this post is under construction, during this second week. Currently (on Sunday) slowly updating this post.
Apologies for tardiness!
for Tuesday (13 September)
- review the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) entries for the word "design" — subject and verb;
- read Vilém Flusser, his essay "About the Word Design" (from his collection The Shape of Things : a philosophy of design (1993; Reaktion 1999)); and
- read the introduction of Richard Hollis, his Graphic Design : A Concise History (1994), with particular attention to his brief discussion of the three basic functions of "graphics" — identification; information and instruction; and presentation and promotion.
The etymology of the word "design" is also interesting : link
We will be sure to start with Josh, whose work we did not see on Thursday. Our morning's agenda is crowded: we will also attend the talk by Sarah Trahan at 10:00am (leave H-309 at 9:50).
Thea (Notebooks) showed entries for three August 22's (1983, 1985 and 1987), and on Thursday read from an earlier year (1945?). We learned that her great-grandfather had worked in construction, and evidently in or around the Fore River Shipyard (located in Braintree and Quincy). Some of the phrases, extracted from their contexts, read like pure poetry.
Our discussion touched also on inclusion of external events (historical, family etc), and even of family photographs. What would the result be? What would be gained, and what lost? The gain might be family memories, etc., but the day-to-day, year-to-year quality of the bare notations might lose some of its poetry. There is certainly room to explore different avenues here.
Fore River Shipyard was a major facility. See wikipedia.
for Stacey, re: "kindness," this —
The Unexpected Power of Random Acts of Kindness :
New research shows small gestures matter even more than we may think.
By Catherine Pearson, The New York Times (September 2, 2022; print edition "Science Tuesday" September 6, titled "The Ripple Effect of Random Kindness")
www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/well/family/random-acts-of-kindness.html (paywall)
The article is based on, and points to, this paper
Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley, A little good goes an unexpectedly long way: Underestimating the positive impact of kindness on recipients (Journal of Experimental Psychology, August 18, 2022)
Abstract
Performing random acts of kindness increases happiness in both givers and receivers, but we find that givers systematically undervalue their positive impact on recipients. In both field and laboratory settings (Experiments 1a through 2b), those performing an act of kindness reported how positive they expected recipients would feel and recipients reported how they actually felt. From giving away a cup of hot chocolate in a park to giving away a gift in the lab, those performing a random act of kindness consistently underestimated how positive their recipients would feel, thinking their act was of less value than recipients perceived it to be. Givers' miscalibrated expectations are driven partly by an egocentric bias in evaluations of the act itself (Experiment 3). Whereas recipients' positive reactions are enhanced by the warmth conveyed in a kind act, givers' expectations are relatively insensitive to the warmth conveyed in their action. Underestimating the positive impact of a random act of kindness also leads givers to underestimate the behavioral consequences their prosociality will produce in recipients through indirect reciprocity (Experiment 4). We suggest that givers' miscalibrated expectations matter because they can create a barrier to engaging in prosocial actions more often in everyday life (Experiments 5a and 5b), which may result in people missing out on opportunities to enhance both their own and others' well-being.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35980709/
and is available in full via Amit Kumar's website, www.kumar-amit.com/research-papers (scroll down to link, to pre-print)
We talked about etiquette books, and both kindness and design in the context of etiquette. We looked at 1927 and 1999 editions of Emily Post. Searched for the word "kindness" in both; we also noted the presence of "social forms" (e.g., wedding invitations, condolence notes, etc etc). :
Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home (1927) :
books.google.com/books?id=HiEvAAAAYAAJ&pg=PR1#v=twopage&q&f=false
Emily Post's Etiquette (14th edition; Elizabeth L. Post, ed.; 1999) : borrowable (online!) at archive.org :
https://archive.org/details/emilypostsetique00post_0/page/n9/mode/2up
Thursday —
Stacey is gathering stories, from others, of instances of kindness they have experienced. One example was a receptionist (?) at a hotel (the "hospitality" business) who comforted a tearful guest who, it was revealed, was in some late stage of cancer and might not be able to come to see her family again. These stories might go into a zine that Stacey contemplates.
Katie showed her finished Munsell Student Color Set sheets (hue, value, chroma). We noticed where one or two chips seemed out of place — usually just a matter of chips from different rows (values) misplaced. Katie worked methodically, one hue to the next, and reported that it got easier (more intuitive) as she proceeded.
JM showed photograph of installation (for a 2-D Design class he taught, Spring 2018) of all the Color-Aid colors, arranged on a wall. here :
https://twodeedom.tumblr.com/post/171706832558/
Sarah saw that some of the colors seemed off, and this is true: in fact, only some (a majority) of the Color-Aid colors are systematic; the others are selected by some unknown but probably impressionistic criteria.
Katie will show her drawings/doodles, as she thinks of what-nexts. Coloring books, paper doll patterns etc have been mentioned.
Thursday —
We talked about language, where to find it. JM pulled out a copy of Melville's Moby Dick (1851) and demonstrated bibliomancy, by opening up to random pages, and reading the word or phrase that he blindly opened to.
bibliomancy : "the use of books in divination. The method of employing sacred books (especially specific words and verses) for 'magical medicine', for removing negative entities, or for divination" — wikipedia
See "Every colour mentioned in Moby Dick (in order and colour.) : twitter (my) source;
and Teacher Is Incredible At Drawing Whiteboard Dinosaurs (shared by Madison), at www.facebook.com/uniladmag/videos/463142259044022/
More about language —
I can't recall if this came up in discussion of Katie's work, or Patrick's... perhaps someone else entirely, but it's relevant to all. Titles are useful, particularly if not redundant (i.e., the word "tree" next to picture of a tree). JM showed the instagram of Gordon Arnold (who used to teach social science at Montserrat, now retired, continues to write books and draw. See how his titles have changed over his recent posts, at @garnold360
Madison brought in a model house (with rural-style mailbox, shrub, mulch below it). The discussion was largely about graffiti (and so-called "street art"), and resident/neighborhood "associations," and property ownership, property values, class, etc etc. Madison might make other of these buildings, for others to "tag"?
On Thursday, Madison brought in a second house — this one with fewer details in its design and construction (save for the sliding doors!) — which people were invited to "tag" (graffiti or otherwise mark). We continued the discussion of graffiti, and talked briefly about "participation art." See Madison's separate post of the houses constructed so far.
We also talked about gardens, and the participation of passersby and visitors in them. Routes through gardens (almost like "stations of the cross"), etc. Ian Hamilton Finlay came up, his garden Little Sparta : link. His use of language, but also trees and statues (for their poetical senses) in his garden (pineapples a sign of "welcome"; he also used hand grenades in similar situations).
Patrick expanded on his project idea, to work in different forms/categories, e.g., advertising. So where to begin. Patrick showed us his aesthetic style (in portraits of Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch); JM (our instructor !) wondered what angered or excited him in recent days. Answer: timely delivery of a winter cap from Amazon. And so we considered advertising for Amazon, and also drawings (several?) of that cap.
The point here is, to start somewhere.
Thursday
Patrick showed a treatment of a trapper cap —
Discussion ensued. The Baroque frame; the emblematic title ($19.99) and the potential emblematic elaboration of that. We wondered if anything might be framed thus, and (to add a useful constraint) be selected only from things priced at $17.99 (or perhaps that happened in the year 1799?).
It was in this context that we examined Jasper Morrison his A Book of Spoons (1977) — link — cover shown below.
I'm reminded also of so-called Sachplakat (“object-poster” in German), for example Lucian Bernhard (1883-1972) his poster of Priester matches — link
Josh showed (from laptop screen) a short visual (of a monochrome screen, abstract) with sound accompaniment. There were several responses, suggestions: look at music videos; move away from abstractions; why vs what, etc.
Josh also expressed an interest in finding (or exploring the idea of) emotion in raw code. JM wondered if there might be some set of rules (algorithm?) for determining what images, and when, and for how long, vis-à-vis sound.
We considered a hand and wrist — in relief, on a board — that Sarah had constructed. Made of many materials (foamcore, paper, wire, Mod Podge, pot glue, colorants, &.c., the piece appears to be in some stage (and even various stages) of putrefaction/decay.
Reactions included the idea of multiplying these body parts, a whole installation of them. JM commented that there was something topological about it, as if a landscape; a peninsula with five ridges (the fingers). Wondered about zooming in with camera, for closer views. Features might be named (toponyms), stories told.
Thursday —
Sarah produced stickers on death-related themes (cartoony skull, etc) with the flavor of an anatomy book about them.
several things that John could do with shoes (singular or plural)
deconstruct (will not be so easy; may require a variety of tools and improvised methods; see Caroline Lares's process book for some sense of this)
use as basis for rubbing, or tracing
photograph details
find the technical names for the different parts of the shoe (these may be useful)...
also
take a walk (but where, how, when and how long)
diagram foot actions (e.g., dance steps; dance notation)
consider the Things Organized Neatly project, at
tumblr (where it originated) and
instagram
recently became aware of the work (on shoes!) of Elizabeth Semmelhack. This event sounds interesting, and is available for viewing —
Unboxed: A Cultural History of Sneakers
Brattleboro Museum and Art Center (February 25, 2021)
View the recording of this event here (youtube).
Elizabeth Semmelhack interlaces the history of sneakers with fascinating stories of cutting-edge technological innovation, complex cultural politics, and shifting ideas of gender, tracing how these influences transformed sneakers into the cultural icons they are today.
Elizabeth Semmelhack is the creative director and senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum and has curated over 30 exhibitions, including the blockbuster traveling exhibition “Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture.” Her most recent books include Collab: Sneakers x Culture, Dior by Roger Vivier, Shoes: The Meaning of Style, Out of the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture, and Standing Tall: The Curious History of Men in Heels. Other recent publications include “From Lawn Tennis to Eugenics: A History of Women and Sneakers” and “Playing Nice: The Making of Out of the Box.” Her work focuses on the intersections of fashion, economics, and gender with a particular interest in the history of footwear, and she is widely quoted in the media, from The New York Times to Vogue.
This event is presented in conjunction with Andy Yoder: Overboard, an exhibit of 240 replicas of Air Jordan 5s (size 13), each one handmade from recycled and repurposed packaging materials, inspired by “The Great Shoe Spill of 1990.”
have previously mentioned the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto. check it out : batashoemuseum.ca/
Thursday —
John showed a sketch of a flower planted in a shoe. We talked about the "language of flowers" (thus, which flower, meaning what?), but also wondered... maybe a series of anythings planted in a shoe (but what shoe?), and documented.
There appear to be artists (and others) who are working with shoes as planters, etc.
- michel blazy repurposes sneakers as pot plants for the venice art biennale : link
- Shoetree (Tokyo) : link (Kosuke Sugimoto, "Justification of deterioration" / about)
"Japanese Artist Turns Vintage Nike Shoes into Planters" : link
These and other examples may have little bearing on how John employs shoes as vessels/vases for other objects, whether they be flowers/plants or anything else. It is the combination of "shoe" with other elements that would be of interest. Which shoe? what other element(s).
What might a magician pull out of a shoe?
What might a comedian do with a shoe? (Thinking of Maxwell Smart "Agent 86" (Don Allen), his "shoe phone" in the television series Get Smart : link
Who (besides Mother Hubbard) lives in a shoe?
- Andy Warhol drew shoes (lots of them) : link
more : link - William Wegman used shoes as a prop in his photographs (of dogs), e.g.,
Shoe Head (1994) : link
or Feathered Footwear (1999) : link (one image in a long post at Art Blart devoted to Wegman, here
It might be useful to start working with an actual shoe (or two), in different situations, configurations, relationships with other objects, etc.
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