Looking back over my notes on Edward Tufte, thinking more about the organization of the whole print, I figured out how I am going to lay it out. There will be an axonometric drawing of a living space on the bottom half of the print (this one will be kind of like a ‘dollhouse view’, we will be looking in from above & be able to see all the rooms and how they are connected). From every place (’moment’?) where an interesting dynamic between personal and shared space is created, there will be a line leading up or down to a smaller diagram or perspective drawing, plus some text describing how each spatial connection does what it does. This is exciting, since it lets the different doorways and connections exist in a context, related to each other, rather than floating in space — it gives them an added layer of meaning.

[early stage]

This also implies that I need to actually draw a building. This is: “Scary!! (fun?)” as I wrote on my large brainstorming sheet of paper a week ago… The building I’ve been working on is kind of theoretical, since it is only one story, even though any living space of this size (5 bedrooms) in a city (small lot sizes) in New England (cold climate) would almost definitely be a 2-or-more-story building. However, when you have more than one story, it’s relatively straightforward to define private spaces, since the stairs can be used to create the separations between private and public, and even make subtle refinements within those categories… Last week, one of the subscribers told me about figuring out how to use the space in her house: she put her bedroom and office on the second floor, and then created a “guest zone” on the third floor, so that her guests can feel like they have their own special place, and not feel like they are getting in her way or invading her personal space when they visit Providence and stay with her.

So both for graphic purposes, and to deal with the more difficult problem of creating privacy when the whole living space is on the same floor, I’m going with a slightly unrealistic 1-story building.

[later stage — “I broke the drawing”]

… to make it more realistic, though, I am working on making a believable structure and roof plan…

*

… and because I couldn’t figure out the roof issues to my satisfaction by drawing it on paper, I let myself be persuaded by Andrew to make a model on the computer.

[early in the process…]

This involved me cursing at the screen for a couple of hours while conquering the learning curve on Sketchup, then getting pretty psyched about it (though still frustrated occasionally…)

It’s been an interesting drawing experience, since I haven’t used a computer drafting program since a long time ago in school. Skp doesn’t have a very intuitive interface for moving your point of view around, or moving the model around — I’m using key shortcuts and a mouse, very awkward, so it feels like inventing a new way of moving in space, like learning to walk from scratch. However (or maybe because of this?) I find myself almost physically connected to the building I’m drawing: I’ve found myself craning my neck to look around a corner… it’s very strange.** Sketchup is probably most satisfying when you accidentally jump into the wall of the building itself and things get glitchy… suddenly you are making nice Thom Mayne or Zaha Hadid drawings, congratulations! I’ve been taking lots of screen captures. It’s three days later, now, though, and I still haven’t finished the roof plans. A fruitful distraction.

… in other news, I am moving my sleep schedule back four hours, so that instead of going to sleep at 10 am and waking up at 6 pm, I can go to bed at 6 am and wake up at 1 pm. Tonight I’m a little late… but working towards it. !

* the green cardstock = cutoffs from those wedding invitations I printed a while ago!

** I’ve never experienced Second Life, but I find myself wonder what Sketchup would be like if the interface, for navigating in space at least, was something like the one shown in this slightly weird but fascinating video from the makers of SL…

Given that these are from the flea market, they are not actually Sharpies but Shoupies, and they cost me $2. This was not the temptation to own a lot of colorful permanent markers, but the temptation to own a product very carefully crafted in imitation of a really-carefully-branded product. I probably should have left them in their packaging as an art object, but I’m too practical for that, and… there’s a lot more where they came from. (At the flea market, I had the choice of two other non-sharpie ‘brand’ names, written in the same font, both with the same capital S. No photos: I didn’t want to attempt explaining to the friendly Chinese girl working the booth that I am a graphic artist with an arcane interest in fake products, not the undercover trademark police…)

They did a pretty good job. I am always thrilled by seeing off-brand objects that use graphics to imitate the product they are ripping off — (more…)

However, the use of the words “pretty happy with” is always kind of a bad sign, stuff tends to ring hollow after a little bit if it can be described that way…

[perspectives!]

[another, earlier, version. note: AGP with sprained wrist/robot arm. ]

The original phrasing of the second pattern, from my print series proposal (December 2006), is this:

Private spaces should be delineated by subtle yet effective boundaries, so that individuals can be alone without closing themselves off entirely.

This is still what the poster is about, but I’ve realized that it has to not only deal with the boundaries, but has to involve their context, to also show the organization of the space in which the boundaries exist.

(more…)

This involved finally learning how to use relative URLs, setting up MAMP on my computer so I could view the site locally, figuring out how to use it right, and a lot of redirecting links and image file paths. Nothing too complicated, but it took some time. It only makes a tiny difference to anybody looking at the site, but is significant for my own “knowing that things are organized” inner-calm, and also is crucial in getting ready for a bunch of new documentation that hopefully should go up soon — at the beginning of June I handed off 50+ prints and other smaller things that hadn’t yet been photographed to Scott Lapham, so I’m hoping to put up many fresh images, of work new and old (going back to 2001!), very soon.

Also there may still be broken links that I overlooked… if you come across anything of that nature, please let me know!

I finished printing the morning of June 4th, wrapped the posters up in paper and then a couple of plastic bags, and biked them across town in the rain. I arrived at the Farm Fresh offices with dry posters and wet everything else. By now, they are up around town (at least, so I’ve heard, since I’ve been away!) and the farmers’ markets have actually begun, so go check them out if you’re in RI… or go visit your local farmer & help them pull up some weeds! with all the rain, they will need the help.

last steps, from ink drawings on transparency to printed color stages, follow.

(more…)

[sweet potato & parsnip curry with rice; cilantro, green onions, and homemade yogurt on top. this bowl, one of my favorites, was made by awesome friend & ceramicist & artist Joan Wyand!]

[I found this stuck into the busted retaining wall in front of our house, another variant of blackletter font is on the back]

[these were found within days and blocks of each other, along Manton Ave.]

[succulents & cacti growing in their newly large pots — the third-from-left cactus has a tiny flower on it]

[and, last but not least, in my community garden plot, front to back: green beans, a mystery squash that thought it was a bean, chard, kale, radishes, asparagus! hooray!]

Now I’m working hard in the non-virtual world to a) take care of long-neglected logistical & organizational tasks, and b) to actually do the work and make the objects that are of interest to me, and possibly, to you! Summer is here, and in the past week I’ve somehow re-started planting stuff in my community garden plot, and am now cooking interesting food again (meaning: including vegetables!, as opposed to just eggs, cheesy eggs, PBJ sandwiches, grilled cheese, tuna fish sandwiches, beans & rice, and oatmeal). It’s hard to stay inside when the sun is out and the wind is blowing.

I’ve been putting work first for a while now, so this past week, I’ve been doing a bunch of things that, though not strictly necessary, have removed the burden of “oh crud, I really need to take care of that soon, it just gets worse the longer I put it off!” echoing through my head every time I think about them. These include: digging out my bed in the community garden and re-filling it with healthier soil, transferring the patient cacti and succulents into larger pots, being in contact with some old friends, emptying out the gross bottom layer from the worm-compost bucket, etc. Amazingly, there were still some worms alive in there, in a mass of their completely chewed through and digested soil — despite the fact that I got overwhelmed with managing the compost back in the late fall, and haven’t looked at it, at all, for six months! Now it has been replenished with new ripped-up newspaper and some fresh veggie scraps, from the leek soup I made last night. Building a new bin for the worms, of the right size and depth, is still on the list of “stuff that is stressful to look at and think about how I need to do it soon” — but, the fact that the worms are alive at all is a reassuring reminder that a) things get done and b) things will be okay.

Farmers’ Markets poster: It’s further along now than it was in this picture. The Farm Fresh folks liked the layouts they saw yesterday! I am pretty psyched about it, though it promises to be a pain to align… It might be done this weekend, more likely early next week.

New Urban Arts: Come to the giant Art Party this Friday, May 16th, 6-8 pm. I’m currently helping students finish three complicated print projects. Hopefully they will all get done in time!

also, a page I am psyched about finally exists at the “cooperative (not collective)” shared server-space linkage-nexus, or whatever that kind of thing is called. it features a bunch of NUA-related collaborative web projects (and a sweet multi-colored transparent gif): cooperativenotcollective.org!!!

Print Series print #2: “private/shared”: long overdue update coming soon (also early next week) with images of drawings. thanks for your patience.

This is a print about one student’s house, that was bought (and has now been demolished) by the developers that bought the mill next door, so the parking lot for their condos could be larger. The large building in the background of the poster will have tentacles coming out of it & wrapping around the smaller house…

Another student is working on this insanely complex, 4-color print that will go on T-shirts and maybe some posters. It started out as just a guy with a clock-face and some leaves on his head, and morphed into this awesome dude surfing, with multi-colored plant/pineapple hair that has a kite, flowers, and a hawk coming out of it… It rules.

“What Time Is It?”

“Time To Get Wild!”

The New Urban Arts end-of-year Art Party & Interactive Exhibition will be Friday, May 16th, 6-8 pm. Come and check out the finished versions of this work and more, plus a fashion show, zine release, film screenings, etc. — all by Providence high school students. It’s all free, open to the public, handicapped accessible, etc, at 743 Westminster St (corner of Dean & Westminster, right across from Classical & Central High Schools, just down the block from White Electric Coffee Shop).

For more info on NUA, and to download an art party invitation, here’s our website.

[initial sketch layout]

[refined]

A month later: whoops, there are five more markets that need to go on the poster!

[not so good, markets are too small, layout is all choppy… but hey, rounded corners!]

[more unified, slightly larger boxes, better spaces for other information. I’ve already started inking & cutting out the rubylith, so this, with minor changes, is what I’m going with…]

Yes. I could do this on the computer (I have in the past, and I obviously do a lot of other stuff on the computer). There’s no real reason not to, besides the fact that I like holding a pencil more than a mouse . . . and there’s some sneaking suspicion that by going through these paper revisions, erasing and re-drawing, things end up better in the end. I can’t prove that, and there’s no doubt that graphics programs can also give you the same amount of gritty feedback, and offer extended possibilities for equivalent richness and complexity, as well as the ability to be more flexible in adjusting things, so I’m not really putting it out there as a position or a statement. At the end of this process, though, I’m sure that working on it by hand adds something undefinable to the final object — the mark of my hand? the wobble of the lead or the pen or the knife blade? an element of messiness that a computer can emulate, but never quite match?

Somewhat relatedly, here’s a link to Jo Dery’s website, which I think is newly present on the internet. She’s a printmaker, comic- & zine-maker, and animator/filmmaker from Providence. She works in sketchbooks, on paper, on film as well as digitally, and, um, all the results are amazing.