Nice Splicing

This video makes me nauseous, but it’s pretty cool. The guy– Cory Arcangel, spliced together a bunch of learning guitar videos to make one long cacophony of horrible practice scales. If you have ever lived with a lead guitarist (which I have) this might send you into some sort of weird flashback trance or make you go into convulsions or both. Actually, it might do that anyway. Regardless, I think this is conceptually a great idea even if actually watching is something like riding the Zipper after downing a 64 ounce soda. This guy also has a solo show at the Whitney that I haven’t gotten to check out yet. Time Out New York seems to hate the show, but the hacked bowling videos sound interesting to me.

Middle Main Street Poughkeepsie Revitalization Project

Recently, I had the opportunity to collaborate with fellow design students in our Pratt Institute, Graduate “Design Advocacy” summer class with Professor Jean Brennan. We were invited to contribute to an ongoing project to revitalize the Middle Main Street section of Poughkeepsie, NY.

We gathered photos of the residents and surrounding architecture. We also solicited residents of this area to contribute by responding to one question: “What Makes You Smile About Middle Main?”

We gathered the responses and photos into an installation which we created on July 7th. I also made a series of collages of architecture and found objects in the area, and we coupled these with photos and responses from the residents, printed on vellum and hung with clips and fishing wire. We installed the exhibit in an empty lot in the neighborhood.

It was a great collaborative experience, and once we installed the visual ephemera it came to life as the wind blew through the space.

Some other members of our class also created an installation using zip ties, and we tied the entire piece together with seating for the viewers and a chalk line to lead from one project to the next. Here are some photos of the process and exhibit, plus a short video of the installation (with music from The Cave Singers), creating motion as the photos and collages blew in the wind.

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New Animations

Here are a few new animations I have been working on for my Motion I class. These are some of my first attempts to create animations using Adobe After Effects. I think they have some rough patches, but overall I am really excited about them! The bird that is featured is another stuffed pillowcase bird that I made and animated, much like the purple pillowcase bird that I created a flipbook for previously. There is also a stop motion of the purple bird which I will post shortly. However, I am much more excited about the new animations, so I wanted to share.

Works in Progress

Wanted to share some of my new works in progress:

This is my newest creation, a flip book that is intended as the preliminary planning for an animated stop motion I am creating. The bird in the photo is an actual photograph of a stuffed bird I made from a pillow case. This little birdy has existed for a couple of years and has been just waiting to debut in her very own movie! This was my first time making a flip book and one of the first times I have tried to hand sew/bind a book myself, so there was a bit of a learning curve for me. But I am excited about the result.

I will update the blog as the animation comes along.

Next is a series of drawings I have been working on. These are approximately 50 inches wide and 6 feet tall. This is a series of drawings I began probably as some sort of a rebellion against all of the digital stuff I have been doing lately. My mind has become so exhausted of appropriated imagery lately that I think I find a resting place in these anxious scribblings. They also seem very naturalistic to me in a way, maybe somewhat inspired by nature on some abstract level. I also like that they are nothing. They are completely non-objective and based on nothing. I wanted to see how many marks I could make in the same space with only 2-3 tools, all of them being varying weights of graphite. A new challenge for me: limiting my palette and tools. I’m enjoying it and want to work these up to an unquestionably dense level and then make some more.

I will update these as they come along as well!

Last but not least:

A series of collages I did over the summer on Whole Foods Market grocery bags. Want to continue/revisit this project and think it is interesting that there is currently show at the Drawing Center called Day Job which is an exhibition of drawings based on people’s jobs.

I worked as a cashier at Whole Foods over the summer, and that is what inspired these collages. The repetitiveness of bagging people’s groceries was really a horrifying experience, and I guess I wanted to make something positive out of it. Also, I was very broke while working this job full time, and grocery bags seemed one of the cheapest canvases I could find.

Hopefully there will be more to come on this series too, and I will post as they are created!

Book Arts Classes with Esther K. Smith

Wanted to repost this listing for my friend Esther’s book arts classes. For those of you book lovers in the NYC area these would be fun and very educational. Esther was my advisor/instructor at the School of Visual Arts Summer Residency program, and she is a great resource for all things books/design. She is also the author of “How to Make Books,” “Magic Book and Paper Toys,” and “The Paper Bride.”

Check out her Cooper continuing ed course listings:

Esther K Smith Book Arts Classes | Cooper Union, NYC
*register now!*

Instant Artist’s Books
Mondays, Feb. 7-March 21, 2011 (No class Feb. 21) | 6:30pm – 9:30pm
6 sessions |course# 5000007

Magic Books and Paper Toys
Mondays, March 28-April 18 | 6:30pm – 9:30pm
4 sessions | course# 5000008

And here is her website: Purgatory Pie Press

Happy Book Making!

Supergraphics are Back!!

A new book by the guys at Unit Editions covers Supergraphics, a graphic and architectural movement prevalent in the late sixties and seventies. Supergraphics usually includes large, colorful murals that are literally the size of buildings and often begin on a wall, continuing by wrapping around the next wall or bleeding onto the floor. Bold and beautiful, Supergraphics were not only intended to distort perspective and play with architectural space but were also inspired by ideas of urban renewal. Steven Heller states that Supergraphics have returned probably because of a combined collective interest in grafitti art, social art and as a backlash to the “miniaturization” of graphic design. As designers are forced more and more to create imagery that will fit in the space of an iphone ap or a computer screen, many are drawn to working on a much larger canvas. Very cool designs!

http://imprint.printmag.com/daily-heller/su-sup-super-graphics/

Mo’ Betta Type

Found this video of animated type on Motionographer. A lovely use of motion and typography. I love the way the letterforms continue to reassemble themselves and find new shapes.