Updating Urban Scaffolding

After a 6 month hiatus, I'm back to this blog. I hope to redirect this blog's purpose. Instead of focusing on my new projects, I want to use this blog to chronicle interesting things in the arts, science and education. Too often I visit a website, feel moved by its content, and forget about it. Seeing all my influences together with a brief blurb will be helpful as I develop new comparisons, projects and directions.

Urban Umbrellas
Good Magazine, 2010

So, I begin with a link to an article on new scaffolding. This is a beautiful idea to bring beauty to urban streats. It reminds me of an installation named "One-Way Colour Tunnel" at SFMOMA by Olafur Eliasson built of polarized glass. I love the colorful light that shows through onto the sidewalk. The "Urban Umbrellas" as they are called by their 28-year-old designer, Young-Hwan Choi, remind me of Parisian metro entrances as well. I think this is a great idea for for street side restaraunts but don't think it would replace short term construction scaffolding because of obvious price differences and the glass would not support construction workers.

Vote for my Design on Ample Sample

Recycled Carpet Square Bird Feeder Design
copyright Jacqueline Stark 2010

I've entered my bird feeder design to Ample Sample's 2010 contest.

Register with the site so that you can give my design 5 stars!

Leave me a comment and I can send you the instructions on how to make your own.

Watercolors on Wood

These pieces came out of my final project for my Materials and Methods class at CCA. I started with the intention of experimenting with different untreated wood panels and watercolors. I love how the wood grain changes the pigments transparency and gives the pieces a more earthy feel. I am interested in taking overlooked urban landscapes and shifting the reality so that it creates a juxaposition between the familiar and the imagined. Today we rush through our environments with little attention to our surrounds. I hope my work invites city dwellers to look differently at the "ordinary".

*Click on an image to check it out up close.

Swooping Lines
Watercolors on Birch Panel (2' x 2')

Power Line Quilt
Watercolors on Birch Panel (2' x 2')

Cut Outs.
Watercolors on Oak Panel. (2'x 2')

Make Your Own Bird Feeder

Yep, you! Cause birds gotta eat!

Step by Step Bird Feeder Instructions

Bird Feeder Stencil

Let me know if you see any errors. I'm submitting these to Ample Sample's contest by the 26th.

Purple Bike - Final

Purple Bike
4'x4' oil on canvas

This is the largest painting I've ever done (4 foot square) and I must say I love working at this scale. My professor said I danced as I painted it. I just have this thing for bikes. Perhaps it's because they are a combination of technical drawings and an embodiment of childhood memories. I like how this one feels like it was rapidly discarded for something more exciting. Now alone, it's only a castaway from "better days".

PS the colors are more vibrant in person.

Ample Sample III: Prototyping

Brown Bird Feeder
Detail

Finally made it to the wood shop to prototype my birdfeeder. First time using the band saw...gotta say I enjoyed the wood shop a lot more than I thought I would. Cannot wait to get back in there. I'm working on formatting my design to enter it into the contest @ Ample Sample. Check back for blue prints you can use and make one yourself!

Supplies:
-Plywood stencil (this is the variable of my prototyping experiments)
-18" carpet square
-Screw nut (size 10-24)
-Round head phillips screws (size 10-24 x 1.25")
-Utility knife
-Band saw
-Tape Measurer
-Pencil
-Protective goggles
-Industrial hole punch (optional, but makes it easier to insert screws and for circular cut outs, see Brown Bird Feeder)

18" Carpet Square
Thank your for the donation Joyce!

4" Plywood Stencil
one of many prototypes



Blue Bird Feeder
Made with 3" arc stencil

The blue bird feeder follows the original design. I found while the shape is closest to the original scale model I did with foam, the hole size is smaller than expected. This model is for small song birds. Sorry ravens and pelicans. The carpet is much less flexiable than the foam but despite its rigidity it is incrediably delicate. The glue/backing of the carpet will fall apart with moderate handling so I had to punch the holes for the screws further from the point than I planned. This is the primary reason for small holes. Other types of carpet my be more plyable/strong and prevent this from happening.

Brown Bird Feeder
Made with 3.5" arc stencil with circular holes

With the 2" arc (which refers to the height of the arc I made on the stencil) there is hardly any space for a bird beak! To improvise, I added circular holes to allow access. This combined method allows for better seed access, however, it's essential that this feeder is under an overhang to prevent this feeder from turning into a planter. Unless this is what you want.

Tan Bird Feeder
Made with 4" arc stencil

I made this one on a whim to just see what a huge hole would look like. It's not practical as a bird feeder but makes an interesting study of the other extreme.

Proposed Bird Feeder Placement
@CCA SF Campus

I'm proposing that these bird feeders are used outside of the SF CCA campus under the sign's protective overhang. I'm a little worried about the high afternoon winds turning these into bird seed fireworks. On second thought, for small hole models this may allow larger birds to get to the seeds. A mini Darwin's finches moment.

Let me know if you have any feedback before I submit my entry!

Gallery Crit #1

Street View of Gallery

Gallery Interior

Our final project for my space studio class is a redesign of the Mina Dresden Gallery on Valencia in the Mission District.

Formal Crit. #1

Above is a picture from our first formal crit. It took me 15 minutes to pin everything up. Included (moving left to right) are site photographs, site analysis studies (looking at light, materiality, traffic patterns and the buildings connection to the outside), existing site model on the floor, source images for our concept models, collage (not pictured, below), concept models (floor right), concept model photographs, and finally concept diagrams. We developed these items in the order I just listed them.

Volume Collage

Materiality Collage

Light Collage

Now we are in the process of using our conceptual ideas and applying them to the specific space. Many interior designers use this process before each project! It's a lot of work, but I developed a lot of ideas I would not have thought of if I had started working just with the site. So far I've been working with the divider idea to create private spaces in the public area (the gallery). I'm working on applying this idea to the private area as well.

Early Divider Model
Using rigid divides

Later Division Model
Tension model look

Human View Inside with Tension Dividers

The images above are based on the divider idea using triangular pieces of fabric similar to tension structures. Mina can change the lighting intensity and color or project images onto them. This would allow for video installation work to be shown as well. The fabric will also help during loud gallery openings. The fabric would be adjustable via snaps inset into the floor and along the wooden beams on the wall to allow an unlimited number of set ups. The two vertical ones at the end of the hall divide the public (gallery) from the private (her apartment).

Tension Structure
copyright Pink Inc.

My three goals for the space are:
1. Make light more ample
2. Define public and private spaces more clearly
3. Allow adjustability to accommadate a variety of artists

Olympic Skiers

Olympic Skiers
Gauche on cardboard (2'x1.5')

In my Materials and Methods class, we've been making our own paints. It really makes you appreciate the tubes you buy at the store, but even more makes you want to always make your own paints. Being able to control how much pigment is in your paint and where you get your pigment made me want to never buy another tube again! The colors, especially the earth tones (above), are so rich. The gauche we made is a mixture of pigment, chalk (omit for watercolors), gum arabic and a little glycerin. There is a great pigment shop in SF, near CCA, called Sinopia. The site is great if you want to learn more.

Man using a muller to evenly distribute pigment
(photo property of Sinopia)

Repurposed for Good Purposes

I ran across this article about old shipping containers repurposed into medical clinics y Anshen + Allen. There are about 20 million container castoffs worldwide that can be saved from rusting in a junk yard and instead turned into clinics. I've also seen homes, classrooms, and even temporary surfing practice areas built with these containers. What's different with this design is that they have added a second roof/awning so that the containers don't define the space making them feel less large and foreign.

Ample Sample Pt II: The Bird Feeder

Using recycled carpet samples I designed this bird feeder to be hung outside of CCA's entry. I hope to further develop the model and fix a few design issues and then submit it to the ample sample contest. Any feedback would be appreciated!

I started with an 18" square (here at 1"=2" scale) and cut out curved sections from each of the four sides.
I then fastened the corners together using a screw and washer. The hanging line is piano wire.


As pictured above, bird seed would be in the center pocket and birds could perch on the corner openings and eat the seeds. These can be attatched to eachother to create a tiered effect as well.


Part of this assignment was learning how to draw scaled technical drawings. Here are two of mine.

Scaled Drawing: Section View

Scaled Drawing: Plan View

Problems:

-Heavy birds or loads of bird seed causes the floor of the feeder to sink and this closes the holes. Need to either make alternative holes, wider original ones, or create a support column.

-Large birds may tip seeds out of feeder. For small birds only.

-Need to test with actual carpet to determine optimal seed holding ability.

-No drainage. Must be installed under an over hang to prevent too much water. Otherwise it becomes a bird bath/planter.

Christo Installation

The Running Fence
by Christo (1960s)

We just complete our midterm project for my Space Studio class. The assignment was to research a contemporary artist and create an installation in our school's entry way based on their work. My artist was Christo, who did The Gates in NYC Central park along with many other fabric covering works. (Note, it's a husband and wife team. Sadly the wife, Jean-Caulde died last Nov.)

The Gates (NYC Central Park)
by Christo (2005)

After looking at a lot of his works, I decided upon a design that used organza fabric (like his current work Over the River) as large panels (as The Running Fence) to create a new space within the entry way. One of the main problems with this entry way is the high foot traffic deters people from eating or even linging there and enjoying its architecture, including an open skylight.

Over the River
by Christo (under construction)

Below are a few of my sketch models using two colors of fabric.



Concept boards showing the feeling I'd hope visitors come away with. The changing color overlays and new space created.



Final Model + Drawings

My final design incorporated the three primary colors of an artist's pallet and used 4 pannels to create a space within a space. The haven in the middle of the courtyard provides a semi-private area for those using the tables to eat or chat while leaving the main walkways unobstructed.

Scaled Drawings

Eye-Level View from Street

View from A2 Cafe

Bird's eye view

Purple Bike

Today's Painting 1 class had a colorful set-up. Frank had set up what looked like a white and orange hang glider's parachute up on the wall and borrowed a classmate's bike, which he placed on a red pillow on top of a stool. The model, not pictured, stuck her limbs outside the wholes in the parachute. Bizarre, but amazing!

Below are photographs of the set up, which I had an awkward view of and thus decided to merge my two views to make one colorful dynamic composition.

Set Up 1

Set Up 2

This class was also the first class I was able to get my hands on pre-gessoed unstretched canvas on a roll. My professor had been urging me to "draw big" and so I did. This piece is as wide as my wingspan (and equally as tall). I feel so much freer working large. I have put aside my worries about not finishing every bit (this one is still unfinished btw) and have embraced the motion of painting on a large scale. Instead of the motion coming form my wrist as I hunch over a canvas, my entire arm moves from my shoulder, my legs move and as Frank would describe it "I dance".

Below I took a series of pictures of the painting in progress. I wish I had taken a picture of the under painting only (here in purple acrylic).

Bike, step 1
Laying down color blocks

Bike, step 2
Adding details and blue to background

Bike, Step 3
Brighten pillow and forground
oil painting (4'x4')

I'd like to brighten up the blue in the background while keeping the transparency it currently has. I also will add spokes and make the orange fabric in the foreground feel like fabric. I'm playing with the idea of converting the squares of blue and orange into horizontal stripes (or changing the orange stripe on the bottom left into rectangular segments). I hope to get back to this on Tuesday once it has time to dry.

Ample Sample

Our newest Space Studio class project is to use old carpet samples to design a functional piece for the CCA entryway, cafe, or gallery space. Check out some past entries on ample sample. It'll be hard to upstage some of these creative entries.

PS paintings and midterm assignments to be posted next week.

Typewriter

I've always been attracted to objects with a history or that have a reference to the past. One example is my mother's typewriter circa late 1970s. It's a heavy piece of equitment that purrs as you type (yes it still works).

While I had originally set out to paint it in a realistic way, after starting with the keys I realized I would drive myself insane. I gave myself permission to make it painterly and quickly smeared over the keys I had been meticulously working on. I like how the typewriter has a personality, almost zany, as the lines don't perfectly match up in perspective. It reminds me of things feel while pulling all-nigher writing an essay. Every thing is just a little off.

Mom's Typewriter
Oil Paint on MDF board (25"x25")
(really poor quality shot, my apologies)

Still life set-up