Project 3: Notan Square, Painted Section, Laser Cut

I didn't plan anything before I started. I just hopped right into the project.
Then certain patterns began to appear; specifically the circles and the swirls. I recognized their existence, and I aimed to  make the visual relationship between the two a main theme throughout the project.
There were times when I had difficulty figuring out where to place certain pieces that were close to the corners. I laid them out so I could see different options of reflections, and finally decided that the end result created the best look.

I really enjoyed hearing that my notan square reminded the class of Hugo-esque gears/mist, lost underwater seaweed/city of Atlantis, and other settings of the adventure genre. I thought it looked like the middle of a toxic accident in a factory, or some other sci-fi adventure explosion.

The second part of the project was to select an area of the Notan square to paint. The composition I found was the most pleasing, and it had a nice balance between linear and curvelinear shapes.

The third part of the project was to create a laser cut pattern from a selection in our piece. The shape was simplified in Adobe Illustrator, then the paths were duplicated 100 times and sent to a laser cutter. The diamonds and lines functioned better vertically. Oriented horizontally, the thick implied lines would have weighed the piece down.

Presence Defined by Absence

The first thing that comes to my mind is clothing. The space in between the material is just as important than the material itself, if not more important. If shirts didn't have holes in the sleeves, then where would people put their arms? If socks weren't hollow, where would our feet go? The presence defined by absence in clothing is what gives clothes the ability to function properly and achieve their purpose.

Animated Shapes: Negative to Positive Transformation

 

The positive shapes (the black) transform to become the negative space. The large curved lines in the white space help to push the white forward to become the new positive shape.

Constitution Quote

"Insure domestic Tranquility"

"Tranquility", because of its irregular capitalization, is obviously an important word in this phrase of the Constitution. When I think of "tranquility", the first words that come to mind are nature, balance, spiritualism, etc. When I think of "domestic", the first words that come to mind are home, self, family, etc. 

The phrase "domestic Tranquility" reminds me of a person’s mind and soul being in a state of peace in their own body. People find peace within themselves through meditation, yoga, and other religious and spiritual practices. This is why I chose to take pictures of a place of meditation, and I figured the best place to start my search would be in Chinatown.

I found a place a little out of the way, on 10th and Pine Street, called "Mind Body & Spirit Work Shop". This is great because it has an image of a person meditating in the window, aligning their seven chakras. Another place of meditation I found was “Fo Shou Temple” in Chinatown, on 1015 Cherry Street, which has beautiful Asian architectural details in the front entryway.

9/9/13

MOODLE READING RESPONSE "In solving problems visually, there is no list of strict or absolute dos and don'ts to follow...Thus, guidelines (not rules) exist that usually will assist in the creation of successful designs."
This was interesting to me. It made me think about how, in other subjects, there are specific equations and formulas that need to be used. Once you have the tools you need, executing the solution to the problem is an easy action, as long as you follow the rules. For example, in balancing chemical equations, a scientist will know to use the rules for combustion equations if there is an oxygen present.

However, in art, you have to figure out not only WHAT method to use, but also HOW you are going to use it. You can choose to set up a composition a certain way, but you also have the responsibility of decided what materials to use in order to create it.