definition - to engage in thought or reflection; meditate (dictionary.com)
This past week, I traveled to Boone, North Carolina to experience a little more of the south before I went back home to Rhode Island. With fellow friends from Boone, I experienced my first hike of the North Carolina mountains. As we reached the top of our climb, I was amazed at the spectacular view. The layers and layers of mountains served as a great place to connect with nature and feel a sense of meditation. It was a great place for letting your mind wander and to just observe God's creation was an uplifting experience. I could have sat on that top rock for hours speculating everything as my mind opened and all troubles seemed to go away. I feel it is very important for everyone to find a place like this where they can go and feel a sense of relief and be able to think and reflect. My typical place for meditation is by the ocean from where I live, but now that my life is in North Carolina for months at a time, it was important for me to find this place in the mountains to be able to escape to in times of meditation. After letting your mind rest, it is then also easier to bring new ideas and designs to my projects.
[COMPOSE]
definition - to make or form by combining things, parts, or elements (dictionary.com)
Combining things, parts or elements is always a hurtle in design that must be jumped. In Design Drawing, we practiced how to create a drawing composition using either our Fallingwater or Monticello experience. For my composition, I chose to reflect my ideas about Fallingwater because I enjoyed its organic forms and the ideas of nature coming together forming an inspirational image. To create our overall image, we gathered various images of the interiors and exterior, plan and elevations and created a layout combining all elements and chose a medium. I felt most confident in watercolor for this piece because I felt it would be more successful in blending colors and images together to create an overall more "flowing" composition. I found this project beneficial, enjoyable and I was mildly pleased with the result of my composition.
--picture of suzannes project
[ENERGIZE]
definition - to give energy to; rouse into activity (dictionary.com)
When composing my MDF model that was to incorporate light and shadow, I also kept in mind the idea of creating energy within my piece. My celebration story was of a surprise party that was given to me years ago, which is a very happy and energetic event. My natural object also had a sense of energy as it was a ball of spiky, distorted triangles protruding from a center. For my project, I created a design that involved numerous distorted triangles that formed a intertwining design that reflected light in a special and intricate way. The random triangles and the way they were arranged created a very energetic and exciting feel. Energy can be created in many forms and medium, such as shapes, colors or textures. A group of painters between the years of 1905 and 1908 tended to use "vivid colours in shocking contrasts", which was their way of creating energy in their pieces (Massey, 95). These techniques of major contrasts and dramatic colors shaped the Art Deco period.
[SHAPE]
definition - the quality of a distinct object or body in having an external surface or outline of specific form or figure (dictionary.com)
Everything and everyone is a shape. In art and design, we are forced to look at shapes and understand them. Different shapes created different moods and have certain purposes whatever their function may be. For my studio project, I designed a piece that worked with light and one repeat shape of various sizes: the square. I used the square in a stacking, random way with overlapping or no overlapping. I feel the square is a very harmonious shape which reflected in my project as a meditation piece, but also celebrating certain squares with different light effects. Some of the squares are large with some being smaller. Also some squares have a transparent blue-backing on them or others have a backing with various holes that create a sparkling effect when light shines through, which creates a celebration for each of these boxes. Shapes are very important in art and design. Even Winston Churchill realized how important shape was when he said that “we shape our buildings, and afterward our buildings shape us.” (Roth, 515). Moving forward, something as simple as a square can create many feelings and artistic opinions.
-picture of my box project and maybe a sketch of it
[STRETCH]
definition - to extend, spread, or place (something) so as to reach from one point or place to another ; to extend, force, or make serve beyond the normal or proper limits (dictionary.com)
Always told to "stretch your imagination" and think "outside the box" to be successful in art and design. For me at first, this concept was very hard for me to pick up. I used to be a strict literal thinker and through the projects of first year interior architecture, my mind has opened up and I have broadened my horizons to think in a more abstract way. For centuries, designers and architects could not get away from previous ideas of the ages, but finally, architect Frank Lloyd Wright stepped away from the norm and created a new "stretched" idea to Modernism. Frank Lloyd Wright "could not accept the restrictions of the Modern Movement, rejecting its characteristic use of pilotis and regular blocks. In the 1930’s, Wright continued to develop his own personal style which he considered more expressive of American values” (Massey, 85). Wright incorporated nature in his pieces by using rock-masonry walls, walnut furniture and fixings and huge windows that create harmony from the inside out.With his organic style of Modernism, Wright became recognized through the ages and has created truly remarkable buildings, such as Fallingwater, which we visited a few weekends ago.
[IN SUMMARY]...each of the words provided this week have to do with bringing feelings to projects. For me, being able to de-stress in the North Carolina mountains was a great tool for me to later be able to compose projects. These projects are usually intended from the start to have a certain feel. The project I explained, I aimed to create a very energetic design through the shapes and arrangement or composition of my pieces. All of these ideas for a project require us as designers and artist to stretch our minds and think differently than normal minds. That is what makes us successful and unique, as well as our projects.
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