Opus Post 3: Diminishing Boundaries

Scale-

In my developement of Pat's chair I decided to create a scale paper "Pat" 5'-8" tall to sit and model my chair. The paper Pat has helped me in understanding how someone would sit in my chair as well as understanding what the ideal heights and widths are. In my development of the cedar shake walls of my wood frame wall I played around a lot with how big the shakes would be. I decided to vary back and forth between 5.5"-6" in width (which is close to the real sizes) as I wanted to stagger the overlap of shingles as well as their respective widths as well. This irregularity is also seen in current asphalt roofing in that the "shake looking" architectural shingles are generally preferred over standard 3-tab shingles.

Unity-

Finding a place for our artifacts within our woodframe wall/corner has a lot to do with finding unity between the artifact, the wall and the floor. I decided to place my scale hat underneath a part of the interior shingle siding. In this way the two are unified in their function in that my hat's purpose is conciliatory while the wood shakes are also conciliatory of what is underneath them. The floor is darker as it goes in to emphasize the depth of the corner as well as to direct the eye even more toward the blue hat.

In many of the creation stories that I read, two gods, a group of gods or gods making other gods often ended up creating the world. Instead of picturing gods in the sky I tried to think of other types of "teams" who create and maintain. A system of organs interconnected working to keep the living wall up are much like the different gods who represented different functions. However veins cut and bleed just as the different gods become unruly with each-other, losing sight of their visions for harmonious creation.

Section- 

The corners of walls we created in having such a small requirement, really made me think about what can happen in the corner of a room. In a way as my shingling developed I thought of it as a gateway, or that the shingles themselves are little gateways. Like the hat they cover something beneath them. Shingles are not like most traditional interior siding in that the whole face of each plane of material is not showing. Something unknown could be underneath each shingle... The section is important in this way in that such a small piece of the room is available so it forces the designer to become very intimate with the corner.

Seeing the final sectional views I made for Pat's chair gave me a different perspective on what the chair would look like without shelves or what it would be like without the chair. 

Boundaries- 

In researching stone walls I've learned how boundaries are either implied or brazenly made for all to see. The Inca Native Americans of the Andes mountains created walls and other massive monuments to embellish their gilded government. In this way the government officials could force their residents into a "psychological submission" (Ogburn). In our wall projects I chose to allow the shingles to continue past the edge of the two walls to show that the wall continues, as well as to give a subtle edge/boundary to it. This is also much like a vignette in that although the wall ends it is more natural with the material rather than forced to the structure.

Because I've been hit with the "L" word (literal) a few times I decided to take a different approach than I normally would to my 6 Creation/Grimm Tale/Wood Frame Wall vignettes and go totally abstract. In this way I stretched the boundaries of what a wall is. With one of my vignettes I created a beta fish/fighter jet fusion which is firing on a large man's face. Because I read many of the creation stories, I found that a common theme was that often times the world was in perfect harmony until humans came into the fold. Chaos would often ensue after humans came into contact with all living creatures. The human's face is like a boundary to free life and the beta fish will never be the same again. 

During the Minoan and Mycenean periods in Greece 479 BC-338 BC, agoras or civic/market places were formed by the triangular boundaries of long buildings called stoas (Roth 215-246). This "central" area of every city would be the commoner's domain while other areas marked by tall hills such as the Acropolis were reserved for the government and religious officials (Roth 215-246). 

Vignette- 

Boundaries of the image are soft and incomplete. A vignette is an example of a composition in which boundaries are implied. On the edge of the paper the artist may choose some type of vertical and linear object to begin the edge. Color can then subtly bleed past those lines. 

Reflection-

In my abstractions I wanted to think about the stories or my thoughts on the stories in relation to modern times as well as modern technology. This would also be another buffer against being called out for being too literal as toilets, and jet planes didn't exist before the implied prehistoric time periods of the stories. Also in focusing on abstractions the interpretation is totally up to the observer and boundaries are diminished (like vignettes) as to what the picture is all about.

Citations-

Ogburn, D. (2008).Dynamic Display, Propaganda, and the Reinforcement of Provincial Power in the Inca Empire.Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association. 1,

Roth, Leland (2007). Understanding Architecture. Westview Press.