RIVAH Project

Our first project in our studio class started with a class meeting at Belle Isle. We were instructed to bring some large sheets of newsprint and charcoal. We spent the three hours sketching 3 spaces along the James River. After we did that we were to choose one spot and determine a 10'x10' area that would be our area of study.
Sounds great, doesn't it? I thought so. Then, I sat on a rock. And was bit. TWICE. Don't worry, I fought through the stinging pain and got my drawings done (and with the help of a nearby camp counselor got some sting cream too!)


Here is the space I chose- it's a spot where the river meets the edge of the rock:

Sitting in my spot, you can see a perfect view of Hollywood cemetary across the river.

I thought it deserved at least a rouch sketch (an indulgence that probably was not part of my assignment...whoops!)

Eventually, we were asked to study our space completely: go above the water, below the water etc. WE were to do 20 sketches/studies and at least 3 models of our space. Here are a few sketches...

Just to let you in on my process a little bit, I find that it's easier to plan out my models before I do them. Because of this, I get alot of pages that look a little something like this:

And they turn into something like this:

The above model was an effort to show the volume of the space to scale (we were not allowed to use curves- only 90 degree angles). The chipboard represents the rocks and the white represents the green.

The model below was done in order to show a little bit more about the layers of the spaces and how the rock and the water react to each other.

After the two "big" models, I did a couple of smaller models that zoomed in on certain spots in my space. I started by doing one that showed the topography of the rock a little bit more and I tried to show how the water reacts (which is really hard to do with paper!)

The last model I did I was studying how to show different types of water. I categorized the water (fast, smooth water, stagnant water, white water, slow, smooth water). Then I tried to think about how they would be shown in a model.

So, that's the river project! Sorry I haven't posted in a while- my computer caught a virus and I had to take it to the doctor. It's all better now though! :)

Put it in Perspective

I think one of my favorite things we've done so far was really only meant as skillbuilder, but turned out to produce some pretty nice drawings. It got me back in the habit of drawing at least. The assignment was to choose 8 interior spaces and draw them, using line weight, composition, line qualtiy, construction AND NO PENCIL!
I know. It's crazy. No erasing, no redrawing. This puts things in a little bit of a different perspective because it makes your lines so much more important. You'll see in some (all) of my drawings that I haven't mastered the line on the first try.

So, without further ado, here are some of the drawings that came from the assignment.

VCU LIBRARY:


Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexamdria, VA:

Boutique Hotel, Arlington, VA:


US Capitol:

VCU Brand Center:

VCU Brand Center:

VCU Paint, Printmaking and Sculpture Building:

The last three are of the Natural History Museum at the Smithsonian:

Fall Semester Beginnings

Hello there! I'm so sorry to have this big 'ole gap in the middle of my blogging. I was getting on a role for a while and I just dropped off- BUT I have a good reason. Boy oh boy have they really piled it on during the first week of school! Back in the undergrad days we used to refer to that first week as "syllabus week" if any of you out there recall. Basically, it was still relax time because we didn't really do much and assignments weren't due for a while. Well, not so in the Masters world. They kicked us in the rear and put us to work!

I'm currently working on three projects and have already finished two. I'll talk about one of the projects in this post.

The project was designed with the intention of getting to know different materials used for modeling and figure out how best to join those materials. It was an exploration in curiousity and craftsmenship. We had to construct 18 boxes. Six had to be 4x4x4, six were 2x2x2 and the last six were 1x1x1. Of the six, one had to be chipboard, one museum board, corrugated cardboard, foamcore, recycled something, and basswood. One side of the box had to be hollow and the other side had to have a piece of plexiglass with a "glazed" treatment on it.

The glazing treatments are as follows:

transparent colorless

translucent colorless

transparent colored

translucent colored

patterned

graphic

So, again, sorry for the delay. I will try and keep up with my posting, but it seems having any sort of life outside the program is going to be tough. Hang in there with me though and check back in every now and then- I'll be SURE to post more! :)