Studio Haiku

Can a Venn Diagram make you smile?

Music Diagram

People Diagram

The answer is yes! In my quest to find a few examples of successful venn diagrams illustrating theory, I came across a few diagrams that made me smile and thought to share.

Inspiration Found

Just as the new design students in the first year drawing class have been asked to share where they find inspiration, I thought I would share a few sources of inspiration that I have used while designing over the years. I have always been inspired by those people around me, whether they are classmates, fellow designers, faculty, or artists. I am inspired by the motivation to continually raise the bar and adopt new skills and techniques exhibited by my community.

I am also inspired by the shear joy that design has brought and will continue to bring to people. I love to find a design or environment that instantly brings a smile to my face and encourages me to explore. These are traits similarly found in nature, which makes in so surprise that many designers are inspired by nature.

To find out what inspires our student designers visit our class blog for Studio and Design Visualization and simply click on their names!

Design Happiness

In taking some time to think about a design that I would love to improve, I have come to the conclusion that it would have to be my mother's kitchen. In my search for a place that I would truely enjoy and be happy redesigning, I wanted to pick a space that meant something to me. My mother's kitchen has been the common gathering place for our family get togethers, filled with laughter, serious discussions, and, of course, not so serious discussions. The kitchen has functioned as many spaces other than a kitchen. It has been a makeshift sewing room, a laundry folding station, an art studio, an office, and even a dance floor. Even though it has satisfied so many important functions it has fell quite short in the expectations a person would want for a kitchen. I would be happy to redesign this space to better suit the needs of its user(s) while still allowing for all the makeshift functions it has accomodated in the past.

Mouse Path

Snow Day

Juggling was the theme of the afternoon yesterday. We had laid out three juggling sacks on the table to use as a discussion point and interest my brother. He, of course, was intrigued by the juggling sacks, which we said belonged to my grandmother. He proceeded to attempt to juggle in front of us. He was unsuccessful and his fiancee gave it a try. She too was unsuccessful at the task. Acting as though I have never juggled before, I too stepped up to to attempt the task. After struggling with the task for about three tries, I then went into serious juggling mode and completely surprised by brother and his fiancee. His face was absolutely priceless. Needless to say, he spent the rest of the afternoon trying to master the art of juggling with helpful tips from me.

My mother made these gorgeous orange sweet potato fries, with rosemary, salt and oil. They were not only delicious but also great to photograph. I think food photographs can be really great so I decided to take a stab at photographing these fries fresh out of the oven.

We were hit with 6" of snow on saturday, which is the day we were expected to drive to PA from NC. We decided to leave a day early and were lucky we did.

This bouquet was a gift to myself after completing this past semester. The bouquet contains white daisies, white carnations and one other white flower for which the name is unknown. I love white flowers at christmas time. They remind me of snow.

Full Scale Prototype Process

Foam Process Models

These small scale models were created using extruded polystyrene insulation. This was an early process model used to help demonstrate how the object can be rotated and used for numerous uses to accomodate numerous positions.

Renderings of Studio Project

These renderings were created using sketchup and podium. The images depict the use of the object created during my fall graduate studio. This object can be used in numerous educational settings by children, specifically ages 6 to 8.

Current Reading

I have just begun reading The Lost Art of Walking by Geoff Nicholson. The cover is really creative. I enjoy looking at the fine detail in the shoe prints. I will provide a personal review when finished the book.

Paper Whites in bloom

Christmas time means enjoying blooming amaryllis and paper whites. I usually opt for the amaryllis, but this year I went with three bulbs of paper whites. They were planted the day after Thanksgiving and began blooming a few days ago. They have a very lovely scent, similar to the scent of a lily, and have a gorgeous white flower with a yellow center. They faintly resemble a piece of popcorn.

Flipping...

Flipping through the studio booklet

Flipping through the successful booklet created for my graduate studio project this semester titled "Primary Objects". Binder screws were used to fasten the booklet.

Book Cover

The process photos taken while attempting to assemble a book with a fabric cover. The cover was not a success so plan B was used for the booklet binding, which you will see in the above post.

Memories of fall

A hint of christmas

Doodles from my Notebook

Another unfinished sketch created while waiting to meet a friend for lunch on Tate St.

Some doodles from my notebook. The floor plan is a thumbnail of my 'partment.

A sketch at breakfast.

Doobles in the margins. Each mark pertained to a beat in a song I was listening to.

Sketch of Exam

A student hard at work at a rendering exam in studio is sketched above.

Tate Street Sketch

A sketch that was stated but never finished. This was drawn while waiting to meet a friend for lunch on Tate Street in Greensboro, NC.

Above is an abstacted photograph of a product I designed for the graduate studio this semester. This product is intended to be used as a despecialized object for a first and second grade classroom. The product can be used in multiple positions as needed by the user. The construction of the product includes 2" extruded polystyrene insulation or EPI that has been cut, glued, sculpted, sanded and painted (many times).

The product measures about 25" high, 18" wide, and about 24" deep (these measurements pertain to the object shown in the upright position on the left).