Voices [week five : the opus project]

Duality. "In love all the contradiction of existence merge themselves and are lost. Only in love and are unity and duality not at variance. Love must be one and two at the same time. Only love is motion and rest in one. Our heart ever changes it's place till it fits" (Rabindranath Tagore). The word duality means "of, or pertaining to, or noting two. composed or consisting of two people, items, parts, etc." (dictionary.com). When given this word, I was not exactly sure what it really meant. When I read the above quote, however, I realized that duality does not mean being just two different things. It means consisting of two things or qualities at the same time. Instead of being black and white, duality is the shades gray, containing both black and white, good and evil, right and wrong. Above is a picture of the EUC that I drew for Suzanne's class. It serves the purpose of being a dual piece, because I drew it for her class but it also serves a purpose in my studio class. The drawing also uses light and dark to create dimension.

Precedent. The idea of precedent is to take inspiration from another designer and artist and use similar ideas and characteristics in our own works (of course we always cite where we get our ideas from). One can take precedent from another designer, and architect, or the natural environment that surrounds. In Suzanne's class we looked at a building on campus and used that space to create our own drawings. In my latest project for studio, I was assigned a group and then we were assigned a door in the studio building. We were told that we had to make a portal for that door and we were then given a building to look to for inspiration. My building was the Pylos Palace. The palace contained a lot of columns with patterned designs on the ceiling. From that I created a sketch model of my door with two columns on each side. The columns form trees made out of a patterned technique. "The glory of each generation is to create its own precedents" (Belva Lockwood).  Above are some images.

Presence. "The state or fact of being present, as with others or in a place," also "the ability to project a sense of ease, poise, or self-assurance" (dictionary.com). Prime examples of presence are Gothic Cathedrals. Though unique and different, in their own way, each cathedral expresses a presence of religion, the purpose of these grand buildings were to celebrate the presence of God. "Gothic architecture is most familiar as the architecture of many of the great cathedrals, abbey, and parish churches of Europe... it is also the architecture of castles... town halls... and private dwellings" (the wiki pedia). This quote expresses the presence a gothic cathedral had on everyone. People all around began using the style as a precedent to form their own everyday buildings and homes. Above is a drawing of a Gothic Cathedral.

Metric. The word metric is often immediately associated with rulers, drafting boards, and scales. In fact the above picture is a scaled drawing I created in my drafting class. However, the word metric can mean something different as well. The Baths of Diocletian are also considered a metric system. It is separated into ten different sections through a thirty-two acre span.

Moment. Moments are created everywhere you go. With every drawing you sketch, every picture you take, every painting you brush, a moment is formed. When i think of the word moment, I think of capturing a scene forever, grasping onto a picture and holding it through time, taking hold of something that will never change. "You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment" (Henry David Thoreau). Above is a moment that I captured and drew of a girl studying in the book store in the EUC.

Reflections. In design, one must look to his surroundings. He must take qualities and ideas from his entourage and form that into a precedent. From his precedent he must then fall to the metric system to create something well crafted and designed. He must use duality to create a feeling of rhythm and interest, that may be done through color or light or shapes. He will have then created something that holds a presence. It will be seen and known, it will create a moment.