United Nations flag is about a separatist society, or speculative society of magical girls where all magical girls live, hence magical girl genre, sailor moon, etc. The cross section is three-dimensional, which is similar to Dyar’s three-dimensional hearts and stripes on her flag. They both used pink color to represent female identity. These two works embody feminist ideas.

Nicole’s flag reminds me of Nicole Killian’s work. Nicole Killian is an American artist and graphic designer. Her work investigates how the structures of the Internet, mobile messaging, and shared online platforms affect contemporary interaction and shape cultural identity from a queer, feminist perspective. 1 One of her pieces is called Flag for the United Nations of Magical Girls. It is embroidered nylon. It has a pink, feminine color with the female symbol as the imagery. Nicole Killian added a heart inside of the top circle of the female symbol. The flag represents the land which has

Performance by Nicole Dyar, 2015.

Nicole’s work reminds me of artist Lynn Hershman Leeson’s four-year performance called Roberta Breitmore. It is a critical work in her oeuvre and it is essential to any survey of feminist or performance art. In the piece, Hershman Leeson takes on a new persona, that of

Breitmore, with her own history, voice, posture, dressing style, personality, and driver’s license. She was a heavily madeup woman with depressive tendencies, who escaped a childhood of sexual and physical abuse, underwent psychoanalysis, looked for a job, and struggled with her weight.

To me, she was my own flipped effigy; my physical reverse, my psychological fears.” 4 I find the similarities between Hershman Leeson’s and Dyar’s performances, they both used their persona to explore these stereotype of female identity. They both encouraged themselves to step outside of their default personalities, which is something I cannot imagine myself doing. Moreover, they chose to perform in spite of external judgment. The successful components of Nicole’s work explored stereotypes of female identity. The artist challenged herself to step outside of herself. Using her persona she articulated spoke her own statement of feminism. I am inspired by seeing her piece to try to do performance in the future.

Roommate Ad from the Roberta Breitmore Meet Mr. America series, 1974; newspaper advertisement. Courtesy of the Artist.

Upon her “arrival” in San Francisco in 1974, she took a room at the Dante Hotel, then rented her own apartment and advertised for a roommate. Those who responded and those who interacted with Breitmore became, as Hershman Leeson notes, part of her fiction.2 Frequently, those who encountered the artist as Breitmore did not realize it was a performance, so wholly did she embody this character. And while three other women also played the role during the project’s existence, Breitmore’s persona was intertwined with Hershman Leeson’s psyche.3 As she notes, “Although I denied it at the time and insisted that she was ‘her own woman’ with defined needs, ambitions and instincts, in retrospect we were linked. Roberta represented part of me as surely as we all have within us an underside…

Lynn Hershman Leeson Roberta’s Body Language Chart 1978, printed 2009 Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper.

Nicole Dyar by Qingyu Wu

D r o p ff

Your Douche Canoes

Movement Creats Meaning

Artist Statement make some cool posters? screen-printing? video? design a book? try performance? make an installation? oh, lord i felt lost “what’s next?” should i keep making graphic design? or should i try different things and try using different materials? struggling, struggling, struggling. time keeps carrying on. i do think looking inward is important what do i really want to do and make without the temptations of external forces and influences? i don’t think graduate school is a springboard for better professional opportunities i would like to become a better thinker i am more interested in developing my design / art thinking and problem solving when i started this project i thought about my childhood, the period of time when I was doing whatever i wanted and the first time i picked up a brush and started drawing.

along with drawing, i also built things as a child so i thought about those scale models i played with before, how the small parts made up the finished piece? how i organized the pieces, and put them together to make it work, how it brings meaning to me? how those toys will allow me to actively engage in learning through play, how play supports brain development? not only as a child, even today, as an artist or designer, I think about how a simple toy effects creative thinking. how an artist could bring their work to make people rethink our society? such as racial problems, identity, health issues, public opinion, war issues, violence, economic crisis, marital problems, sexual equality etc. or could it be something small in our daily lives? as i thought about it i started to think about making toys and what they look like and how they have a relationship with our hands, feelings, thoughts, and our lives. how do the toys create meaning by themselves not only from their color, shape, and material, but also when we touch them, and they start moving, the movements create meaning.

终 / 钟

Christian Morin by Q

Christian Morin by Qingyu Wu

Name Tag for 2Ders (collab w/ Helen Ip)

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