Voices / OPUS entry 5

When we design we infuse our work with our own voice. Just as our distinctly shaped biology and environmental background shapes the speech that comes from our mouths so too do our distinctly shaped minds, the combination of our biology, beliefs, experiences and values, shape the creations that we design.

Our voices begin to emerge in the choice of our precedents, the previous designs that we look at to enhance our own creations. When the early Christians began to design houses of worship they looked towards two major Roman structures, the basilica and the tomb, to use as precedents (Roth, 2007, p.280). The basilica was chosen because it, like the church, was meant for gathering large groups of people for dealing with rules of living. The basilica focused on earthly courts; while the church was designed for imparting gods rule. The Roman underground tombs were used as early Christian place of worship, due to their hidden location from the majority pagan society. The architectural structure of both of these places becomes incorporated in byzantine architecture and the later gothic creations of the middle ages. Through the architecture it inhabited the structure of the religion itself was influenced.

Similarly, when one picks a style of drawing, one is choosing a precedent. The style/s chosen plays an enormous role in the outcome of the drawing. However, that precedent is shaped by the voice of the drawer. Over time, consistent shaping will influence the shaper, just like the use of Roman precedents in Christianity. For example, I did the two drawing below in very different styles. The former drawing utilizes a controlled line, and allows the lines on a given plane to go only in one direction. The latter drawing uses looser lines in multiple directions. Both of these drawings, although different, are clearly by the same artist. My voice is impossible to hide. However, if I continued to emulate one style of drawing my voice would become shaped by that style.




Our voices can also influence the subject that we choose to draw. The following 3 drawings are of different moments in the same building


The moments, or places of value and significance in the drawing above include some chairs, vending machines, and a water fountain. All of these chosen moments reflect my history in studying the mind/body connection. I have chosen places that fulfill a physical need (reliving fatigue or satiating hunger and quenching thirst) as being of mental significance. My experiences and beliefs are part of my voice.

Just as an individual has a voice so too, does a culture. For example, the Romans valued acquisitions, quality of life, luxury and delight. These values, part of their cultural voice is expressed in their architecture, particularly their interiors, which are filled with rich decorative elements on both floor and walls (Blakemore, 2006, pp. 55- 60). Rich mosaics and illusionistic paintings show us that every surface was a potential moment, all of which were centered on enhancing the enjoyment of the space.

A visual moment is defined by visual presence, a noteworthy actual existence, something special which exists in concrete, material form. Interestingly the material often furthers the immaterial and vice versa. For example, Early Christianity gained strength as the first churches were erected and the first churches were erected as early Christianity became a more strongly established religion. With greater acceptance came greater visual presence and vice versa(Roth, 2007, pp. 277-279).

When we design, we often aim for strong visual presence, as an indication of the importance of our work and the ideas behind it. In the models below I attempted to create fantastical structures with a strong visual presence. Certainly, any one of these would be noteworthy should one encounter them in full scale.



The above models were created largely in black and white. This allowed us to focus on the duality, or opposing nature of the two colors. Through this focus we were able to simplify and refine our designs. Our voices are filled with many dualities each with multiple relationships in our mental network of associations. However, isolating two opposing elements can often be an effective strategy for understanding each element. Contrast leads to focused reflection. Such enhancement through simplification is evident in the graphics below, which provoke reflection on positive and negative space.



Similarly, when analyzing the furnishings used by the Romans it can be useful to look for commonalities across all pieces (e.g., weight, ornamentation), but it is also useful to look for dualities, or contrasting qualities. This is evident in the juxtaposition between the uncomfortable throne chair and the couch like lectus; as well as between the throne chair and high backed wicker chair used by women. (Blakemore, 2006, pp. 61-67) By examining these dualities, we begin to understand the nuances of Roman culture, rather than just the overtones. Thus the different roles of formality and leisure, or of men and women can be explored.

Whenever we are analyzing another culture, it is important to be aware of our own metric, or standard of measurement. This metric is part of our voice and is usually embedded within a cultural reference. For example, in western architecture we have a metric for explaining structures that includes plans and sections.



The above plan and section for a piece of furniture is easily understood because it adheres to a certain metric, a certain way of indicating direction, scale, and section cut lines and cut materials.

There are also larger cultural metrics. For example, Roman Villas, country estates for the wealthy, were built according to a system, a key part of which was the construction of an interior courtyard and a perimeter wall . These metrical elements allowed the workers and slaves to be hidden from view and the image of effortless leisure to be projected outward (Blakemore, 2006, pp. 47 – 52). The same ideals were possessed by southern plantation owners, but the metric for accomplishing such goals was different. Slave and workers were hidden by their own housing quarters and by a large separation of spaced between such quarters and the quarters of the wealthy.

In summary, our voices shape the creations that we design. Our voices begin to emerge in the choices of our precedents and vice versa. Our voices also influence our chosen moments, places of value and significance. When we design, we often aim for strong visual presence, as an indication of the importance of our work and the voice behind it. Our voices are filled with many dualities each with multiple relationships in our mental network of associations. However, isolating two opposing elements can often be an effective strategy for understanding each element. So too can decoding the metric, or standard used to funnel a voice. There are many levels through which to explore how a unique voice, a distinctly shaped mentality, is both expressed through and impacted by design.



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Balkemore, R.G.(2006). History of interior design & furniture: From ancient Egypt to nineteenth-century Europe: second edition. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Roth, L. M. (2007). Understanding architecture: Its elements, history, and meaning: second edition. Cambridge: Westview Press.

Parts:Whole / OPUS entry 4

In design, one is often focused on how various parts of the creation relate to the collective representation of the creation, the whole. This focus is defined by the person engaged in it and the culture or environment that this person comes from, itself another part and whole. People in western cultures tend to be reductionists, prone to attempting to explain an overwhelming whole by reducing it to its individual parts. In contrast eastern religion and medicine tend to be more holistic, emphasizing the relationship between parts as much or more than each part’s relation to the hole. A holistic approach allow for the possibility that, in the words of Aristotle, “The whole is more than the sum of its parts” (Suarez & Doyle, 2004, p.188). I believe that a holistic mentality is a necessity for both creating and understanding design.

In design, a hybrid is more than the collection of two styles. It is something different altogether, and not necessarily positive. For example, the first drawing below is done with strong lines and uses markers. The second drawing below is done with looser lines and uses water colors. The third drawing is a hybrid of techniques and mediums used in the first two


The drawing above is a hybrid of the techniques used in the two above it. However, combining the techniques did not add to the overall composition of this drawing. Instead it resulted in a somewhat disjointed impression.

It is important to remember that adding elements to a design does not necessarily make it better. In the words of design historian Robbie Blakemore, “Both in form and ornament Roman design was based on Greek prototypes” (Blakemore, 2006, p. 67). However, I personally prefer the clean lined simplicity of the Greeks to the comparatively ornate grandiosity of the Romans. A holistic mentality avoids a linear orientation. Things do not necessarily progress through time in one direction. Thus we must avoid thinking of prototypes as more primitive or as lacking in some way. As designers, respecting our prototypes enables them to ultimately serve as better sources.

Our prototypes are often far more telling than we give them credit for. In Psychology, we speak of archetypes as universal symbols, culturally undefined representations of a human core or essence. In this sense, an archetype is the ultimate prototype, the prototype from which all other prototypes come from. This level of universality in communication is the ultimate success sought by all designers. To achieve it we must certainly not limit our thinking to a linear reduction or addition.

Designers must also be aware of not limiting their sources of inspiration. Creating a hybrid of different elements, improving upon a prototype or adjusting that prototype for different conditions, thinking in terms of archetypes or universal truths and human experiences: These are all good design strategies, but they all look outside the project for direction. In creating and understanding design, we must also look within. For example, below is a wall I designed to house a miniature version of an original artifact, a ring.
Certainly the shape and structure of the wall comes from outside influences. The solid white color and glass case mimics cultural representations of art on display, a museum setting. However, the organic clay form takes its inspiration directly from the ring itself, and the story the ring represents. This focused inspiration can again be related back to the archetype of the snake, a biblical symbol of evil or trickery. Similarly, when we look at Greek architecture we must look inward to the world of the Greeks. They were a people who lived unified on a harsh landscape that separated them into distinct city states. The area that they inhabited was prone to violent thunderstorms and earthquakes (Roth, 216, pp. 216- 217). These insights give us greater appreciation for their invention of the amphitheatre (sketched below).
The amphitheatre was built into the landscape surrounding it (reflecting respect for a harsh earth). It was a place for many to gather, in a unified yet separated fashion, to watch the drama unfold before them.

The environment that the Greeks inhabited influenced their designs. The totality of a given environment, or entourage, is an important inward source of design inspiration. A design is its own whole, but it is also a part of the whole that surrounds it. For example, the picture below is designed to communicate elements of a story.
The main design in this picture is a trio of trees in a house below a swan. However, the water line below the swan and the watercolors surrounding this design play a pivotal role in the experience of this design. In this next picture, the lines surrounding the bent figure and the spot of color become just as, if not more central than the figure itself.

Similarly, the structures of the Greeks and Romans are merely one part of the entourage, the totality of the designed environments of these cultures. For example, the small Roman tables for holding food compared to the long couch like forms designed to display the male body while he lounged and ate (Blakemore, 2006, pp. 64-67) are key to understanding the meaning of display in the designs of Roman structures. Mainly, certain things/people were on display, while others were not, and certain displays were more important than others.

Importance, an ideological weight, an established hierarchy, these are all ways of denoting inequality. Such stratification is evident in the earliest architectural designs from Stonehenge onward. Even the ancient Greeks, often credited with developing the concept of democracy, restricted that democracy to members of the Polis, the high caste locals (Roth, 2007, pp.221-222). In Rome, triumphal columns and arches denoted that conquest and power, male over female, empire over lesser beings, these concepts overshadowed others. These examples are dramatic, but even in daily living; it is rare that design does not involve hierarchy. For example, consider the pencil below.
Not every part of this pencil is of equal importance. Most objects, like this pencil, have some elements that are more central to the design than others. It is a common misconception that a holistic approach avoids hierarchical arrangements. This is simply not true. A holistic approach considers all relationships, but certainly does not preclude that some are more important than others.

Another common misconception about taking a holistic approach is that such an approach should avoid establishing or recognizing order. Again, this is simply just not true. The human brain cannot avoid ordering the information it receives. Brain synapses are activated according to electrical impulse. The impulse follow an order of preexisting pathways based on mental prototypes, simplified representations that one has encountered before. This process is analogous to the relationship with which modern historians relate the architecture and Furnishings of the Italian Renaissance as an era specific version of a hybridized Greco/Roman style (Blakemore, 2006, p. 28). In other words, order is unavoidable on both an individual, cultural, and societal level.


In summary, a holistic mentality, one that emphasizes the relationship between parts as much or more than each part’s relation to the hole is a necessity for both creating and understanding design. Design is more than a conglomeration of parts, thus simply adding elements to a design does not necessarily make it better. A design that can be universally communicated requires that we go beyond limiting our thinking in terms of a linear reduction or addition and incorporate multiple sources from multiple origins including the totality of the design’s environment. This is not to say that every element of the design or every source of inspiration should be given the same weight. Rather, we should allow our natural tendency to find order among chaos guide our decisions. Incorporating all of these considerations in creating and reflecting upon design requires a holistic approach. In Design, the whole really is more than the sum of its parts.

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Balkemore, R.G.(2006). History of interior design & furniture: From ancient Egypt to nineteenth-century Europe: second edition. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Roth, L. M. (2007). Understanding architecture: Its elements, history, and meaning: second edition. Cambridge: Westview Press.

Doyle J. P. (2004). A Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics: A Most Ample Index to the Metaphysics of Aristotle. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press.

Faust Building thumbnails

As part of a drawing class assignment, I did a series of thumbnails of moments inside the Faust building (a historic building on campus).

Drinking & Drawing

This past Saturday, I took my sketch book to Caribou, and drew the people that I saw around me while enjoying a white berry mocha followed by a spiced apple cider.



I tried to incorporate writing into my drawings. I used water colours in the drawing above, but markers from the drawing below bled through the page. These two teenagers were fun to observe. They spent a lot of time leaning in towards each other across the table, and the girl (facing me) blushed and giggled quite a bit. I tired to pretend that I was drawing the fireplace behind her, but I think she caught on to what I was doing. There seemed to be a slight element of performance creeping into her behavior.

I did the above drawing while gathering up my nerve to draw more people. The light is colored using my new charpak markers.

The above vignette was done outside. It was supposed to be of three women (college aged) sitting around a table with another table (the one that I was sitting at) in the foreground. I had a good angle for pretending that I was drawing the cars that passed by on the street. Unfortunately, the women suddenly got up and left in the the middle of my drawing. They took their half full drinks inside to escape the cold.

After the unfortunate incident with the disappearing subjects, I turned my attention to another outside person, a smoker. I figured that this made it far more likely that he would stick out the dropping temperature. This subject, although reading intently, proved to be very difficult. He keep moving, turning his head and crossing and uncrossing his legs. The markers that I used in the drawing below, once again bled through the page.

In this drawing, I used markers to accent the chairs and woodwork, while water colour was used to highlight the writing and give colour to the light shining in the fireplace. I don't think that the finality or the saturation of the markers works as well as watercolour with the sketch like quality of the drawing.

Figures from Artist Blogs

There are so many inspiring artist blogs to view. I've been looking through them to find inspiration for developing my own style of figure drawing. The amazing level of talent out there is more than a little intimidating. All the more reason for me to bump-up the time I spend working on my own drawing.


Below are some images from the blog of my drawing teacher Suzanne Cabrera . She is one of the blogging artists that I follow.
One of the reasons that I am really drawn to her drawing is the way her personality seems to jump off the page. Her drawings appear simple at first glance, but are remarkably complex in the way they impart emotion. The drawing above, a self portrait, is more life like than a photo in that way.
This drawing (above) is of a friend. I don't know this person, but I feel that I have a sense of who she is. Below is a drawing of various students posing. It is interesting to observe the difference in technique. Unlike the figures above, the figures below were drawn live.


My next drawing is from the blog of Laura Frankstone . I see that she is from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where I lived as a child. I think that this might be the same Laura Frankstone who lived in a big beautiful old house in my neighborhood. Ironic that I use the Internet to search worldwide and end-up finding someone who is very near.
The technique used above is one I admire, but not similar enough to my contour line approach for me to attempt.


My next featured artist is Merideth Gimbel. Her figures appear so real.
I like the way she exaggerated the length of the hands in the witch below. I am going to consider this technique in my own fairy tale inspired drawings.


My next featured artist, Kristen Elder, also infuses her drawings with an element of fantasy.
I love the drawing/painting above. It is interesting how the following drawings are all so different in mood, yet are all clearly done by the same very talented person.



My final artist, Andy Erekson, worked with an unusual medium, an Nintendo. I find these to be really beautiful and engaging. Isn't it amazing how accurate his proportions are, especially considering the medium.



It is interesting to look at the proportions of the child above. I didn't come across a lot of drawings of children.

Wearable Watercolours

Above is a watercolour composition of the wearable artifacts (inspired by a Fairy Tale) created by my classmates. Each artifact is modeled by the student who created it.

Material Concerns in Architecture and Design/ OPUS Entry 2

The phrase “material concerns” has many meanings: those concerns which are pertinent or important; those concerns about the substances of which a thing is composed; and those concerns pertaining to the physical rather than spiritual or intellectual concepts. In the world of design these types of concerns are interrelated.

The very existence of the field of design is predicated on the purposeful production of a physical form (e.g., a building, piece of furniture, utensil, or graphic). Those in the field of design produce something that can be seen, or perceived through a core sense. Usually it can be visually experienced; often it can be touched. It may even be heard. For example, interior architects must consider both live and dead spaces. In the acoustical sense, live spaces are those which have an abundance of hard nonporous surfaces (e.g., marble, tile, concrete) and thus reflect sound waves. In contrast dead spaces, full of soft porous substances (e.g., rugs, drapes, upholstery), muffle sound waves. Thus, the decibel level of a given room design will be affected by the materials chosen by the designer.[i]

Materials are chosen by the designer in reference to the purpose or intent of the design. For example, in my drawing below, a colored pencil is used to unify a group of objects.

However, notice that although I chose to use colored pencil to unify these objects, it is how I used the colored pencil, not an inherent quality of that material itself that created the unified presentation. The following drawing, of a woman wearing a Rupunzel inspired hair ornament, also uses a colored medium

In this drawing, watercolors themselves have a quality which alludes to the fantasy context of the subject. However, water colors were also used to draw yellow lines radiating from the hair ornament to illuminate or emphasize the hair ornament. Once again, it was not enough simply to choose a material based on intent, consideration was also given to the use of that material.

Design Historians reverse this process. They observe the materials chosen and the way in which they were used in order to determine the intentions of the designer. This is no small task, as a given material and/or use of that material may seem to be indicative of any number of intentions. Speculation on the intention of the designers of Stonehenge serves as a classic example of this difficulty.[ii] In fact, design idiom, the style of expression that is typical of designers, involves the fulfillment of multiple intentions within a given design.

According to one historian, Design idiom is unique in that it is unspecialized, both additive and subtractive, and universally shared or experienced.[iii] My bench and ring design below illustrate these principles.

Both pictures above depict a designed object, an object created with intent, yet they are fundamentally different types of objects. Subspecialties of design have their own specific idioms, or set of stylistic principles. For example, according to the seventeenth century architectural historian, Sir Henry Wotten, good architectural design considers, “commodity, firmness, and delight”.[iv] In other words, the utility or functional efficiency, the structural stability, and the positive emotional response evoked by the design. Each of these elements is themselves composed of many elements, which are in turn driven by a variety of specific intentions or purposes. These specific intentions could be in relation to a specific project (as defined by location, object, or user) or to a specific intellectual ideal. For example, Le Corbusier, a famous architect of the International Style popular in the early/mid 20^th century, believed that “the house is a machine for living in”.[v] This ideal contrasted sharply with the ideals of the Victorian era that preceded it, in which houses were elaborate display cases for living in.

Considering the vast array of purposes, intentions or ideals to which it is applied, it is truly wondrous how universally experienced the language of design is. Principles of visual design include the concepts of proximity, repetition or rhythm, continuity and closure, proportion and scale. [vi] A discussion of each of these principles is beyond the scope of this essay, but it can safely be concluded that each concept is universally experienced both around the world and across generations.

Of course, with these vast capabilities, designers must be constant decision makers not only in their choice of materials, but also in choosing which elements become illuminated, and which recede into the background. They must decide how much is too much and how much is not enough. For example, see the plan view below of a piece of furniture.

The designer was faced with the task of replicating a 3 dimensional structure on a 2 dimensional surface, an impossible task to complete in its entirety. A plan view, the chosen representation, illuminates the proportions of the form and the dimensions of the materials. In much the same way, a designer must choose what is the most important element or concept to express. This is ultimately a “material concern”.

In summary, some “material”, or important concerns, in field of design are the: “material/s”, or physical substance/s a design is made of; as well as the “material”, or physical composition as opposed to mental conception, of the design. This is because design is expressed through materials that are chosen and used according to intent. However, such intentions are vast and exist on multiple levels. Yet, overall the language of design is one that can be universally understood. Thus, decisions must be made based on the physical presentation of the design. At the end of the day, design speaks through the material.

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[i] Roth, Leland. Understanding Architecture Its Elements, History, and Meaning. 2^nd ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 2007, p 55.

[ii] Roth, Leland. Understanding Architecture Its Elements, History, and Meaning. 2^nd ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 2007, p 173.

[iii] Attributed to Patrick Lee Lucas during class lecture

[iv] Roth, Leland. Understanding Architecture Its Elements, History, and Meaning. 2^nd ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 2007, p 11.

[v] Roth, Leland. Understanding Architecture Its Elements, History, and Meaning. 2^nd ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 2007, p 12.

[vi] Roth, Leland. Understanding Architecture Its Elements, History, and Meaning. 2^nd ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 2007, p 67 – 80.

5 Blogging Artists

The following 5 links will take you to the blogs of my top 5 favorite blogging artists. I have become a follower of each of these blogs for daily inspiration in my drawing class.
suzannebuchanan.blogspot.com
www.wagonized.typepad.com/
meridthgimbel.blogspot.com/
andreajoseph24.blogspot.com
chrysti.wordpress.com/

Pen & Ink Vignettes

In drawing we have been workign on drawing minni scenes, or vignettes. Pictured above is an area of my desk with 2 water colour kits and crumpled paper towels. Below are scenes of my two favorite subjects, my boyfriend and my dog. They both seem to be doing a lot of sleeping while I am working.