Kaleidoscopes

Here are a couple radial symmetry studies I did last year. I used the one below as a motif in a view book I designed for The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. I thought I’d go ahead and share these here so you can see them next to Rex Ray’s work below... Definitely not an exact match, but there are similarities. It always interests me that people working completely independently of one another can come up with similar ideas. Perhaps there is something to the idea of a universal consciousness that we all tap into from time to time.

I love Rex Ray!

Matt and I were in Moab, Utah last winter and I found this book of artist Rex Ray’s work. It’s so inspiring... The colors and organic shapes are very similar to my own work. I’m making some new paintings now, and will probably be ready to have some of them photographed in the next couple months. I’m looking forward to posting some of my recent paintings soon.

More Grand Mesa Wildflowers

I finally got home from Chicago yesterday morning, and am feeling a lot better after sleeping most of the day. Today, Matt took me up to the Grand Mesa again so we could enjoy the wildflowers one more time this season. The weather was gorgeous today... Blue sky, puffy clouds, perfect temperature!

This is an image of the pleated leaf of a “skunk cabbage” plant. Skunk cabbage is terribly poisonous. If you eat even a bite of it you could die! I read that Native Americans used to trade skunk cabbage as a form of pest control, because it even keeps the bugs away.

On the drive home, there were some beautiful storm clouds in the distance. This area is called Grand Mesa Slopes. I love Colorado... We can go up to the mountains where it’s 70° and drive through the desert on the way home. So amazing!

I'm sick... Again!

Why do I get sick every single time I travel anywhere?! A couple days ago my throat started hurting, yesterday my nose got stuffy, and today I have a full-blown cold. Ehh. I'm going to have to finish my notes about the IIT Design Camp when I'm feeling better. I even had to skip the Bossa Nova concert in Millennium Park tonight because I feel like someone has used my head as a football. . . Waah! Perhaps when I return home this weekend, I can finish writing my thoughts about the Design Camp. Right now it's time for some NyQuil.

Day Three: Illinois Institute of Technology Design Camp

The majority of today’s work involved forming insights based on our observations of Millennium Park, and then using various methods to recognize patterns within our data. For example, one observation might be that “People sit alone and read in the garden area of the park.” This would lead to an insight that “Some people prefer quiet solitude.”

Once we had a long list of insights, we divided them up into clusters of ideas with similarities. This was interesting because it showed that many ideas are really variations on a few similar themes. My group had about 50 insights, and we were able to cluster them all into a few basic themes. Based on those primary themes, we came up with specific concepts on how these themes can be addressed to enhance visitor experiences in the park.

One of our insight themes was that the “international” theme of the park isn’t readily apparent to visitors. So, we looked for concepts that would enhance the visibility of that theme. We proposed ideas such as providing multi-lingual signage and brochures, having internationally-themed performances happening throughout the park at various times during each day, and perhaps (although this wasn’t my favorite idea) having several ethnic food stands located within the park. I especially liked the idea of highlighting the international quality of the architecture and sculpture that is already located throughout the park because this would neatly tie together the art and international themes.

After a day of working in groups organizing all our observations and insights, we traveled to The Second City for a workshop in improvisation. (I was having so much fun at the workshop, I completely forgot to take photos!) The Second City is an improv comedy school/club in Chicago that produced a variety of funny celebrities including John Belushi, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, and Tina Fey. The workshop was fun and informative.

We did a variety of interactive exercises that illustrated how what we say and how we say it can either empower people or shut them down as well as encourage or discourage collaboration and sharing. Just the difference between using the words “could” vs. “should” can have a big impact on how others perceive the message you’re trying to communicate. Fascinating. I’m going to try to get a workshop like this set up for the Publications team at FIDM.

Day Two: Illinois Institute of Technology Design Camp

Yoga by Mark di Suvero, American artist born in China to Italian parents

Today we dove into the problem of improving visitor experience at Millennium Park.

There wasn't a lot of information given on the city of Chicago’s stated goals with the park, so much of that we just tried to infer. The city's goals with regard to the park are essential to understand before the design process begins, so that the stake-holder’s experience will align with and further those municipal goals. Any problems that we define must be solved with these city objectives in mind.

In my estimation, the city has several goals with regard to Millennium Park:

(1) communicate an international focus,

(2) showcase public art and performance,

(3) connect with other city attractions such as the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Cultural Affairs office, and

(4) provide a safe and clean public space for tourists and residents to gather for learning and play. All of this is intended to serve another purpose, which is to impress the Olympic 2016 committee.

First, we figured out who all the various stake-holders are for the park and prioritized them:

(1) park donors, supporters, and sponsors,

(2) tourists (international, domestic, and local), and

(3) park employees (visitor services workers, maintenance, security, and consessionaires).

There are many sub-groups that fall under these three categories, but these are my simplified park user-groups.

We were given a couple of so-called “frameworks” with which to consider our observations in the park:

(1) One is an “experience analysis” which looks at the situation at the park through the lens of the user experience before, during, and after their trip to the park. What drew them in, what activities did they take part in, and what did they take home with them? Within each of these elements of the experience, we spent time looking at the user’s basic needs, and the problems arising within the park that need special solutions.

(2) The second is the “gap analysis” that looks at what the users want, what the city wants, and what the environment provides. When looking at these three factors together, it becomes easier to see where problems, or “gaps” in service arise.

I personally found the “gap analysis” to be particularly useful. The most important stake-holder, the tourist, wants/needs a variety of things from the park: entertainment/imagination/inspiration, interaction with nature; education; resting, eating, reading, meeting, and contemplation places; and safety. When looking at these needs in conjunction with the needs/goals of the city (listed above), there are some important overlaps. The park environment provides for many of the desires of the audience: public art/performance; seating areas for eating, reading, and resting; water features and gardens; and contrasting busy and peaceful areas.

As an aside: I noticed that most of the signage within the park is impermanent. The sign (pictured above) was the only one that indicated a relationship between the museum and the park. All other aspects of the park (the art, the seating, the architecture and landscape design) seem very well considered, but the signage is an afterthought.

After looking at these three criteria, some of the gaps in user experience became more clear:

(1) The park needs more educational opportunities for users to learn about the art and its international nature,

(2) Better, permanent way-finding solutions to draw visitors to the park from outside, and to guide them around the park once inside,

(3) Better communication of the activities and events that already exist,

(4) Multilingual communications and signage, and

(5) Better concessions that are more directly related to the park experience, and

(6) A unified message (brand) about the arts theme that permeates through the park.

A New Insight about Millennium Park in Chicago

Cloud Gate by British artist Anish Kapoor

Yesterday, I worried that the park seemed disjointed. . . Like there was a diluted, incoherent message being communicated. I still feel this is the case. However, now I'm beginning to conclude that there is nothing inherently wrong with the park itself. I love the variety of quiet and dynamic spaces and the diversity of types of experiences to be had within the park.

It only occurred to me today that the park is organized around a centralizing theme: the arts. Every aspect of the park revolves around some kind of art work: public art sculpture and architecture, art workshops for kids and teens, musical performances, and garden design, to name a few. There is a bridge under construction that will eventually connect the park directly to the new Modern Art wing of the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago.

I think this realization of the arts theme is important. I find it unfortunate that this fact isn't more denoted in the park. It seemed that this unifying concept for the park is too oblique right now to be understood by the park’s various audiences. Being an artist myself, I think it shows very poor communication that even I didn't make the connection of the park to art until a full day after my first visit there!

Day One: Illinois Institute of Technology Design Camp

It was raining this morning when I made my trek over to IIT for the first day of “Design Camp” (Yes, it is an unfortunate name for a week-long class that cost $5000, but I have high expectations and hope to learn a lot.)

We arrived and got the basic rundown of the IIT philosophy on “design thinking,” research, and developing a point of view to begin defining problems toward looking at a project. The project we’ll be working on this week is regarding Millennium Park and looking at ways to improve the user experience of the park. I found this quite humorous since my mom and I walked right by the park on Saturday and didn’t even notice it was there.

Wayfinding for pedestrians around the city is woefully lacking in both content and availability. Once we were able to find the park we were instructed to make general observations about park amenities, who was using the park, what they were doing, what kinds of items they were carrying, etc.

I noted that there are about eight or nine distinctive activity areas within the park: (1) the founders fountain — basically a big monument to all the big money donors who helped fund the creation of the park, (2) a restaurant (seemed mid-high priced), (3) an ice rink in winter (covered with a summer extension of the restaurant), (4) a kids play fountain, (5) summer activities for teens and kids (sponsored by Target), (6) an amphitheater that doubles as a sunbathing spot when there are no shows, (7) a native plant garden, (8) a bridge designed by Frank Gehry, and (9) the “bean” (a very large metal sculpture that is like a big funhouse mirror).

I found each area of the park to be completely distinct from all the other areas of the park. It appeared that there were different user groups targeted by each segment of the park. For instance, the water fountains are totally dominated by kids and families, while the native plant garden was a quiet place where couples can enjoy a romantic moment.

My initial thoughts about how the park experience might be enhanced include: (a) Improving signage around the city to welcome tourists and pedestrians to the park, and (b) Find a way to integrate all these seemingly disconnected little mini-parks to give the visitor a sense of being in the same park throughout the experience, where right now it feels like 8 or 9 completely different parks jammed together within physical proximity. Perhaps both of these could be accomplished through a simple, graphically unified signage system that works both inside and outside the park.

Tomorrow, I think we're going to go out into the park to conduct more purposeful and scientific research on the various user groups and their goals, interactions, and frustrations... So I expect my hypotheses to evolve over the course of the week.

Weekend in Chicago

I left Colorado without my camera cable, so I'm only just now downloading pics from the weekend. My mom came with me to Chicago on Friday, and we spent the weekend being total tourists around the city.

One of the highlights was the architectural boat tour of the city. We learned about all the different styles of architecture from the beaux arts to post modernism. One of my favorite buildings was by Bertrand Goldberg. . . He was a modernist designer who believed that since there were no right angles in nature, there should be no right angles in architecture. So all his buildings have curvilinear features.

We also went to see Jersey Boys, a Broadway play about the 60s band The Four Seasons. It was fun, although we paid a lot for the tickets. I got teary-eyed thinking about how much my dad would've enjoyed seeing this play with some of his favorite music.

We spent a lot of time at the Museum of the Art Institute of Chicago... Saw lots of interesting portraits and historical heavyweights like Monet, Renoir, and O'Keefe. Then we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art where we saw an exhibit of Jeff Koons’ work. We saw the Jeff Koons Hanging Heart, but it was in bright blue. I didn't get a good photo of the blue one.

We also experimented with the el trains and found our way to a White Sox game where they were soundly hammered by the Kansas City Royals 9 to 1. We had a good time nonetheless.

Needless to say, I'm exhausted!

Trip to Chicago

I'm leaving tomorrow for a week in Chicago. My mom is coming with me for the weekend and we'll spend a couple days checking out the art and restaurants. Then on Monday I start a week at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Institute of Design in their “Summer Design Camp.” I know, “camp” sounds a little unsophisticated, but I expect this week to give me a little taste of what their Master of Design Methods graduate program is like. There are only 20 participants in this workshop, so it should be nice and intimate. I'll keep you posted. I brought my camera so hopefully I’ll get some good shots to share.

Travel Haiku

Fight motion sickness

Sitting in an airplane seat

Three days in a row

Paintings by Miriam Schapiro

Miriam Schapiro. Asian Rendezvous.

Miriam Schapiro. Gates of Paradise.

Miriam Schapiro is a Canadian-born artist (1923) considered to be a pioneer in feminist art. Her work speaks to crafts traditionally associated with women. Her work references quilting and collage, and she uses materials such as buttons, fabric scraps, sequins, lace, and tea towels in her paintings. I love this work because of its attention to detail, its complexity, and the use of vibrant color.

More images of her work can be seen here.

Speaking of Wildflowers

Here's a drawing of Pacific Anemone that grows here in Colorado. Mixed media on paper. 14 x 11 inches.

Inspiration on the Grand Mesa

Wild Roses

Colorado Columbine & Lupine

Matt and I went to see the wildflowers on the Grand Mesa this afternoon... They were amazing! We attended an educational program at the Grand Mesa Visitor Center where master gardeners presented the group with lots of inspiring information about the wildflowers. We were told the flowers will be even more abundant in about two weeks... We're definitely going back!

My Painting Workspace

2008 is my year for heightened creativity, and I've been working hard to make it fruitful—drawing, painting, designing, you name it.

FIDM News, Finally

After lots of hard work and heartache, FIDM News has finally delivered! FIDM News is a 48 pp college view book for The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles. Lots of hand work went into this piece, including hand lettering and graphic elements peppered throughout.

Identity for Stylish Affairs

I recently completed the identity system for Stylish Affairs, a new event planning studio in Los Angeles owned by Seak Smith.

Haiku from an L.A. Neighborhood

Walking down the street—

Astute observer yells out,

“You are a white girl!”

Anglescript on View in Portland, Oregon

Anglescript is a typeface with two variations that I designed in 2005. The type embodies two seemingly opposing ideas by generating script letterforms using geometric shapes.

Anglescript is on view in the Alphabet exhibition from July 3-31, 2008 at Art Institute of Portland. Alphabet was curated by Post Typography and organized by Artscape.

Floating Suspension

Mixed media on paper. 11x14 inches.

Grandpa Foushée

Here's a drawing of my Grandpa, Cecil Foushée, about 2 months before he passed away at the age of 87.