In my studio drawing class we are learning how to do gesture drawing of people. We were assigned to look up different pictures of architectural spaces that demonstrate people living in that environment.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Week Two : The Opus Project
It is said that for a building to be considered a true piece of architecture, it must process three qualities: Commodity, Firmness, and Delight. A building must be commodious, in that, it must serve a function. The building must also be firm, meaning it must withstand the elements and stay sturdy and strong. Finally a true piece of architecture must be delightful to the eye, it needs to be welcoming and inviting. ""The tension we may feel when looking at a modern structure so delicate, it seems to break, is the difference between physical and perceptual structure" (Roth 25). "[Delight] is the most complex and diverse of all components of architecture...it engages all of our senses" (Roth 67).
Above is a picture of the Weatherspoon Art Museum. I find that it represents all qualities of commodity, firmness, and delight. Though it is a solid white wall, it is apparent that space is firm. It houses the work of many artists and the circular window in the space engages your eyes to want more.
Illuminate is a word which here means to lighten or bring light. This past week in drawing, we were assigned a series of vignettes. A vignette is a picture that does not reach the edges of a piece of paper. We were then told to illuminate our drawings with water color. Suzanne also mentioned that the best way to show light in a picture is to let the white of the paper shine through. Above is an example. "Perhaps the most powerful element in our perception of architecture is light. Louis I. Kahn insisted that there was no true architecture without natural light" (Roth 85).
An idiom is “an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements, as kick the bucket or hang one's head.” http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/idiom. Idioms, I find, were a major part of our fairy tale week. In my story, The Owl, I thought that the owl was more of a representation of unknown knowledge. An owl is a symbol for knowledge, which the townspeople feared.
Materials are found everywhere. Materials are the pieces that make up the whole. They are the pieces of bristol board that make up a chair for Pat, the colors of water paint that fill our books, the feathers that create hats. Materials are the pieces that make up everything.
In our second week of studio we were given four new words that relate to our classes. They were: Commodity, Firmness, and Delight [One phrase], Idiom, Illuminate, and Materials. I found that all of these words are woven together to describe architecture. An idiom means known by a majority, what is beautiful, what is right. To illuminate is to bring beauty, style and delight. Materials work to produce firm structures, commodious spaces, and create additive pieces that engage our senses.
Monday, February 2, 2009
The Cat in the Hat
In studio, we had to create a wearable artifact that represented the underline meanings of our assigned fairy tale. My story was called the owl (if you look further down there is a description of that story). The essence of my story was, Don't base everything on your first judgement, take a closer look. I created a hat because an owl is a symbol of knowledge, and a hat goes over your brain. I created it out of newspaper because from far away a newspaper looks like a scary mess and you cant make out what's important, but when you take a closer look that picture becomes clearer. I made the hat come over one eye, because in my story the towns people were half- blind to what the owl was really like. The feathers are more of a literal meaning, representing the owl of course. I put really long feathers in the hat with small ones rising on it to represent the towns people trying to rise over the owl.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Week One : The Opus Project
Express : Design : Tell : Story
Throughout the week, I’ve been learning about new stories. Stories about an owl that was too big, stories about mischievous fairies and fickle people, stories about ancient Gods, and stories about the people in my everyday life. In studio the first assignment we were given was to read a fairy tale. My story was called The Owl, it was about an owl who who was misunderstood and consequently, it lead to her death. I also watched the movie A Midsummer Night’s Dream, within this story there contained many separate stories. There was the overall story which acted as a sort of umbrella and underneath it lied the story of the Fairy King and Queen, the tale of four lovers, the marriage of the Duke, and the play within the play.
Within A Midsummer Nights Dream, there lied key artifacts. The flower of love and the many different bicycles. These artifacts, like all, depict many different meanings. The flower of course represents love, where as the bikes seemed to be a funny joke. Artifacts in general, for some reason or other, seemed to hol d such great meaning for people. A simple necklace, for instance, of no visible importance can hold such a strong feeling for someone. In Clairissa Anderson’s drawing of her five favorite things, she drew a necklace that her best friend got her from New Zealand, this represents the bond and sisterhood she shares with her friend.
Multi-view is a word which here means the telling of different sides, or views. Many stories have different views. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for instance, the story is shown through many different points of view including: the fairies, mortals, and actors. Just in general what I’ve found is that a story from a particular event can be told from one side, but if you go to the other person involved in the event, the story can be something entirely different.
Cycle, a word which here means an ongoing circle of stories that connect together to form one. As stated before, there can be many different stories beneath an umbrella of the major picture. The stories of the Duke, the Fairy King and Queen, th e four lovers, and the actors, all cycled together to form one story, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I feel as if The Opus, in general also works as a cycle of events. It holds ideas, pictures, and information from all of our classes and forms one whole, one major thing, one artifact.
Many things can be translated to mean something entirely different. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the actor is transformed into a jack-ass because well, he acted like a jack-ass throughout the whole movie. In The Owl, the owl could clearly be translated as a symbol for knowledge, as most owls are, and the townspeople were afraid of the knowledge that she did possess.
The Owl
The Owl was a fairy tale that I had to read for my studio class. It's about a giant owl who decides to fly into a barn and rest there for a day. When the owner of the barn walks in, he gets scared and runs to tell the towns people. The towns people then decide to try and kill the innocent owl, but all are too afraid. Finally they decide to just burn the barn down and the owl dies inside.
This story, to me, represents how jumping to conclusions is not the best of ideas.
Owls also represent knowledge, so there could be an underline meaning of people being afraid of what they don't known and understand. It could also mean that the towns people were afraid of the powerful knowledge that this owl did have and decided to kill her so no one else could have that knowledge. Either way, the story kinda sucked cause the bird died!!
Five Images That Represent Me
I created this drawing to demonstrate five objects that represent me. The first is my stuffed dalmatian Buddy. I got him from Build - A - Bear when I was younger and he still sits on my bed. He helps to remind me of my past and where I come from. My next object was a mug. It acknowledges my love for coffee and how I wouldn't be the same with out those five cups a day. I also drew my wish bracelet around my wrist and a cigarette in my hand. The cigarette represents all of my bad habits and I realize as time goes on, it gets harder and harder to quit those bad habits. I've worn my bracelet for five months now and when it falls off my wish will come true. My last image was a pair of head phones. Music is what I turn to when I'm feeling a certain way, it's my reason for everything.
The Opus Project
The Opus Project is my newest project in my studio design classes. It is a semester long activity that highly describes my life, in my major and outside. It is a collection of detailed drawings for studio work, as well as being a mix of random ideas and sketches that I create.
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