Week Four...Already?!

For the time being, my plan of attack is pretty clear--just keep making buildings. As last week's post shows, I did make a small-scale, semi-version of my map but as I am making more buildings, I am beginning to arrange them instead and that is giving me a much clearer idea of what my piece is going to look like and kind of where it's headed.

I had a mini epiphany this past week where I was like, I think I will set a [ridiculous] goal of having all of my buildings/"places" finished by the time I come back from Christmas break and work on the inhabitants of Berlin second semester.

The first Berliner! She is 100% German, that is, every part of her is made from papers I acquired in Germany. There will be many more to come, but next semester, probably.

Unfortunately, this week has been INCREDIBLY busy for me, studying for my astronomy exam and working on a large and time-consuming painting that's due next week, so I haven't been able to do as much reading as I would like. This upcoming weekend--when I'm not in the paint studio--I will be reading more from my Berlin books and, per Amanda's suggestion, rereading the journals I kept.

Pergamon Museum--the finished product!

I am SO glad I kept journals while in Germany. Normally when I travel, I make writing in a journal a goal of mine but then I usually forget to write or simply get lazy. I was very diligent this past summer, however, making a conscious effort to take a little time out of each day to write. There were a couple times where I skipped a day, but never did I not write for more than two. Additionally, my journals contain a lot of my observations of the city (both appearance-wise and the atmosphere of it), which will be especially fruitful source material for me to look at.

Okay, now I mentioned what I did not get a chance to do this past week but I did not mention what I did work on. I created two of my favorite, local eateries: Yama (a Japanese restaurant) and Marienburger (a greasy, burger and fries joint, cleverly named after the street on which it is located--note also, the "burger" element of the name!). I also created a fountain that is located in the center of "Lustgarten," which is on Museumsinsel (or, "Museum Island"). The last thing I made was a little honey stand.

Museumsinsel--Lustgarten, in particular--was my favorite place to go. It was about a 15-minute walk from where I lived and after getting off of work, I would walk down to the Lustgarten some evenings and either sketch people there or simply observe. Because it is, essentially, an island of museums--the Alte Nationalgalerie, the Altes Museum, the Neues Museum, Pergamon, the Bode Museum, etc. are all located here--the environment seemed utterly magical. This magic, I think, was created by the sheer quantity of so many beautiful, old, treasure-filled buildings in one rather densely-packed space. Additionally, the juxtaposition of old and new, that is, the 15th and 16th-century buildings (some with collection objects older than the buildings, themselves) with the apartment lofts, department stores and a metro in the very same vicinity was really special because it was a sight so different than what I see here in the United States. I don't know that I can fully articulate the magic of this area because it was something I felt. The words I have used thus far are about as close as I will get to capturing my feeling.

In getting back to what I made this week, I also began work on the Labyrinth Kindermuseum, which is the children's museum where I interned. The building, itself, is a former matchstick factory. I hope to have it completed by tomorrow evening but here is what I have so far:

As I continue to scan in more images I might start experimenting with their arrangement in Photoshop, creating different layers to see what should overlap and where, how much, etc.

So, to sum up, this is how I spent my time this past week:

• 13 hours collaging (includes finding the papers, cutting out my desired shapes, arranging them and then gluing them.
• 1 hour watching a documentary, titled, fittingly, Berlin. I checked this out from the Art, Architecture and Engineering Library.
• 2 hours reading, while taking notes in my sketchbook.

*Note: Because, as I've said, I haven't read as much as I would have liked, I am still in the "early years" of Berlin's history, with the Bismarckian time period, Prussian rulers, etc. I'm noticing parallels between the envisioned grandiosity I have for my piece and these former rulers' affinity for the baroque, with a great sense of ornamentation and excessiveness.

To conclude, I just wanted to respond to a question that was raised in the rough draft of my proposal. The question is in regards to the significance of my collage papers and whether or not the papers I am using have any specific relevance to Berlin (or Germany, I guess).

While I was there I collected papers from many, very different sources, including museum literature, flyers, souvenir bags, candy wrappers, etc. I am using these as material for many of the the buildings in my piece as well as German die-cuts of children I bought while there. Based on the large size and limited color/texture palette of my collected papers, however, it is out of necessity that I use paper acquired from other, less significant sources as well. To supplement these papers I have been using old Life magazines as well as commercially-bought paper. By so doing, I am creating buildings that have connections to Germany and the U.S.--just like me! Additionally, I like that only I know which of the papers came from Germany and which did not. I'm not going to tell, either!

P.S. And this is the last thing, I promise! I e-mailed my roommate in Germany (Marianne) to tell her about my project and she was telling me about an assignment she did while in college where she learned about the "Mental Map Method." Roughly translated, she describes this method as a European ethnology where one tries to get a sense of his/her environment by discovering which places are significant or important and for what reasons. From this, she painted 20 or so images. She recommended that I possibly look at some literature pertaining to this method. She also offered to take any pictures for me if I need a visual reminder of anything in Berlin.

Marianne with her currywurst!