Assignment 3 - sculpted shadows

[Assignment 3]

We continued our SketchUp Development this past week with an extension to our last assignment. The ideas were similar, as we were asked to develop a courtyard for a patron who is fascinated by geometric patterns. The first phase called for repetition in geometric form to encourage dramatic shadows throughout the day and at different times of the year. I chose a simple triangular pattern that my group used for a shading apparatus in our environmental control systems class.

[summer morning] [summer afternoon]

The material is canvas, or recycled sails, and it is attached to thin steel posts. The repetition of form, and variation in color offers dynamic and changing shadows throughout the day. The bold reds and gradient to gray would appear different depending on the variations in the sun, clouds, and sky, creating a different scene upon each visit.

[color and shape] [internal experience]

Finally, we were asked to play around with a renditioning tool to add artificial lighting and better quality for presentation.

[introduction of artificial light]

[more use of artificial light]

Assignment 2 - Climbing Structure

[Southeast Perspective]

Our second assignment had us working with Google Sketchup to add a centerpiece to our courtyard in the middle of our imaginary museum. We were to use a concrete base, and a wooden sunscreen in order to create a structure with some interesting shadows, and to provide our visitors with a break from the art in the surrounding buildings.

[plan view]

I started this assignment with no real ideas or framework in my head and just played with some rectangles and kept adding and subtracting from the piece. I felt a little lost, but it was a fun way to learn some of the basic tools of the program without having any real expectations of the final result. It was a very different way for me to work, as i usually start with some images in my imagination, a theme that I want to explore, or maybe some sketches in my notebook.

[interior view]

I mostly worked to create repeating patterns and holes that would lead to some interesting shadows, as well as extruded surfaces for those shadows to fall upon. Lastly, I wanted to work on different levels to offer seating to the visitors.

[view from bench]

I played around with some colors to make it a little less boring, and had some fun with the shadow feature on Sketchup. It's a really great tool to deal with daylighting and sun exposure. I would like to add more to the climbing sculpture, like some vegetation and some context around the structure to make it look a little more human, but after spending a few hours on it i'm going to step away and come back if I have time before the next assignment.

Assignment 1 - Myshowroom.edu

This was a project I completed for an introduction to photography class back in spring of 2006. The idea was that we were supposed to take a bunch of photos, and put them together to a song of our choice and make sense of it all. I really enjoyed this project because I have always listened to music and imagined a piece of art that would convey the same emotion, or depict the same story as the song. This was an extension of that activity, and despite the amateur quality of the finished product, it was still a lot of fun to work on.

The song is a Dave Matthews song called "Little Thing" and it's basically about a meeting between two people and the man's thought process directly after the encounter. After realizing his attraction to her, he turns around to ask her for some time but she has already passed on her way. He spends the rest of the afternoon waiting for her, with the hope that she might pass by again, but to no avail. He waits and waits, thinking and hoping that maybe she felt the same way, and that maybe they would meet again. "The memory of a love that never got born."

I used Reese Witherspoon as the female in the film mainly because i was in love with her at the time. Plus she's in a ton of movies so i knew i could find some good shots of her. Just scroll down and hit the play button to watch!

[Click play to watch]

Ron Mueck

For this week’s assignment, we were asked to choose an art or design piece we had created, and describe its relationship to an inspiration. Unfortunately I think I read the assignment wrong, and instead I found another person’s work and described it. I will probably have to do the assignment again, but it’s still an interesting process so I figured I would post it anyway.



Ron Mueck makes realistic sculptures of human beings. His creative process consists of looking at photographs and visual textbooks, but in the case of this piece, he had a pregnant woman model for him. He made the decision to work on a monumental scale by using big sketches on brown paper. His finished works are cast in silicon and fiberglass after being molded in clay. He constructs a frame of scaffolding tubes on which he defines the forms of the woman with chicken wire covered with layers of bandaging soaked in pasta. Once the clay layers are complete, and the form is made, he has to create a mold. This mold has to be made in sections, with joints in several different places. Silicon is applied in liquid form for this particular piece, along with resin and fiberglass. A wooden frame is made to keep the mold for removal. It is a long and difficult process, which destroys the clay sculpture underneath, so it is vital that it is cast correctly on the first attempt.

He presents his work on many different scales. For the pregnant woman, the large scale and realistic detail shapes viewer perceptions and reactions to the piece. Check this video out to see the process. Courtesy of Youtube.



More of his work:

Ron Mueck

Arch 610 - A Brief Description

This term I am enrolled in a computing class at the U of O. As a part of the class, we are all to create a new website, or develop an existing one in order to become familiar with graphic presentation tools on the web. The assignments will be completed using programs like Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and Google Sketchup. As part of the class we are instructed to use a website as an electronic portfolio for these assignments. Since I started this blog as a way to keep up with family and friends back East, I thought it would be appropriate to combine my efforts and keep a more up to date blog than i have been keeping. So In addition to more frequent postings, I will be adding my assignments to this website for everyone to see. The format will be similar to my old posts, with a description followed by a link to my Picasa Web Album with each assignment in its own folder. I really hope to make this blog a more comprehensive account of my work here in the Option III program, as well as a more manageable place for my friends and family to keep up with me.