Writing (blog posts)_1

For me, art has always been about people. Faces in particular. If you ever see me doodling, 99.9% of the time it is a face, one that I just made up on the spot or is based on a wonderful nose I saw earlier that day.
Ever since I was a little girl, the only thing I wanted to draw was portraits. I have sketchbooks and sketchbooks chock full of pencil drawings of celebrities that I found in magazines and drew. This obsession stayed with me in middle school and into high school where I dealt strictly in realistic portraiture (most images taken from magazines.)

Middle/High School Sketchbook.

To this day I still choose to draw faces. I have branched out and abandoned the realistic pencil sketches, instead choosing to do more exaggerated caricatures or just inventing a strange face (generally the elderly- wrinkles are more fun!) I think I've stuck with portraits and faces for all these years because I love to examine how each face smiles. And how they cry. And I like to imagine all the life that this particular face has seen.
 

Current Sketchbook.

For this project I am going to explore the field of illustrated journalism. I will be visiting a nursing home in the area and interviewing some of the residents and proceed to create "portraits" of them. I will be recording our conversations and taking a few pictures that I will then turn into sketches, along with bringing a journal to sketch in on the spot. I plan on incorporating typography into this project and writing down direct quotes from the residents.

I love wrinkles and I love listening to stories and I hate paraphrasing. I wanted to interview these residents because their stories aren't often heard, and they deserve to be.

This project is largely inspired by Humans of New York but mostly the work of the amazing and badass Wendy Macaughton. Go to link below to see her wonderful portrait of the San Francisco Public Library:
http://wendymacnaughton.com/#portfolio#journalism01

Wendy Macnaughton's work can be found at  http://wendymacnaughton.com/ PLEASE DO IT SHE'S INCREDIBLE.
Humans of New York is another inspiration of mine. Photographer Brandon Stanton asks strangers on New York City to allow him to photograph them and then on his blog he includes a direct quote or short story that they tell him. These often become intimate portraits. Brandon's work can be found on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, his website http://www.humansofnewyork.com/ and basically everywhere because THIS THING IS HUGE.
 

Erie Internship

January 24th, Post #1

This semester I am participating in an internship that is pushing me out of my warm little nest I've built in Porter Hall and into the real world. I am excited and nervous in the best of ways. I have a great support system that is helping me along and I'm ready to embark! Off we go!

In his retirement, Mr. Robert Dorris of Erie, Kansas created life size dinosaur sculptures in his backyard. They are composed of old machine parts and vary in size from a few inches to 30 feet in length! After Robert's passing, the Dorris family has chosen to donate the wonderful sculptures to the town of Erie.

 
 This is where I come in! I was commissioned by the town to design some additional pieces to go along with the Dinosaur Park. I had the pleasure of visiting the town last weekend and meeting with the committee, headed by the patient and kind Kathy Brennon. They have given me the freedom to choose what sort of additions I will be contributing. The initial idea was to create some small playground equipment that would be located in the city park across the street. Other ideas were to design some benches that would go in the dinosaur park itself. Meeting with these caring individuals was very reassuring; the confidence that they have in me is wonderful.

Right now we're in the early stages of development- dealing with the less exciting things such as a budget, legal documents, liability, materials etc. However time seems to always move so quickly around here and I am beginning to work on some preliminary sketches for the equipment. More updates to follow!