Dictionaries, identities, cigarettes

I found a two volume set of dictionaries this weekend from 1936 with gorgeous leather covers and linotype body copy. At first I was ready to sit right down and cut them up immediately but as the weekend went on I couldn't bring myself to actually start. So I went back to my searches online, and found dictionaries that are 50 years apart (1958, 2008) and placed an order for them.

I was thinking about a discussion I've had with John multiple times regarding advertising and how lifestyles become "normalized" once they are readily depicted through media and advertising. That brought me around to making some alternate corporate logo's. I am considering using these in mock marketing photographs.

 I've been working on a project as a retort to derogatory language. I've been experimenting with how to create these thus far. I'm letterpress printing on cigarettes in the place of their brand name "this is a fag." I've also been collecting content to go on the case for the pack.
This photo isn't very good quality, but I have some of my trials with me.

slow communication postcards // forms for 3D graph

I still have some work to do on my postcards, but I am very pleased with the way that they are turning out so far. I screenprinted one side and finished letterpressing the other side today.
I like that it still looks like an email, but I changed my color palette to create a much more "handmade" feeling and let the woodgrain show through.

The following photos show my progress on the words infographic -







I will continue to create these forms. I have about 20 more to make for the data I have collected, but almost all of them are the smallest of the pyramids.
I am thinking that I will attach them to chipboard at the bases so that they will mount on the wall more easily. I'm also still thinking about colors, but I sort of like the contrast between the subject matter (digital communication) and the natural grain of the physical paper fibers.

Bridget; Rings II

This is just another step in the documenting of my things. I prefer the still photographs over the quicktime document, but I am still not sold on the composition or lighting of the images. I plan on continuing to tweak this throughout the week and move on to the next set of objects.

6 February 2012
Monday 8:32 p.m. 


   Just plugging away at the storyboards. 

The Project

5 February 2012

Monday 4:59 p.m.

    I am on the second phase of the storyboarding. I am using acrylic paint for the images.

Rough layout

I have made a rough layout of the book. I like the idea of the book being an accordion fold, I don't think I want the map in the book because it looks too disjointed. I'm not sure how I feel about the yellow lines pointing to the objects. I think the lines take away from the collages. I also bought a vitrine off of craigslist, and put all of my white things in it, just to see how I like it as a display. I need a much bigger vitrine if I want one for my show, and a more plain and contemporary looking one; a gallery presentable vitrine. I also began to write a little explanation about my project that would go in the book. I want to flesh it out more and then bring it to Colleen in the writing center. 

I am fascinated by the idea of islands. The contents of this book is the result of two walks around Prudence Island I made in the early fall of 2011. As I walked around the island I gathered things that stood out along the shore line. I photographed the things and then began to pair them in digital collages. I began to wonder what a thing is. What makes something a thing? Is an island a thing? Can I begin to see things as more than mere objects? Can things be islands? The walk forced me to discover new territory in a place I was familiar in. 

     Above is a map of my walk around the perimeter of Prudence. Each point represents where I picked up an object, and each number corresponds to the order I collected them. Then based on the collaged pairings of the images, I connected the two (or more) points with a line collapsing the physical space that was once between them and bringing them together. To begin to think of the things I collected as more then just trash I started to think of it’s former history, what it may have been used for or what it may represent. Each object in this book has a corresponding number as well as a corresponding description that hints at it’s prior life. The things found also give clues what life is like on and around the island. This book catalogs the beauty and poetry we find in unexpected places. 

vitrine with white things

accordion layout

two spreads of color layout

Animation Update 2/01/11

I'll try and have a weekly update on my progress.
So, here's everything I worked on since the semester began.