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!

Week One--Second Semester

I am going to use this week's post to talk about my review, which was incredibly helpful. Janie, Joe Trumpey and Jim Cogswell were my committee members and they offered me really useful suggestions and general things to think about.

It was recommended that I convey more of my specific sensations associated with particular places as well as specific memorable events instead of broader representations.

Two recommendations were most helpful to me. These were:

1. Playing more with scale to convey emotions and sensations--this can extend beyond the realm of "reality," that is, people don't need to be smaller than buildings.

2. Consider different ways of handling the paper--maybe some areas are treated differently (ie. come away from the surface, are elevated off the surface, etc.)

I have so many ideas whirring through my brain right now and I'm really excited to push my envisioned Berlin into a more surreal landscape.

I made these flower boxes out of German die cuts of little kids. They are a bit more sculptural in nature than what I've been doing and I really like them. Because Prenzlauer Berg had SO many kids I thought it would be fitting to have the kids as potted flowers, hinting at their omnipresence.

My camera battery is charging but I will upload photos of the flower boxes when the battery is recharged.


I also want to show some images of work by artists who were recommended to me. The artists mentioned were Red Grooms and Joyce Kozloff.



P.S. I submitted my grant reimbursement form yesterday (Thursday), which is a great feeling!

P.P.S. OOH! I also wanted to mention that I e-mailed Jane Hammond who also does a lot with paper and collage and works a lot on large-scale surfaces so I asked her if she could recommend good ideas of support surfaces for my purposes. I briefly described my project to her and what I needed for my purposes and she quickly got back to me with really great, specific suggestions. I thought that was really cool, and I'm going to take her advice in terms of material.