Project Description: (Part 1) We will create weekly threads on Basecamp for you to post your videos to. They can be historical or contemporary. They do not need to be “Graphic Designers”. These videos are meant to inspire you and your classmates. How you interpret the inspiration is up to you. Try to find people outside the typical Graphic Design Canon. Who are underrepresented designers, artists, or visionaries?
(Part 2) Submit a video synopsis of the artist(s) of your choice. You only need to choose one but you are welcome to incorporate multiple profiles. You can use clips from the videos, image stills, and related visual material. You are expected to relate it to your own work or how their work may inspire future projects.
Research Statement: Process is a huge part of my design and painting practices; thinking about new ways to approach a material and concept by physically playing with it. Looking back at the artists and designers I collected throughout this project, process is a recurring theme. From literally seeing the process of creating an object in C-Friek’s production lines and the videos I found on wallpaper making to hearing the artists Sarah Sze, Tara Donovan, and Mariah Robertson speak about working through their work and developing it throughout the process of creation.
Sze with process in a very direct way, in that the process is part of the finished piece. Her goal is to create the feeling that you are seeing the piece in the “same place that it is being made and happening all at once.” This desire to allow the viewer into the process intrigues me because I am always interested in ways that the process is revealed to the viewer.
In my painting practice, I have been working with, or more like discovering, elements of chance through the process of making. Robertson’s work is a clear example of this. She works with the strict photographic system of developing images in an extreme way by allowing chance to become a part of it. She works to try to control the chemical reactions of the development, but usually ends up with a series of “fleeting mysteries” that can’t be reproduced.
Another key element in my creative practices is the idea of play. I think it is very important for a creator to enjoy what they are doing (for the most part, there are always moments when you question why you started something). Donovan spoke to this in her interview; she shared that she’s not creating her work to make comments on society, she’s creating it in order to challenge herself to make something new with an object. For her, creating is about play and experimentation, an idea that I relate to very strongly.
Step 1: Brainstorm
I started this project knowing that I wanted to focus on 3 artists I had posted about: Tara Donovan, Sarah Sze, and Mariah Robertson. These 3 female artists are ones I discovered this semester, either through recommendations (from youtube and people) or through others posts. Their work overlaps here and there through mediums, but the main concept that connects them is their interest and experimentation within the process of creation.
I watched the video that someone posted about Tara Donovan last week and loved it! I relate so much to her practice. Creating is about play and experimentation and making experience that will ultimately be different for every viewer. I love how she said she works like a scientist because of how she experiments with materials, I work in a similar way (minus the cleaning up part haha). Breehan has started to call my studio a laboratory. I also love how she works with these materials in order to challenge herself to transform them, not to comment on mass production and waste.
Sarah Sze is a sculptor, painter, and installation artist with a background in architecture. My painting professor, Breehan, suggested I look at her because of the use of photography in my current work and the way I use found objects in my practice. It’s very interesting to me to hear Sarah talk about all her different studio practices and their growth. I relate to how she is constantly working with different mediums and exploring new ideas at equal intensity. In the second video she spoke about how she wants to create the feeling that you are seeing the piece in the same place that it is being made, and I love this idea. Since I create very process based work, I am always interested in ways that the process is revealed to the viewer.
Mariah Robertson is artist and photographer, but not a traditional one. She works the photographic process experimentally to create interesting and dynamic compositions of color and form that span across the disciplines of painting and photography. I discovered her on youtube, because now half of the videos that are recommended for me are about artists haha. I loved hearing her talk about her experimental practice, how it started, and the works relationship to chance.
I also wanted to included some work from Sigrid Calon, Tauba Auerbach, and Bryan Graf. These are artists/designers that I was introduced to in previous semester and who’s work and practice have always related to my own.
After deciding which artists I wanted to focus on, I started making a mind map trying to draw connections between them through mediums, themes in their work, and artistic practices. Once I did this, I thought it would be interesting to create a video of a mind map being formed with myself and my own work at the center.
I shared the idea of filming myself making a mind map with photos, string, and handwritten quotes and thoughts with my crit group. Overall the response was positive, but my professor suggested doing more of a collage rather than a mind map and to think of starting with images from my childhood and build up to now.
This made me think of the project as more of a brain dump and image cloud of sorts. I also started to think more broadly about the idea of inspiration, thinking about what and who inspired/influenced me when I was young up until now. A lot of my graphic design work has been inspired by my family, so showing images of them along with my work and my artistic influences fit very well with the overall prompt.
Step 2: Collect Images
The next step was to collect all the images I wanted to use during my brain dump. I already had images of the artists work (taken from their websites) so I began going through my phone looking for pictures of old work and family members and memories.
I also had a nice FaceTime call with my mom where we went through pictures of myself when I was little and I told her which ones to text to me. She also sent me some stuff from the boxes of old school and art projects I did when I was young.
Step 3: Film
Before filming, I had to print and cut out all of my pictures. This might have been the most tedious and time consuming part of this whole project. A special shoutout to my roommate, Cailyn, for being my assistant for the night and helping me cut out all these photos. I forgot to take pictures of the original stack of printed pages (about 60 11x17s) and the mess I made in my room, but here are the scraps ready to be recycled into handmade paper (at some point, hopefully).
After prepping the photos and separating them into groups (family photos, my artwork, artists’ works) I was ready to film! I began by setting up this “tripod” of shorts in my studio so I could get an overhead view of myself assembling the collage. I then proceeded to make a mess in my studio by rummaging through all these photos.
I had gone into filming with a vague idea of the order of images. I knew I wanted to go chronologically through my family photos randomly placing in my work, then go into artists well continuing to throw in some family phots and my own work. I wanted to make sure the piece was completely planned, allowing for the element of chance to work its way in, as it is a huge part of my own painting practice and the practices of the artists I was focusing on.
Step 4: Assemble Footage
Once I was done filming I uploaded all the footage onto my computer. I had filmed the collage in sections to give me time to think about my next move while filming and also to make the editing easier.
Next, I brought each section into Premiere and started cutting out awkward pauses and gaps in them. I also speed up all of the footage, ranging from 100% and 300% to 500% and 2000%.
At this point my video had no audio or text and was basically just a video of the collage being made. This was great, and it took a lot of work to get to this point, but I knew I wanted more of a directed narrative and sequence behind the video. I wanted to make sure it didn't get to repetitive and ultimately boring.
Step 5: Edit
During my next crib, it seemed like everyone agreed with me. I had the base content for my video but I needed to work with it more. My professor suggested incorporating type and also to think about the collage reductively. He also encouraged me to really think about the pacing and editing of the video itself rather than focusing on making statements about the artists, after all this had turned into a video about me and my all my influences, not just the artistic ones.
I took the suggestion of thinking reductively about the collage and ran with it. I ended up switching the bulk of the video to being me taking apart the collage, after building it up very quickly at the beginning. This conveyed the idea of digging deeper into the influences and inspiration in my work by going past just the artistic ones and into my family.
Next, I began playing with type. I wanted to call out each person that was being influenced in the work and also have quotes from my 3 main artists.
I started by having the names be cut outs on a black background. I liked the idea of being able to see the movement of the collage through the text, but this ended up being to abrupt for how often I was using it. I eventually switched these to the overlay effect Difference.
For the quotes, they started out the same as the names and then switched to difference. This effect did not work as well here because there was more text so it was too difficult to read. I eventually switched it to white type.
Step 6: Audio
The last step was audio. This part is always difficult for me because I really feel it can make or break a video. It can either tie a piece together or be random and overpowering and make it all fall apart.
I knew I wanted to include some kind of ambient sound. After some thought, I decided to record the sound of the street outside my window. Since I am currently living in a city these sounds are a constant in my life and definitely serve as some type of influence.
I also wanted to include some instrumental music. I really liked the music in the Tara Donovan video, so I looked up who it was by. I couldn't find the exact song, but the group was called Trentmoller. I looked them up on Youtube and started listening to their songs. I wrote down a few I liked but nothing seemed to be quite right, until I listened to a remix of their song Miss You by MUETE. I loved the energy and rhythm of it and the cherry on top was that it included a saxophone. I played the saxophone for 4 years while I was younger so its a nice connection to my past that fits into the theme of the video nicely.
Step 7: Final
Here’s the final product! I’m really happy with how I was able to remix the original footage and tie it together with the audio. I think that the type could use some tweaking and refinement, maybe some movement, but overall I am proud of the final product.
