My debut as an actress!

Do you see me yet? It was so strange to be filmed.  The guys did some amazing editing. 

Developments: French Bronze Show

Here are the preliminary boards that the designers and curators use to assemble the models. These are similar to the mood boards used in fashion and brand development.

The designers and curators use this board to get inspiration for the space.

At this stage, the designers start to organize the moods for each gallery in the exhibit.

Foam core models, created at 1:12,  are finished while colors and themes are chosen. Here the curators are finalizing where each piece will be displayed in the gallery. Different color sticky notes tag locations and other specifics. While adhering the color to the walls I had to remove my shoes to tip toe around the models already affixed to the floor.

When I returned today I noticed that all the colors, (from the previous week of painstaking color matching), had been printed out and placed in the model. It transformed the space!

Here is an aerial view of the gallery.

When I was in Merritt’s exhibit design class at UCLA extension, I forgot to place a scale figure into my model for the final project. I truly thought I had covered all my bases when turning in that final, however I forgot the most important aspect of creating a model. That is imagining people interacting with the space. How do the galleries flow from one room to another?  Will people easily access the text and interactive materials in the show? These are questions that should be easily be answered when a scale figure is introduced. It also gives the designers a sense of scale. Here is the title wall with two model people. Perhaps the text is too high for most people? These questions should be tackled before installation.

Title Wall for French Bronze

Here the designers needed to show how a printed scrim will look against a bronze sculpture. It was necessary to create a full size model and place a sample printed scrim in the background. The translucent material behind the piece frames it nicely. Using scrims are also a great way to divide spaces. It is understated and elegant.

Yellow fabric scrim

Special Collections

Sasha, the intern at exhibit design, invited me on a tour of special collections at the GRI. Claes Oldenburg’s False Food Selection was one of many objects we were able to see up close and personal. This piece was aquired from Jean Baker Brown, who developed a large collection of Fluxus art at her home in Massachusetts. Read more about her here.
A note: I don’t think the box was such a brilliant blue color as portrayed in this photo. The catalogers must have been playing with the photoshop color picker.

Color Correction

The plotter in the Getty Exhibition Design office is my new best friend. No, seriously. I have a new found respect for subtle yellows and reds that so easily creep into prussian blues. I have found that it is especially difficult to match dark blues and reds. After struggling with many print outs, Michael came along and said, “you know Laurel, there are prefab color swatches that can easily be printed on the plotter and then matched.” Hmm, after an hour of work I thought that would just be too simple a solution.

I was given the paint chips for the wall colors that needed to be matched and printed on the plotter to create a physical mock up of the model.

There is no yellowish blue gray color! Convert to CMYK and make  your own.

When first deciding the colors for a show, these huge 4 by 4 foot paint chips are selected. The designers have these large swatches in order better visual the gallery space with the specific color. It is amazing how these colors can transform a space.

Exhibit Design: ‘A Light Touch: Exploring Humor in Drawing’

Last week, here at the Getty Center, I had the opportunity to tour  “A Light Touch: Exploring Humor in Drawing” with the lead exhibit designer, Saeyeon. I was immediately drawn to this show for a number of reasons. Firstly, I adore the hand drawn logo of ‘A light Touch.’ Saeyeon traced letterforms using graphite. She made thin lines filling in each letter while modifying some of the letters.

You may also notice that Saeyeon traced the Getty logo for the banner. It is in the upper left corner.

Putting together an exhibit like this is a lot of work. Designers strive for a structure and graphic identity that enhances the work. Most good design is invisible, it works as a cohesive force in conveying the concept of the show. A Drawings show like this, can take upwards of a 6 months to a year of advanced planning. In conveying the humor and playful nature of this show it was necessary to let the work shine.

The initial phase of design includes meeting with the curator, who in this case was The Getty’s Associate Curator of Drawings, Julian Brooks. After receiving the show materials and writings on the subject, Saeyeon poured over the caricatures and witty drawings conveying the human condition of Europe during the late middle ages. During this stage the designer starts to imagine how the space will tell a story. Perhaps getting a feeling for the mood of the room by envision a color palate and graphic styles.

Along these stages, several drawings are produced similar to this one created in vector works.

Notice how each drawing and each label has a specific measurement. There are standards that the exhibit design department established in order to have a consistent look in all the shows. For instance, all paintings are hung 60 inches from the floor. This is the perfect height for most visitors.

The exciting part of putting together a show is the installation phase. I came across some photos of this phase. Saeyeon described some difficulties at this point because there was so much detail in the logo. The logo was screen printed on to the title wall but all the lines did not come through she had to go back with a one-hair brush to fill in the details.

While some of the graphics are created in-house to save money, others are sent out to professional vendors. Here is a gallery of the process. Most of the titles are screen printed while the large drawings of figures are vinyl.

I love how these images are life size. The visitors feel like they are a part of the activities in the drawings. Not to mention that when blown up, these drawings create a nice contrast against the bright yellow paint that pops off the walls.

Michel Gondry at the Hammer

It has been an inspiring few weeks here at UCLA. Last tuesday the 21st, Michel Gondry visited the Hammer museum in Westwood! People were lined up around the block see this eccentric artist. With the help of my very kind roommate who works for the Hammer I got in.

Before the lecture proceeded more than 5 minutes, Gondry stopped the interviewer in mid sentence to gripe about the glaring white pages left on the reserved seats. He went on about how the organizers of the event said it was a packed house yet there were papers dotting the auditorium which served as a major distraction.  Gondry stopped the interviewing process for a good five minutes before the seats were filled with eager artists and loyal fans who stayed to watch the lecture projected in an overflow room.

The last question that resonated with me is when Gondry was asked about language barriers. The interviewer said something like “do you ever find it hard to understand english” (something idiotic like that) and Gondry replied that he always understands except when he needs time to formulate a good answer, he will say “oh i do not understand can you rephrase your question…”

All in all I got a very good feeling about Gondry. He has an amazing ego-building body of work and yet he appears so humble and down to earth. He has a “matter of fact” tone about his art. If something didn’t go quite as planned he would say well that is just how t’is. The little flaws in his pieces give a more rich handmade character. Oh I aspire to have the same attitude about my work. It is important not to take yourself too seriously . So often we try to take all the credit for our art when in reality it is just an amalgum of our predecessors creations. We just take a specific cocktail of visual stimuli and repackage it in a more modern rendition of what has already been established.  But Michel Gondry’s cocktail is dynamic; it reaches the core of our most playful, childlike nature and exposes certian curriosities about the physical world. He brings the ephemeral and intangable into plain sight for our entertainment. I am inspired!

The fly on the wall has a PHD

Dr. Amy came into our class today for observations. She was armed with a notebook, pen and some discerning looks of a seasoned teacher. I was intimidated (for the first few minutes). Then I forgot she was there and we got right down to business. I packed a lot into the lesson plan today and I was proud of how much the students completed. (I will post examples soon).

Last week the students were not too enthused about laying out type. This week I added some more elements to the type tree. They added color and played around with the various options of their chosen font family.

My concern at this point is that the class moves so fast there is just no time for critical reflection. I really must be more conscious of the time in order to complete this important step of the assignment. The critique of the students work is where they will learn the most. They will compare their quality of work with their classmates and thus the successful designs vs. design that doesn’t work.

So next class period we will start with critiques of their family tree. We will focus on the strength and the connotation of various type faces and color choices. Then we will move into their final poster designs. The students will have an opportunity to use our new digital SLR’s that Cannon donated to Arts Bridge. I know they will be excited about this opportunity.

font family tree

Through out the week I have been developing a lesson plan for wednesday. I want the students to create a font family tree using classic fonts listed on thinkingwithtype.com. They will use the various weights and sizes of their one chosen font to create a “family tree.” I hope they will understand how to utilize the font family to create hierarchy. The students will then be able to take their font and translate it into their own family tree. The hierarchy of different generations will be signified with various point sizes and styles of one font.

Swollen lymph nodes and a splitting headache are not the best conditions for a final presentation as was the case last night. I spent hours this weekend putting together a foam core model of the redesigned Westwood newsstand so I was excited about the project. I hope this came across even though I would have rather been in bed. In any case, I think it went well.

What’s black, white and read all over? Village News

For the branding, I kept to a simple color scheme of black red and white. This tag line will be placed above the magazine racks. I kept the logo bold and simple so it would be more visible from the street.

When I was in grade school, my dad and I built a little wooden sail boat. He always said “measure twice and cut once.” I definitely know what he means now. I went through so much foam board.

I received some great feedback yesterday that will help me on the next model. I need to add people into the model so there is a sense of proportion. Merritt suggested that I look up the regulations for wheel chair accessible isles because utilizing the Universal Design principles was part of my objective. (I believe these are ABA standards) Because I brought in all the pieces separately we were able to move around the shelves and stands to accommodate a wheel chair. It was helpful to have each element in modules so the professor (or client) could arrange it how they see fit. It makes them feel like they are a part of the process.

Now as far as presenting, I feel the best way to present a creative assignment like this and retain a sense of professionalism is to have a well designed pdf power point with handouts for each person. The viewers have something tangible, they can take notes and you can save most of the text for the handouts so the power point doesn’t get cluttered and overwhelmed. Since most people are visual anyway, the power point can be mostly graphics and pictures that will allow me to talk off the top of my head about what I have been working on. I plan to use this method in ArtsBridge when B.Max and I have to make our first presentation at Milikin next week.

Crocheted squares and flying machines

10 days have passed since my last post. I told myself that I would try to post more often. Not only is writing a cathartic exercise, it really helps me to organize my thoughts and ideas. So much has happened this week. I assume that is why I am a bit under the weather and groggy from day-time cold medicine.

Today before ArtsBridge, I went into the EDA to check out the lecture. An eccentric and fascinating man was speaking. Norman Klein, a Woody Allen type character, was giving a slide show of some beautiful images when I took my seat. For most of the lecture I was lost because I walked in after he explained the reasoning behind this photo archive of images from the turn of the century. He proceeded to show a game design from this image archive. I expected to be able to find this project with a little research but I am unable to find it now. I did however find a particularly relevant image, of a 19th century flying contraption.

In other news, I have revised my creepy baby photograph twice this week for communication design. The last crit was really helpful. I replaced the image of the baby, with a hand crocheted blanket. (I spent a couple hours last weekend trying to relearn how to crochet). The blanket conveys birth and the womb more abstractly than the baby. I feel like it also goes better with the concept of birth, near death and death. This is the focus of each news article for local, national and global events on my birthday.

So when I came in on Tuesday with the new set of images, it was suggested that I remove the helicopter, as it did not function properly in the set of images. It was hard to let this one go, because I spent so much time re-shooting the helicopter. But I guess this is the process. And the process must be valued over the end result. So it was back to the drawing board and this is the result. Click, enlarge and view. Suggestions comments?