Michelle's Curiousity Cabinet

Replace fear of the unknown with Curiousity 

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Cowspiracy

Documentary on the secret to sustainability 

If there was a documentary that was going to change my mind about the choices that i’m making in my life this is the one that has made the biggest impact. This documentary talks on the topics of environmental issues and the causes of the issues. It follows the animal agriculture industry and the effect it has on the environment. It follows the effects it has and will continue to have on our planet if we continue to live the way that we are. 

This documentary and the conversations i have had about the topic has changed the way i look at the world in a crazy way. I have changed the way that i effect the environment. I changed my lifestyle due to the effects this documentary  had on me. I use metal straws, i don’t eat meat, i try to carpool as much as possible. Your effects to the environment can vary in so many different ways and there are so many different things you can do even if they feel like a small thing can make a huge difference. 

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Fast Co. Design Blog

Sick another Blog... like i said... not really into blogs because it’s really not something I’m into but it’s super dope to find one that’s designed in a way that catches my eye. 

This website look really cool, the first graphic I saw when I went to the website was one for square space. Which was super funny because the amount of adds i’ve seen for square space is crazy. square space sponsors podcasts i listen to and they have youtube adds. 

any who, i saw this blog right, it was talking about how you brand a company that helps other companies with a branded website? what a question it’s crazy.  I don’t think i would have thought about it being something to question until i looked at that blog. but it makes sense. 

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The Fox is Black Blog

I don’t really read blogs but when looking into this one the one thing THE ONE THING that pulled me in was the design of the website. holy wow. it looks super cool and vibrant in colour. The colour carries through the whole website with the things they talk about. 

ben Medansky

 I got to look into this cool ceramic artist that got the chance to design some shoes! These shoes if i could just describe to you how beautiful they were they would give them absolutely no justice. He used his ceramic skills to create this sneaker that has these elements that remind you of this art. The color and the visual texture. It’s so eye catching and beautiful I cant deal. and thing is. i wanted to buy them, bu they are now being sold on depop for about $250 dollars and no longer on the website he did the collaboration on. HIS DESIGNS WAS THAT GOOD. 

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Journey through Bama

legacy museum 

We got the chance to go to the legacy museum when we went to Alabama.what a journey it was too. This museum walks you through slave trade all the way to the destruction of today mass incarceration . I think this museum was intense. it brought forward a crazy amount of thought and sadness it two ways i wasn't expecting.  so many things were happening and so much information was being given about everything that has happened is happening and continues to happen but i didn't think about the crazy things that we could do to help out with these things. that is because we can’t as much as we want to help. we can't help, its so much bigger than us its so much bigger than what we would hope to do and so much bigger then we could ever imagine. but even if spreading the word of the chaos a little bit can often go a long way 

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MORE ART

 Got the chance to go into this cool space and see some student art. I love that. We don’t always get the opportunity to see what other people are working on around us and its really sad. I think seeing how other people work around me and their style always helps me see what i can do to improve in my own kind of art. I am a visual learner, so being able to see what others are doing and learning from their crit’s and such is something so cool and great to build of each other through the comments.  Learning and building off each other when it comes to art i think is how you truly learn and get better. You cannot grow on your own. You always grow so much more when you surround yourself with other people you can build and learn from. at least that’s what i think. 

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ART with Hannie 

I think looking at art with a gal like hannah is so crazy because she see’s things is such a different way than most people.Especially with art. Hannah bowman is a baker and she’s a weird gal. but she see’s things in a weird way, i think everyone should have an interaction with her way of thinking.  

i’ve asked her about art before, she gets kinda confused with somethings having to do with it and the materials and meaning but she finds her way of bringing things together and finding a type of peace within an art piece. 

People see art different. people see everything different but that makes us individuals and unique in our own ways. ways that no one else can compare to. 

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Gensler Architects 

Holy wow. What a chance to hear from these guys and the awesome work that they do for their community. They came here out of their way to speak to us in their own interest of what we are learning and doing within our own community.

They talked to us about some of their projects and the magnitude of them. this awesome project they are doing or did (i cant really remember anymore) with Columbia Chicago and this super cool student building. This is insane. Because we are designing a new student building... HOW FREAKING COOL WOULD IT BE IF THEY HELPED WITH OURS OMG.

So, Gensler hires so many different people and have so many different opportunities open for the different studies. It would be a super cool chance for people to experience something like that. It was so cool to hear from them and they cool opportunities they’ve gotten. 

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NEW BUILDING!

omg wow.wow.wow. 

 We get to be here in the progress of designing a new art building... what a time. Getting to sit in and be a part of what to come of the future of the art and design department at IWU is so AWESOME!! Getting to hear about the progression of this throughout the last years, and what is to come here in the next few is crazy, i get to see it all unravel and even help with it (hopefully). The potential this building has will bring so much to this department. but i also have some concerns.

When thinking about the community and how we join into the IWU community, how will a building off campus help structure that even more. I feel like it would make it even more difficult for us to feel like a part of the community. Being a part of the art department is really a blessing i have learned so much and have gotten to be a part of something so much bigger then i could even explain. But the disconnect i feel is still existing even while i am on campus. What is going to happen to that when we move, further away then what we already are (hypothetically). I don’t know but that’s just what I’m thinking about it. I know there are ways to make us feel like a part of the campus but we can see how that goes when the time comes. Whenever that time comes, however soon it does come.  

This building will bring so much opportunity. So much community within the art department. and so much growth for the people within it. I know that this building has the potential that everyone is talking about and i can not wait to see it. i cannot wait to experience it and i cannot wait to be a part of it. 

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SEAD INDIANA PT.3

Indy Convergence 

They have a mascot. can you guess what it is... A DOG! A DOG! he got to hang out with us as we heard what the indy convergence was all about. 

The indy convergence is 1. and art space 2. a community space 3. a cool spot. They allow artists from around the world come to the work space and have a residency. this past one was an African artist and the pieces hanging up... were INCREDIBLE!

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SEAD INDIANA PT.2

Big Car Art space

A super sick place, Big Car. A wood shop in the basement and two spaces where they have art galleries. and that odd ball photo of the ceiling i really liked because the wood paneling caught my eye. 

Anyhow, i saw so many photo’s and got to hear them talk about the crazy impact they make on the people around them! a place where people cna come to hangout as a community what a time! not only to experience that time together as a community but also experience the art they teach about.They have little spaces within that bring forward so many questions to the young eye and it’s incredible. 

chickens. bees. outdoor community space. wood shop. art galleries.  

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SEAD INDIANA PT.1 

Lashawnda Storm 

I got to hear Lashawnda speak about her community work in some urban area’s of Indianapolis. The picture above is from a shack the community built in what used to be a very dark street corner. a place where art can be created and thrive. the problem with this space was that there where no side walks, no lights, crime was increasing. It was the main walking strip for children, the way they would walk to get to and from school and there where no side walks and no lights. So the plan was, so fill some of the empty space with a garden, some lights, a space where to community children could hangout and not be scared and what was around them. THEY EVEN GOT SIDE WALKS! This once eery walk to school was no more. and a creative space was built and can help the community continue to thrive. 

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Welch Cardboard Company 

What great opportunity DSI has brought my way. On my birthday October 16th i got to visit the welch cardboard plant. The walked us through all of the things they do in the day. how they recycle this much cardboard and how the process huge orders. The guys are designers and they learned Cad work years ago and have been doing it for a really long time. they are going to help us print out models of some of the work we are doing in Auto Cad ourselves. 

The amount of work that goes into a cardboard box is insane who would have thought. There’s different thicknesses, different folds so the box doesn't concave, different textures depending on what’s being shipped in them. CRAZY. i would have never known. 

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Marion Downtown Public Library 

What a place. As starting research for social innovation we got to go to Marion public library all together to explore and look around. We stumbled upon the timeline of the city of Marion as a very important piece in this library/gallery kind of area. Marion has so much history and more historical people that have come through then one would truly think. The history of Marion is what shapes it to be what it is now and what it could become. We were working through the thoughts of the past history of the lynchings on the downtown square. What its done to the community and the changes it could make if people try to grow from the past. 

The past can’t be erased but it is something that can be learned from and grown from. 

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PineWood Social 

Holy Wow. So, when we went to Nashville we got this super cool opportunity to go to pinewood social. Only because it was designed by some friend of Herb Peterson’s (Sick right?), it was super cool though so go in and see the design of the place. The layout is very proper but then again its kinda not. There’s bowling lanes in the very back a pool outside a bar inside. It’s a super cool hangout spot you would think. But, when we went there was tables that were reserved, and people is suits, almost like having meetings all around. It’s was a multi use space! The front had couches, seating, long tables for meetings like almost. And thats what people were using it for. A super cool place for people in Nashville, and even people that stumble upon it when they are downtown. 

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AIGA TYPE-O-WEEN

What a time to be alive. On halloween Ari and I got the great opportunity to carve an “I” into the side of a pumpkin at this wonderful even by AIGA. After much thought we decided to go with the easy letter only because typography is difficult enough already and then having to do it in a pumpkin... oh no was not going to happen. 

We got to spend some time with AIGA people and with our class carving pumpkins and eating and it was all around a really fun time it was so fun to experience that with everyone. 

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Nashville, Tennessee

Hatch Show Print 

Oh wow... type.type.type next stop on our journey back home was hatch show print where if we had gotten an email back we would have gotten a tour of the back where they have the stamps that they used to make sign and stuff with!! full of color and designs and handmade beauty i got to see how they made some concert posters and cards and other things as such. What a pretty place right in chaos of downtown Nashville.

What an experience.

-mb 

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Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church

(Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s Church)

What a time, and what crazy opportunities. Welcomed in with open arms we got a wonderful tour of Dr. Kings Church. A Beautiful Mural lined the hallway we walking in through that went through the history Dr. King the people he impacted or impacted him or played a big role in his life and the activism he did. All together while walking through this place and learning the history of it was beautiful and an encouraging atmosphere that i would have loved to be around all day. 

-mb