Journey to 20 Tiles of Techniques

Objective of the Tiles Project: To make 20 tiles using the different techniques we've learned to make images on a surface that corresponds to our theme.

When I first started I thought I wanted to do marine life.  But Janet Huddie, my professor, said to push even further and I did a spider web chart about marine life.  Then my focus then shifted to the Amazon because that's where the most bio-diversities are at.  

After that, I did more research which then led me to a type of frog called Dart Frog. It's colored shows it is poisonous and "don't get near me" signal is definitely flashing.

In 7th grade, I was taught that you stand out or blend in when it comes to being in nature.  Eat or be eaten.  After that, I thought of defense mechanisms because the bright colors and camouflage were types of defense mechanisms.  That led me to do my tiles on defensive mechanisms by different types of animals. 

I thought of doing maybe 10 offensive ones but there's only so much you can do with offensive because they are quite boring, claws, teeth.... nothing special but defenses are much cooler. Though one that I thought would have been cool would be the Venus Fly Trap. 

But anyways, I decided to go with the defensive and there were so many that I could choose from which were fabulous.

And here are the progress:

Wax models

I made some wax models for casting class and they turn out very cool. I have many different pictures to show.

so that was my model for wax but keep up to date cos soon i will post what it looks like after the casting.

New York City Design Field Trip

After I was finished the American Craft Counsel Show and left at 10PM-ish, I had to get up at 4:30 AM the next morning to go to New York City for a Field Trip.  When I got onto the bus, it was very cool because it just people who were the majors and also in the J-Baum classes. It definitely brought all of us together.  I actually got to know Ashley Santana more and we became very close. It was awesome.

Ashley and me

During the ride to New York, they put on a movie how Pixar put movie together, how they now have overlapping projects and how some of the things were very hard.  One of my favorite movie is The Incredibles and they said it was very hard to make due to certain elements such as:

1: Humans

2: Water
3: Humans underwater

I never thought it was going to be very hard because they're just carton character, but I thought of how I'm a portrait artist and it is quite hard because how they look must also convey who they are because certain looks and characters are associate certain ways.

Before

After

It took a little less than 3 hours to get there which was shorter than we expected because it was a saturday-no traffic.  When we got there, it was told that we were a bit early for the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art), so Ashley and I decided to hit some Starbucks and came back.  Our tour was at 11 AM which actually never got booked but before that, we actually went to the MOMA Design Store, which had a lot of very cool products, and things that I have seen before (from Ponoko), or products such as an animal made from cardboard, or bags designed by Issey Miyake.  But there is this thing that I thought was very cool, because it has a lot to do with mechanisms and you can extend it out, very contemporary and very modular which are very big right now.

Wall Mounted Terrarium by Paul Hayes

We went back to the museum, we saw this awesome terrarium which was mounted on the wall, designed by Paul Hayes.  And another terrarium that coming from the floor and the wall to make a ball in the space, which was cool.

Terrarium from the ceiling and floor by Paul Hayes

I have seen something in that style but I didn't quite expected it that this situation but it just happened as soon as we walked in.

After we went in, and after I had to check my bag...., I started to work from the top floor down to the bottom which was cool because we got to see the Andy Warhol Exhibit which I wasn't allow to take pictures of.  But there were all these videos of people's faces, portraits. It was very interesting.  There was one that was called Blowjob but all you can see is this guy's face while he is receiving oral sex.  I thought of how it looked very sexy because you didn't see the action that was taking place but you can see his emotion and how he was feeling coming out, which I thought was just perfect and quite beautiful.  

Myself with Paul Cezanne's work

We keep on moving and looking then came the room that was full of the well-known artists and painter from the 19th century which totally gave me butterflies in the stomach.

I walked in and saw all these big names that I learned in high school.  I felt I was in a room that was filled with one of the biggest names in history especially a group of people that was recent and wasn't only a legend but wasn't so different.  They were relatable.

Some of the painters were: Paul Cezanne, Van Gogh, Matisse, Monet, Manet, Henry Rousseau and many more.

Ashley and Myself with The Starry Night

After I centered the room and was mesmerized by Cezanne's work.  Someone said to go and look at the Starry Night.  I thought, "What? Are you kidding me?" I didn't actually know the Starry Night was here.  I went and looked at the painting and I almost cried.  My eyes were watery but I was in the public so I didn't want to cry.  Then I make someone take a picture of me and Ashley with the Starry Night.

It was AWESOME!!

After the museum, we got on the bus and went to SOHO with and got some food to eat... sandwich and wine, fabulous.

Of course after we were finished, we saw our favorite teacher, Janet Huddie who was sipping wine with Katja and Rachel, 2 graduate students at Towson University Metals Program.

The rest of the day was a blur of boring things.  it wasn't that well planned so we just walked and tried our hardest to get lost.  We went to different design studios and it was very boring cause I dont know New York so I dont wanna explore and am a little scared.

We then got back on the bus at 6 PM and came home, the whole time with Lindsay shouting things... nasty things.

Here are the pictures of the things that I love.

And a view of NYC:

American Craft Council Show (Assistance)

Kiwon Wang (Right) and Me (Left)

For a couple of days, I was working at the American Craft Council as an assistance to a very famous Jewelry Designer named Kiwon Wang who is very Talented. She was featured in Interview Magazine along with other big names such as Balenciaga, Givenchy and many more. And she was also on the covered on and featured in Ornament Magazine.

From the Fabric of Life Collection

Many of her work include paper and pearls. She said to me, "I chose because..." I thought that was a very great quote, everything she does has a reason especially when it comes to her conceptual work.

If you actually look at her display, the bottom is actually cardboard box and I think it's smart and eco-friendly.  Also the back of wall features her works called "The Fabric of Life" which is actually not online but features in Interview Magazine. 

Another work of her that is also famous is the New York Times paper with silver.  And these also features pearls and paper. These are the ones that were featured on ornament magazine.  

I asked her why she chooses to work with pearls. She said a lot of her work is about East meets West, but mainly about her coming to America and finding her identity, about the universe and life and who she is. In Chinese culture, it was believed that pearls had the universe inside them and also the belly button of the Buddha was called "Pearl". That's how she chose to work with pearls and that's because they have a meaning of life which relates back to identity.

Another thing that is important is, she makes containers a lot because it's about containing who we are and containing life.  That's why container and and pearls go well together (since pearls were believe to contain the universe.  She even uses the pearls to make the container in the Fabric of Life collection. 

Myung Urso (Left) and Me (Right) 

Some of her famous production lines are also inspired by the universe as well, such as her Milky Way collection.  And there are others such as the Watermelon Series as well as the Cubes collection. 

Arthur Hash(Left) and Me (Right)

Working with her was just fantastic because I learned so much.  But I also walked around the show and met very amazing designers and artists and some that were not very good.  But Here are some of the people that I truly just love. 

Myung Urso's work has a lot of paper and it's just fabulous.  She uses mulberry paper.  She also won the Excellence Award.  It's really cool.

Arthur Hash is totally badass.  He was there and I said AHHH I'm a student of Jan Baum.  And I went insane.  A lot of his work is laser-cut or 3D printed, which we all know how to do that.  Rapid prototyping and laser-cut.

Arthur Hash's Work.

The one on the left is a broach that was 3D printed and then he put the moss inside which I thought was totally cool.

Also in the picture of myself and Arthur Hash, in the back wall, there's the bicycle necklace that is laser cut the same and then used plastic screws to put them together.  Hot.

Carolyn Morris Bach and myself

i also met Carolyn Morris Bach who is totally fabulous.  One of her work was worn by a politician, known as the Pin Lady.  She would wear pins that had a political message, a message she could not say in public.

Ping Wu from Project Runway

Other artists I saw were Melissa Fonnelli, Janine Descresenzo, these two were just fantastic.

OH OH and you guys might not believe me but I ment Ping From Project Runway who was totally cute. She even offered me a banana because I didn't have anything to eat. She was a booth almost across from Kiwan Wang so She and I would chat sometimes.

David D'Imperio and Myself

And last but AWESOME!!! This guy is named David D'Imperio.  He designs furniture such as lightings and shelves.  He did everything that my professor, Jan Baum, is obsessed with.  He did Laser-Cut, Tabs and Slots and everything was well-executed and designed.  It was HEAVEN.  Here are some of his work.