Inspirational images

As I've been working on the final stages of my piece I have been having an issue with how to actually making the piece look finished and whole. We discussed today about how to create an environment in which the set looked like it's own entity and did not run into anyone elses work. While I have done a lot of research in terms of the content of my project must admit I have not looked at many images of artists doing similar work to myself.

Tonight I changed that and searched a few different installation type pieces I found inspirational. I'm considering the piece needs a sort of backdrop that will differ it from the rest of the walls in the gallery, however with constraints such as what I am allowed to install on the walls this could potentially be an issue. Some sort of wallpaper could be really interesting, possibly peeling and unfinished looking. Or even a different type of baseboard molding in order to distinguish the small "room" I have created.

Here are a few images now littering my desktop background.One thing we talked about in review was this idea of an organized chaos. Making people feel uncomfortable and the tension of having pieces that look unfinished.

While I believe this is just a staged photograph, the composition as a whole has a nice feel to it. I am loving that wall texture with the cracks, dots, and half paper surrounding the doorway.

This is an interesting piece because the white gallery walls seem to only emphasize the artists work. He/she has used this idea of the "gallery" in their favor rather than trying to alter the space at all.

Sr. Review

Had Senior Review this past Friday (I passed!) and got some excellent feedback. I have a lot to think about but if anything it just made me that much more excited for the show. My committee brought up a lot of good comments about the idea of hierarchy as well as making the piece as a whole look more like "organized chaos" rather than chaotic. There was good ideas shared about how to integrate the type better as well as keeping a certain feeling consistent throughout the piece.

I know I must learn to talk about my work much better. This is a very complex subject I'm tackling, and while I get praise for that it truly means nothing if I can't express what I have to say in a simple manner. On that note as I work on all of the labels for the show with my peers show statements on them..here is mine..

Through out my life, later influencing much of my work, I have always been interested in the human subject. I believe we, as people, are more complex than anyone truly realizes. Through the use of anonymous survey questions, personal interviews, and research, this installation piece represents ideas about human connection and self-understanding.

Typographic statements, fabric swatches, old photographs, and a variety of estranged voices create a living, breathing metaphor representative of the personal layers in one’s life. The mix of media creates a non-traditional type of portrait while the specific subject remains anonymous. The idea of memory and self-discovery challenges the idea of how much we truly know about a person. There is good and bad, fear, secrets, and numerous perspectives to everyone’s life story. We are a culmination of everything we have experienced in our life and that story is worth sharing.

Fabric search

Had my last official senior show class this Tuesday before review. It actually went really well, Chitra and I had a good conversation and I'm really liking how everything is turning out. The feedback I get from my fellow students and faculty is always very helpful and things are finally seeming to come together.

I have taken a slight step backwards to some original ideas however, going back to more of a variety of mediums rather than an all digital, vinyl typeface. While initially I thought doing that would help clean things up it seems to actually create a disconnect with the rest of the piece. Instead I am incorporating other ways to display this type that fit more with this idea of subtly and layering.

Also talk of adding in a few more pops of color. Looking at all of my materials again and such I think possibly a reddish-orange might be work really well. I also am looking to do a piece on the floor as well creating a really nice ladder effect that draws your eye from the wall, to the suitcase placed in the middle, down to floor. A trip to the fabric store got me looking at some new materials to incorporate in.

(unfortunately I left my camera in my back-pack and only had a phone to take pictures with. not the best quality)

(close-up) good rug material, seems good to cut into as well.

Possible patterns, a little more wild and yet less bright.

I plan on researching a bit more tonight on various tapestries and quilting/ sewing/ etc. This is all new to me and other than the typography I had previous I am really experimenting a lot here and my biggest concern right now is how to finish off all of the pieces so they look completed while still fitting of the body of work.

hmm.

I liked my project better when it was a mess of pins and things thrown together.

Now as it gets refined everything just seems a bit out of place.

DeVos Place

This weekend I went down to DeVos place to take a few pictures of the space just so I had an idea of where I might be situated as well as for mock-ups of my project in the physical space for my review committee to check out.

I've made a few notes for myself regarding some wall space. Currently I've been photoshopping parts of my piece to one of the blank wall shots and can move on from there.

Collage wall

Moved my collage wall to Calder last Thursday. Been working on finishing up all the final sewn pieces and will post pictures of those tonight now that they are completed. Also finished up all the captions for the photos and finalizing my artist statement. Voice over element has had a breakthrough too for the sound element involving some hidden speakers, a post about that to follow.

Questions for myself.

One thing I really did this weekend was focus on why I started doing this project in the first place. I knew this would help me re-organize my thoughts. After realizing the description of what I was doing was ridiculously complicated and almost confused I knew I needed to think about what it was I really wanted to say. Asking myself a few different questions allowed me to think about it in a different way and therefore convey my message to others much more efficiently.

Why is this project important to you?
It all comes down to people. People as individuals, people as a whole. Its probably part of the reason I chose to become a graphic designer. You not only have the responsibility to create your own work, work that has meaning to you but also learn to convey a message that means something to someone else just as easily. In my creative field there will be things you do that not everyone understands or cares about, however if you have figured a way to get your message to other people you've done a huge part of your job right there.

I care about people. They intrigue me. I like to hear stories of peoples' lives. Like to watch strangers interact with one another. I find it very interesting how complex human's really are. Emotions, feelings, thoughts you may not share with anyone else out of fear of rejection, pain, shock. We want, naturally as a culture, for people to like us. We are superficial beings.
We are culminations of everything in our lives. We take it in with all of our senses. And the truth is, that nobody ever really will understand another person completely. The sad part is, not many people try.

I am out to expose those ideas to people. To create something that says something about human communication, human connections; with themselves, with each other. We see people, look at photographs, hear their voices but how often are we really listening? How much do these things really tell abut a person, about an individual? What would people reveal if we started asking? What would they continue to hide?