Here It Is!

Here is my very final piece. What an exciting process this was. It's kind of unbelievable that I'm all done. It's a bittersweet feeling.

My Berlin: Last Week

I apologize for not posting the following image sooner in the week. I had the best of intentions but you know what they say...

(Better image to come)

Anyway, Janie, Erica, Amanda, Chrissy, Betsy and Alyssa came to my apartment today and had really positive things to say about my project (which, at this point, is really what I want to hear!). There are a few alterations I am going to make after receiving some feedback about specific [minor] problem areas:

1. Change smoke cloud--totally agree and my solution to this is using only one layer of vellum to create a smaller smoke cloud that has a more "smoke-like" shape.

2. Glue the fan card (near my signature in the bottom left corner) back a little bit so that it's not leaning so far away.

3. Put an itty bitty tree/trash can/something in the green area under the bridge in the bottom right corner just to break up the space a little bit.

4. Make one more person to stand in the hot dog line and a little kid peeking over the fruit stand (these suggestions were not made to me but this is something I want to do).

Thanks again to all who came today! I'm really excited for everyone to see the completed work in *hopefully* Slusser. I am going to attach it to the wall with square L hooks.

Week Ten--Second Semester

The countdown begins: 1 more week + 2 more weekends until work is due, and I'm not freaking out. I've been working like a crazy person to make sure my Berlin gets done on time. I am so run-down from working on it though that I am actually going home this weekend. It's my mom's birthday and I really miss her and I want to just get away from my project. As people are aware, it occupies the better part of my apartment so I literally have to look at it every time I go into the room, and just looking at it makes me feel exhausted.

My mama!!

I have stuff being weighed down right now and while, technically, I could continue to do work on it, I really need to force myself to take a break. I know this may seem counter-productive given how soon our work is due but it's not. I will finish it and it will look great.

Because I have been weighing a lot of things down the past week, I have not been permitted to constantly work with my surface. This is nice, in that I have been able to take a little break from the very technical and stressful act of attaching things to making again. This past week I made some more people, which was SO enjoyable. Some are already glued down but here are some that aren't:


I hope to make more if time permits because I think they add so much and convey such narrative.

I also cut a paper signature, which I really like. It is subtle yet noticeable (in the bottom left corner). Signatures provide authenticity to a work and I like the playful nature of a cut paper signature instead of a signed signature.

I glued down my bridge, which was a nerve-wracking and technically very difficult feat that required dexterity, incredibly awkward maneuvering and quickness. I'm glad that's done. That is one of the many things being weighed down by books and a 25-pound weight (imagine, if you will, the aforementioned awkward maneuvering to which I referred, involving squatting, quickly applying glue and reaching for a 25-pound weight to plop on top of books). My being gone this weekend will be good because I will not be tempted to peek at the bridge, thereby moving the books. Sunday or Monday evening I am going to take a picture of my work to post. I can't do it before then because I don't want to remove books/weights prematurely.

Amanda suggested too that I look at the work of Elizabeth Murray for inspiration for my compositional arrangement, namely cutting areas away and gluing those same island-like pieces in different areas. While this would be cool, I cannot envision how this would look and I honestly do not think this is the route my project needs to take. Another time, another place, maybe.

One thing I'm unsure about is what I should prepare for Tuesday's class. Could someone please advise me what they would like me to do?

Okay, that's all she wrote. Stay tuned for a Sunday/Monday evening post showing the work in its near entirety.

Utilization of Time:
Making people: 14 hours
Gluing stuff to board: 16 hours
Miscellaneous, tedious little map details: 8 hours

SIDE NOTE: I can do headstands now!!!!

Zach Kanin is my favorite New Yorker cartoonist. Funny shit.

Week Nine--Second Semester

This post is going to be short and sweet. Also, there will be no pictures because everything is currently being weighed down by books.

I made a JFK figure this week, a hot dog vendor man, a bus stop sign thing and another U-Bahn entrance; I glued down my TV tower, some of the area under the bridge and some more grassy areas.

I had the reassuring moment this past week that *shock* I am going to finish my project. It's not because "things just turned out that way" either. It's because I've been working around the clock, literally working on my project every day to ensure it gets done, and this hard work has paid off. Thank God.

Utilization of time:
Cutting, assembling and gluing things: 30ish hours *I also found a really interesting pattern from a magazine that I am going to use for one grass area that I scanned, finessed in Photoshop and printed. This took about an hour or so.

Week Eight--Second Semester

Well, I basically had no life over spring break. I worked nearly non-stop on my Berlin but I feel I need to work at this pace in order to finish it in time for the show! Right now my main goal is covering every foam core area with paper and attaching my buildings so that then I can go back in and fill areas with things I could do without (like fences, recycle bins, potted flowers, street signs) but that I really want to include because I think they are crucial to my city.

As for my next plan of attack, I am going to Hollanders today to buy some paper and then apply it to as many areas as I can. I experimented in Photoshop last night with layers of different paper patterns from the Hollander's website and after 3 hours of experimenting I settled on papers that I like. The only two areas I am not sure about are the area behind Kaiser's (the red grocery store on the right) and Konditorei Krautzig (the white bakery near the top left).

Below is my composite:
Seth again addressed the issue of the "rectangle with a bump" shape of my city and to do something else with the perimeter. I agree that this shape is odd but I'm kind of struggling with what I should do. One possibility I came up with was to have a title (made out of foam core) attached to the space between the hills and the building top (on the left) but I don't know if I really like this idea. Thoughts?

My list of things I still need to do are:
1. Make the Döner Kebab shop to go in the bald area near the top left of the composition.
2. Make a second U-Bahn station entrance in the area above or next to Galeria Kaufhof.
3. Build up the area under the bridge.
4. Make tree bases/stands for trees in the sidewalks.
5. Make trash cans and recycle bins to sprinkle throughout the city.
6. Make street signs.
7. Make more PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!! (bicyclists, babies...)

Breakdown of time:
Spring break + this week = 70 hours at least

HOLY CRAP. THAT'S BIG.

Oh my gosh, okay, so I attached the two foam core pieces and taped up the elements that would stick (some are too heavy) and here is what it looks like:
It's pretty overpowering, I think...which is good...but dang! It's really large! Looking at it on the floor is VASTLY different than seeing it propped up.

Week Seven--Second Semester

Well, I finally purchased my road paper and glued it down and I am not switching!!! Actually, though, I'm happy with it and hope others will be too. Though this image below can't totally do it justice, the paper is a kind of lavender with gold and white flecks, making it look kind of concrete-y.
Here is my actual piece with the roads. I also attached the two pieces of foam core together and THAT was an ordeal. It should stay, though. As I proceed and begin gluing down large areas of paper (specifically grass) I think I'm going to have to glue something of equal size (maybe newspaper) on the reverse side to prevent serious warping, which is one thing I'm concerned about.


My sister, who is studying in Germany right now, surprised me with a package in the mail containing tons of papers for me to use in my collage. With my dwindling stash these will really help out! (Sorry for the bad photo--all of my photos, actually, are kind of bad. I think I need a better camera : /
I worked on the bridge for the subway cars, gluing together two pieces of foam core and lining the edges with the same paper as the bridge. Here is a close-up:

And lastly, as I promised from last week, here are images of the *new* sowohl als auch cafe with cutaways to reveal the cake lady pouring tea/coffee. Again, I apologize for the less than wonderful photos.



Utilization of Time:
Honestly, I don't know. LOTS of time--cutting out, arranging and gluing my roads, gluing my pieces of foam core together, removing the old road I had (which took forever) and creating my bridge. Probably 30 hours or so???

Here is my roommate with her teeth:

Week Six--Second Semester

This past week I continued to do a lot of making including new buildings and remodeling old ones. I also am beginning to play more with the buildings, themselves, by having some windows and doors open up to allow the viewer to peek inside. Below is my "newly-remodeled" Marienburger Straße 6 (where I lived) with a view inside to expose a large me laughing at the kitchen table. Parts of the scene are not exposed and it's only when one investigates closely that he or she will be able to discern what is going on. I like that about it.

I also allowed the door and window of the bakery/cafe sowohl als auch to open up. Inside is the postcard my sister sent me from Germany (she is studying abroad right now) of a lady in a ridiculous cherry-like hat pouring tea/coffee at a table with a large German Black Forest Cake placed in front of her. I thought the postcard was especially fitting because of the nature of the building.

*Note: This image was taken before I did the window/door cutaway with my sister's postcard.

I also redid Tukadu (the toy store) after receiving the vintage Berlin stamps I ordered. These stamps are bright, bold and colorful AND have wooden toys depicted on them. I am much happier with this new building. I actually never really like the old Tukadu.

Other amendments are the added on walls of Kaisers and Kino Babylon. The latter has a work of graffiti on the side of it, which I made based off of an actual work of graffiti that I saw in Berlin. The new wall is itself still somewhat spartan for my taste but I think I will be able to resolve this issue of so much orangeness with a figure that I place against the wall. Below are images of Kaisers and Kino Babylon, respectively, with a close-up detail of the graffiti.

Lastly, I made a new building, Mao-Thai, which was a really delicious Vietnamese restaurant I ate at in Berlin. I was lucky to have saved both Mao-Thai's business card and its takeout menu from when I was there, and I incorporated both into my building construction.

On Thursday before class Janie, Seth, Amanda and Erica came to my apartment to view the work in-person (thanks again!). I got really useful feedback and below I will list some of the key issues that came up so that I can refer to them in the coming weeks and attempt to tackle them.

- Use streets as a way to unify the entire composition and will lead the eye from grouping to grouping--consider lavender or a purplish grey.

*Janie--I was looking on Hollander's website and I came across this paper. While it does have a pattern, it is a subtle one. I think it is a really nice combination of the lavender/grey you were talking about. Because images often look very different online, I am going to go to the store this weekend to check it out in-person. What do you think of this color, though?

- Create 'breathing' areas of solid blocks of color and consider bringing in some darker value regions.

*Janie--although this image is a bit different than what you were describing with skies changing colors, I still think it's a really nice example of how effective large blocks of colors can be.

- Have more elements extend outside the confines of the rectangular surface (like the hills are doing). Right now the overall shape of my composition reads as a rectangle with bumps. Consider having an undulating top where the bumps gradually recede downward.

- The grey expanse of color near the bottom right is not working (I agree).

- Have roads follow the contours of buildings' positions for greater visual interest and variety as well as to help unite the piece.

- Consider straying from strictly "road" (gray) or "grass" (green) colors, opting for color choices based on color relationships.

- Consider working with just the background surface colors/road demarcations and organizing my buildings and other elements based on that layout.

- Use trees as a way to highlight certain elements or to provide interesting opportunities for compelling color relationships.

- Buy many solid papers and experiment with placing different ones behind different elements--do not glue anything for awhile.

Below is my less than stellar photo of what I have so far:

Utilization of Time:

Collaging/constructing buildings: 25 hours

Gluing down new areas: 3.5 hours

Arranging/experimenting with my composition: 1.5 hours

*Note: I also made some other stuff (including a post office) that I forgot to mention

*CLOSE-UP IMAGE OF MAO-THAI COMING SOON!

Postcard Image

Thanks to everybody for their input regarding my postcard image. I really appreciate it. Below is what I came up with after receiving feedback:

Postcard Images

I am playing with postcard image ideas and came up with the following two. Thoughts??? I think I like the first one better.

Week Five--Second Semester

I was a busy bee this week, starting on a lot of things for my map. Some got finished, others didn't. I'm going to work on them this weekend, and then next week I want to get all my roads glued down. Yes, that is correct. ALL the roads glued down. I have decided, too, that while the pattern is not that of an actual road, roads, in general, and navigating the city was such an important part of my summer experience that I need to give the roads more presence and excitement than what an actual, 'road' color can do. I'm going to line areas of roads with a curb and other areas will have sidewalks abutting the main road but I have decided this is what I'm doing. I have also decided that vertical roads will taper and will be kind of squiggly in some areas and straighter in others.

Now, getting back to what I did this past week, I will provide a list. I do not have pictures of everything but will try and upload those I do not have a picture of upon their completion.

1. Four more strawberry stands.

2. A tram car coming vertically down a road.
3. Two bus stop signs (finished but have not yet scanned). Here is a picture, though, of what they actually look like in Berlin, except the poles are yellow/orange:

4. A post office (not done yet).
5. Cafe Sowohl Als Auch (not done yet).
6. A fruit stand (not done yet).
7. Mao Thai Restaurant (not done yet).
8. Television tower elevated on foam core (not done yet).
9. More trees.

*I also tweaked Impala Coffee--I got rid of the man and dog sitting at the table because I didn't like them; I added a little more tan and goldenrod to Konditorei Krautzig because there was too much white and I added little windows to kleine Eiszeit because, again, there was too much white.

Utilization of time:
Looking at books I checked out: 1 hour
Browsing eBay to buy stamps for my map: 1 hour
Collaging: 16 hours

Max und Moritz

Week Four--Second Semester

First of all, I can't believe we are already entering the fourth week in the new semester! Time is really going to fly and that has me kind of freaking out : /

This week I dedicated some time to going to the library to check out more books with depictions of urban landscapes and cityscapes. I also got a book of Vatican paintings because first of all, I love Renaissance painting and second of all, lots of paintings from the Renaissance (and Medieval, too) have really wonky perspectives so I thought those would be useful to look at. Additionally, I got a book called Representing Place: Landscape Painting and Maps and I am excited to start reading this just to see what topics the author addresses. Even if I don't end up reading the book in its entirety--which I probably won't--I can hopefully glean some important and relevant points to apply to my project.

One of the books I checked out is called Sweet Oblivion: The Urban Landscape of Martin Wong. He is a painter and I really like his bold use of color and detailed, vibrant buildings. He arranges them within his compositional frame in a very interesting way and I think that, while primarily rooted in reality, his paintings definitely possess a sense of whimsy and magic.

Another book I checked out is called Splendor of Rajasthani Painting. It contains beautiful images of Indian miniature paintings that I think will be really useful for my project when looking at how to incorporate a lot of detail, intricacy and color into one space. These, too, though, employ a weird perspective that I am very much drawn to.


I elevated the poster wall this week by gluing it to two pieces of foam core and then lined the sides with paper from a German film festival pamphlet. I haven't glued it down to the surface yet but the elevated wall looks really good, if I do say so myself. Just to remind you all what I am talking about, below is the poster wall to which I'm referring.

I also made three tram cars this week and plan to definitely make three more to display somewhere else in Berlin but I am also considering having even an additional set of three tram cars that are from another (not too extreme) perspective. Below are some examples of what I am imagining and below that are the cars I made.


Finally, I created a fence that will surround the park in the top right corner of my map. While I printed out and affixed my tram cars to my copy map in my studio, I have not yet printed out the scaled down fence to attach to the copy but I will do so this week.



Utilization of Time:
Going to the library and looking at images: 1.5 hours
Collaging and working on actual surface: 17 hours

Week Three--Second Semester

Well, despite my not wanting to copy and cut out all of my paper things so that I would have a copy in my studio, Janie and Amanda's strong encouragement to do just that was necessary. While this copied version does have a different feel, it is a very good (and accurate!) representation of what actually is. My goal is to every other week update my copy version because I don't want to focus too much on that and not enough on the actual piece.

The large group critique that happened yesterday was really helpful for me. The biggest issue that came up concerned the roads, which I, myself, was struggling with. While I got a lot of different "dislikes" or "not workings" thrown at me, one comment was universal and that was that the paper wasn't working because of its pattern, which people pretty universally said doesn't read as road.

However, I still really do like the paper (and I would like to note here that it did copy a bit differently), and am going to try two things before I totally put the kibosh on it. Those are: narrowing the width of the street (which might also make the pattern read differently) and adding more areas of road so that it's not an isolated form on the surface.

As per usual, I do have two questions for whomever reads my blog this week that I would like addressed, please. I'll just number them so they're easier to refer to:

1. Should the roads taper/recede into space?
2. If yes, to question one, should this be the case everywhere or should there be some areas where a road is suggested by just a rectangular strip?
3. Do you think it's okay to have 'my roads' or paths I want to indicate that do not inherently follow a 'real' road?
4. Is it okay to have different papers for roads or do you think that would add too much confusion?
5. Should the roads be straight and linear (cut with X-acto) or more of a freehand look that I cut with scissors? That said, too, should the roads be more or less straight or curvy or both?

Thanks in advance! Here is my breakdown of time:

Photographing and scanning actual paper images to be re-sized: 7 hours
Printing new paper components: 1.5 hours
Cutting out new paper components: 7 hours
Arranging the copied image in my studio: 1 hour
Doing work on my actual piece (including gluing down grass and walkway areas, affixing appendages to the larger foam core sheet, lining the edges of the foam core): 6 hours

Here is a photo of my second copied version of "my Berlin" in my studio. It is 75 percent the size of the original.

Week Two--Second Semester

Okay, everybody, so I just spent like the last three hours arranging my surface and I gotta say, I'm pretty excited looking at it. While the scale doesn't seem quite so daunting, five by six feet (at least) is still a lot of space to fill.
Now, for those of you who do not know what material I am using for my surface, it is ARCHIVAL FOAM CORE. I am attaching the pieces with Jade glue. Thank you, Jane Hammond, for both of the great suggestions. Also, I would like to note that in the above photo, the ONLY things that are attached are the plot of grass and pathway area in the bottom left corner and the large green floral sheet and hills in the top right corner. I think I gave Janie a mini heart-attack in class today when I told her I started gluing but DON'T WORRY--those are the only things.
For the streets, I think I'm going to use that particular paper (with the circle patterns) and possibly use different papers/materials to designate smaller, less significant roads. I really like this paper because it embodies a sense of playfulness but it can also read as disorientation in certain areas. Also, I don't think it's too busy so that it will not read as a road. What are your thoughts, though? Also, I do need to buy more of it so, again, what you see here is just what I have for now.

I do have some specific questions about decisions I need to make. The first is, should the grass in the area where the statues are (the statues will eventually have bases, FYI) be the same as the grass plots surrounding the fountain? I don't think so but I would like to hear other thoughts. Should the area behind the Berlin Cathedral, which will probably just be little strips of green above the water, be the same grass as said area?
My next question is, should the area under the brick subway structure thing be removed altogether (so I would cut out those pieces of foam core) or should I create the outside environment that the "structure" passes over? If I did make an environment, it would be an open area of ground with a fountain in it.
Next question: how do you all feel about the girl leaning away from the board on what looks like a fan and flowers? I know it's bit ambiguous and possibly out of place but I like the idea that it possesses a sort of beauty that I associate with that area (Lustgarten) and that one associates flowers with the sense of smell because the old man sitting in the flowers is the creepy homeless guy who sniffed me. I plan on adding some more trees to this area and more people so this might help integrate the card, which I do like.
Last question: how do you all feel about a yellow tram coming down the main road? This would be a different perspective than what I have in other areas (which are straight on except for the apartment where the viewer can look inside)
but the tram is something I DO want to include and I'm just not sure where or if doing it from an aerial perspective (which is what I mean by "coming down the main road") would look too disconnected from the rest of the piece.
Now, I just want to clarify a couple of in-progress things that might look out of place/confusing right now. The first is that I think I'm going to create some apartments near the top left of the 'map,' which will have window boxes with the baby flowers. I don't want these to look too out of place, though, so I might do some sketching first on top of an image of my map that I print out.

The woman in the somewhat center of the "map" who is holding something (which is a large piece of apple cake) is going to be working at the coffee shop/bakery there that I have yet to make.

The customs brochure, which one can see in the center on the right side is going to be the building of the Post Office (clever, huh?). I placed it there because it will then occupy the space that becomes covered when the apartment next to it is opened up to reveal the interior. I like this idea that when looking inside where I am having a great time, laughing, drinking, eating and chatting with my roommate, I am not thinking about things connected with returning home (of which the Post Office is kind of a symbol).

Okay, okay, I know this is very long but as you can see, I have done A LOT of work and therefore, I have a lot of comments and questions, so I thank you in advance for taking the time to read this and respond.

The very last thing I want to touch on is how I am working. As I said, my piece is about five by six feet and because there is not enough room in my studio for me to set this up and then move around the area around it, I am doing all of the assembly back in my apartment, which is MUCH more conducive to the task.

Although Janie suggested photographing or scanning everything, printing the images and then cutting them out and arranging them on a large sheet of paper in my studio--in sense, making a copy of what I have back in my apartment--this would really be a misuse of my time because it would take a REALLY long time to do and yield me little benefit. Instead, I am going to take a photo every week of what I have back in my apartment so that I can talk with the class about what's there and hear their suggestions regarding my overall composition.

For lack of wanting to depress myself, I am not going to try and figure out how many hours I have spent working . Know, though, that it is A LOT and I can give a list of things I have done since my review:

- Elevated the children's museum at which I worked (a former matchstick factory) with matchstick boxes.
- Made four baby German die-cut flower boxes.

- Made 'dimensional' flowers (which will eventually have pots) in front of the Berlin Cathedral.
- Made smoker/water lady to the left of the Berlin Cathedral.

- Made three statues in this same area (although I think I am only using two and that is what I took a picture of).
- Made and glued together the water in the area in the bottom left corner of my map.
- Arranged my ticket street.
- Created a cigarette smoke cloud above the television tower.
- Created the inside of the apartment I lived in.
- Made a "me" with animated geese earrings, presenting my Berlin to viewers of the map.
- Made a "me" walking around confused/uncertain/disoriented next to the tall church near the center of the map.
- Cut out the brick structure thing below the subway cars.

- Elevated the subway cars and covered the paper that elevated the cars with old subway maps.
- Created raindrops and snowflakes and people/dog in some of the drops.
- Made a movie screen and elevated it.
- Made LOTS of trees.
- Attached the large green sheet of paper and hills (that was an adventure) in the top right of my map.
- Attached the sidewalk and plot of grass in the bottom left corner of my map.

Phew. That is all (I hope). Sorry to the poor soul who has to read my blog this week.

P.S. I apologize for some of the blurry photos. It was SO awkward taking some of these without stepping on the board. It will be easier once pieces are attached and I can hang it up on a wall. I might borrow Maggie's macro lens for certain areas, though...

P.P.S. MRS. BROWE--I DON"T THINK OF YOU AS SOME CREEPY STALKER NEIGHBOR!!!! (that's what Sarah told my mom you said). I would LOVE to get your feedback--general input, comments or suggestions--so PLEASE leave an anonymous comment if you feel so inclined!