ARTSVIS 54

2008-12-11T15:40:00.000-08:00

In this project my intent was to have the squares expand as the system grew. As the stages went on i started to see a pattern form within the sequence of the pattern that I was following. If i were to continue this system for 20 steps i would see more and more things. I also thought that the colors worked very well. I think this piece would also work better on a larger scale paper so that you could really get the feel for its translusent being.

Art on Duke's Campus

2008-12-10T21:28:00.000-08:00

This final video project allowed me to combine my passion for art and basketball by exploring different types of art both inside and outside buildings on the athletic quad. I was able to talk to multiple students about their impressions of art on Duke's campus. I was also able to highlight some unique examples of art used by the basketball program to showcase both past and current players.

Paper Hearts

2008-12-05T09:37:00.001-08:00

"What is important is to spread confusion, not to eliminate it. Take me, I am the drug. Take me, I am the hallucinogenic." -S. Dali

When working on an art piece, I always refer to this quote. I find my work to be concentrated upon false memories, etc. Therefore, this project was exceptionally hard for me.

In viewing Sol Lewitt's artwork, I found most of his work to be fairly dry and not very visually engaging. His art pieces all required taking a step back for a holistic view, instead of concentrating upon individual parts. However, I found his most interesting pieces to be those that involved paper folding -- and that is where I drew my inspiration.

A graph paper system does not necessarily have to be a 2-dimensional display. I wanted to give my project more of an interactive, 3-dimensional, engaging feeling. Therefore, I turned to the Japanese art of origami and created an educational system for folding paper hearts.

Before starting my project, I had to physically fold a paper heart in order to remember the appropriate steps, and to choose 10 "steps" that would be most informative to the viewer. Therefore, I did a few preliminary sketches:

From then on, I created my instructional system. I feel like my project does not need an explanation -- but the explanation is in the project. The directions should all be there on the first page, and viewers should be able to look at this system and derive from it the steps to folding a miniature paper heart out of an 8.5"x11" standard sheet of paper. The first page is the first step and visually explains the process, and remains the only 2D page of this project.

From then on, I approached the system by visually presenting the physical steps represented by the first page. As seen on the left, I numbered the "steps" so that the viewer can follow along the process as it is presented along a wall. The systematic approach is entirely based upon the instructions on the first page. This is an example of step 5 of the process, and should relate to step 5 numbered on the first page.

Here is step 9 of the process. I arbitrarily colored the borders and the creases in order to emphasize the 3-dimensional quality of the paper. Sol Lewitt has several pieces in which he randomly creates marks upon a large piece of paper. I utilized one of the techniques I saw in a collection of his art pieces to color my paper heart process.

I hope I managed to achieve what I believe is one of Sol Lewitt's main artistic effects -- the viewer must take in this system in its whole in order to grasp the full experience. In the end, I also hope I managed to bring across a visually stimulating, fun, interactive, 3D approach to this system project.

Expansion of a Triangle

2008-12-03T16:56:00.000-08:00

For this project, I decided to look at the ways a triangle could be transformed by one changing its dimensions one square of the grid at a time. I began with this red 4 by 4 triangle in the upper right hand corner, and then following the rules (which I explain later), form this progression of triangles modeling Sol Lewitt's work.

The initial pattern continues on to form this trio of blue triangles:

The project actually would have worked better if we had one large grid to work on like a wall in Sol Lewitt's art, but since I was constrained to the paper, I had to make adjustments. I will begin with the instructions for a large continuous grid, then tell how I made adjustments after.

1. Begin with 4 x 4 right triangle in upper left hand corner, calling the top point of the triangle the pivot point, because the rotation of the triangle hinges on this point. The other points that do rotate are called the left point and the right angle point, respectively.

2. The movement of the entire triangle from one triangle to the next is (in theory) always the same. The pivot point of the new triangle is two squares down and two squares to the left of the left point of the previous triangle.

3. The rotation of the triangle is controlled by the successive movement across the grid and how many grid squares the right angle point and the left point move. Moving from one triangle to the next is essentially a copy of the last triangle in its new position (as determined by the movement rule). This copy is then rotated and expanded, so that the right angle point is moved down and left one square, and the left point is moved right and up one square.

4. You continue this pattern until you develop the sloping triangle as represented by my project.

5. For the color scheme, I decided to begin with red, and moved through the range of colors until the last triangle. The color changes quickly in the beginning, as the triangle rotates rapidly, but then slows down with different shades of dark blue and purple as the triangle gets bigger, and its rotation is less noticeable. I decided to end with pink because I felt this showed the continuum of the color spectrum, and how this pattern could be continued eternally, eventually producing a very large upright triangle.

I had to modify some of the rules for my project, such as the movement rule, so that the triangles could fit neatly on the pages. Also, if the pattern was done on a large grid, the triangles would be moving downward continuously, instead of me restarting the pattern at the top right of the paper after it reached the bottom of the previous page.

Here is the final product after ten pages of the progression:

Art at Duke

2008-12-03T13:04:00.000-08:00

For my videos, I asked people different questions all dealing with art at Duke. Some a lot to say and others not much at all. I asked "Do you think art is important at Duke?", "What is your favorite piece of art at Duke?", and asked them what their thoughts were on the Nasher and the graffiti bridge. Several of my random interviews were damaged and were without sound so I don't have a full representation of my work; however, I did gain a better understanding of the public's feelings for the arts at Duke. Art at Duke is not just a painting in the Nasher and it is not a painting on the graffiti bridge. Its more about the feeling and passion behind the art. If someone feels like expressing themselves and leaving their mark by spray painting small toasters around campus (look for them!), then that is art. If people think a bunch of soda cans cut into a hanging design is art, then why not? As I type this, I am on the first floor of the Perkins library in a comfy chair that sits across from a huge poster hanging on the wall. It is a collage of images involving a mix of paintings, music record covers and pictures of Duke happenings- all countered by a large profile of a woman's head. The poster features a quote by Miles Davis which says, "Don't play what's there, play what's not there." I think the arts at Duke are definitely important but right now it is only a small whisper. With more support and visibility, it will be more prominent.

Art and Design at Duke

2008-12-02T12:48:00.000-08:00

I interviewed several students-a mix between sophomores and juniors. I received mixed responses, but found that most students wanted more art here at Duke.

How important is art and design at Duke?

What is the most important work of art on the Duke Campus?

Should there be more public art at Duke? if so, where?

What kind of public art would you like to see on campus?

These are places on campus that have art. Some are mentioned by the people I interviewed, and some are ones I noticed.

(outside Science Drive, inside Bio. Sci. Building, Trent, hallway leading to Perkins, BC, Kilgo bench, outside West bus stop)

Public "Student" Art at Duke

2008-12-01T20:55:00.000-08:00

I interviewed a few friends to see their opinions on public "student" art at Duke. The overall consensus was that the only two locations at Duke the "Graffiti" Bridge from East to West and the Dorm Benches. I personally think that is one of Duke weakest qualities because Duke should supports students creativity with public spaces to display art.

2008-11-30T19:34:00.000-08:00

For my system I decided to create a geometric pattern in the style of a mandala, which, by definition, is "a concentric diagram having spiritual and ritual significance in Buddhism and Hinduism". I was drawn to the strong symmetry and lines of such systems and thought I could re-interpret them in an interesting way as a step -by-step system.

I was inspired by the triangular patterns of Sol Lewitt'a famous white sculptures, but decided I would create a central basis of half circles to my system to add some dimension and visual interest. I originally started with sheet #2 of my system, a square rotated 45 degrees. I then created a triangle measuring 1/2 a block, with the vertex of each at the center of each side of the square. This created a polygon: my pattern would progress from square to polygon continuously (the only disruption to this pattern would be the first sheet: I had to move backwards 1 in order to prevent sheet #10 from going off the page). After this initial polygon was created, I connected the outer corners to produce another square. The triangles growing outward from the squares to create the polygons increase in size as the system progresses: the first is 1/2 a square high, the second 1 square, then 2, then 3. I connected inner triangles to the outer squares systematically to provide more balance within the system. The result were manalic geometric patterns that have an interesting quality: the culmination of several lines at each point create a dynamic "glowing" effect. For this reason, I decided after two trials that color would diminish that effect. I instead colored my system as simply as possible, with a gold marker. I found this actually accentuated the effect.

pop rocket

2008-11-30T14:29:00.001-08:00

In this project i wanted to take the integrity of the pop cans and make a rocket ship out of the cylinder shape of the cans. I thought it would be a cool effect if i was able to make curls at the end of the ship to represent smoke coming out of the end. I also wanted to make sure that all the colors coordinated with which thing it was representing so that the viewer wouldn't be lost if they were looking at it.

Graph Paper System

2008-11-25T19:31:00.000-08:00

For my systems project, I took a suggestion that Professor Fick made to me and added to and elaborated it. The rules for this system are quite simple:
1) Go from left to right on a horizontal piece of graph paper.
2) The first page begins with one-by-one triangles (two sides each take up one box, the hypothesis cuts through one box) and each subsequent page adds one more box to each side (page two consists of two-by-two triangles, page three consists of three-by-three triangles, and so on).
3) There can be no stray triangles; every triangle must touch at least one other triangle.
4) Once you reach the edge of the right side of the page (i.e. the last full box on the right side of the page), you can draw more triangles up and/or down along that edge, but you cannot go backwards toward the center and left side of the page.
5) Use purple, yellow, blue, and orange to enhance the designs.

In this sequence of 10 pages, each page looks pretty different because I imagined each page as how different people might approach creating the systems. The use of the same colors for each page helps maintain cohesiveness throughout.

Art at Duke

2008-11-24T08:08:00.001-08:00

I interviewed a couple friends about art around campus. They both had similar ideas about the art at Duke. The common theme in their interviews is that art is a hidden beauty here that should be more out in the open.

ZAK STEMER

RYAN CLARK

The Role of Art and Design at Duke

2008-11-21T14:13:00.000-08:00

For this project, I interviewed a few of my friends and compiled all of their responses into one video. I received some pretty varied answers, but the overall consensus seems to be that there is not very much art around campus, or at least not much of which my friends are aware. However, I am not sure that it is missed much. Because Duke is not an art school and does not have as strong an art department as some other schools, it seems as though most of the students who come here do not really think about art and whether or not it is present around campus. The reason most students come to Duke is to get a good education, which will hopefully lead to a "successful" job. Not many people have time to focus on art when they are trying to become doctors or get into graduate school. For those who have an interest in art, art tends to take a backseat to academics and good grades, acting simply as a sort of hobby. If art does not hold priority in students' lives, then how can we expect art and design to play a large role on Duke's campus? Please watch the video to learn more about students' feelings and understanding of visual arts at Duke.

Art and Design at Duke

2008-11-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

For this documentary assignment, of Art and Design at Duke, I found it fascinating to find out what my friends really thought about art in and around duke. These are some of the questions that I asked, and my friends replies:

Arthur Leopold: Should there be more public art at duke?

Gabe Bender: What is the most important work of art, on the Duke Campus, other than the work found at the Nasher Museum of Art?

Orfeus Shankle: Where would you like to see more public art?

Arielle Silverman: What kind of public art would you like to see on campus?

Rachel Diamond: How can public displays of art at Duke be improved?

After these interviews, it is evident that there is art work on campus that students recognize and know about. However, Students do want to see more art work in and around campus and make it more noticeable in their everyday lives.

Where is visual art at Duke?

2008-11-21T13:17:00.000-08:00

Where is art at duke?

That was the main theme for my project. I went to various sites and took short clips of the art present and finally decided to ask different people where they would go to look for art and how much importance they felt was given to visual arts in general. The overall view was that art was limited at Duke in both taking art courses as well as looking for art around campus. They felt that Duke was not the ideal place to pursue a Visual Arts major and they had to go looking for the art, it did not necessarily come to them. My interviewees were all genuinely interested in art, whether it was in photography, dance, music or paintings and they all felt that art at Duke has to reach out more to its students.

Art on Campus....

People's opinions......

cont....

cont...

Systematic Design

2008-11-21T12:36:00.000-08:00

For my conceptual project, where we had to create a design that uses a system with inspiration from Sol Lewitt's work, I decided to create a system of an increasing pattern design. I wanted to make my pattern begin from the center and work its way out, so that there would be a center point on the design. Therefore, I began with a simple four squares in the middle of the graphing paper.

After this start point, I began to grow my design from the center diagonally from each side. I increased the design outwards by two squares off of each point of the original starting square.

Once those diagonals were in place, I created a box around that enclosed the diagonals. This pattern continues up until my last 10th piece...

Examples of a few other pieces within the design, and my 10th piece:

The color scheme that I chose came from a few experiments. I wanted to create the feel that the design was growing outwards from the page, to create depth from the center. I first tried dealing with red, orange, and yellow, but I realized that no matter how hard I worked on it, it did not really create the feel of depth that I was hoping for. Therefore, I moved onto the colors of green, blue and purple. I felt that these colors all are based off of relatively the same hue, and work well together. I still wanted to create some form of depth, so that is when I made the choice to make the color really dark first, and then continue the pattern with the same color, except for really light. I felt that the darkness of the color followed by the lightness of the color created depth. This pattern continues then, for each color following green.

Representation of Art at Duke

2008-11-21T09:10:00.000-08:00

I decided to interview my friends about the representation of art at Duke, and the interest they thought people took to it. I did not include all of the interview, but as evidenced by the last clip, art is apparently important to some students more than others. Matt Davis is an engineer and does not even consider art at Duke, and only really has any idea of art at Duke through his friends. My friend Ellary also had a hard time coming up with art pieces that she could name off the top of her head, which is implies a lack of visibility for the few works of art that we do see at Duke. She is more interested in Performance art, but even in this category, as she says, many times the actors are met with a small audience. To me, art has a small representation here at Duke, and as Ellary says, even the "artsy" students must it seek out.

Gina & Laura - Art at Duke

2008-11-21T08:48:00.000-08:00

Laura and I worked collaboratively for this project to get a feel for how people within the Duke community see art on campus, the university's receptiveness to art, and where they think art should be better represented. Responses varied, but the overall responses we recieved were in favor of more student art, installations, public art, etc. It seemed obvious from our interviews that students' perceptions of Duke are that it is a university campus severely lacking in innovative and thought-provoking artwork.

Gina: Duke is not particularly known as an artistically liberal, creative, art-embracing campus, and unfortunately, some of these external stereotypes actually hold true. Although certain areas of campus are decorated with student-created advertisements, poltical beliefs, or random blurbs of graffiti (namely, the bridge to east campus), Duke's public artwork predominately remains the austere, memorial-type statuary or portraiture. As Babs so eloquently stated in her interview, this campus is in desperate need to art that can shock, inspire, or simply to make campus a more visually-stimulating, artistic environment.

Laura: I actually was not shocked by the student response in our interviews. Art is not a very prevalent element on the Duke Unversity campus. I feel like Duke ought to make more of an effort to showcase student art -- especially in more public areas such as the main quad, bryan center, east campus student union, and even the libraries. Art is a way to broaden minds and has various uses: breaking down social conventions, asking unanswered questions, etc. I hope that we, as students and members of the Duke community, can act upon this.

conceptual project

2008-11-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

I chose to my conceptual project about aligned objects that create a face. With each new page, something on the face moves. This concept allows others to think of what they would tweak on the face. The face generally stays the same; however, some parts are altered. I chose to move the eyes, mouth, teeth, and eyebrows. Different color schemes consisting of a primary and secondary color were used and the part that was changing had one color while the rest of the face had the other. This enabled the viewer to focus in on the change.

The face is constructed in a patterned format that was followed for all ten pages.

-Start by making 4 faint guidelines on the paper vertically. These lines are the outline of the face. All parts are within the lines.

1st-5 boxes in from left

2nd-8 bxes in from left from 1st line

3rd-8 boxes from left from 2nd line

4th-8 boxes in from left from 3rd line

-2 eyebrows 7 blocks down from top, 1 block deep, 8 blocks wide

fit between 1st&2nd and 3rd&4th guidelines

-2 eyes 3 blocks down from eyebrows. 3 blocks height, 4 blocks width

count 2 in from 1st&2nd and 3rd&4th line

-eyeballs 2 block height & width, in center of eyes

-nose- between 2nd&3rd line 4 blocks down

2 in from 2nd&3rd guidelines. triangle shape with hypotenuse on top.

4 block top length, 2 block width

-mouth- the middle part is 8 blocks down from nose. 8 blocks wide 2 blocks height

between 2nd&3rd lines

the sides of the mouth are two diagonal lines covering 4 blocks on bottom line, 3 on top.

-teeth- two teeth, 4 block squares. with 2 blocks in between

visual art @ duke

2008-11-20T21:04:00.000-08:00

For my video project, I wanted to document existing art, student reactions to art on campus, and potential spaces for new art. Each of these topics is covered in a separate part. I interviewed three of my friends, all of whom have different perspectives on the arts, but who ended up saying similar things: we need more art on campus, especially student art!

The Arts at Duke

2008-11-20T20:36:00.000-08:00

For my video documentary on the arts at Duke I decided to interview a friend of mine, Bri Connolly. Bri is a civil engineering major, but is also known around campus for her artistic abilities. Bri has not taken an arts class at Duke yet, but she manages to stay busy doing artwork around campus. The interview was done in Duke's Coffeehouse in front of a mural Bri completed this semester.

What is the most important piece of art at Duke?

What art have you done at Duke?

Where should more public art should be seen?

How important is art/design at Duke? And do people care about it?

The mural at the Coffeehouse.

The mural at the Central Campus apartment.

As a side note: there are a lot of neat murals all over the Coffeehouse, so I took a quick video of those too:

Probability and Growth

2008-11-19T22:58:00.000-08:00

My system is based on a very simple, yet dynamic series of rules. When thinking about what type of system I wanted to portray, I knew I wanted it to involve randomness and probability; I wanted the system to have a different outcome each time even if the exact same rules were followed by everyone with the same assumptions.

I started by placing rectangular blocks of the three primary colors in random locations on the graph paper. Each page after that, the blocks attempted to 'expand' by filling in the spaces next to them (horizontally and vertically) with their color. However, each color was not guaranteed that it would 'take over' the adjacent blocks; the colors were assigned a probabilities as to whether they would succeed.

The probabilities were assigned at random, based on my preferences.

page 1

Any color vs. White (85% chance of take over)

Blue vs. Red (55% chance of take over)

Blue vs. Yellow (75% chance of take over)

Red vs. Yellow (60% chance of take over)

From these probabilities we would expect to see easy expansion by the colors until they ran into one another. Once this occurred, we would see yellow lose ground pretty steadily to both red and blue; we would also expect to see blue slowly advance into red's territory. However, none of these outcomes are guaranteed as all expansion is left up to chance.

To determine each individual outcome I used a random number generator (link), with limits of 1 and 100. If the number generated was less than or equal to the percentage assigned, the color would expand; if not, the other color would succeed (*not applicable to white). The process of determining each outcome was long and tedious, however, I like the outcome.

page 2

page 3

page 4

page 5

page 6

page 7

page 8

page 9

page 10

Hopefully I did not make this sound too complicated and its easy to follow.

Heres a short video of the progression:

System-Rolling Dice

2008-11-19T15:21:00.001-08:00

Initially, the graph paper reminded me of the game Tetris, and I thought I wanted to do something with that. I also wanted to use dice to determine each outcome. However, there were too many things to consider (shape, size, rotation, position, color, etc) which made the idea too complicated. I still wanted to use the dice though.

Instead of using shapes from Tetris, I decided to represent the sides of a dice cube. I started in the left bottom corner. I rolled the dice three times for each square. The first number determined how many dots were to be on the square, which side of a dice cube (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6). The second number told me the side length to determine how big the square would be (1x1, 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6). The third number told me how many spaces there were between the current square to the next square (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6). The spaces could go any direction where there was space, but the next square had to share a column or a row with the previous square.

For example, the first set of rolled numbers was 4, 2, 4. My square would have 4 dots, would be a 2x2, and would have four spaces until the next square.

How did I decide how many squares I would have on a sheet of graph paper?

I rolled dice for this as well. Right before starting a new sheet, I rolled the dice to tell me how many new squares I should add to the page (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6).

The numbers I rolled:

4-3-4

1-4-3

4-3-1

3-2-3

4-2-2

4-3-1

6-6-3

2-6-2

4-4-3

4-6-3

4-5-6

4-2-1

6-1-1

3-6-4

2-1-1

6-2-1

6-6-5

3-1-4

5-5-6

1-4-3

1-3-6

4-3-5

6-1-1

3-2-5

6-2-3

3-4-4

1-5-1

3-4-1

1-3-5

3-2-3

2-6-4

1st sheet) 2 squares

2nd sheet) 6 squares

3rd sheet) 4 squares

4th sheet) 1 squares

5th sheet) 3 squares

6th sheet) 2 squares

7th sheet) 5 squares

8th sheet) 2 squares

9th sheet) 3 squares

10th sheet) 3 squares

Line System

2008-11-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

My system was inspired by Sol Lewitt’s series of lines. His systems started from a center point and lines came out in different angles. My system works in a similar way. The steps to my system:
1) Starting from the center point of 8x11 piece of paper.
2) Draw on Red line in any direction from the center point.
3) Draw on Blue line in any direction from the center point.
4) Draw on Yellow line in any direction from the center point.
5) Draw on Green line in any direction from the center point.
6) Draw on Orange line in any direction from the center point.
7) Draw on Purple line in any direction from the center point.
8) Draw on Pink line in any direction from the center point.
9) Draw on Black line in any direction from the center point.
10) Continue this system on 10 pages.
11) On each page add another 8 lines, in the same order.

My system uses color and lines to create a pattern or system that grows into something very eye catching.

I had difficultly coming up with a system because all of Sol Lewitt’s systems were so simple. It wasn’t until I tried on of the system for the full 10 steps did I realize that even though the systems were simple it created something dynamic.

Here are the 1st, 5th and 10th pages of my system. (Page 1 and 5 were not uploading properly...will be uploaded later)

Page 10:

Pipes

2008-11-18T14:44:00.001-08:00

I began with on focusing on a different idea- one which consisted of wavy lines and different colors but was suddenly inspired by the tangle of pipes, which are visible below the ceiling of our classroom. Therefore I constructed a system with a pipe design, which is repeated over the following ten pages. The instructions of the system follow-

· First design a basic template of a pipe drawing right in the centre of the page.

· Using a different color repeat the same design except shift it three squares up and 3 squares left of the starting point of the pipe design.

· For the following page use the same strategy – use a different color pen, move the design 3 spaces up and this time 3 spaces to the right.

· For the next page replicate the design, except this time it is 3 squares up and 3 squares left from the bottom of the pipe design.

· By the 5^th page you move back to the top half of the page and this time you count 6 squares from the top tube of the pipe design and 6 squares to the left. The next page repeats the same pattern except it is 6 squares up and to the left.

· This pattern is also repeated for the bottom half of the page where the design is moved 6 spaces up and to the right from the bottom tube of the design and next 6 spaces up and to the left.

· This pattern continues with 3 squares added to the distance upwards and sideways from the ends of the top and bottom tubes of the pipe design.

· The middle pipe design acts as the anchor for the rest of the design, everything else builds up on it and it is necessary to use different colors each time to see the different pipe patterns.

Each page has to consist of all the pipe designs in the previous one, so each page grows more complicated and complex. The only way to maintain the uniformity of each pipe design is by counting the number of squares for the length of each bend and maintaining this number for all 10 sheets. The first pages start of easy but each becomes more complicated and time consuming, which I didn’t realize at the beginning of the project! The system is mainly for a design purpose and reveals its intricacies as it builds up.

Conceptual Project: reCYCLE

2008-11-15T13:30:00.000-08:00

Instance #1 and #3

Instance #6 and #10

For my conceptual project, I created a rotating/expanding system of arrows that's reminiscent of the popular "recycle" signs. The system grows by concentric polygonal arrangements of arrows, and rotates with each successive page of the system.

As I was designing the system, I tried various ways of making the system seem to rotate. The colored pattern of the arrows is designed to lead the eye around the rotation without being too overwhelming (the system is limited to green, orange, and black). I also discovered that the best way to create uniformity in the system is with a template arrow, although I did not use a template here, but rather traced the arrows individually on each page.

The system is fairly complex, so please visit this page to read a full explanation of the process. The basic procedure is to begin with a square, then add concentric polygons around it, rotating a certain number of times for each new polygon, and alternating the direction of rotation for each polygon.

Conceptual Project

2008-11-15T11:45:00.000-08:00

My design really takes advantage of the mathematics of this project. It is actually just a collaboration of simple linear functions. If this were to be recreated the instructions would be as follows:

Use the following graphs:

1. x+1.5

2. –x

3. -6x+30

4. .2x-2

5. 4x+11

6. .2x+5

7. -.5x-8

8. 2x-8

9. 11+x

10. .5x+10

For all of the graphs you will draw the ones that are increasing will be in green and the ones that are decreasing will be in green. The red lines will always act as somewhat of a background and will not ever overlap the colored double lines. When the double lines cross, the intersections of like colors will be filled in with that color and intersections involving two colors will be filled in red. On the graph paper, two squares are equal to one. The origin is the middle of the paper.On the first page graph numbers two through ten in red and number one in green as a double line. On the next piece of paper graph numbers three through ten in red, leave number one as it was originally graphed and graph number two in blue as a double line. For the next one graph four through ten in red, numbers one and two as they were on the previous page and then graph number three in blue as a double line. Continue this process until all ten are graphed as double lines.

A quick lesson on drawing graphs:

All of the graphs in this project are simple and easy to draw without using a calculator. They are all in the form mx+b where m is the slope and b is the y intercept. For example, for graph number one, x+1.5, the slope is one, which means for every coordinate you move up you move one coordinate to the right. And the y intercept is 1.5 so you start at y=1.5. If there is a negative slope, for example -.5x-8, for every one coordinate you move to the left you move .5 coordinates down and you begin at y=-8.

One of the neat things about this design is that it can easily be tampered with to give it an entirely different look. For example if all the negative slopes are changed to positive and all the positive slopes are changed to negative, the graph will be flipped upside down. Also, if the y-intercept for all of the graphs are changed to zero it will look somewhat like a starburst coming out of the center. Slopes and y-intercepts can be changed and it could be fun to just mess around with all the graphs to make it look completely different.

I chose to do my conceptual project like this because I always thought that graphs looked neat when they were all together. I started by making more complicated graphs, for example ones that looked like flowers and spirals, but they were quiet difficult to replicate and would have been impossible to draw without using a calculator.

While drawing the multiple lines I kept thinking that it kind of represented some of Sol Lewitt’s work. In particular his large pieces that just look like a bunch of random lines going every which way. If my design were done on a much larger scale and a lot more graphs were added I think it would look a lot like his work.

Mapping Project

2008-11-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

My idea for this project was to take a different angle on viewing the states from a more ground level view. I thought it was an interesting idea because many maps are usually your traditional top view that usually just shows you the layout of the states and doesn't give you any feel for what our country is about.

Soda Can Mobile

2008-10-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

I spent most of the class times just cutting up the cans and messing around with them. So many ideas went through my head of what I wanted to make. I thought of doing a series of flowers, a rocket, candle-holders, and stars in space. Then, I looked up different baby/crib mobiles online to see different examples. I liked the idea, but I wanted to take it a bit further. Instead of the nice and simple baby mobiles, I wanted to create something that was overwhelming to look at. I experimented with using the cans to look like flower/star objects. I made a total of eight, all with different designs. Other parts of the cans were used-top, bottom, body. I like how the sheets (after cutting) were able to crumple up. I

also kept the color of the cans in mind as I wired everything together. I wanted to include a variety of different colors all spread out.

Most mobiles play music. For this reason, I thought Biddle Music Building was the perfect place to put the mobile because there is always music playing there. I put up the mobile around midnight, when not many people were there. So, I wasn't able to observe people's reactions. I went back the next day to observe. However, my mobile wasn't hanging anymore! I left my phone number and email address with a lady in the office just in case they found it anywhere. A few days later, I received a phone call saying that they found it. I retrieved my mobile and decided to take it to my room. I got the weirdest looks as I carried it back to West. Some people smiled and told me it was really cool. Others would look at it critically, trying to figure it out. I got a few comments about dangerous it looked. I hung it up in my room because I didn't have anywhere else to put it. Whenever people came in, the first thing I heard was "WHOA!" Some said it was really cool and kept asking me questions about it. Others told me that it was dangerous and that I should move it to somewhere where it would be less hazardous.

View from below

Some friends who helped me put the mobile up.

Soda Can Puppet Theater

2008-10-22T23:48:00.000-07:00

For this project, it took me an extremely long time to figure out exactly what to create using soda cans. Pencil and paper are usually my choice materials, so I found it quite difficult to find inspiration for this project, as I did not know what I should do with the cans and how to use them in an interesting way. I also do not consider myself a particularly creative person. I am good at recreating things I see around me, but it takes while for me to come up with my own creation.

My initial plan for the can project was to create something that would hang outside and somehow make use of the wind. Ideally, I would have been able to make something that used the wind to move in interesting ways, perhaps turn, move up and down, spin, or even do all three. Unfortunately, I could not quite work out the mechanics of the interaction between wind and cans, so I ended up going in a different direction. I then thought about making a model of something. I first tried a boat, inspired by my roommate's love of paper boats, but I had a lot of trouble shaping the cans into the form of a boat. To really be able to recreate a boat, I felt that I would have to make a large model, and I wanted to keep my project on the smaller end. I still knew that I wanted to hang whatever I made outside on a tree, but I did not want it to be too conspicuous, in order to see if people would still notice it. When the boat idea did not work out, my friend suggested I make a marionette. I thought the idea of creating a marionette out of cans sounded pretty interesting. I already knew that no matter what I ended up creating out of cans, I was going to include some kind of figure because the idea of using cans to form a figure seemed like a challenge, and I wanted to see what I would be able to come up with. Therefore, I took my friend's idea and modified it a bit. I wanted to use full cans as well as cut up can sheets, so I used full cans as the theater walls, can sheets as the floor, can tops as the "roof," twisted can strips as the body of the puppet, and the can bottom as the head. Everything was connected by wires. The theater walls are all connected together. Although it looks simple, this process actually took a fairly long time. I first connected the rows. Each row is connected by one wire, which I poked through the sides of the cans, and I tightly wound the ends of the wires around the pop-tops. I then stacked the rows of cans and used one long strand of wire to connect each of the columns, using a similar method as the one I used to construct the rows. To make the "roof" of the theater, I cut out the tops of several cans and wound several strands of wire around the pop-tops to connect them all and hold them in place. The puppet itself is made out of twisted can sheet strips, and three strands of wire hold it together. Two wires go through the arms, through the body, and through the legs. Then another wire goes up through the body, through a hole I made at the bottom of the head using an awl, then through a hole I made at the top of the head, and finally up to the roof where I wound the end around one of the pop-tops, allowing the puppet to hang.

Once I completed the project, I hung it up on a tree right in my quad. It seemed like a good location because so many people pass through my quad on a daily basis, so I thought I would be able to observe a good number of reactions to my project. I received a few looks as I hung up my project, and one person even asked what I was doing. After that, however, I did not witness any other reactions to my puppet theater creation, since I had to go to class right after displaying it. One of my friends did tell me that she saw a prospective student and her mother looking at my project and poking around it. They apparently seemed intrigued by the model. According to someone in class today (I'm sorry, I don't know your name), during the football game on Saturday, a little girl really took to my project, so much that her mother had to pull her away from it. It was quite flattering to hear these responses to my project, for I had not anticipated any real reactions at all, at least nothing more than a few glances. Sadly, I did not get to witness any responses to my project because by the time I returned to check on it, it was gone. It turns out that someone tore it down (probably during tailgate), so my friend brought it inside to return to me. Whoever tore down my project, really destroyed it. The cans were all crushed, the "roof" was no longer intact, the walls had completely fallen apart, and the puppet's head was bent in half. At first, it was kind of upsetting to see that all of the work and hours I spent on this project were destroyed and put to waste within a matter of seconds, but I had not even expected any reaction to it at all, so I was then somewhat glad that someone had felt strong enough feelings about my it to do something with it, even if those feelings were not necessarily positive.

2008-10-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

For the soda can project, I decided to make a doorway decoration. The idea came from those hanging beads that people sometimes put in their doorways. It was kind of an easy decision when it came to my design. I knew I wanted something that would hang was made of repeating simple elements. An intensive trial and error process landed me upon the circles and squares. I chose those elements because they looked fragile and almost dainty. I connected the pieces with curled wire, which you cannot see in the pictures. There ended up being six different strands, and despite how hectic it looks, there is some organization. The first and the fourth strand are the same, the second and fifth are the same and the third and the sixth are also the same. I thought that doing the pattern like that would make it look a little bit more organized but I was clearly wrong. I do like the way it ended up looking though. It is simple yet fun.

I hung my project in the common room door in my dorm (Giles). I was not satisfied with the amount of attention, or lack thereof, it got from people passing by. Most ignored or just scooted around it. There were a few people who were annoyed with the inconvenience of taking three steps to the side and gave a “pfft.” When one girl was walking past it got stuck in her hair. She gave a slight giggle and then moved it to the side of the doorway rather than in the middle where I had put it. My friends were impressed with it, though. Two of them even asked if they could have it.

Working with the cans was a difficult task at first but it became easier after a while. Figuring out how to work with the cut cans without cutting myself was a big deal. My batman band-aids got a good work out throughout the past month. It was surprising to me how easy the cans were to shape after you broke through them. I don’t know that I would chose to use soda cans as a material in another project but it was interesting to get to work with such an off the wall object.

Soda Can Skirt

2008-10-22T09:33:00.000-07:00

Ever see Bravo's Project Runway? Where they send designers into grocery stores and they have do design an outfit out of the raw materials in the store? I found that this was my perfect opportunity to have fun with an ordinary everyday material and make it into art.

I had originally thought I was going to do a tree branch with leaves. After starting to play with the cans and thinking about where I wanted to put the branch on campus, I decided I wanted to do something that would catch more people's attention. What captures people's attention? Clothes!

After deciding on making a skirt, I needed to figure out how to cut the cans. The middle section of the can made the most sense because I was able to flatten and cut the can into square pieces. While cutting up the cans I kept all the pieces of the cans, just incase I wanted to use them later. Once I had pile of square tin pieces cut up I needed to figure out how to attach them together. If I used small enough wire, I could sew the pieces together like fabric and thread.

The next step was to figure out how it was going to wrap around the body. I used a thick piece of wire and folded a square tin piece around it, then sewed it in place with wire.

I assembled the entire flat piece/patch work piece before I attached it to the top wire. Once I attached the two piece together, I decided it needed something more. This was when I added the belt. The belt is made from the bottom pieced of the can. They were sewed on the same way as the other pieces.

The final part of the project was to convince on of my friends to be my model and to fit the skirt to their body. My friend Julia offered to be my model. Lucky for me it turned out that the skirt was pretty flexible in size. I was able to put all the extra can patch work underneath the top piece of the skirt. The skirt turned out to be a wrap skirt. I knew from the beginning that this skirt was not going to be a functional skirt but rather a piece of art or a statement.

I really enjoyed working with this material because I found that it was quite malleable. At first I thought it was going to be extremely difficult but after cutting up a few cans it turned out to be quite easy. Although assembling the main panel of the skirt took a while, once I got the hang of sewing the piece together it didn't seem to take very long at all.

Playing with Soda Cans!

2008-10-22T06:14:00.000-07:00

I started this project out by simple playing around with a couple cans to get a feel for the material. I quickly discovered that two flat pieces of the can could be put together by folding them over one another and then scoring the overlap with pliers, and thus decided to make that the basis of my project, instead of using wire to hold everything together.

After that, I started experimenting with the different shapes that could be made in this fashion, such as triangles, circles, squares, etc. I was initially planning to make a kind of mobile out of a hodgepodge of these shapes, but after realizing that I could make a star out of five triangles and some wire, I got an impulse to fashion the sculpture to be something like a dream catcher.

I proceeded to weave five triangles together into a star, and then made a large circle to wrap around it. Since the middle of the resulting star-inside-a-circle looked empty, I cut out four triangles and made a star of David (held together by wire) to hang in the middle. I then fashioned the tails of the dream catcher out of circles made in the same fashion as the triangles.
At this point in the project, someone told me that it kinda looked like an animal, so I decided to add ears; thus, the finished project was born.
I decided to hang the project in the duke gardens, because I really liked the way it looks from the trail (see the above picture). I then passed it a good deal while running in an attempt to see if anyone was paying attention to it. Most people didn't even see it, and the people that did didn't really make any comments. When I went back to where I hung it on Monday, it was gone.

FOR THE MAP PROJECT:

When I began this project, I really had no clue what I wanted to do. I initially thought of an artistic representation of a gene map, but that proved to require an immense amount of research, so the idea was abandoned. About this time, I stumbled upon a website about Olympic athletes and gender testing. That got me thinking about the Olympics, and I eventually decided to map out where the modern Olympics have taken place since they started.
The conclusion? Very Eurocentric.

I started the major part by creating a grid, and since I lack the artistic skills to draw a map of the world freehand, I decided to go with making a connect-the-dots representation of it.

The whole connect the dots scheme is demonstrated by the picture of Europe and the United States / Canada above. The method created a very angular feel, and served to emphasize the fact that I used a grid. I then listed were the modern Olympics have been every year since their creation, and connected those cities in order of the year the summer Olympics were held there.
If you look closely (its really hard to see the red in this picture), you can see where the cities are connected. When all is said and done, the red lines form a design that, to me, looks a lot like a plane or glider or something along those lines.

Central Campus Beautification(?) Project

2008-10-21T18:43:00.000-07:00

I started off this project with a completely open mind, trying to see what I liked and didn't like about the different properties of the can. I knew I didn't want to create something with concrete imagery - I wanted it to be appealing to the eye and fairly abstract.

I started to work with the material and was taken by the interior, non-colored, part of the can. The material reminded me of a Frank Gehry building -

Walt Disney Opera House, Guggenheim Bilbao, etc... so I took off brainstorming on that path.

Guggenheim

Bilbao

I tried to think of ways I could create larger sheets of aluminum panels with I could then shape, warp, distort to create something on a large scale. With wire being our only way to connect cans, I couldn't think of a realistic way to do this (although Maya's seemed to have a lot of success sewing her skirt).

I moved on thinking of other ways to use the inside of the can. I decided I would cut the aluminum into strips and connect them in long straight strips, which would connect what used to be the can's top and bottom. I worked on this 'deconstructed can' idea for awhile, cutting large amounts of aluminum strips and compiling various tops and bottoms.

When I started to wire the strips together, I realized the wire didn't want to stay straight (but curled up on itself, got various bends), which was essential to what I had planned. Rather than meticulously trying to straighten each piece, I decided I would intentionally curve each piece and scratch yet another plan.

I worked through all the strips I had and created a lot of curved wire pieces, strung with aluminum strips, all of various lengths. I wanted to hang them from rings of higher gauge wire, and in the process of hanging them found I could make multiple sculptures. Looking out my window on Central Campus, I thought it would look neat if I hung all the sculptures in one place, making sure anyone who was around it would notice.

I made about 8 sculptures and hung them all in the same green space in Central, from various tree limbs, stair wells, and broken lights. I thought Central was the best choice simply because it is so ugly and neglected, and I figured no one would ever take them down.

You can see 4 scluptures in this picture

You can see 5 sculptures in this picture

A friend, helping me hang one of the pieces.

I tried to capture people's reaction to them, but most people walked by with no reaction at all. When I asked friends what they thought of it, they thoug

ht it was really cool and I found that most people that got close to it really like to touch the various curls.

My friend Mike looking at the different pieces.

If you are ever on Central feel free to take a look, because I'm guessing Duke's never going to take them down.

Trial and Error: The Two Serpents

2008-10-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

For my soda can project, I decided to make two serpents that hang together and place them within a tree on east campus. However, before I made this final choice I went through a huge process of trial and error.

When I first started working on the soda can project, I wanted to create fun interesting shapes and explore what the soda can as a material could do. I cut up multiple soda cans in a variety of ways. After some time, I realized that putting them together in order to become a larger object, and have it contain some kind of meaning and importance on campus to get a reaction from students would be a difficult task. I had no idea how I could connect these cans, and for this project I really wanted to aim for a final piece that contains a lot of symbolic representation and allows fascination and imagination for the public mind.

I decided to discard all of the cans that I had been working on and start on a new project. I began to think of objects that hang, and locations on campus from where to hang something from where it could be seen by students. I instantly thought of hanging something from a tree. Then when thinking of what hangs from trees, the first image that came to mind was a bird house. I started creating a bird house out of cans, and then noticed that weight distribution and the material being soda cans and wires would not allow this project to come out the way that I had wanted and intended it too. Therefore, I began to think, and within thinking my mind drifted to what my plans were for the upcoming week.

The only thing that was on my mind was how much work I had for my midterms and that fall break was coming up shortly. At this moment, the idea came to my mind to create a palm tree for my project. I instantly thought that I could place a palm tree in the middle of the common room to give hope for the students of my dorm. The palm tree symbolizes hope in a way that we all have hard weeks with midterms, but vacation is near. I wanted it to help relax people in a time of stress. However, once I got started on the project I realized that the wire was not strong enough to support the cans (for the branches and leaves at the top). I made the trunk and all of the branches and while attaching them at the top all they did was flop close to the trunk or not attach at all. At this moment I had no idea what to do for my project anymore. Then finally, I was sitting in my room and a random piece of wire was on the ground in a coil. It was right then were I got the idea and inspiration for my project. A snake.

I pulled more wire out and started wrapping it into bigger coils and lengthening it. I originally started putting the cans on the wire just as they were but I noticed that it did not give the snake any body and it didn't really look good. Then, I got the idea to smash the cans so that they became flat. This worked out perfectly. At first I only made one snake. I chose it to be black because when I thought of snakes and the location and symbolization on campus I instantly thought of the bible and the serpent. If the snake was going to symbolize the serpent and the meaning of temptation I figured black would be the best choice of color.

After the first class back from vacation, I was inspired to then create a second serpent. I decided this not only to make my project more dramatic and more noticeable, but also to create a balance. This is why I chose the color red. The color red I thought was the opposite, or the counter-balance to black. This would create the meaning of the ancient chinese symbolization of ying and yang, two opposites that balance each other out. I knew that making the black serpent temptation was almost making to harsh a judgement on the students, especially the incoming freshmen. I was judging the fact that every new freshman gives into the new temptations of college. Therefore, I wanted to create the opposing force to mean that there is balance on campus and that everything has two sides.

In conclusion, after multiple attempts at the project I created two serpents. One black to represent temptation, and one red to balance it. I hung it on a tree on east campus which symbolizes a tree of knowledge and essentially what can come from that.

Into the Wild

2008-10-20T09:46:00.000-07:00

My sculpture is both decorative and natural. It depicts a portion of a vine and it takes a closer look to realize the blue objects are flowers and that there are butterflies and dragonflies in the midst of them. I initially started out with making the strange blue flowers and then experimented with the material (getting a few scratches on the way) and made the different bugs and incorporated to them to create a natural image. It would have fit in well in an area outside but I decided against this because I felt that it might get damaged and break very easily.

I decided to hang it up in my common room at South Gate which was an easy place as I could observe people’s reaction to it and I also felt I would get more honest opinions from people I was familiar with. As there were limited places to hang it up, I had to change the structure of my sculpture. I made all the objects face a certain way, so the viewer could observe the different colors. I hung it up on the door so that it was the first thing people noticed when they entered the common room. I got an overall positive reaction.

Some of the comments I received were,

‘Wild’

‘The colors are great and it’s so creative’

‘The red butterfly is the best part’

‘The color adds a lot to the shape and it all works really well as a whole’

‘Very eye-catching and creative’

‘The aqua soda cans provide a beautiful and serene aura to the piece and this piece really adds a whole new dimension to everyday objects.’

‘It looks like those weird flowers from Sponge bob’

‘I hope you got your tetanus shot!’

Can you understand it?

2008-10-19T16:44:00.000-07:00

Pictured on the left is my can project. As can be seen, I tried to put an organic feel into this assignment. After playing with the cans and getting an initial impression of this unconventional medium, I formulated a basic idea of what I wanted to create. Unlike the last assignment, I actually managed to follow through with this prototype brainstorm. So, like it was stated in class, the "mechanical-versus-nature" juxtaposition generates a very strong response from viewers. I thought the cans had a very cool industrial, metallic quality to them; and so I attempted to create a mobile with very natural elements.

Here is one portion of my mobile. Initially, I had hoped to create an origami crane. However, the aluminum was a lot harder to work with than I had originally thought -- and so I had to amend my original plan. By fooling around, I managed to create a bird from multiple cans (plus wire) and attached the individual parts with thin wire.

When making these flowers, I used a different method. For the one on the bottom, I made a series of concentric circles and cut slits to piece them together. Then, after several cuts on my hand etc., I managed to create a spherical "blossom". For the flower on the top, I cut sheets of aluminum into strips and tied them together at the center with wire. I let them dangle to balance out the weight on the mobile.

As can be seen from pic two, the setting I chose to hang my sculpture was the railroad bridge which crosses over Campus Drive running from East to West. Pictures three and four are taken from the bridge after I walked up to find an appropriate place to hang the mobile. I chose the bridge because I wanted my piece to be displayed in an industrial surrounding. Upon closer inspection, I found a part of the wall where I wanted to hang my mobile around. There is graffiti text which states "Jesus Lives" and I wanted my mobile to hang over the portion that stated "Lives", because I thought it would make the viewer question: is the image alive? or what does it mean to be "alive"? Anyways, all-in-all, this area seemed appropriate.

The process of hanging the mobile proved to be a little more difficult (Primarily: a lack of proper lighting and a severe phobia of heights to deal with). However, I managed to string the mobile with thin wire and tie it to the bridge hanging directly over the road. The few late night drivers which passed by were, to put it nicely, intrigued by the mysteriously lowered art piece. One man actually got out of his car to inquire about the mobile and what I was doing with it (I told him I was "fishing" to raised eyebrows; and then I gave an actual explanation).

These are two pictures taken with my camera phone. Click on them to enlarge, if you will. They show, in the relative detail of 3.2 megapixels, precisely how I managed to suspend my mobile over Campus Drive.

This is a picture taken from the bridge directly looking down upon my mobile. Huge sense of vertigo would be an understatement.

And so, pictured on the left, is the finished hanging. The mobile is suspended over the spraypainted "lives" from the bridge -- high above the heads of inter-campus travelling. More pictures of the project, upon completion, follow.

Here is the finished mobile, hanging from the bridge from different viewpoints. Pictures one and two are from the road beneath looking upwards; and pictures three and four are from the bridge looking below at the suspended mobile strung with wire.

A brief personal reflection on the project: It was definitely my first time ever creating a 3D sculpture. I had to take into consideration many physical aspects (i.e. weight distribution, perception from varying angles, etc.) and it was, most assurably, a long learning process. The aluminum proved to be relatively easy to handle, but I did suffer from a few cuts and scrapes. I took into consideration the use of color for this mobile. Hence, diet coke caffeine-free gold and A&W brown along with coke red, sierra mist green, and diet coke silver. When all's said and done, I am satisfied with the end product and I believe I tried my best to create a more "organic" mobile. I like the setting chosen, because I believe it provides an interesting contrast. The text on a concrete, industrial background ("LIVES") becomes a fascinating basis of comparison.

I sat on the bridge to record a few reactions. I saw many questioning stares, and several cars slowed down with drivers' faces peering from their windshields. A few of my dorm mates thought it was "cool", "sweet", blah blah. One man on the housekeeping staff shouted up to me that the mobile was "real neat". As far as I know, as of now, it still has not been taken down. This could be due to the fact that it's such a hassle to cut it from the bridge. It'll be interesting to see how long it lasts...

Interpretation

2008-10-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

I liked this project because it was a material I'm sure everyone was new to working with, soda cans. The soda cans were interesting not only because they were metal, but because they had a shape of their own already, and certain properties that allowed or inhibited the design. Actually, because the cans were so hard to work with at points, they actually ended up changing my design.

I originally had the idea of making something somehow involved with nature. I was not sure if I was going to exactly replicate nature or not, but in my first idea, a beehive, I was going to make the shape of the bee hive and hang it suggestively in a tree. This did not work out. I decided to play with the cans and see what I could make, and ended up with these spiky bundles made from the tops of the cans.

I also liked stringing together the little pieces of the cans

to make chains, which I hung from the bottoms of the spiked balls. Once I hung this in the tree, it looked great, but also left its meaning up to the viewer. One could say they look like pinecones since I hung them in a pine tree. I also added more elements to the set to make it seem like a collection of sculpture incorporated into nature by making little green metal strips bound into a bundle then spread out to look like pine needles. These are visible in several of the pictures.

Another thing I liked about hanging the metal sculpture in a natural tree was the contrast created by the two. I am sure when people look into trees, they do not expect to see metal, and not only does this grab the viewers attention, but makes them wonder what this sculp

ture implies or resembles by being incorporated with nature.

I was originally planning on hanging the sculpture in a tree on West Campus, around the Bryan Center. But when I tried to ask administrators if I could borrow a ladder to hang something, when they found they told me I couldn't hang sculpture, and when I said I had to do it anyway for a class, they said they would just take it down. So this was an interesting interaction with public art and Duke, and implied that the trees and the grounds were more important than the expression of art on campus.

So I went to the Duke Gardens instead. This was better actually because it offered better viewing space and better variety of trees. At the gardens, I was not sure if hanging my sculpture was allowed, but I figured I would hang it anyway and let them take it down. When I was hanging it, some people looked on with passive interest, while some people looked confused or looked at me strangely. I thought this was interesting, but because my sculpture was abstract, I wasn't too surprised. Hanging the piece was actually easy with just wire, and the sculpture is still up in the gardens for as long as they will allow it to be there, and I was happy to give people something to look at and interpret in the Gardens.

This is a picture of the sculpture as a whole:

Can Project: Fish

2008-10-17T10:52:00.001-07:00

This project was particularly challenging for me, mainly because i re-evaluated my idea so often. I initially had tried to work with the cans pretty abstractly, twirling and curling the metal, but nothing seemed fluid or natural. I then decided to cut vertical openings along cans, intending to weave the metal i had cut out back into the can horizontally. Once again, my idea fell short of what I had visualized, so instead I crushed down the tops and bottoms of the cans to create whimsical lantern-like shapes. I then scalloped the edges of the leftover scrap strips, joined two together to create a "light", and suspended them with wire in the center of the lantern shapes. It was around this point that I began appreciating cans as a material: at first I was frustrated by their jagged edges and inflexible tops, and I was confused how some soda brands manufactured stiffer cans than others, but I began to realize that the thin metal was actually extremely versatile because of their color and lightness. I was very guided by color in this project - much of my decision making was based on which of the pleasingly tacky, bright metallic colors could be contrasted to make the biggest "pop!". Then, three nights before the project was due and I was beginning to construct the wire apparatus that would allow them to hang like lanterns over an open space, I re-evaluated my idea once again. I had cut a can in half and fringed it, almost like a hula skirt. This scrap piece had been floating around my other finished pieces, but I realized by attaching it to the ends of my lanterns, I could create whimsical, boxy little fish.

I was so happy with what I ended up with, regardless of how difficult it was to attach the pieces, that I spent a night converting all my lanterns to fish, complete with little glowing "hearts" in their center. I hung them in no particular order from a hoop of wire, so they would float in a way reminiscent of a school of lackadaisical fish.

I decided to hang my fish in a shower stall, to give people an amusing suprise when they opened the curtain in their towels. I left my door open to the hall while it was up, and heard several "did you see the fish?!" and "Oh my gosh whose is that? I love them". The response was what I expected from a project so colorful and pleasantly unexpected.

2008-10-17T09:10:00.000-07:00

For the soda can project, I tested out a few different ideas but nothing seemed to work out the way I wanted to. I decided on a mobile theme and went from there. Using wire, I created two layers of rings and then a spiral of wire hanging at the bottom. I used cans in every aspect of the project. I used the scraps of labels to wrap around the rings and I used the bottoms and tops of the cans to hang from the spiral and also the first ring. Hanging from the second layer are cans cut in various ways. I used wire to create the body of the mobile- the two rings, the spiral-and to connect the whole thing together. Because it was raining when I was going to hang it, I decided to hang it in the doorway at the end of my hall in my dorm. As the day went on I saw a few people wandering over to check it out. One person asked if I had created it and said that it was "Very cool." My RA said I should leave it up for decoration but I might bring it outside possibly.

Hanging Lantern

2008-10-16T19:43:00.001-07:00

For the Soda Can project, I created a hanging lantern from whole soda cans with a "flame" inside of whole and cut (curled) cans. I was also interested in the musical properties of the cans, so the "flame" is constructed like a set of hanging chimes. Wind blowing through the lantern creates noise.

When I got my project to my dorm to hang it, I discovered it had broken in transit. I had to fix two broken sides where the wire had snapped. Here is what is looked like when broken:

After wiring the parts back together, I tried hanging the piece, but discovered that it no longer hung the way I had originally planned! The sides were slumped and couldn't be made into right angles.

I managed to get it to hang correctly by adding additional wires to the top. Last of all I added the final interior piece. Although it isn't exactly what I had envisioned, the overall effect is close. The scale seems right for its location and the colors work well.

My artwork hangs between two residential buildings in Edens Quad on West Campus, and is visible from all the approaching paths to the dorm. While I had originally planned for it to hang parallel to the walkway, I discovered that I could not get it to hang straight that way and had to turn it 45 degrees. This turned out to have a better effect after all because it now faces the viewer as he/she approaches from all but one of the paths.

Comments I received while hanging the piece and from friends who viewed it:
"There are easier ways to recycle..."
"Is housekeeping going to take that down?"
"What the hell is that?"
"It's awesome! Can I eat it?"
"That's my soda can, on the top!"

One of my friends decided to climb inside to look around. The rest just walked around it to observe it from different angles. I hope other viewers will notice the use of different colored cans, the "flame" inside the lantern, hear the sounds of the chimes, and take the time to walk around and view it from different directions.

A Map Of Cuba

2008-10-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

For my map project, I wanted it to symbolize something more than just a map. I chose to do a map of Cuba and the countries that surround it. I have always grown up with a Cuban lifestyle and speaking the Spanish Language, so I have a strong connection with my family and the country. This is why I chose for it to stick out more than any other countries that surround it, including the United States (represented by the tip of Florida at the top of the map), because Cuba has been the most influential country to my upbringing and because it is also insulated and isolated in comparison to many other countries around the world. I also wanted to incorporate how and why Cuba became what it is today, and that I figured had mostly to do with the people who controlled and ran Cuba throughout the decades. From the left side of the island to the right shows a timeline of he most important people that came and affected the country in one way or another. It starts with the foundation and the discovery of Cuba with Christopher Columbus, and ends with Raul Castro who recently took reign over the country after his brother, Fidel. The people who ruled in Cuba dramatically chose the lifestyle and how the country should be seen in terms of every aspect from all other countries. The fact that Cuba is still very old-fashioned and not completely changed with modern times shows a lot of what a person in power can do for a country. Finally, the last detail that I tried to incorporate into the map is how old Cuba is, and how much history it holds as a country. This is why I chose to make a collage and use old newspaper as the background as well as gold speckles. I think this brings out an antique feeling and reminds the viewer how much Cuba has been through and how much is still yet to come for the ever-growing country.

Antique Map of Manhattan

2008-10-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

When deciding what I wanted to do for my map project, I had a ton of different ideas, but one that I liked in particular was a map of New York. I am from Connecticut, and while I don't actually live in New York, it still means a lot to me since I go there all the time. I love the intersecting streets and the grid like system they create, especially Broadway, that disrupts this entire system of neat and orderly street by being diagonal. Originally, I had wanted to emphasize Broadway, but I realized that I wasn't sure exactly what I would do and what message I would send so I decided not to. This map at the right is my original version of the map, before I distressed the paper. Drawing all the streets was probably the most time consuming part of the process, since there are so many and I wanted it to look neat.

This is my final version of the map. After drawing all the streets, I realized that I wanted to add something more to the project, so I decided to antique it. First, I used oil pastels do add a golden brown aged look around the outside. While this added another dimension to the piece, I didn't feel it was enough, and with advice from my art teacher, I decided to stain it with tea. The tea staining was an interesting process because I had to find a large basin, steep multiple tea bags in the water, then place the paper in. I crinkled this paper a little bit to give it cracks and a more used feel, but what I did not realize was how fragile the drawing paper became when wet. I had to very carefully remove the paper from the water because it ripped very easily. Some rips did appear, but in the end I am happy with this because it give the map an even older feel.

Map of Hitler's Mind

2008-10-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

I knew from the beginning that I did not want to create a typical map, such as a road map or country map. After some thought, I decided it might be interesting to map a person's mind. Adolf Hitler had come up in one of my other classes, so I decided he would be an interesting subject, considering that when most people think of evil, the first name to come to mind is usually Hitler's. I wanted to explore the reasons Hitler might have become the person he was and then translate those reasons onto paper. However, this proved to be a more difficult task than I had hoped or expected. It is not clear exactly what events were the sources of Hitler's twisted and disturbed self. I did make a few revisions from my original, which seemed too historical and did not do enough to display Hitler's perverted nature. I tried to make the brain oddly shaped and added dark spots to make it seem somewhat deformed. I also enlarged the gas mask in the left hand corner of the swastika, set the Treaty of Versailles on fire (what I believe Hitler probably wanted to do to the treaty), and drew a pile of dead bodies lumped carelessly one on top of another. I think the rest of the items are fairly self explanatory. Hitler had an unusually and excessively close relationship with his mother, which is the reason his mother's face is at the center of his brain. His father was extremely abusive and constantly beat Hitler, once almost leaving him to die. Hitler's relationship with his father is represented by the scene in the right hand corner of the brain - one figure is on his knees pleading for mercy as the second figure is about to strike him. The paint palette and drawing represent Hitler's childhood dream of becoming an artist, a dream that he was never able to make a reality. The book of the Franco-Prussian War lies in the brain stem because Hitler's German nationalism is believed to have stemmed from a book on the Franco-Prussian War that Hitler read as a youth. The German flag and Iron Cross display that German nationalism. Hitler believed himself to be Germany's savior. The swastika, gas mask, and Star of David illustrate Hitler's extreme racism and desire for racial purity through the extermination of all types of people of whom he disapproved. The group of words on the left side of the brain are all events and groups that were relevant to Hitler, especially in his rise to power. Finally, the gun and cyanide capsule represent Hitler's suicide.

Darby, Montana

2008-09-29T15:09:00.000-07:00

My goal while making this map was to illustrate my feelings towards my home town, Darby. I tried to capture the simple and western atmosphere of the place I grew up. Each of the images I chose to use in the center have personal meaning to me. For example, the truck in the middle is the truck that our Town Mayor/ Head Custodian at school drives (odd combination, I know), the mountain on the left is one I climbed last summer (3,500 ft climb in 5 miles, not exactly a brisk walk), and the picture of the dog in front of the barn on the left is at my friends ranch. It was a very personal project for me and I really like the feeling I get from it.

When making the map I wanted the focus to be on the center. So the entire meat of the map is located in the center. Also, I somewhat got rid of the edges by blacking them out using a pastel. Originally the map did not have the different towns on it but without them I thought it felt unfinished. The towns also gave the map a more personal touch and makes it so a larger audience can relate to it.

2008-09-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

For the map project I thought of different movies/plays that have a specific journey or plot line. Wizard of OZ came to mind. My map displays the travels of Dorothy. From black and white Kansas to the colorful Munchkinland and vibrant Emerald City. I used a grid to split up the paper and made sure to take advantage of the whole space. The yellowbrick road is the main focus to lead the viewer through the various points. I used mostly small images and small parts of scenes that give a sign of what each stop entails.

Map-Internship Boardgame

2008-09-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

For my map project, I didn't want to do a typical map. At first, I considered doing some sort of maze or puzzle but decided that those didn't quite fit with what I wanted to do. So, instead, I looked up images of different board games. Board games have more 'direction' and allow for narratives to be told. For awhile, I had been looking for a way to bring a sense of closure to my summer. I felt as if loose ends were not tied away, and it was a confusing and awkward time of transition from my internship to school. I didn't want to forget what I had done and learned while I was in San Diego as a pastoral intern. I began to list all the different experiences I had there. Then, I thought of ways to translate that onto the gameboard. I included tasks that every pastoral intern (under this program) had to undergo. This was the bottom sheet-black & white. I also wanted to show what I made out of the internship. So, I used tracing paper and with different colored pens, I drew arrows and wrote my thoughts about each task as I went through them. I guess it's like watching a movie and then watching it again as you listen to the Directors'/Actors' commentaries.

Map of Sri Lanka

2008-09-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

The division and conflict within the country is portrayed and there is a stark contrast between the north and the south. The irony is that the island itself is shaped like a tear drop which also reflects the conflict within it. The map is both historical and geographical, it has all the major roads and rivers which I highlighted by sticking little squares of paper along the routes. The bright color attributes to making the bottom half attractive and appealing but the top half is completely in black and white with war images implying how separate and out of bounds this area is, compared to the rest of the country. The different images are symbolic and indicate what you would expect to see at each site. This map would also guide the viewer to locations that interest them historically, leisurely and culturally and also warn the viewer to keep away from certain locations. The background text is historical, it is fragments of information about the civil war, how it originated and the extent of damage it has caused in previous years. Its purpose is to give viewers background information and explains why the map is divided and what the civil war is about. I did not draw any neighboring land masses to enhance the feel of the island and to bring out the fact that despite its small size it is completely different in relation to the areas around it.

US Electoral Vote Map, cont.

2008-09-24T08:46:00.001-07:00

After adding more layers I started to like how the map was looking. The black background add to the intensity of the colors. I still wanted to add another element to the map, I decided that this element was texture. I add texture to the map by adding different colors on top, and then scraping away some of the oil pastels. Once I added the new color and texture, I was finally satisfied with my map!

My idea about the colors and textures came from Jasper Johns. He was known for adding lots of color and different textures to his pieces. He did a series of US maps, this was the first time that anyone had turned a map into art. I wanted my map to be art, and tell the story of the election.

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US Electoral Vote Map

2008-09-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

These were my first attempt to make my political map of the US. I was having trouble with my medium. I used oil pastels and a heavy paper, however I was unable to make the colors blend the way I wanted them to on the paper.

I was still struggling with the colors not blending the way I wanted. I then tried words, to see if that added the extra element I was missing. However, they added more cutter. I add Election on the top to explain the map. M's for McCain states, O's for Obama states, and S's for Swing states. I decided to cover up the text because it was taking away from the colors and message of the map. I was still unhappy with the way it looked, so I just kept adding more and more color!

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The Birthplace of Hip-Hop

2008-09-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

I started off wanting to pursue a map that displayed how territorial the hip-hop genre is, showing how each region had its own distinct artists and sound. The inspiration came from Nike's "United Countries of Baseball" campaign seen here. This got more difficult when I realized each region was usually represented by a single city - making any boundaries I drew arbitrary without market research. I progressed to limiting myself to one city, the artists that emerged from it, and other places of relevance in the city that corresponded to rap.

Naturally, I decided on NY, NY - the 'birthplace' of hip-hop. I included different artists' places of birth and schooling, as well as the boundaries of the 5 boroughs. I did the entire project in Adobe Illustrator, first vectoring the borders of the boroughs, then pin pointing the exact locations on the map. Rap is a relatively new genre, but I wanted to depict the map in an older style because of its historic relevance.

A Map of Consciousness

2008-09-22T23:14:00.000-07:00

[EXCERPT FROM 2008] "Whoa, what a voiiiiiiiiiiiiddddddd!! I'll go to an empty field; low winds, rustling brushes, big wide moon and an endless tapestry of stars -- but I wouldn't want to fill it with anything because I'm a black black black hole or something like that. But I EXIST and that's what matters. It matters, roight? Thanks descartes."

I took the theme of the project and twisted the definition of "map" to chronicle, through images, connections between philosophies of various psychologists in regard to the "mind and body relation". This is also a very personal work (that blockquote from above is from my journal; "I can't talk to my mother so I talk to my diary." Cheers, Office Space.)-- primarily due to the fact that I chose the philosophies on consciousness (that I find the most intriguing) to display on this map. My intent, with the creation of this map of conscious thought on conscious thought, is to confuse viewers and pose the question: Is there a correct viewpoint?

The abstracted perspectives on this montage of buildings should imply the absence of definition and position. Due to the subject matter, I used a pastel palette to evoke a more dream-like quality.

My favorite part of the image is the Ego. This little character has squished her almost-androgynous looks into the center of the image (which, of course, implies the importance that one places on the self). The "Ego", as always, is the focal point of you, me, him, her, them. Earlier this year, I had worked on a series of digital sketches on Ego. The girl on the left is the prototype of the frumpy black-and-white Ego I have in my project. It's obvious the character lost a lot of its feminity when I stuck it into this project.

Overall, I hope my project elicits a "Whoa, trippy" response from an audience. It certainly was a lot of fun to make. The washed-out blues, blushing pinks, beiges, and faded yellows are meant to catch the eye of the viewer as a source of solace from the blackness/nothingness/absence of color that is the background . The white (amateurish) cartographic lines and symbols imposed over the black poster ought to present the idea that it is futile to attempt to map the unknown -- the mystery that is human consciousness. I hope that I've, somewhat successfully, managed to convey (through this project) that particular sentiment.

Map of the Arts at Duke

2008-09-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

My map shows the Duke campus with an emphasis on the space given to the arts (music, visual art, and performing art). The colored areas show the campus space devoted to science, residential life, the medical center, and other areas, while the red boxes show the relative sizes and locations of art buildings. The intention behind my map was to make visible the usually invisible practice of the arts on campus, and to show how the arts are physically as well as mentally relegated to the periphery at Duke.

To create this map I examined many different maps of campus, from the "official" map on the Duke website (map.duke.edu) to Google maps to promotional literature given out by the admissions office. I compiled all these maps to create the map shown here. The basic layout was taken from a Google map on which I superimposed a grid. The grey horizontal and vertical lines on my map are the remains of this grid. I also arranged the campus so it would fit within the page but as close to the edges as possible. The overall feel of the final product is like a treasure map, where the viewer has to hunt through the larger colored campus spaces to find the red art buildings that are the focal points of the piece.

In the course of creating my project I did research on the different arts venues at Duke, trying to find out how much space is allotted to them compared to the spaces given to other areas. I discovered that the measurements of spaces on campus are not public, and was unable to get access to them. I was also struck again by the lack of arts spaces on campus compared to the large amount of space given to other campus pursuits. Hopefully, viewers of my map will come to a better understanding of where the arts are located at Duke, as well as become aware of how the arts are marginalized and how space can be a powerful factor of control.

Map Project

2008-09-19T11:35:00.000-07:00

I took an abstract approach when doing my map project. I had originally envisioned silhouetting the images of a caravan over a map of caravan routes, but instead realize what interesting results I could get by only allowing the map to come through within the silhouette. There is movement from right to left in the piece, as I free-handed the images of camel shadows against a sand dune as opposed to actual camel figures, and the country lines within the map lend a blocky, thrown-off grid effect to the image.

New Semester Begins August 27th 2008

2008-08-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome ArtsVis 54.02 class - Fall 2008.

My System

2008-04-17T16:34:00.000-07:00

My project grows based on spins.
and the five elements
I use red to represent fire, brown to represent earth, yellow to represent medal, blue to represent water and green (which i blended yellow and blue using those blendable color pencils) to represent Wood. Because the concept that fire generates earth, earth generates metal... etc., I arrange them in this order and put their symble at the end of each spin which points the direction of the nxt spin.

and the spins creats a large spin in the same direction as the small ones (clockwise).

"Game System"

2008-04-16T18:34:00.000-07:00

In my research of the artist that inspired this project, I found that I was immediately attracted to the series that involved stars. Each image in the set that Sol Lewitt created involved the addition of one more point to the star shape, increasing the intricacy as the series and system moved along. However, his other works that had a feeling of three-dimensionality also intrigued me. I wanted to figure out a way to create a system that combined the feeling that something was 3D using triangles, allowing me to limit the use of the actual squares on the graph paper; I knew from the start that I didn’t want to use them as features in my system.

The idea I had involved looking at my system as if it were a game involving the placement of triangular “game pieces” into a ring. On each “board,” one more piece needed to be placed into the ring than on the previous “board.” The catch was that you could only place the game piece underneath those that had already been placed into the ring. For example, on board number three, the third triangle must be placed under both triangles one and two.

To create the “boards,” a circle was drawn on graph paper using a compass. Each circle was between seven (for the smaller number of triangles used) and nine squares wide at the most clear diagonal (for the boards that would require more triangle space). In order to make sure that the triangular game pieces were the same size, the compass was used again—set to a certain width, marks were made on the page to indicate the length of the base of the rectangle. A ruler was used to keep the sides of each triangle straight when being drawn in. The coloring happened last, and was done in a more arbitrary fashion so as to allow the overlapping and layers I created to be better seen.

The lack of rigidity when it comes to structuring can make it seem as if the system I’ve created is weak. However, my project is a system in the sense that you are systematic in your approach and handlings of what you, in repeating it, are trying to accomplish.

(I'd add images, but Bill has all of my pages!)

Transformation

2008-04-15T21:39:00.001-07:00

For my project, I did a continuous ten page piece based on the linear transformations in MC Escher’s Metamorphose. After an initial dot is drawn on the left-most or top page, it is transformed into numerous geometrical shapes and patterns over ten pages until being transformed into a dot again on the right-most or bottom page. There are several general requirements to producing a work similar to mine. First, the medium must be 8.5 x 11 inch graph paper with four squares per inch. Secondly, only HB pencils should be used (a red, blue OR yellow colored pencil may be substituted for the HB pencil). A circle guide and compass are allowed, and encouraged when constructing this piece. Also, it is recommended that one sits down in an armless swivel chair when drawing on the graph paper. The only food that may be consumed during the construction of this piece are Reese’s Pieces and Three Musketeer candy bars. Water and Red Bull are acceptable beverages.
There are several rules governing the entire piece as a whole. All of the pages must be in a linear manner (horizontal or vertical lines). They also must be draw in order. Next, the first and last pages must start and end with a single dot that is exactly half-way (4.5 inches) between either long side of the paper. Now, each successive element in the piece must contain some aspects of the previous element. If the piece is done horizontally, each element will be split roughly into vertical columns with a repeated shapes and lines. Also, every not circular line must go start and end on the intersection of four squares on the graph paper. It is recommended that one goes through as many of these intersections as possible. Half circular lines only need to be tangent to three of these intersections, and full circles must be tangent to four of the intersections. The maximum allowed circle size is 2.5 inches. The maximum allowed square size is 12 x 12 squares. I recommend that most lines and shapes have lengths and proportions that are an even number of squares. If odd numbered lengths are used, the maximum allowed length is 17. There is no limit on even-numbered lengths. Elements may be touching or may be separated by an integer number of squares.
Each transformation in the piece consists of roughly vertical strips that contain the following: straight lines, line patterns, squares, three dimensional prisms, mobius strips (triangular are the easiest to make given the design constraints), triangles, diamonds, parallelograms, octagons, rectangles, hexagons, circles, and/or cylinders. Do not draw lines separating each element – sew them together by adding, removing, or moving elements from the previous strip. One can repeat a strip up to five times. Each strip must contain at least three copies of the same element. They should be arranged so that each strip visually fits together with the next one. One way to do this is to have a large shape containing a small one. The large shapes can be staggered, and subtle changes can be made to the interior shapes.
There is no set order for this work. One may do any transformation whenever one desires. However, as stated before, a dot (no bigger than the intersection of four squares) must be the first and last element. Also, the second and second to last transformation must be ripples that transform out of the dot as if it were thrown in a pond like a stone. Below is the order of transformations that I used:
After the initial dot is drawn, one must create ripples outward from the dot. These ripples then must turn into diamonds, which then morph into three dimensional blocks. Next, the blocks must transform into mobius strips, which then goes to an octagon. The octagons may contain an opening in the middle. The octagons should then become diamonds, which then turn into circles. After the circles, the next vertical strip should contain cylinders. The cylinders can be connected to form “conveyor belt” elements. These can be bent into a rainbow. Regardless of one’s decision, the cylinders must eventually be followed by three dimensional blocks that the morph into squares. From the squares, one then goes back to the initial ripple pattern. Finally, the ripples are followed back to the dot.

The above photograph shows three of my pages.

instructions for my maze production system

2008-04-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

begin by placing two blue dots and two yellow dots anywhere on the page. dots of the same color can't touch. connect the blue dot and the yellow dot.

get a new page and place it directly over the first page such that you can see the previous page's blue line through your new sheet. trace this line. in a gestural fashion, trace around this new blue line in yellow, staying approximately 1/4 inch away from the blue line all the way around, and making a yellow line approximately 1/4 inch thick.

now make 10 red circles anywhere within the 1/4 inch thick yellow line. next to each red circle, draw two red lines perpendicular to the blue line -- these two red lines should be approximately 1/2 inch apart from each other.

now trace the 1/4 inch thick yellow line with a red pencil (this red line should not be 1/4 inch thick, but rather just the width of the pencil lead) but do not trace in the 1/2 inch space between the red lines perpendicular to the blue line.

next, make 180 blue dots (one dot per graph paper square) that are either adjacent to (branching from) the 1/2 inch separations between the red lines perpendicular to the blue line or adjacent to a previous blue dot. these blue dots must connect to at least three perpendicular red line separations. they can meander anywhere on the paper so long as a continuous string of blue dots is maintained and the dots never pass over a red line.

connect at least three 1/2 inch red line separations by making paths in this fashion: demarcate 'path squares' by placing a red 'X' in each square adjacent to the 'path square' other than those squares that will also be in the 'path' (so, if you wanted the 'path' to move to the right 10 squares, you would have a horizontal line of 10 red X's, a horizontal line of 10 blank squares, and then another horizontal line of 10 red X's).

get a new sheet of paper. place this new sheet over the second sheet. using a red pencil, trace the red line following the yellow line, trace the 1/2 inch separation red lines (not the red circles next to them), trace the general path of the red X's with lines the width of the pencil lead, and trace the 'outside' of the 'path' made by the blue dots. this will have constructed a maze.

place a blue dot on this new sheet at either end of the blue line on the sheet beneath. connect these two blue dots in any fashion so long as the new blue line remains within the new red maze. place two yellow dots anywhere within the maze, and connect these dots along any path within the maze.

get yet another sheet of paper, trace the blue line and the yellow line. this begins the entire process over again.

graphing system

2008-04-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

Each of my ten pages of graph paper all followed the same set of rules, rather than a progression or digression from one page to the next. So instead of the pages being a continuation from one page to the next, it was more of a selection of ten possible variations. Many more variations exist, especially when factoring in the color. The rules that I followed in each separate page consisted of placing four 5 x 5 boxes on the page, each are the same distance from each other- it was the only constant in all ten images. Then I would add four more boxes in descending order, each attached to the first 5 x 5 box. Starting with a 4 x 4 box on the top left or right corner of the 5 x 5 box, rotating the page so the center of the page was always above the 5 x 5 square when adding the next box. Then the 3 x 3 box attached to any of the corners on the 4 x 4 box that is not the same corner attached to the 5 x 5 box. then a 2 x 2 box attached to the 3 x 3, and a 1 x 1 box attached to the 2 x 2 in the same manner. There are many different possible solutions to this system of rules, because of the varying corners available to pick. After there are four sets of boxes (it is possible that they will end up attaching in the middle) I made an outline of the entire end product by drawing a line exactly one box away from all of the boxes. Then, when coloring in the different end products, I would start by designating one color for the one box outline (R,Y,or B). then the two remaining colors would be used for filling in the 4 sets of 5 boxes. one color would be chosen to either each 5 x 5, each 4 x 4, each 3 x 3, each 2 x 2, or each 1 x 1 box in the four sets, and the remaining four boxes would all be the same of the last color.

I found that although they followed the same guidelines, because of the many variations in where the boxes could be placed and which colors were picked, the results produced very different end results.

An artist that just came to mind (and maybe whom I was subconsciously inspired by) is Josef Albers- because he used squares as well, and he also chose descending sizes. Although his were all within one another, whereas my boxes are completely separate. (i posted his 1-homage to a square: Soft Spoken, and 2- homage to the square:with rays, above)

2008-04-08T21:53:00.000-07:00

My system focuses on rotation and reduction. It starts out with the full picture and two lines are taken away on each page and the entire thing rotates clockwise until it's all seemingly sucked into a black hole. Then it explodes.

Yay.

2008-04-08T20:37:00.001-07:00

So here is my finished system. The top row is to be read left to right, and the bottom, right to left.

The Power of Two

2008-04-08T18:48:00.001-07:00

My system included a variation on a square made up of four color blocks: red, yellow, blue, and black. The first page included two-by-two squares, the next two pages included four-by-four squares, the following three included eight-by-eight squares, and the final four pages included sixteen-by-sixteen squares. Within each page, the squares rotated counter-clockwise by each descending row.

Graph Paper Project

2008-04-07T05:59:00.000-07:00

Final System

2008-04-07T05:54:00.001-07:00

I decided not to use color, but my system still consists of a randomly placed point and 3 boxes of different sizes also placed randomly. The number of sets of 3 boxes corresponds to the frame number in the series.

System!

2008-04-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

Mine is a system that alternates, focusing on the "patches" and the background in separate pages. From the first page to the second a new patch is added, and from the second to the third a new element is added to the background (the color blue). From the third to the fourth, another patch is added... and for the next one, something will be added to the background. As the patches are added they become more complicated and colorful just as the background becomes more complicated and colorful. I will be adding two more patches in the course of ten pages that will be the same sizes as the two smaller ones that I have already added, except of course they will be more colorful and complex. I also plan on using white later in the series.

System Project

2008-04-02T10:16:00.000-07:00

Mine is a system of circles that bleed out. The colors will be repetitive going from darkest to lighest. I used a compass to make the circles, but I'm still not sure exactly what I want to with the background, but I want it to be more complicated than the central circle design.

Jack's System

2008-04-01T22:54:00.000-07:00

My system is more based on the progression. I think I am going to redo it though and make the progression with even numbers so that it can be more symmetrical. For some reason it will not let me upload them, but I can just show them in class.

system project

2008-04-01T22:21:00.000-07:00

i've settled on an idea, but as of yet i have only rules and no visuals

to begin, make a large-ish (vague now, yes, i'll tighten that up) blue dot on any intersecting point in the grid. from this dot, 'travel' with 1/4 inch lines up and over and around anywhere along the grid so long as each 1/4 inch line touches the last without tracing over it and the lines stay on the grid. whenever you wish to stop, pick up your pencil and make another large-ish blue dot at your end point. count the number of 1/4 inch lines you made. subtract any amount over 30 (if you made 35, subtract 5) from the number 30 (so if you had 35 initial lines, subtract 5 from 30, leaving you with the number 25). with this new number, draw that many vertical blue lines from approximately 3 inches from the top of the paper to approximately 3 inches from the bottom of the paper. with each blue line, try to trace a vertical line in the grid. any time your blue line strays from the vertical grid line, draw 10 red lines of any length anywhere on the page, and draw one yellow line horizontally along the grid. with these yellow lines, again try to trace the grid line, and for each failed attempt draw 10 rd lines of any length anywhere on the page and 1 blue vertical line to join the earlier blue lines. this system continues recursively unless the artist is able to trace the grid lines directly or is willing to quit and/or lie about their efforts.

this is compelling to me because 'messing up' ultimately produces more visual interest, and that's a nice notion. i let the red lines be of any length and at any point so as to be a relief in the face of frustration; and because i imagine that if a person ends up having to perform these tasks for upwards of twenty minutes they'll come to see many more red lines than blue and yellow ones, and perhaps see that the volume of red lines is not only evidence of their poor tracing but also evidence of their independent choices, when they were apart from the rules for a bit.

but, of course, the freedom exists because a rule allows it to -- is that really freedom? i've come to see now that these ten drawings are ultimately representative of governments and their manipulative suggestions regarding our own freedoms within their rule structures and how even our fleeting moments of freedom are dictated by a rigid, bureaucratic grid. and i encourage you to read as much as you possibly can into whatever system you create.

System Based on Squares and a Point

2008-04-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

This is an image of the 10th frame of my system. The number of squares of a particular size depends on the number associated with the frame. From the edge of each square, excluding the one(s) fartherest away, has a line connecting the corner to one point. Both the point and the postition of the squares is decided at random. However, as the number associated with the frame increases, the complexity of the image increases as well. At the moment I have not totally decided whether to go with colors or just black.

2008-03-30T21:25:00.001-07:00

The above image is shows a visualization of a computer science data structure called a tree (more specifically, a trie). I thought that this visualization would work well on graph paper because of the simplicity the lines. The squares on the graph paper are an excellent guide for drawing the various lines. I decided to make a large trie that had many randomly placed children tries of various sizes. I think the drawing is a little chaotic and may make more of a visual impact if it were more symmetric and order.

my project 2

2008-03-16T19:43:00.001-07:00

bathroom plaque

2008-03-04T20:03:00.000-08:00

I put my plaque up in the bathroom of Edens 1A where I lived and my target audience was my friends (because I was going to have to spy on people doing their business in the bathroom).

I got a good bit of response. Most of the guys looked at the plaque some even touched it. I think they thought it was weird.

I stood in the other stall like a creeper and took pictures of whoever walked in from behind.

Plaque

2008-02-26T16:05:00.000-08:00

Firstly, I put my plaque on the wall near the entrance of my drom and put a comment paper beside it. People came by and most of them stopped, watching, touching and wondering what it is. Because my theme is pretty clear, the DUKE-shaped hair and the words" Dream 2 Fly", they came to conclusion by themselves and left some positive comments.

Then, I hung it higher on the wall so people can see it while they are climbing the stairs. Maybe because they could not touch it, most people just looked at it and walked away.

But, all the people I talked to like the plaque as well as the idea to create an artwork by just one material.

Trophy Wives Commemorated

2008-02-25T22:38:00.001-08:00

So these are the pictures from my plaque. I hung it outside of the bathroom in my hallway, which is right across the hall from my room. It was less creepy to sit at my desk and watch people with my door open and take pictures than anywhere else. The final version reads "Congratulations on your M.R.S. DEGREE!" at the top (under the shield), followed by a list of names, below which reads "Rolling Admissions." I got a good response basically as soon as I hung it up -- someone stopped and saw it and thought it was a new program in the dorm and then started laughing when she read it. A couple of people looked at it but didn't stop to read it, and I didn't have time to take pictures as they breezed by. A few people saw my door open and asked what I was doing and I had to explain that it was for an art class. In general I'd say that it got a pretty good response. Not sure that anyone noticed that there was an egg beater at the top though... Darn.

2008-02-25T00:09:00.000-08:00

here's my "McDillo" plaque on a wall encasing the elevator that is located between McDonald's and the Dillo in the BC. the elevator is mentioned in my plaque write-up (located adjacent to the plaque). I'll bring the write-up in on Thursday; the general idea is that Ronald McDonald found an orphaned armadillo stranded in a highway embankment and the two of them decided to start a fusion restaurant.

RIP two brave benches

2008-02-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

I put my plaque in the exact spot that we had the bonfire after the Carolina game. As soon as I walked away and sat on a bench to observe people and my plaque these two guys walked by and went straight to it to see what it said. A lot of people reacted in this way, many walking across the entire quad to see it and some yelling back to their friends about what it was.

This guy ran across the quad to read it.

plaque

2008-02-24T20:38:00.000-08:00

i placed my plaque in wilson, by the hang out area around quenchers. i found that a lot of people noticed it going by but wouldn't really stop long enough for me to take a picture unless i asked them to check it out. but i think the people working at quenchers enjoyed it. i got some feedback just holding it on the walk to the gym however. "what is that for/ what IS that?"

Slippery When Wet

2008-02-24T19:48:00.000-08:00

I ended up putting in the bathroom and putting water on the floor. I got some pretty funny responses. A lot of people laughed at it. The way I got good shots of people was I hid in the shower and had one of my friends tell people to go look at it. Then when they were not looking I got pictures of them. I did get a couple natural shots of people just washing their hands or heading to the bathroom which I posted as well. Here are the best shots.

Plaque!

2008-02-24T14:57:00.000-08:00

Top Left -- a close up of my plaque.

Top Right-- I wasn't paying attention and all of a sudden some people approached the bench. I was caught off guard and just took the picture. After they were gone, I realized that I forgot to zoom in.

I put my plaque on the benches near Alpine. I did get some response as you can see. Most people just passed by and read "BENCH USE LIMIT 10 MIN. TOWING ENFORCED." One guy even read it out loud.

Plaque Posting

2008-02-23T16:22:00.000-08:00

"Dude, why is there is a shield in the hallway?"

"Are those pennies silver?"

"I don't get it."

"Cool! What's it for?"

I posted my plaque in my dorm hallway and did some homework in a nook nearby to watch. At first, no one really noticed, so I was forced to intercede. I pointed it out to a few hall-mates and received some oh-that's-cool-what's-it-for type comments, but then a few people noticed it on their own accord. My favorite was "Dude, why is there a shield in the hallway?"

It's not a shield, it's a crest. Get with it.

MIPS Speed Programmer Award!

2008-02-22T12:10:00.000-08:00

For the aluminum foil plaque project, I created a fake "MIPS Speed Programmer" award, and put my computer architecture professor's name on it. This is funny to computer architects (yes I know it's a rather limited audience) because no one can really code in MIPS quickly. MIPS is a basic computer architecture that one codes in assembly language, which is a step up from binary (1s and 0s). I posted the award near the entrance to the classroom about 30 minutes before class started, and waited for people to enter. Most people noticed the award, and were quite amused by it. In general, students were interested in what it was. At one point, there was a small group of people standing around it trying to decipher its meaning. My computer architecture professor really loved it. Upon seeing it, he laughed. Next, he tried to take it down because it was his award. At this point, I had to interfere so I could see others' reactions. He thought it was a good project, and told me about when he had done something similar in graduate school. Below are a few pictures that I took of people reacting to the piece.

Here is where I placed it in the class room.

Here is my computer architecture pondering the plaque.

More people looking at the plaque.

Someone else looking at the plaque.

Here is a picture of the plaque.

A closeup of the face on the plaque.

Anne Peterson, Plaque Image

2008-02-21T13:28:00.000-08:00

This is my plaque in K-ville. A surprising number of people interacted with it. They would come up the main walkway towards Wilson and slow down or stop their conversation as they peered at the plaque. A few people actually approached the plaque although I didn't get a chance to photograph them. I actually had a conversation on the bus with this guy about the plaque. He seemed genuinely interested in what we were doing and what my inspiration was. Another guy complimented me when I was putting up the sign as well. It was very interesting to just sit and watch people interact with the plaque because they first seemed confused by it and some just dismissed it while I could tell others found it amusing.

Canopy Project

2008-02-14T08:55:00.000-08:00

The ArtsVis 54 class is creating a synthetic canopy made of recycled cans. This work will be submitted to the Duke Smart Home Art Competition. Here are some examples of what's been made so far.

ornaments

2008-02-05T09:08:00.001-08:00

ornaments found around campus--

the first is one of the plaques in the great hall- there are many of these on the ceiling and represent different groups around campus (I think most of them are for fraternities)

the second (sorry it's a sideways view) is on top of my roommate's bookshelf. It reminded me of our project since she used everyday materials for a decoration (the dragon is made of painted blank cd's and the pyramid is decorated plastic cups.)

and the last is an always changing ornament- the painted bridge people use to advertise campus events.

Canopy

2008-02-04T18:49:00.000-08:00

I figured I would put up some pictures of a rainforest canopy so that we can get a better idea of what we are aiming for.

some waduke stuff; they don't hide the success of their restaurant

2008-01-27T22:53:00.001-08:00

2008-01-27T22:43:00.000-08:00

This is a stain glass window from the chapel. I think it is a particularly significant ornament given its religious importance. Religious places are good areas to find great examples of ornaments and other art.

Taina Thermidor

2008-01-27T22:35:00.001-08:00

One of the hanging sculptures in the Bryan Center that everyone knows is there, but still seem to not pay attention to. This is one of four pieces that seem to be correlated -- There are two "wings" and another sculpture hanging from the ceiling, located above and along the walls of that main staircase in the Bryan Center. This one pictured is the one that hangs overhead if you are in the area of the Bryan Center near the piano, outside of Griffith Theatre.

Melody Rowell

2008-01-27T18:32:00.000-08:00

Chris Manno

2008-01-27T18:30:00.000-08:00

Yeah! It is Two-dimensional!

2008-01-27T17:45:00.000-08:00

Only chalks are used!!!!!!!!

Others:

Ornaments

2008-01-27T17:05:00.000-08:00

Ornaments

2008-01-27T14:52:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of a statue of a man and a camel that is located between French Science and Gross Chem.

The following image was taken in the Bryan Center near Sheafer Theater.

Here are more examples of ornaments from around Duke:

This is above an archway between quads.

This was taken inside of an archway between the Divinity School and the Chapel.

This was taken in front of Wilson Gym.

This is located in the archway leading to Crowell Quad.

This low-relief ornament is on the West Union Building above one of the entrances facing the quad.

Ornaments on Achitecture

2008-01-27T01:33:00.001-08:00

The devil :)

BTW
the ornament on my wall :P

Ornaments on Campus

2008-01-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

This first image is the definition of an ornament - non-functional, yet pleasing to the eye. This facade is found in the Marketplace building on East Campus, although few seem to notice its beauty in their rush to attack the pasta bar line.
A common sight around campus, posters and advertisements are, by definition, ornaments. Many incorporate design elements into their posters, like this one. The contrast of the lips to the white background immediately draws the viewer to the page.
This image was taken in the Sanford Institute building on Towerview Drive. In this case, the elaborate ornamentation of the building serves a functional purpose toward the structure of the building.

2008-01-25T01:19:00.001-08:00

This is a painting that my roommate received from a friend of hers before coming to Duke. If you notice at the bottom, the roots spell out "friends".

Ornament Project

2008-01-24T18:56:00.000-08:00

This is a gargoyle (?) holding a plaque in the alpine bagel cafe. (Sorry its sideways)

Artsvis 54 Blog Started

2007-10-17T05:20:00.000-07:00

This blog was started on October 17th, 2007 at the Smith Art Warehouse at Duke University.