Friday Friday

Today I headed to school early to attend a meeting that was scheduled for a room that didn't exist. I was then ushered into what turned out to be the 1st year theory class, but I only figured this out after sitting in on it for about 10 minutes, and then I had to pull an awkward "I'm totally in the wrong place". I used my sudden free time to work up another quick-ish painting of mystery veg #2, which, as Mary again pointed out, is a red onion. Here is today's progress:




Later in the day, we had a screening of a moive called The Man in the White Suit for our Theory class. I thought it was a good, funny movie and suggest it to anyone out there.

Also, because London is expensive my fellow risdans and I occasionally resort to the pound pizza for dinner. At the local grocery store, you can get a fairly good cheese pizza for 1 pound. Then, we got to my apartment, and covered it with leftovers from a past group cooking adventure, sausage and cherry tomatoes. We are inventive and the food was delicious. Here is a picture of our creation:

Today's Victim

Today, I mostly took a break from school work. Then I felt guilty, so I attacked my next vegetable and "created" two very different studies of said veg. I just did a watercolor of one study as I don't feel like going to studio right now (they close in about an hour) and I left most of my supplies there, including my magnificent magnifying lamp. On the other hand, hacking at food is quite fun, so maybe I will prepare a few more studies today.

Guess what it is:

Many small things

As I am nearing the one month anniversary of my rendezvous with London, I thought I'd share something I have noticed as being slightly odd and different.

Bananas taste really good here! This comes to mind first as I am typing this over dinner, which includes a banana. Actually, I can't decided if they really taste better, or just are on par with the fresh California fruit I am used to, whereas almost all other fruit here is pretty disappointing. The best apples are local ones, which at least are cheap. They are tiny, maybe tennis ball size and are really handy because they fit in a bag. However, I am craving a Golden Delicious right about now, because the apples are pitiful in comparison. I guess the same is true in Rhode Island, except the bananas are better here. Also, if you remember back to my pictures of my flat-mates and I holding cards, with our name, country, and favorite animal, my favorite animal was a Monkey. I have pretty much been eating one banana a day, and they all find it really amusing.

Props to Mary for decoding my subject for the semester (see last post). Here is our brief we were given in class on Monday:

"New Scientific discoveries and technologies have inspired designers to vew the natural world from new perspectives. the 1950's post WWII era, new exciting visual patterns and contemporary advances in science technologies enabled exciting unseen images to emerge. Genetic decoding and engineering, dissection, viral mapping, nuclear particle physics and bio-mimicry, Google earth and space exploration similarly continue to inspire artists and designers in the 21st century."

Our teacher advised us to stay away from flat resources (ie, photos) and to instead work from observation. This is to encourage us to discover new, different, exciting, and fresh patterns rather than simply pulling one straight from an inherently patterned source. This is almost always my instinctual way of going about a project because I HATE to draw. Drawing requires much more thought for me than writing a paper, reading a book, or listening to a song. It requires me to think about the object I'm attempting to represent, think about it's shape and the values that construct that shape. As much as I hate to draw, I know that it will lead me to ideas that are far more interesting and in the end original and successful.

Using the brief, I became interested with the word dissection. After being briefed by our tutor, I ran to Tesco and in search of some interesting veggies to rip apart. I quickly picked up a cabbage and lettuce. I saw some pomegranates and picked them up as well. When I got back to my room, I literally went at the cabbage with a spoon, carving away to created an interesting texture inside. I also ripped open the pomegranate and was instantly excited at the prospects of what I saw to draw inside.

So my project so far is to treat the innards of fruits and vegetables as my scientific discovery. Taking them out of context as fruit innards, I'm using the shape, form, and color from these areas and eventually transforming them into a stitch piece. I have a fairly intense magnifying lamp that I have been studying these subjects with, which brings in a bit more of the new age scientific theme into my project.

Guessing Game

Points for whoever can figure out what exotic fruit I was drawing VERY upclose.




Zero points if I have already told you.

First Day of School

Well, today was interesting. Saera and I got to school just in time to allow for a bit of getting lost to find the room we were supposed to meet in. We met with all the Textiles 2nd years (equivalent to Juniors) and were given a timetable for our course and a brief for our semester project.
The department is broken into 5 sub-categories: CAD/Digital Print, Print/Print Plus, Knit, Weave, and Stitch. We are both happen to be doing Stitch. I am doing it because it is something risd does not even begin to tackle and is certainly a huge departure from my comfort zone. Having said that, I think much of what I will learn in this course will incorporate nicely in with other techniques I've learned at risd.
After getting a brief tour of the textile department facilities, which should make risd ashamed, we got further instruction from our Stitch Tutor and got work space in a studio shared between the Stitch and Knit concentrators. There are about 20 of us. Studio space consists of a small locker and half a table saw & door desk. It' pretty basic, but better than I'm used to for a Junior!
After the initial panic of thinking I had studio EVERY day, I was relieved to find out that our timetable simply suggested that each student come to the studio space every day. Our tutor comes in once a week and we sign up for meeting times with her and discuss our progress. Saera and I both agree that she seems very different from our department back home, in that she kept stressing a much more modern approach to our work. She also kept stressing the importance of the art world outside the school and immediately listed several new exhibits opening this week. She asked us who had gone to a show over the summer and out of over 20 kids, there were maybe 5 of us who had! WHA?
Our meeting ran much longer than I thought it would. By 3, Saera and I were ready to collapse while trying to find inspiration in the Library. I ran to Tesco to get some cheap veg for my project, but I'll go more into detail if I actually go through with it.

This kid is going places

Sparked by a Massive Sale by Ryan Air for many flights out of London, I've booked two trips:

1. Eindhoven! I was looking for design shows in the next few months, and there is a HUGE Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven in October. I'm super excited! Dutch design is brilliant and I've never been to the Netherlands before. It's gonna be a quick trip because the tickets were way cheaper that way. My flights rounded out to 20 dollars each way! Also, Alessi is the opening speaker! ID students, feel free to hate me now.

2. Barcelona! Another risd student has been there for the bulk of the summer and is on exchange this semester there. Even though I've been to Barcelona before, I am so excited to go and learn from someone who knows the ins and outs of the city. Also, she is fluent in Spanish, so I'm sure that will help to make the experience different!

What a week

It's been over a week since my last post. This is due to many action-packed days and nights that left me very little time to sit down and write.

The last time I wrote, the risd kids had just reunited and celebrated all finally safely getting to London. Since then we have been traveling around, exploring and trying to get through a good deal of the tourist check list. Here are some of the things we have done:

Liberty: We have had to take the store in waves. Once, I went with Kat and we only explored the first floor which is paper goods and leather books. Saera and I made it to the second floor and nearly died every time we turned to corner and saw another rack filled with the latest season of another famous designer. One knitwear designer that I had researched for spring semester, Louise Goldin, had her entire line for sale at Liberty and it was right next to one of several Alexander McQueen racks. There was also a vintage section which felt like a museum. Every piece had a tag placing it within it's time period and explaining the "look" each piece was intended for. So posh!

Piccadilly Circus: I go here on average once a day simply because of the Japan Centre, which sells REALLY well priced sushi. I have actually gotten to the point that the sales people recognize me. This one girl that works there cut her hair into an interesting bob and when I told her I liked her haircut, she said "Oh, you don't wear your glasses today!"

Oxford Circus: One word: TopShop. Actually, there is so much about Oxford Circus that is wonderful and worth visiting. M&S is quite an experience. Playing "count the H&Ms" is always fun.

Tower of London/ London Bridge: Well, we got to the out side of the Tower of London, and then the 14 pound entrance fee kept us from going inside (it was less than an hour before closing). Also, it was semi-raining and freezing so we just bought coffee/tea and traded ridiculous group pictures with other tourists.

Borough Market: So maybe a tad off the tourist checklist, it's basically a really amazing farmer's market. There is no room for tacky random clothing vendors at this place. It sort of reminded me of the Fish Market in Seattle. We got there right as it closed, so I am determined to go again (and maybe again after that).

Amongst all the tourist moments, we have also been doing some stuff regarding school. Saera and I went to enroll, which we later found out had nothing to do with picking classes or finding out our schedule. Instead, we filled out tons of paperwork and left with only with the confidence that at least we were not completely forgotten by the Uni. On Monday, we start our week of induction, which means we will get our final class list, and timetable. Well it's about bloody time!

Also, here is a picture of Saera and I in Piccadilly Circus.