2-D Sketchbook from 1st Semester

An ongoing project throughout the year is the sketchbook project. "Artist Book" is a more appropriate term though, because it isn't really a sketchbook. Every week we do a number of pages. We experiment with new mediums, compositions, and ideas. In the end, we bind the pages into a book which is graded. The pages are experimental, but viewed as finished and resolved pieces.

These are some of what I consider the best pages from last semester when we couldn't use color.

Compressed Charcoal

There was a passionate conversation during our break today about compressed charcoal verses vine charcoal. Compressed charcoal lasts longer, is darker, and is harder to erase. I had been using vine charcoal before the break, so I decided to try out compressed charcoal after the break. The finished drawing is much darker than my earlier ones. I think both kinds of charcoal are good for different things.

Drawing - 2nd Semester

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Today was the first day we got to draw in Drawing class. Here are 3 figure studies I did. Each was a 15 minute drawing in vine charcoal on 18" X 24" paper.

1st Semester Personal Project (September, October, November)

This project was not for a class. I put this together myself to show the photographs I took of birds that died in Philadelphia when they hit the large glass windows of tall buildings. I wanted to record every bird I saw so I could count them. I chose the best photographs for this collection of prints.

I made a box to put these digital prints in. There are 28 prints total. Each is 8"X6". When one opens the box to view the prints, one slides the prints from the right side to the left side. This way, two prints are visible at a time. I placed the prints in a certain order so the sets of prints compliment each other. I got this box idea from the Editions Artist' Book Fair I saw when I went to New York City. Many artists put collections of prints into boxes like this.

At the book fair, I saw the work of an artist who was also photographing dead birds. Her name is Susan Silas. Her photographs inspired me to take the time to print out my digital images. Her work also inspired me to select photographs that captures the locations of the birds right after they have fallen (Susan Silas's work is different because she photographs in her studio and records decay).

I was interested in the photographs I'd taken where there was minimal decay. To me, these birds look like they could still be alive. This state makes the photographs a little more unsettling to me.

I made this collection of prints to officially end my personal project of photographing the birds this past semester. I titled it September, October, November because these were the months when I took these pictures (this was when the birds were migrateing so I saw many birds of different species). The prints look great, but I'm relieved to be done with this personal project. I learned a lot while working on it, but I'm looking forward to a new spring semester.

Final Computer Project

This was my Final Project for Computer Foundations. We had to do an autobiographical presentation. I chose to make a triptych showing me and my favorite stuffed animal named Puppy over time. I found pictures of me and Puppy from when I was little. I scanned Puppy and used the fur texture to make landscape forms for the figures to exist in.

My computer professor, Eva Wylie, commented on how it is both humorous and serious at the same time.

This maybe my final post about my finals until the Spring Semester. In the spring, I'll start this blog again as I make new work.

Updated 2-D Project

At the end of the semester, everyone was preparing for the Foundations Student Exhibition, which is a show of work done in foundation classes. Students could re-work past assignments to improve them for the show. I chose to do this with my Space project.

My teacher suggested that I add more complexity. I chose to add more shapes in the negative spaces. I used positive and negative images of stars because I wanted a pattern that wouldn't take away from the squares but would still go with the theme.

On the left is the new version. On the right is the old version.

Yeti Defense

This project was a group project that me and my friends Josh and Katie did. Our 3-D class was challenged by the other Wood Shop 3-D class to make a response to their Yeti project. They made sculptures of Yetis that they put in the large green hallway at Tyler. For a response, our class decided to defend against Yetis.

Our group decided to defend against the Yetis by putting a Yeti Detector by the front door to Tyler and "wanding down" people as they entered the building as airport security does (the wand and the detector searched for Yeti DNA instead of metal).

It was a short lived performance piece but we had a lot of fun doing it and putting it together. Some people loved the idea and got really into the new Yeti defending security measures. Others were less thrilled to be "wanded down". All in all though, it was a fun project that nicely complimented the other group's performance piece of recruiting people to join in an Anti-Yeti-Alliance Army.

These pictures show the Yeti Detector, the process of "wanding down", and me sporting the Yeti Defense uniform.