Plastic Bag Love: Josh Blackwell

Major hat tip to the fabulous site Design Sponge who shared this great artist with her readers this morning. Josh Blackwell is an artist who celebrates the disposable by embellishing the lowly *my favorite* plastic bag.

He's been educated on both coasts and boasts a healthy resume of gallery shows, fellowships, and written work. I love how he's created beauty from something we consider ugly and easy to throw away.

My favorite thing is his studio. I can really relate.

Paper and Plastic
A Manifesto for Casual Use

Carelessness with carefulness
Soft-build not athletic
Vintage and future
Casual and formal
Mountains not beaches
Volume after flatness
Grace Jones and Leigh Bowery
Ballets before musicals
Demy and Tati
Trousers or sweaters
Oxford Bags and Nantucket Reds
Sandals instead of shoes
Booking versus tooling
Imi Knoebel and Donald Judd
Paper and plastic

- Josh Blackwell

all images copyright Josh Blackwell

Spring Quarter: Let's do this Thing!

After the small hiatus that was Spring Break, I'm back with a bang. It's the third day of classes, and so far, so good. I'm down to 15 credit hours (a first for me... seriously) and the official countdown to graduation has begun (73 days.)

Yay Spring Quarter!! 73 Days til graduation!

Now is the final push. Now is my last quarter to truly do my best work. Now is my last quarter to sleep in, stay up late, take chances, and live my life out to the fullest. Many people have jokingly warned me that this is it, and I'll miss college after it's gone. They are probably right. Part of me is eager to move forward, but I know it's important to live in the moment and fully enjoy every second I'm here.

I'm taking Yoga for Stress Management (yes, a real class!) on Monday and Wednesday mornings, and it's one of the better decisions I've made this year. The first day of class our homework was to think about and decide upon an Intention for the quarter. My instructor explained that an Intention is sort of like a goal, but with more purpose (thus the Capital Letter.) I've put some thought into my Intention, and decided that the thing I need to focus on this quarter - especially in but not just in my yoga class - is to simply Be Me. Be Jenny. It's a concept expanded upon by Gretchen Rubin of the Happiness Project, and in a nutshell, it's accepting and realizing exactly who I am, likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses.

I'm kind of a nut. I get excited easily, and sometimes I speak up when I should shut up. It's who I am. I can work on it, but at the same time, I have to accept the flaws and reality that is me and stop projecting others' desires upon myself. I'll let you know how it works out.

***

One last thing - Today my professors have organized a Career Day of sorts for all the senior interior design students. Professionals from Cincy, Chicago, Louisville, Columbus and Indianapolis are coming in to critique our work and presumably suss out the graduating class of 2010 for future job opportunities. Jeff Reuschel, Global Design Director of Haworth is giving a lecture at 5 pm, and there is a reception after the lecture for friends and family to come check out the student work from 6-8.

I'd really love if you could come to the DAAPWorks at the beginning of June, but if you want to see my stuff in real life, you're welcome to stop by. Just wander into DAAP and ask someone to point you towards the Grand Stair.

If you can't make it, no big deal. Look at this - it's another perspective of my space I whipped up last night. My professors wanted to see what my library space looks like outside of the Nook. Pretty snazzy.

Final Quarter Work!

So, exactly a week later, I am showing you my final quarter's work. There's still more to be done with it. This is more like a big midterm. I'm happy with what I've come up with, but I still want to push further.


And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...

Diary of a DAAP Kid: School / Life balance?

Is there even such a thing? My first four years of DAAP involved way too many late nights, tears, and frustrated outcries. I turned down a lot of social events, conversations, and potential memories to focus on my school work. I wonder now if it was worth it.

Because I officially now only have 98 days until graduation, it's important to me to make every moment count. I'm a lot more involved with my friends and my city now, and there are many options available to me for various entertaining ways to spend my evenings and weekends.

My mom told me that I have an option: I can spend 80% of my time getting 20% of my work done (by distracting myself along the way, or I can spend 20% of my time getting 80% done, by focusing like a boss and Taking Care of Business. Due to my generational lack of focus I feel like it's more 30/70, but I like the idea and am looking forward to implementing it (ya know, after this blog post.)

So far this quarter I've done a great job with not turning down opportunities to make great memories. I've gone dancing, imbibed great beer, played broomball, taken yoga, eaten great food, and more. Up until this week it's been a good balance, and I've gotten my work done to a degree that satisfies me.

Now it is Project Week... the week before Finals week, in which the studio classes in DAAP require the final work in the class to be completed. Basically, I have two final weeks. This week for studio, next week for the rest of my elective classes.

I am presenting my final work this coming Wednesday (are you excited? I am!), and I have a ton of work to do before now and then. So this weekend (the best weather of the year so far) I am entombing myself within Eisenman's four many faceted walls and not coming out until I have a product I'm satisfied with. It sucks, but hey... graduating is important to me.

I got to participate in the Bockfest parade yesterday, which fulfilled my need to be social and not feel like I was completely missing out on the weekend's festivities.

Okay. Here we gooooooo!!

 

yaaay Bockfest!!

yeah, yeah, Shepard Fairey

I'm in art school. It's practically required for me to take awkward self portraits in front of art.

He's a plagiarizing jerk. He's a bonafide genius. The point is, he came to Cincinnati and made it that much more awesome. Not only did he improve some already beautiful buildings, but he got the city excited and proud. That's an artist I can stand behind.

I went on an adventure to find all the buildings that Shepard Fairey pasted his propaganda. I love the closeup shots that people have been posting, but it's just as or more interesting to see the artwork in its context.

Check it out!





My favorite aspect about the whole trip were a series of white helium balloons that actually tied in with a different show at the CAC by Shilpa Gupta. They were tied flying close by several of the Fairey pieces. Beautiful, with a message I can really stand behind.

Midterms!

I'm halfway through winter quarter. Instead of exams, students in my program put together a series of drawings to illustrate their design. It's definitely a halfway point, and I have a long way to go in my thoughts and ideas. I thought you might like to see what I've come up with so far.

The amorphous shapes in the middle of each floor represent the "nook" spaces developed for different groups of people. I think they're going to change, probably a lot.

Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas for improving my work!

Daddy's Girl

It's a crazy busy day in a crazy busy set of days as I rush around preparing for my midterm presentation. College "midterms" usually include several tests and some papers for most students, but in design it's different. I present my entire set of ideas surrounding my senior project to a panel of critiquers, who then grill me for an hour, giving feedback on what I've done so far. To put it mildly, there's a lot of work and not much sleep ahead for me this weekend, but I'm excited about my ideas and take comfort in the fact that if I take my time, I will turn out an excellent project.

But anyway... today is the 11th anniversary of my father's death. He died of liver cancer on Feburary 5th, 1999, after living far longer than any doctor expected him to. He fought incredibly hard in order to be with my sister and I for as long as possible, and I'm grateful for that.

Eleven years is a long time. Yes, I am sad, but mostly I work hard to remember, good and bad, the man was Darrel Kessler. It's kind of awesome that I end up in design. He initially started a college career in architecture at Ball State University, but dropped out after a year because it wasn't exactly his bag. He went on to become an EMT, meet my mom, and eventually go to chiropractic college.

He worked incredibly hard and was a fierce learner. Even after he graduated from Logan College of Chiropractic, he still returned to St. Louis on weekends to complete continuing education credits in order to stay on top of the field. He was also really into technology, and I know that if he was around today, his mind would be totally blown from all the advances we've made (and he would be on every social network known to man!)

Keeping this in mind, I know I am a Daddy's girl. I'm finishing what he started with the whole architecture thing (and my sister, ironically enough, is attending Ball State!) I know he would be proud of me with the things I've accomplished thus far, and excited and okay with the choices I've made in my life. I keep the spirit of my dad in mind, especially today of all days.

So don't be super sad for me. It's been a hard thing to go through, but I'm stronger, my family is stronger, and I know he would be cheering me on 100%. (and if you're looking for a tearjerker, check my post from last year. Don't say I didn't warn you...)