Monday, September 27, 2010

Design Build Complete followed by a Fun Fiber Filled Weekend!

Here is the finished project installed at OCAC temporarily
Design Build is complete! 
It was fun, tiring, frustrating, silly, labor intensive, talkative, difficult, and full of learning.  I think we all came out of it feeling pretty good about the finished product but really good about the friendships we made and the comradery we developed after only knowing each other for 3 or 4 weeks.  I had a great time learning new things and working with materials I had never worked with before, and definitely loved getting to know everyone better!  Job well done:)

Fun Fiber Filled Weekend!
Now that the Design Build is complete I am ready to get to work dying, spinning, sewing, quilting and embroidering.  And what better way to get a "mega jolt of inspiration" than to visit the Northwest Quilting Expo here in Portland!  It was filled with all kinds of inspiring art quilts that had me ooohhhing and aaaahhhhing all over the place.  And I discovered an incredible quitling artist Ann Johnston, whos work I absolutely adore!
"Sand on the Wind" Art Quilt by Ann Johnston
"Sand on the Wind" Detail shot of Art Quilt by Ann Johnston
I am absolutely in love with her use of color, bright, bright beautiful color!  And the stitch detail is just perfect, adding texture from a distance and subtle color details up close.

I loved this quilt of birch trees and leaves.  I really like that its part literal and part abstract, and of course the colors are brilliant.  I like that she has mixed warm and cool colors to convey a feeling of Fall.


And continuing on with the tree theme, I also found this quilt captivating.  I would love for that to be my backyard, who wouldn't love pink grass!?


And following the Quilt Expo, I explored the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival to complete my Fun Fiber Filled weekend. 

There were Llamas
 and Alpacas
and Goats
and Sheep
and Bunnies
Oh My!
How cute is this face!


 I'll take one of each please:)  I love the idea of having a farm one day where I can harvest my animals fibers, ahhhh one day, one day.

Do you have a dream of living on a farm one day?  Did you grow up on a farm?  Or are you currently living on a farm?  I would love to hear what you think, feel free to share your comments below:)

And now this week I am ready to work work work! 
Stay tuned as I will be sharing some of my fabric painting experiments soon.
Thanks for reading!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Welcome to Portland!


So I've been a bit busy between moving to Portland and starting school, that I have neglected my poor little bloggy blog:(  But worry no more for I will be continually documenting my journey through school, and my new life here in Portland!

For those of you that dont know I moved to Portland at the end of August to go back to school to earn my Masters of Fine Arts in Applied Craft and Design, (a joint program between PNCA and OCAC)... You may say what the heck does that mean?  Well to be honest we are all learning the history of the terms right now in our classes so none of us are really sure the literal translation.  But basically we are getting an MFA in Designing and Making our own work/products.  Its an incredible opportunity as this is a one-of-a-kind degree that is unlike any other out there, and I must say I am proud and excited to be a part of a new revolution in higher education!  Still confused?  Dont worry I will be describing the program in further detail as I go along in future posts.

For now I will share some photos of our first group project that we are working on called the Design Build.  This is a two week (10 day) intensive project where we as classmates design and BUILD a space for a revolutionary condo complex called Eco-Flats.  This is designed into the curriculum as a team building exercise for the class as a way for us to become closer and really get to know one another and our skills.  And a chance to learn some new techniques that we might never have been exposed to.
Here is the layout of the complex.  We are building on the area labeled Stormwater Basin
Site visit to hear from the Developers Jean-Pierre Veillet and Doug Shapiro


A view of the site from the second story of the complex

After the site visit it was back to the studio to brainstorm and build models of our ideas to present to the Developers.

Brainstorming and Building models
Near the end of the Design process we broke up into 2 groups to build on our ideas and presented 2 options to the Developers.

Group 1 - living green wall with a secret garden canopy
Group 1 model side view

Group 2 model top view - a beautiful corner deck with mobile green wall panels
Group 2 model side view


So a decision was reached and we are now building a Living Green Wall and a wooden walkway over the 580 sqft storm water basin.

We just finished our 7th day in the process and are well on our way to completing the project by Wed 9/22:)

I think that is a good introduction so far, stay tuned for more photos of the process and more insight to this brand new program!