artistic/
personal
“let the seams show”
A professor of mine once said you have to decide whether you want your creations to be a finished product (object) or let the seams show. In these projects, I choose to “let the seams show.” Wires are seen, and construction methodology is seen at face value. Craftsmanship is still paramount; however, these objects do not resemble something you purchase in the store.
short-form/long-duration
Many of my projects will reference a series called short-form/long-duration; these projects are intended to be seen multiple times at version points in one’s life. Allowing the shift to change with the piece. Many of the pieces change as time passes, which allows the viewer to see them differently, referring to the change in the viewer as well.
Artist or Designer
This is an identity crisis, a crisis of the mind and the heart. I sometimes struggle to make art for art’s sake and not have my art feel like a product. The projects/pieces up to this point all represent that push and pull I feel when doing work. Most, if not all, of the following projects will lean towards me as a designer.
construction materials
I’ve always loved low-cost, low-brow construction materials. Raw concrete and copper just work together. Throw in some plywood and put a bow on it. I also have an affinity for digital “objects” for lack of a better term.
I continue to experiment with the medium I work in for my artistic practice.
However, regarding professional design work, material choice is paramount. The following projects are mostly client-driven, and design decisions were derived from client needs, budgets, and timelines.
professional/
client work
Start With A Verb
“Start with a verb when defining the problem statement,” was a phrase I often heard in design school. This helped me to broaden my cone of vision, and with the aid of research and data arrive at the root of the problem. It is easy to label the objects around us as nouns, but this becomes more difficult and abstract when looking at less concrete ideas or social and emotional constructs. For example, we all understand the use of a cup, but what is the cup providing? A way to contain a liquid, easily refillable, ergonomic for the user, and possibly a host of other actions. If we start the design process with a cup we will always arrive at a cup. Using a verb as the starting point will allow us to arrive at a solution that is more meaningful to the user. The example of the cup may seem overly simple, but as we start to look at more obtuse problems we can understand why phrasing the problem statement as a verb is such a powerful tool; especially for wicked problems like teaching empathy and compassion, or how to remove social stigma. Using the action or the verb allows us to as the right questions
Curiosity
As long as I can remember I have been a curious person. As a young child, I always found myself observing, questioning, and investigating the world around me. This curiosity has continued throughout my adult life as I experience different cultures, generational perceptions, and human adaptation. Curiosity has always led me to seek out “the how and the why” of my experience and this fuels my drive for discovery.
