Monday, July 28, 2008
Week Five: How's the Research Coming?
Hey class. So far, this class has the most interesting topics I've seen in quite awhile of teaching this class. And you've even managed to keep me interested in your progress. (Those of you who want to teach someday - you'll see how hard that is to do after teaching the same class for six years) Just so you know keep it interesting and that's a sure way to get a high grade. So how 'bout you all post an update. Anything new you've learned about your subjects? What made you curious about this in the first place? Are you thinking about what new things you could bring to this subject that you haven't seen yet? And, here of course, is the big challenge of high level research.
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I picked this topic because I need to research it for my thesis. (I'm picking this as a topic for my thesis because I've been a fairly vivid lucid dreamer since about fourth grade and I'd love to try to put together an awesome visual experience based on some of the wackier dreams I've had.)
The topic came to me out of a basic habit I do when I am brainstorming. As most artistic people, I draw when I'm thinking. I drew basic shapes a few of them being hearts. I started to think about it and my question came to me. It's funny to think of how many things in this world we visually queue on sight, but most of us don't actually know how they originated, or why they are how they are.
Minimalism
Need I say more?
In case I do, I picked this topic because it touches on something I've been trying to figure out since my undergrad days. I spent a lot of my time at the college newspaper. And I was always trying to figure out how to get people to read the damn thing! There were quite a few factors we battled against. We're all so busy with our own lives, and our attention spans grow shorter and shorter every generation. But at the same time, there's more and more Stuff trying to grab our attention, and more often than not, make a buck.
Point is, people only want to read the small blurbs, the factoids. It's nearly impossible to get someone to read a feature length article unless they're interested in the subject. So where does that leave an aspiring designer?
Well, we have to do more with less.
In my opinion, the ultimate goal behind a minimalist design is to do just that. Think of an icon like the Olympic rings. It's 5 different colored rings, hooray. But what does it stand for? SO MUCH MORE. It's an event that, from the beginning, was meant to bring rivals together in peace, in the spirit of competition.
Since I'm still a thesis noob, I'm glad I at least picked a topic that I'd like to more about.
Now the hard part, how do you create a design, with minimal elements, that represents an idea or concept that is immense?
The research is going good. I'm not finding any books on Dada and Graffiti together but I fond some books on just Graffiti and just Dada. I'm finding that a lot of information really does not interact to each other. So I'm going to have to think of how each will go into each other or how they do not. I did see some tag in some books like Dada is about getting message out and so is graffiti. Is that something I could write about? Am I on the right track? I think I'm thinking of new things that these subject haven't seen yet or covered yet. I am finding a lot about Dada and surrealism which can be argued as the same art style. I see graffiti and surrealism in the same matter. More then I do for Dada. Dada is a anti art movement as for Graffiti relays anti messages. Some messages are about the territory for a gang and others is a art message of the artist mind, feeling, and aemotion. One more is a RIP of a local loved one. Dada is a lot for collages and photomontage and graffiti is spry paint on a wall surface. That is what society thinks. Now there are paper collages on walls that are consider graffiti or advertising. So there are some topics that I can write about that I fond on the web and in newer books. Think I'm heading in the right direction. Is there anything that anyone know that could help? Of course I have comparison and non comparison that I've fond.
So the research is done. Now I'm trying to get the annotated bibliography together. This is a new format for me. I'm used to more creative writing. I try to tell a story, or at least make non-fiction writing add up to something.
I think what has thrown me off the most is the bibliography format. I'm used to writing an introduction, some supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion. Now I find myself regurgitating facts that I think correlate to my topic.
When it's done, it will be a tool for anyone doing similar research after me. I've found the books, pulled out the pertinent information, and (hopefully) summed it up in a few coherent paragraphs.
Nothing flashy, but that isn't the intent for a research paper. Hopefully, one day we can pull this annotated bibliography out and use it as a research source.
I've certainly picked up a few things as far as modern logo design goes. This will certainly help my skill set as a graphic designer.
Artistically depicting the spiritual enlightenment of an individual. Not very easy, and its interesting that so many times throughout history artists have chosen the same methodology of doing so. Light rays emminating from the figures head, or their entire body emmanating light have the effect of displaying some inner knowledge or power, but I wonder is there another way?
This is a pretty tough topic concidering my question is more of an opinion. Also I do not know much about art or art history so I am learning alot about each era. This hopefully will help me out to try and figure out what may or may not be the next generation of art.
The work is coming, pornography has been around forever, and it invades everything we do.
This day I went to the FAU library... what an event. First off, I walked in and felt so lost. I found Jana at a computer, so she filled me in on what to do. The afternoon started out wonderfully, or so I thought. I was finding many books seemingly to inform me about my topic.
However upon walking back and forth between levels, finding many books, only one actually caught my eye to be of any use whatsoever. That book was "Heart" by Gail Godwin. She really poured her knowledge and research into this book, she even includes some personal experiences that relate to the heart. Overall the day was only a mild success.
I just want to say that I really enjoyed this project. At first I was like great I have to write and do research. In the post both of these combinations would drive me in to a coma. Writing is one of my weakest link but now that I'm in Graduate school I've been working on my writing. I do see improvement. This was the first time I would send more then one hour at the library. Also before this Bibliography I did not like the Dada art movement. I would have to say now that is a cool art movement that has some pretty interesting art works that have been make. The meaning of the work is humors and at the same time sarcastic. So I would like to say thank you for this opertuity
This was an interesting experience for me. I really didn't think I would find information that was new to me, but there was plenty. There is lots of conjecture out there but there is suprisingly a good bit of people writing about their life experiences. This is the informtion that is reliable.
I hope my presentation made you think a bit. Not many people learn intimate details about the realm of addiction and live to tell about it. I am one of the lucky ones.
Hmmm the research... I decided to do something that has to do with my thesis. In my thesis I am using a painting from Pieter Brugel, the Elder, an early Renaissance painter from the Low Countries. So I started with a specific question: what makes the Renaissance Art in Netherlands so different than in Italy (and the rest of Europe), eventhough they belong to the same art movement?
So I started my research and I figured out soon that this question was kind obvious. Of course, I could go to all the economic, social and religous aspects of that specific time and place to make my question (and my answer) harder, but instead, I decided to change my topic: A study of the Ranaissance with focus on the Netherlands region and the artist Pieter Brugel. Doing that I could see the different aspects of the Ranaissance in that region and also talk about the artist from my thesis.
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