sjwilli4ms

[sjwilli4ms]

Writing Initiative #7

What have you learned about yourself doing this self-directed assignment?

I learnt a lot about myself when it came to this assignment and the course as a whole no lie. For starters, I learnt that really and truly, I’m capable of everything I set my hands to do. I had a lot of big ideas and was honestly very intimidated as starting is where the my issue laid. In spite of the nervousness I felt I just started. That’s one thing that Alex, one of my course mates, told me somewhere during the course. He told me to just start something, so I did. 

I knew that I had a background in photography so I decided to utilize that for my 2d, and play around with that in my 4d. I knew about studio lighting for my photography background, so I incorporated that in my video of Jaden. In addition, I also really like to play around with video editing in general, so I tried to use that also to my advantage and I’m very glad with how my 4d turned out.

With my 3d, I definitely learnt that in order to have something come out really nicely when you’re trying something completely out of your comfort zone, you should probably dedicate a large chunk of time to it. I had never worked with sculpture before and I really wanted it to come out one way but it ended up not coming out the specific way I wanted it to. In spite of the hitch, I decided to change up my concept a little but and lo and behold! It slayed

What did you find to be the most difficult aspect of your chosen assignment? Creativity? Research? Connecting design to research? Craft? Organizational skills? Time management? Something else entirely?

I think the most difficult part was getting the motivation to actually sit down and start the work, and that came the most in my 3d. During that time, I was battling burnout and 4 other courses so my brain didn’t have as many tabs open for that. I think another difficulty I faced was having to narrow down the big ideas I had due to the restraints in time and my finances. I really wanted a whole go big or go home atmosphere for my 2d (I wanted what I made to be on a waaaaaaay larger scale) and 3d (I wanted everything to be more intricate). With my 4d, I think just the aspect of burnout was definately there. I had reached a point where I didn’t even have the capacity to work, but I’m very glad I pushed through because magic was made!

What did you enjoy about this opportunity?

I enjoyed the creative freedom I had throughout the duration of my process, and the fact that there was no right or wrong answer or way of doing. Every artist has their process and this made me able to work more efficiently. I also really loved working on my 4d, as that really gave me a sense of purpose that the other projects didn’t really give me 

How would you rate your performance over the course of the semester?

Honestly I would say an 8.5 /10. Its not a 10/10 just because I’m a perfectionist, and the two works that I’m fully proud of and would claim would definitely be my 2d, 4d, and reflective. My reflective was so fun to make because I could just do what I do and not have to think about technical things like kerning (BOOOORING) and the… other things.

Hindsight is 20/20. What would you do differently, n

ow that you've had this opportunity to work this way?

If I had to do anything differently, I honestly thing I would have definately taken less courses this semester so that I could have really showed up and showed out for my 2d and 3d especially. I’m very proud of everything I made but I feel like more time and more disposable income would have allowed me to make things bigger (scale mainly was the thing with these two, I wanted to make ike HUUUUGE versions of what I had made, but maybe ill do so for my thesis!).

[sjwilli4ms]

reflective document

I ended up deciding to use the polly pocket dress up book concept as inspiration for my reflective. I also got a lot of inspiration from walls in the city (or even the yellow staircase) that have layers of paint and graffiti. All those layers, whether seen or unseen, make a beautiful chronosynchronicity, and I decided to do that for the book I was making. I documented my process and everything, and decided to write it down however my brain saw fit, keeping in mistakes, crossing them out and writing over them, and even adding little doodles. I also decided to make the handwriting semi-legible. I really loved how it turned out, and decided to print on transparent sheets instead of paper, so that It would look extremely messy from the outside but legible per sheet. I added a red card so that one could be able to put that behind a sheet to read everything. Here it is

[sjwilli4ms]

Final 4d video!

[sjwilli4ms]

Writing Initiative #5 & #6(week 8 & 10)

week 8

This week I didnt present anything to class… and that is because I was in the planning and prepping process for my 4d *week 8*

NOW ONTO WEEK 9 & 10!

At the start of week 9, I knew that I wanted to do something that was a cross between my 2d and 3d, but I still wasn’t exactly sure about what to do. Going back to the drawing board and brainstorming a little more, I subsequently decided that I wanted to take the fashion photography element and ethos from my 2d, and the chronosynchronicity of emotions from my 3d. I decided to make a fashion campaign style video. 

Upon having this epiphany. I still felt that something was still missing. A huge element to tie it all together and make it really have that ‘chronosynchronicity’ feel. I mean, songs and videos have beginnings middles and endings, and that could technically be what I could do, but it just didn’t feel intentional… THEN IT HIT ME.

I brainstormed, spoke with Paul, and consulted my other course mates and then BOOM. It literally came to me in a dream (not really, it was more like getting hit by a truck hahahah). I was gonna make a few outfits per the feelings that are in chronosynchronicity and make one of those polly pocket style dress-up flip-books with a supplementary fashion video .

EUREKA!… or so I thought…

It was a good idea either ways, so I started execution. I booked the photography studio and rented two cameras and lighting for week 10, and I started preparing even more. 

I made an ISO (in search of) post on my instagram looking for a model, or someone that would be happy to step in as my muse (I could have done this all by myself but there really and truly is strength in numbers). Thats when Jaden, a friend that I acquainted with in my childhood reached out to me, and we hopped on a FaceTime call. He was in bed with his partner (who is actually one of my best friends haha) when we spoke on the phone (im saying this is for contextual reasons that will make sense!). I told him to make outfits based on the emotions Joy, Lust, Confusion, Sadness, and fear because I felt called to narrow the emotions from my 2d down to those 5 emotions. From making those fits, which required 1 top, 1 bottom, 1 pair of shoes and possibly a piece of outerwear per outfit, I also decided that on shoot day, I would make us make every possible combination in outfit with the pieces available. Bare in mind… I was extremely burnt out this entire process, but I kept on pushing and I’m so glad I did!, so here are my findings from the interview( I transcribed it in a very abstract way and kept on asking “why” till the answer was so abstract from the question that it didn’t make sense):

So...

joy

to Jaden 

Green tracksuit

White shirt

Green bapestas 

Green is his favourite colour

Green reminds his grandmas garden 

Raised and spent free time there

He’d chill there because “she’s old”

There wasn’t much to do…

Because she’s “old”

Why was she old… 

*laughs*

Lust

Black mickey tee

Black short shorts/black sweats

Jordan 4 Black cats 

“Yasmin” picked it out

*passes phone to Yasmin*

When she thinks of lust, she thinks PRIMAL attraction. Desire driven

Showing off assets with short shorts and muscly top.

With attraction to lust: she’s attracted to people built well/ seem strong.

DNA. Likes the feeling of feeling safe.

Life is scary as a woman.

Gender roles. 

Protector = man = infiltrator

Duality.

Confusion 

Oversized 4ye hoodie cream

Bimsee pants 

Travis Scott silver forces

A lot is going on. People get confused when there is “too much going on”

People like “straight forwardness”

Not as cohesive 

Silhouette isn’t too much going on 

“Too much going on” = the elements that make the whole. Not the whole itself.

Journey/ destination?

Destination

Journey is straightforward.

Tedious with journey, same with fashion. 

Tedious = confusion ?

No 

Tedious = harder to comprehend

Trying too hard to compute makes it easy to miss the point.

Get to the point.

Sadness

Elmo hoodie black 

Black jeans 

Cream shoes

Reminds me of a Paramore song—— any song on the after laughter album

Why the juxtaposition 

People trying to mask the fact that they’re sad (Hide your face w hoodie)

Upbringing that made him think this way. 

People have “had it much worse than you do”

Parents do it to not be an inconvenience to them.

My parents grieve

They can’t grieve because of “kids”

Grief of youth 

Makes backhanded comments to said “kids”

No resentment 

Comes up with new goals 

With sadness comes birth 

Tower moment. Rebuilding. 

I just learnt that his mum can fly a plane.

Fear 

Black trench

Dickies shirt grey

Tie with hearts 

New balances/ pandas 

Dark colours are what people associate with fear. “With fear come gloom”

Link to lust and fear?

Uncertainty. Curiousity

Attracted only on a physical level (lust) don’t want them to see them more on a physical Lebel (fear)

I chose to make Andrew pick his own outfits because I wanted to showcase his own chronosynchronicity.

After the interview was over, I felt even closer to Yasmin and felt a closeness with Jaden (which would come in handy on shoot day as I prefer my models to feel comfortable). In the end, everything came to me in an epiphany:

Lust and fear and intertwined… which technically is link to confusion (which is linked to fear)… joy is the only juxtaposing thing in spite of the fact that they are all separate emotions. Without all these things there can’t be any joy. All these feelings and emotions make chronosynchonicity 

We ended up shooting a few days after in the studio and it was very fun!

With editing, I was so excited to do that as I have previous knowledge from a YouTube channel I used to run when I was younger! I was so excited editing that it literally put me in flow state and CURED my burnout???? It really did and I felt a deep sense of purpose here!

And in the end, the video came out so well! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWWs0GK5csI (Video will be posted in subsequent post)

[sjwilli4ms]

Writing Initiative #4 (week 6)

for week 6 I hit burnout. This wasn’t good. I needed a vacation and STAT. At least now I KNOW im doing a 3d textured puzzle

*a few days later*

I’m starting to realize that I have something that might simultaneously be my kryptonite and my blackrock… I’m a perfectionist. I feel like the puzzle isn’t coming out the way I wanted it to come out.

I’ve decided to change some things up and just do a series of sculptures that have to do with emotion! Here are the sculptures, what they represent and why:

Sculptures (I accidentally forgot to take pictures before the final critique so the pieces are slightly damaged as I had to carry them across the city in a bag)

Red one - rage 

As I was sculpting, I saw rage as a feeling that kinda juts out. It takes a lot to make me angry so when it happens its pretty…edgy. There’s something that has stuck with me for a very long while and I don’t remember if I saw it in a book or a heard it in a podcast, but the thing said was “rage is a protective manifestation of sadness”. I found that to be so beautiful so I ended up making the ends look a little bit curved. When I was done sculpting, it kinda looked like the inside of a pomegranate and I think that was a perfect way of depicting everything. I chose to use red and yellow, but something more prominently red with yellow tips.

Yellow one - joy

I chose to make this a physical manifestation of joy by poking lots of holes in this one (sorry to all my people with trypophobia LOOOOL) I chose to do this because I feel that to me, joy is something that comes inwards and can be given from the inside. Think of someone that fills you up with joy. Chances are they are filled with joy themselves haha. I also made this piece a little bit smaller because to me its the little things that really give me joy. it doesn’t have to be something so grand or luxurious to make me feel that feeling so its almost like a little “nugget” of joy. I chose to make it yellow because that is the first thing I think of when the word joy comes to mind… I think of the colour yellow!

Black one-  hate |||| Pink one - love 

I chose to merge the two into one because I feel that there’s a fine line between love and hate, and with the black piece, I made it hate because I feel that this is what “hate” represents to me. It reminds me of an annoying zit that appears on your face that you want gone(which is also why it merges with the love in a weird way). I chose the love to look the way it did (similar to hate but bigger) because I feel that love should always overpower hate. I know it sounds a little corny ahah but really and truly this is my philosophy. I decided to make the love physically replicate open arms and a real cozy embrace in the most abstract way possible, and facilitated the black within it. I also chose to make love two separate shades of pink.

Blue one - sadness 

This one is blue because of the whole concept of “feeling blue”. Its also very lumpy because I associate sadness as an invasive feeling that just comes out of nowhere.

Purple one - envy 

I associate envy and purple together and I really don’t know why. If I close my eyes really hard thats just what happens to come to my mind. It also juts out and because because I feel like the feeling of envy is like the feeling of getting stabbed to me.

Spiky blue and green - grounded  

Just looking at the piece makes me feel so grounded honestly. I also painted it to look a painting of the earth

Brown ones - confusion 

I made these two different pieces that join into one just because I feel like confusion involves having to eliminate that confusion. A puzzle more or less has to be put together and in spite of the fact that puzzle sometimes cause me physical stress, they’re actually very grounding, and that’s why I made it brown.

Yellow green - lust 

I feel like this one would be unexpected to viewers if I told them that this was lust to me. I feel like lust is a radiating feeling, almost similar to how people say that they’re “in heat”. It also looks the way it does silhouette wise because it reminds me of squeezing. I associate the metaphorical feeling of lust with the physical feeling of being squeezed. There’s this one song by teyana Taylor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aAb2H2IVbA) that has the lyric “and Squeeeeeeeze me” and that really resonated with me for lust.

I also chose to not label the sculptures because I feel that each sculpture could represent a completely different feeling for somebody else, and I wanted it to be open to interpretation of their own chronosynchronicity.

Also here's a Timelapse of me actually making the sculptures before painting

[sjwilli4ms]

Writing Initiative #3 (week 5)

Which deliverable (3D, 4D, Reflective Piece) you are focussed on for next week’s presentation concepts to date

I’m focused mainly on my 3d for next week’s presentation. I’ll be completely candid, the only thing that is in my mind is a sculpture of some sort that has to do with texture. I’m definitely thinking of making a video for my 4d though, and I have BIG IDEAS.

I’m thinking of a music video cast to a song (because videos are the epitome of chronosynchronicity… they have a beginning, middle and end (duhhhhhhh!)) there’s a song currently in my head for everything, and that is ‘superstition’ by halfnoise. I’ve been listening to it a lot and that’s the song that is getting me the most inspired.

I’m also thinking of telling a story about coming out of a dark place using video and cast to ‘superstition’ also (can you tell that ‘superstition’ is the song scratching the itch in my brain?)

A timelapse(?) honestly this is the most basic out of all the ideas but I feel that its an easy way out… maybe too easy. I/ want to challenge myself

3D

Cluster of textures, but porcelain

More of an installation piece 

Different colors

Thats just it, nothing too deep

this is the inspiration... just the look of texture but the feeling of clay:

Since ive never made any sculptures before, I asked a few friends for some advice on how to get started and I need to go to above ground to Make everything happen.

Failures and successes My biggest failure was PROCRASTINATION… honestly, juggling other classes and work was making me put my 3d on the back burner, but I’m still doing research so I guess thats a plus. I’m definitely seeing more success in the work I’m putting in for my 4d as I’m trying to get the ball rolling on that.

Given your topic, which of the four assignments you fear/anticipate the most difficult Honestly, I think the assignments that i’ll have the most difficulty in are the 3d and the reflective piece as my brain is jelly rn *starts crying*

[sjwilli4ms]

Writing initiative #2 (week 4)

Describe 2–3 specific strengths and weaknesses your classmates found in your work and their reasons for identifying them.

I was told that my work is visually strong, with a good concept to back it up too because of how I took my time in setting up the concept and executing. On the contrary, my classmates didn’t seem to have anything negative to say, but I feel that the finishes of the work are a little bit messy, as the organza is extremely fragile and setting everything up was pretty… edgy to say the least. Speaking to a few peers outside of class, I learnt that the concept might be a little too literal with regards to my word so going forward I’m going to try to go deeper.

my final 2d

How might this feedback inform your thinking/making going forward? Describe 1–2 specific ways your classmates have informed how you might begin to tackle one of the other assignments (3D, 4D, Experimental, Reflective Piece).

going forward, I’m definitely going to be a lot more meticulous about finishing touches and everything. In addition, I’ll try to be a little more abstract (or add a few more layers) with my concept, as it was a little too literal in my opinion. 

[sjwilli4ms]

Writing initiative #1 (week 2)

Describe 1–2 media and/or materials you would like to explore

I’m torn between doing a graphic design piece or working with photography. With the graphic design piece, I’m thinking of doing a poster of some sort that explains the essence of my word which is chronosynchronicity. With photography, I’m thinking of doing a conceptual campaign-y type photoshoot that ties my love for fashion photography with my word.

My research

presentation of all stages of a person`s life in a single piece of art.

here are some things I thought about:

Stages of life

Prenatal/infancy. From conception through the earliest years of life or babyhood. ...

Early childhood. ...

School age. ...

Transition to adulthood. ...

Adulthood. ...

Aging.

To cover; as such, covering oneself, literally or figuratively, is a natural expression of shame. Release the sense of the outer world.

Stages of grief

denial

anger

bargaining

depression

acceptance

**The sims franchise**

The 4 Stages of Dating Relationships

Stage 1: Initial Meeting/Attraction.

Stage 2: Curiosity, Interest, and Infatuation.

Stage 3: “Enlightenment” and Becoming a Couple.

Stage 4: Commitment or Engagement.

1) Acquaintance, 2) Peer friend, 3) Close Friend, and 4) Best friend. = stages of friendship

Today, mitosis is understood to involve five phases, based on the physical state of the chromosomes and spindle. These phases are prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase.

Mitosis is a type of cell division in which one cell (the mother) divides to produce two new cells (the daughters) that are genetically identical to itself.

Songs that give off that vibe :

Shaolin monk motherfunk - Hiatus Kaiyote 

Movie - tom misch

Losing you - Solange 

Star- machinedrum

Up from a dream - HAIM

Having all 4 pieces really relate to each other 

Narrowing everything down to a piece that’s cohesive with each other. I feel like one of those things where its small parts of something that make a bigger piece. 

I want it to be implied that there is perfection even if it doesn’t seem like there is, that even the “imperfections” all come back to it being perfect. Nothing if falling apart 

“Feeling blue” but even in that, there’s beauty in it and it serving a higher purpose.

Wanting someone to be standing with the look of accomplishment, almost feeling like the storm is over

Waterbodies (3 states, how they’re constantly interchanging with each other, and how that also influences the sky)

Relating that to how my life has been with ups and downs but me being glad with where im out now

Explain whether/how these reflect what you have learned about the word.

I think from all the research I’ve done, its definitely taught me a lot about chronology, processes and the true essence of chronosynchronicity. It’s gotten to the point where I think I could even create something a little more abstract. I definitely think that I should do something a little more simple for my 2D though. When it comes to my 3d and 4d, I have a lot of ideas in my mind but I think I’ll take my time as I LICHERALLY tend to jump the gun. On that note, why is it a GUN that we’re jumping…