Table of Contents
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Semester 1 Image Harvest Paper Riso Ceramics Sewing Laser Cut Art Market Sketchbook Reflection 1
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Semester 2 Mural Animation Pattern Handlettering Self Directed Reflection 2
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The Image Harvest exhibition was
a hard and fast roller coaster adventure, but that short turnaround time we were given to create a piece for exhibition display forced me to think big and not be able to stop and question too much. The prompt began with creating ten or more sketches drawing on work from the past and considering what would come next. That prompt was a little difficult to me and after critique it seemed that I hadn’t stepped far enough away from my past work. After critique Kim said that instead of seeing the worlds that I have already built and fleshed out, she said she wanted to see what my world would like illustrated. I was conflicted about that because I felt that some of my work did show me and how I see my world, but I started to think about other ways that I could visually interpret and represent “my world” and what is important to me. That thought process led to me developing my dream house. I thought about the environments and architecture that I enjoy. In some ways my ideas for the house were whimsical but at the midpoint critique I got feedback that the house could be more than whimsical but it could have fantastical elements. the occupants need to use stairs to elevate themselves to second level or could there be something more interesting? Could there be a theme for the house? If it
was a Christmas house how could it really explode with Christmas and holiday spirit? With this first project it was the start of trying to think beyond normality and the expected and to think more fantastically, which can still be a challenge for me. However, the house did contain a flying carpet and a cloud instead of stairs and skeletons in the attic.The Dream House ended up not only depicting my friends and a playful environment that I would love to live in, but there were also elements that depicted my internal self. I saved the attic for the things that I don’t always put on display for the world to see but that occupy my mind and heart from time to time, including ex-boyfriends and my spirituality and a jar of tears. There were also some elements that resonated with people as a comic book. I decided to give the characters in my house speech bubbles so that there could be more of a narrative. The rooms divide the house into different sections and they became panels in themselves as if in a comic book or graphic novel. It brought the traditional dollhouse into the realm of narrative illustration and allowed the viewer to read the story.
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Process
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The structure of the house was based off of the colorful victorian houses in the New Orleans French Quarter. The interior was filled with playful wall papers and fantastical elements. Each room contained characters based off of my friends and conversations that we have together. The house was not only decorative but became a narrative and each room was like a comic panel.
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I was initially very intimidated by the
prompt for paper cutting and pop up. We looked at very intricate examples of artists who are meticulous in their paper designs and pop up books. I didn’t feel like I resonated very much with the medium but after some thought I realized how I could interpret the prompt in a way that was really appealing to me. I started thinking in terms of building with paper and how product packaging can be ornate and imaginative. It appealed to my love of branding, typography and product development. I chose to incorporate a pop up element into my packaging, which I liked because it seemed to push the packaging into a multifaceted arena where it could be container, and promotion and greeting card and gift, etc. The concept was not particularly life changing, but it showed part of me as someone who is drawn to things that are bright and sweet and fun for the sake of being fun.
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Photo courtesy of Ching Ya Weng
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Workshop
Process
The paper cutting and pop up workshops were initially soul crushing to me. I was so overwhelemed by the idea of immediately reacting to a medium that I don’t use often. I assume it was my internal perfectionist that was agonizing over the fear of making something atrocious. Yet, I made something and I learned to deal with the workshops and to let them inspire me.
I responded to the paper workshops by incorporating pop up elements into a packaging design. I liked the concept of opposites and building the packaging around that idea and I also felt that the product “Salty & Sweet” also embodied my own personality. I even made an example of the product to display with the packaging to give a full idea of the prototype.
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The RISO project was a challenge.
Not because of the medium, I really enjoyed the medium and it made sense to me. I loved how the colors printed on the paper and how the layers of colors and gradation made new colors and shapes.
The frustrating part of this project was that I never felt like I quite accomplished being able to say what I had originally intended to say and I didn’t feel entirely satisfied with this piece. At the time it was football season and the demonstrations and protests in association with Colin Kaepernick were causing a further political rifts in America. I wanted to do a more editorial piece discussing my opinions and trying to figure out my own voice on this controversial topic.
standing above and flourishing above the flag showing that some people feel supported and protected by the flag and what it represents to them, while underneath the flag is another group of people that feels forgotten and persecuted by the very ideals and the country that proclaims liberty and justice for all. I revised the project a few times, trying to make my message clearer, however I ended up leaving it on the shelf, so to speak, and in many ways I think that project dissuaded me a bit from seriously pursuing more editorial pieces.
I thought about the orientation of the paper and how I wanted the story to unfold. That helped me to determine the images of the cover and first inside pages. It was the final piece that I really struggled with. I wanted to show that not all people in America are protected and that they should have every right to speak out. There were arguments about the symbol of the flag, veterans and the anthem. I think it is because we all see these symbols and meaning something different that the way I simply presented these didn’t give an angle or perspective. I wanted to show some people
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Process
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I originally planned to show a park that showed people from a diverse range of backgrounds, genders, races and communities to show unity within diversity. I did not feel like the composition best showed the idea that I wanted to get across, which is why I decided to approach the project in a more editorial way.
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I had a chance in my undergraduate
experiences to work a little bit with clay and making ceramics. This time around I started to think about the possibilities of using clay in an imaginative way. At the beginning of the project I was thinking very practically about using clay as a medium to make objects like plates and cups and things that are very common to see in a ceramics studio. After I looked around at what everyone else was making I realized that I had been too practical in my application. I had made three small mugs that represented different generations of women in my family and thinking about the societies that they lived in and what life would be like for them. I did enjoy thinking through that thought process, but the designs were extremely simple. As I reflected on the possibilities of clay I looked back to a playful sketch that I had done on my practice tile. It was a more colorful and interesting interpretation of a cup with design inspiration from my Lithuanian heritage. For my final reaction piece I decided to use that image as a jumping off point to create a 3-D cup. The cup was brought to life with butterfly wing handles and strawberries and vines popping off of the surface. This workshop led me to take a ceramics elective class where I further explored the possibilities of clay and I hope to continue making ceramics a part of my practice.
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For the sewing project I was a
little unsure of how I should best approach the medium. I’ve worked previously in sewing some clothes and doing textile design but I didn’t know if I wanted to focus on that again or to try reacting to fabric in a different way. I enjoyed the embroidery that we did in the workshop and I wanted to incorporate that into my project somehow. I came up with the idea to create a head sculpture that could open to show the inner embroidered thoughts. I thought of this because around this time of the semester I realized that I was really becoming a different person in many ways and I was contemplating a lot about the thoughts that were frequenting my mind. With influence from classmates I was think a lot about Korean popular culture and I was continuing to step deeper and deeper into this world and way of thinking that I hadn’t experienced before. I was also starting to notice a present tug in my mind between two different sides of myself, one being spiritual and religious and the other being obsessed with popular culture.This project was a visual representation that all of those elements of myself can coexist together.
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Laser cut was initially very intimidating to
me and in fact it was the only project to make me cry. But once I decided to tackle the technicalities of it I realized that it wasn’t as difficult as I had originally imagined, although Rhino is not my favorite software, for sure.
stress that was almost tangible. My nieces would hide under blankets when they started to hear their parents yelling and I so wanted them to feel loved and safe and I worried all of the time about the safety of my sister and my nieces. In addition to helping them in various ways, I wanted to use my work to give them a space to be happy and carefree.
The story of my piece was inspired by my nieces, Lily and Ruby. I had created these logo like symbols for them when I was working with textiles and in this project I translated them into laser cut wood. I knew that I wanted to make a world that could be seen from all angles and become more interactive than a piece that is only observed head on. I ended up creating a sort of adventureland for my nieces to play and swim and read their bedtime stories.
In terms of the project as a whole, in many ways I think it was the most successful project of the semester. I tried to push myself to create something that is visually interesting and dynamic and innovative. Most of the feedback that I received for this project is to more and make it bigger and find more ways to be interactive.
Many of the comments that I often receive in critique is that my work looks like candy with bright colors and sometimes is too sweet for some people’s taste. While my work often has a surface level of sugary sweetness there is often other levels of reality and even darkness that corresponds with that sugar counterbalance and this piece is not an exception. I made this piece in reaction to my nieces and my sister living in a difficult environment for many years with my sister and brother-in-law struggling with their marriage. When I visited them at their house over the summer before my first semester I observed a deep and pervasive feeling of tension and
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Art Market was an opportunity for me to
work on a project that I had had on my idea bucket list for a long time but working on it with feedback from critique helped me to expand the project pretty significantly. I started with the idea of creating a break up box because anyone who has been through a breakup knows that the post breakup feelings can be pretty visceral and physically painful to an extent. The project expanded into three “self help” novelty boxes with little trinkets and products to help the receiver deal with a breakup, the chaotic political landscape and self doubt. The boxes were titled: Breakup Box, Coping with Politics Box and Self Love Box. Each box contained 5 items pertaining to the theme. The Art Market was really interesting because it me a look into how not only my classmates respond to my work but also how the market and the consumer respond to my work. I was happy to see people react to my project and laugh and say, “I need one of these”. And I was pleasantly surprised by how many people not only appreciated the projected but also actually purchased it.
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The sketchbook project was
a really good project for me. Usually when I work in a sketchbook I don’t bring anything to completion. I normally fill my sketchbook with notes and doodles and ideas, but this project really pushed me to make and complete something in my sketchbook and not be afraid of it being excellent or not. It was also an opportunity for me to get back into using non digital mediums and taking time to just react to a prompt and experiment for an hour or two each week. This sketchbook reminded me how much that I like drawing with pencils and painting with acrylic. I definitely made some images that can stay hidden under a pile of books and papers on my desk. However, there were some images that I really liked and continued to work with beyond the pages of the sketchbook.
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Overall after a whirlwind semester of constant making I came away with a few key points:
A) My cohort responded much more strongly to my 3-D work and I walked away feeling like I could take more opportunities to share my ideas in a 3-D form, but I also felt that I wanted to work on improving my 2-D work instead of giving up on it. B) Kim emphasized repeatedly that I was very business and market focused and that is a strength in many ways but can also inhibit me in my development process when I worry too much about the end result instead of enjoying the artistic process. I reflected on this critique and I told Kim that I would focus on having fun in the second semester.
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The first day back for the second
semester was really heavy. We spent several hours delving into some really difficult topics in regards to domestic violence and abuse for our client based project working with the local shelter House of Ruth to create a mural for their new location. I had some experience working with a similar shelter during my experience as an undergraduate and even though I am somewhat familiar with the issue it never is easy and is always heartbreaking. The project was very emotional in some ways and because of that I sometimes had to take my emotion out and disconnect my heart from it a bit so that I could accomplish the work. Even though the project was emotionally intensive it was still a freelance assignment that required research, development, process discussion and meeting a deadline. It was a challenge to work as such a large group to accomplish the project. In a group of 16 it’s easy for some voices to be heard more than others and for some to fall to the back. After rounds and rounds of drafts I think that the image we created far exceeded my expectations and will hopefully meet the client’s needs and be a positive contribution to the community.
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My experience
with the animation project was a little out of the ordinary as I missed the initial workshop due to some personal family circumstances. In some ways missing the workshop was a challenge because I was not exposed to all of the techniques that the other students experimented with. However, I also think that because I missed the workshop I had more freedom to make my own choices and to be very experimental because I didn’t have very much previous experience. I am drawn to color so I chose to work in colored pencil and to use the traditional method of animation by drawing several images with slight variation to show movement. I decided to choose a song and then frame the story around the song. I ended up choosing one of my favorite k-pop songs and created a fun and fantastical story that is dedicated to my growing love of Korean popular music and some of the things that I have learned about Korean culture. The process was much more gratifying than I expected. I expected the process to be extremely greuling and not enjoyable at all, but I really enjoyed the process. I think having chosen a fun and upbeat song and story kept me motivated throughout my animation journey and I feel motivated to keep exploring the possibilities of it as a medium.
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I wasn’t sure what to expect with the
pattern workshop. I tried to be open to whatever would happen but when I learned that we had to bring some objects to draw I wasn’t super thrilled since I’m not a real fan of still life drawing. We started with drawing vegetables and figuring out ways to arrange them on the page.While drawing the vegetables was interesting it didn’t hold my attention for an extensive amount of time. I had bought some doughnuts at the 7-Eleven on the way to get change for the bus so I started drawing doughnuts and then Arushi bought a coke and I started drawing that too. While I like organic shapes and colors, I’m also drawn to things that are extremely processed and intensely colorful. My final project consisted of three themed patterns: Pizza, Doughnuts and Candy. It felt like a cohesive line and it felt like a true representation of me and my personal interests. It was a part of our project to apply our patterns to three different products. I applied my patterns to t-shirts, totes and a mug, which I decided to order and sell at MoCCA and the MICA Zinefest and customers seemed to resonate with them well so apparently I am not the only fan of carbs and sugar.
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I always really enjoy hand lettering and I’ve
tried to incorporate it into my work quite often.This workshop gave greater insight into type and letter form history which I appreciated. I’ve studied type and letters most often through the lense of design and more traditional approaches to type. What is helpful about this program is the opportunity to step back at what I already know and to ask, “how could I make this different”? And “How could I make this more interesting”? In many ways I think I could have done more with this particular workshop and sometimes I think I limit myself by thinking to much within the box, but it was a good experience to think of how I could be more creative and innovative in working with hand lettering in the future.
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The Self Directed project contained
a lot of unexpected turns. I expected at the beginning of the semester that I would try to focus on developing ideas from my laser cut project and to create either a life sized world or to turn some of the elements into toy blocks and add some sort of interactive aspect to my initial ideas in the laser cut project. As I tried to develop these ideas of toy building throughout the semester I became less and less interested in them and I started exploring other ideas. Kim suggested that I bring in every idea that I had no matter how stupid or implausible it might be. I brought in ideas for textile projects, book scripts and product development. I also brought in some sketches I had worked on in my personal time for fun that I figured would play no part in my final self directed project. As Kim looked at everything she felt that those sketches that I thought were insignificant were the most interesting and had the most life to them, I suspect because they weren’t trying to hard to be great, they just were fun and showed an aspect of who I am. The project that I ended up executing was a short form comic that I titled, “My Bad Boy Band Boyfriend�. The story was an idea that I had late in the fall semester as I was reflecting on my own personal interests and how I love boy bands and pop music
but I also find it ironic that I love them so much as I consider myself to be a feminist and to be focused on more important things. I really became so immersed in K-pop music and I realized that while I really enjoyed it that in many ways there is a lot of fantasy and irrationality that comes along with a pop star obsession; like, I will probably never meet or have a significant friendship with any of the pop stars that I love. My Bad Boy Band Boyfriend shows some of the ridiculousness of pop lyrics and how silly they would be if applied in everyday relationships and I worked on visually exploring the dichotomies of fantasy and reality. Ultimately I wanted to form a complete story in 2-D form. One of the critiques I received from fall semester is that my 3-D work tends to be stronger than my 2-D work. Instead of abandoning 2-D work I wanted to use this project as an opportunity to improve my 2-D work and push my skills in storytelling both in the script and visual elements.
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I still feel like I have so much to learn and
to make, but I feel like I am learning more and more about how to tap into myself to create something truly meaningful and that many times the art that seems most successful is such because it is meaningful and personal. This year has been a great reminder to myself to be in tune with who I am, what motivates me and why I’m making art in the first place. Making art is not only about making something visually appealing, it is also about saying something and sharing my perspective and experience.
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