Untitled

[nmoli049]

Final Index

12. QCQ #3: Structural Tension

13. A Structure Within a Structure: Research

a. First Idea

b. Second Idea

c. Third Idea

14. A Structure Within a Structure: Materials in the World

15. A Structure Within a Structure: Final

16. QCQ #4: Concrete Blonde

17. Negative Fragments

18. Positive Fragments: Research

a. First Idea

b. Second Idea

c. Third Idea

19. Positive Fragments: Final

20. QCQ #5: Corners

21. Corners: Research

a. First Idea

b. Second Idea

c. Third Idea

22. Corners: Final

[nmoli049]

Corners Final Project: My corners project is called "Blanket Fort". This project has a red and pink blanket, two pillows, two chairs and six stuffed animals. It is inspired by a fun thing to do in childhood: which is building a blanket fort. It could also be inspired to make up for the childhood trauma, as it is sometimes normal to do childhood stuff to cope with the trauma from childhood, such as PTSD. To cope with childhood trauma, children can benefit from establishing a consistent routine, expressing their feelings through open communication, seeking support from trusted adults, engaging in creative activities like drawing or writing, and practicing relaxation techniques like deep breathing, all while being reassured of their safety and allowed to feel their emotions without judgment.

[nmoli049]

Corners Idea 3: My third and final idea concept for the corners project is an art studio. An "art studio" is a dedicated space where an artist works to create art, providing a place to store materials, tools, and ongoing projects, allowing them to focus on their creative process in a dedicated environment, often including features specific to their chosen medium like easels for painting, pottery wheels for ceramics, or photography lighting setups; essentially, it's the artist's personal workspace for producing artwork. It is primarily used for the creation of art, including painting, sculpting, drawing, photography, ceramics, and more.

[nmoli049]

Corners Idea 2: My second idea concept for the corners project is a cafe and small library. A café is a small, casual restaurant or coffeehouse that serves coffee, tea, and light snacks or food. The term "café" comes from the French word for "coffee". Cafés are known for being social spaces where people can read, study, or talk about current events. They can be small, owner-operated businesses, or large corporations. And a "small library" refers to a library with a significantly smaller collection of books and a smaller physical space compared to a traditional public library, often serving a smaller community or demographic, with the core concept being to provide accessible reading materials in a convenient, localized setting; a prominent example of this is the "Little Free Library," a tiny, community-run book exchange box where anyone can take a book and leave one in its place.

[nmoli049]

Corners Idea 1: The first idea concept for the corners project is a blanket fort. A "blanket fort" is a temporary, makeshift structure built using blankets, sheets, pillows, and furniture to create a secluded, cozy space for play, reading, or relaxing, essentially a small, self-made "den" within a room, often associated with childhood imagination and creativity where one can retreat and engage in various activities within their own constructed space. It is typically made by draping blankets over furniture like chairs, tables, or couches, using items like clothespins or binder clips to secure them together.

[nmoli049]

QCQ #5

Quote: "A corner that is ‘lived in’ tends to reject and restrain. It meets all the hesitations of a child who is not quite sure of himself, who does not dare to move, who is seeking reassurance on all sides and who, having found reassurance in a corner, wants to stay there forever."

Comment: The image of a reluctant child withdrawing to a corner speaks to our innate need to seek cover when faced with uncertainty or vulnerability. This passage from Gaston Bachelard emphasizes the psychological and emotional resonance of corners by depicting them as private, protective spaces that evoke a profound sense of safety and reassurance. A corner, with its enclosing geometry, symbolizes a boundary against the unknown, offering a secure refuge where one can pause, reflect, or gather confidence.

Question: How does Bachelard's depiction of a "lived-in" corner reflect the balance between seeking comfort in familiar spaces and the potential limitations such spaces impose on personal growth or exploration?

[nmoli049]

Positive Fragments Final Project: The project I made for positive fragments is called "Late Night Snacking Gone Wrong". This project was originally going to include a giant tray with a bunch of cookies on top, apparently 10 to 20 cookies in total. Unfortunately, I had an art block, the tray ended up breaking, and I have to work multiple hours so the project didn't go in the way that I wanted. But in the end, I have to work with what I got and move forward. This project is inspired by a craving of going for a late night snack and hiding evidence, and failing miserably at it, which resulted in the cookies spilling out and the tray breaking into pieces.

[nmoli049]

Positive fragments Idea 3: The third and final idea concept for positive fragments is the flower garden. A "flower garden" is a dedicated space within a larger garden where the primary focus is on cultivating and displaying flowering plants, often designed to showcase a variety of colors, textures, and blooming times throughout the growing season, providing aesthetic beauty and visual interest through the blooms. The garden primarily features herbaceous flowering plants, including annuals and perennials, rather than woody shrubs or trees. It requires careful planning to achieve a sequence of blooms throughout the seasons, incorporating color combinations, and considering plant height and growth habits. It aims to create a visually pleasing space with vibrant colors and diverse flower shapes. And it requires regular care including weeding, watering, and deadheading spent blooms.

[nmoli049]

Positive fragments Idea 2: The second idea concept for positive fragments is the planetarium. A planetarium is a theater-like space with a dome-shaped ceiling that uses specialized projectors to display images of stars, planets, and other celestial objects, simulating the night sky and allowing viewers to experience the motion of celestial bodies as if they were looking up at the real sky, primarily used for educational and entertainment purposes related to astronomy and space science; essentially, it's a place to "visit" the universe without leaving Earth. There are shows that can include simulations of the night sky at different times and locations, journeys through the solar system, presentations on specific astronomical phenomena, and even multimedia experiences with narration and music.

[nmoli049]

Positive fragments Idea 1: The first idea concept for positive fragments is the desserts. Dessert is a course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly savory to create desserts. It's also a craving. While it's normal to crave something sweet after a meal, you can try to be more curious about your cravings to understand what they might be communicating. If you're finding it difficult to control your cravings, you can reach out to a nutrition therapist for help.

[nmoli049]

Negative Fragments: The region surrounding a clay piece's positive space or main topic is known as negative space. It can be applied to a composition to give it depth and harmony. Because it helps define the borders of the positive space and adds balance to the composition, negative space is a crucial component of art. Additionally, it can convey the forms' quality and provide depth. For my negative and positive fragments practice, I used five objects of clay on three pieces of clay. For the three pieces of clay, I used a pain reliever cream, scissors, a makeup brush, a marker cap used three times, and a whiteout. I have to use office materials to create my experiment for the negative and positive fragments project.

[nmoli049]

QCQ #4

The concept of "negative space" has wider cultural connotations, implying that space is a potent tool for communicating ideas about social and cultural processes. In this sense, negative space enables a more thorough investigation of what is not depicted, frequently drawing attention to underrepresented histories, hidden constructions, or different perspectives on time and space in both architectural and creative endeavors.

Beyond its conventional use in art and architecture, the idea of negative space has deep cultural meanings that emphasize the historical, social, and political contexts in which space is conceptualized. In this larger sense, negative space refers to the gaps or absences that may be filled with significance, whether in architecture, visual art, or even society institutions. It does not simply mean nothingness. It addresses the invisible and underrepresented—those aspects of history and culture that are frequently disregarded or undervalued.

How does negative space function as a tool to highlight social and cultural exclusion? In what ways can the concept of negative space be used to critique traditional societal structures? How does negative space intersect with the concept of absence in cultural theory, especially in the context of postcolonial studies?

[nmoli049]

The project I made for Structure within a Structure is called "For Sale". The project is just a big steel cage with five or six stuffed animals inside the cage. It is to represent the yard sales that involves pets, with people wanting to sell those pets for money or because they couldn't take care of them. These sales are starting to get normalized in the suburban areas and neighborhoods, even farms are starting to normalize it.

[nmoli049]

From my visit to the steel yard, I can capture and communicate the atmosphere of a steel yard, focus on sensory details: the harsh industrial textures, metallic colors, intense heat, loud clanging sounds, and the raw energy of the environment. I'll also use dynamic compositions, dramatic lighting, and close-ups of machinery or workers to convey its gritty, powerful essence.

[nmoli049]

QCQ #3

Oscar Tuazon's work is fascinating because it purposefully embraces the forces that may cause structures to collapse by pushing materials to their limits. His method produces a "structural tension" that is actual rather than just figurative since Tuazon frequently makes works that appear to be barely kept together and are always in danger of disintegrating. In pieces like "Another Nameless Venture Gone Wrong," for instance, he employs weighty materials like wood and concrete that are kept in place solely by hoists or chains, allowing them to clearly strain under the effects of tension and gravity. By presenting a delicate, transient aesthetic that reflects the precariousness of actual structures, this unvarnished engagement with material instability might be seen as a critique of the durability and permanence ideals sometimes associated with architecture.

I concur that Oscar Tuazon's art and building challenge conventional notions of permanence and stability, which makes them incredibly fascinating. He blurs the distinction between creation and collapse by highlighting material strain and the precariousness of his creations, giving his works a dynamic, even theatrical quality. Works such as "Another Nameless Venture Gone Wrong" reflect bigger concerns of human fragility, environmental vulnerability, or even the instability of society structures, forcing spectators to confront the materiality of materials and the constant risk of failure. In a world where impermanence and unpredictability are influencing our experiences more and more, this critique of architectural principles seems particularly pertinent. What makes Tuazon's art so powerful is his ability to use instability as a conceptual and visual focal point.

What conventional ideas of permanence and utility in art and architecture are challenged by Oscar Tuazon's method of pushing materials to their structural limits? Does his work, in your opinion, encourage a more comprehensive examination of how people interact with the built environment?

[nmoli049]

SPACES: MIDTERM INDEX

1. A Room: Research

a. First Concept

b. Second Concept

c. Third Concept

2. A Room: Final

3. Artist Presentation: Research

4. QCQ #1: Dependent Participation

5. A Room Within A Room: Research

a. First Concept

b. Second Concept

c. Third Concept

6. A Room Within A Room: Final

7. Museum Visit

8. QCQ #2: Anarchitecture

9. Shelter / Dwell: Research 

a. First Concept

b. Second Concept

c. Third Concept

10. Shelter / Dwell: Final

[nmoli049]

Shelter and Dwell Final: For my project, I created an umbrella called Stormy Weather. This umbrella is for one person only and it protects you from natural disasters such as hurricanes, thunderstorms, windy weather, etc. It even protects you from the heat. It is made with nylon fabric, a fabric mostly used for umbrellas and parasols, and it is decorated with ribbons, yarn, and a button on top. I even used the yarn at the bottom as a base. It is an interactive piece but it is also part of a performance. And yes I did test this at some point to make sure that it really works for the critique on Monday in order to avoid false advertisement.