Research IS2

My research site is: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. When I made observations about this location, I was standing in this exact location: The Haas Brother exhibition (basically everywhere in the area).

Ten questions I have about this site (must begin with “why” and “how”):

1. How many types of beads were used for the entire work?
2. How did the Haas brother get their inspiration(s) to make the art works?
3. Why did the brothers add drawings of beading on the wall?
4. How long did it take for the brothers to make the design? What kind of process did they go through?
5. Why did they choose bead(s) as their material?
6. Why did they display the creatures in this particular way?
7. How did they get all these beads for the work to be done?
8. How did the Haas brother inspire the others through out their work?
9. How did the public react to their work?
10.Why did they choose Cooper Hewitt for their exhibit?

Three of the above questions that could be my main central research question:
1. How did the Haas brother get their inspiration(s) to make the art works?
2. Why do many artists choose the Cooper Hewitt museum for their exhibition to be held, including the Haas Brothers?
3. Why did they choose bead(s) as their material?

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My chosen central research question is: How is the Cooper Hewitt museum capable of holding arts from all ages?

After doing some preliminary research, my first draft thesis statement is:

Atmosphere created by the combination of the old building and new technology installed within the structure has allowed the Cooper Hewitt museum to manage arts from both past and present.

Second draft of these statement (revision):

With the introduction of the new technology and the preservation of the old structure, the Cooper Hewitt Museum today presents the opportunity to experience the time span of humankind to the audience.

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Psychological Map of my Location:

As a person who doesn’t have real good memory, I tried to memorize the important and significant factors of the museum as I visited the site and portray it in my mapl. My psychological map indicates or demonstrates how I feel towards the museum. Personally, even though the european structure might seem complex, I think that the exhibitions and art(s) displayed remain simple. The location is important in a sense of combining the two contrasting subjects to form one as a whole. In this case, it would be the old and elegant structure of the mansion blended with in the newly developed technology and modern art exhibitions, which I find the idea fascinating and led me to the central question. Additionally, I am curious about how the surroundings/location could have affected the Cooper Hewitt Museum to hold such theme.

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Annotate Bibliography:

Lange, Alexandra. “The New Cooper Hewitt.” The New Yorker, December 12, 2014. Accessed June 9, 2016. http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/new-cooper-hewitt.

• Article
• States how the Cooper Hewitt museum has changed after it closed its doors in 2011
• Museum contains highly developed technology inside such as touch-screen tables, while retaining the old structure as well (Carnegie Mansion) that creates the atmosphere for holding arts from all eras
  • Helpful for forming thesis statement

Guerin, Polly. The Cooper-Hewitt dynasty of New York. Charleston: The History Press. 2012.

• Work; it doesn’t state itself as a book
• Describes the history of both the Cooper family and the construction of the museum
• Helpful for history (how it was constructed / established)

Ha, Thu-Huong. “Beautiful, old stuff is still really cool: A look inside the new Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.” TED, December 12, 2014. Accessed June 8, 2016. http://ideas.ted.com/beautiful-old-stuff-is-still-really-cool-a-look-inside-the-new-cooper-hewitt-smithsonian-design-museum/

• Article
• Talks about the change of the museum through out time
• Helpful as it focuses more on the artwork that displays atmosphere created by the combination of old and new

Heller, Steven. “The Art of the Poster.” The Atlantic, May 21, 2015. Accessed June 9, 2016. http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/05/how-posters-work-smithsonian/393803/

• Article
• Outlines the 3,000 posters in the museum
• Demonstrates posters from both past and present, which helps to strengthen the thesis statement

Lynes, Russell. More Than Meets the Eye: The History and Collections of Cooper-Hewitt Museum, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Design. Smithsonian Institution, 1981.

• Text
• Contains history of the museum and collections within it
• Helpful since the text gives us a look into what kinds of art they have, which also strengthens the thesis statement

Symmes, Marilyn. “”Beauty as Applied to the Useful”: Drawings at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution.” Master Drawings 42, no. 1 (2004): 37-57.

• Journal article
• States the history and also paintings
• Helpful for supporting thesis statement by indicating what paintings there have been in the past

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Storyboard:

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Outline:

I. Introduction
a. The idea of combining two differentiating subjects as a whole
b. Thesis statement about the Cooper Hewitt Museum and how it exemplifies the idea

II. My main idea 1: Old ages in the museum
a. The change the museum went through from 2011 did not result in renovating the building that it had since its opening: in fact, the museum kept it. This creates an atmosphere where the museum is able to hold arts from the past even though inside, technology is prevalent.
b. In an article from The Atlantic titled “The Art of the Poster,” the Cooper Hewitt Museum held an exhibition of 3,000 posters in 2015 (so inside the museum, technology was installed) and one of them is a poster describing World War II created in 1942.

III. My main idea 2: New ages in the museum
a. As the museum closed from 2011, it brought new technology inside the museum for a change, including touch-screen tables. This creates an atmosphere where the museum is able to hold arts from the newer ages using this new technology even though the building remains the same.
b. In an article from The New Yorker titled “The New Cooper Hewitt,” the “Immersion room” was held in 2014 where the audience would choose a circle by tapping on the touch-screen table in the room, which would allow that circle to cover the walls in the room, being fully immersed in the room.

IV. My main idea 3: Combination of the old and new ages                                                        a. Due to the change of the museum in 2011, it led to the meeting of old and new due to the fact that the building remained the same but new technology came in. This atmosphere contributed to displaying artworks in an exhibition that embody the two phases.                 b. In an article from TED titled “Beautiful, old stuff is still really cool: A look inside the new Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum,” an exhibition named “Tools: Extending Our Reach” has been held in 2014. In this exhibition, tools from the past and present, from hand axes (1.85 million year old) to a Macbook Air, have been presented. The peculiar atmosphere in the Cooper Hewitt Museum leads to exhibitions that demonstrate the meeting of the old and new.

VI. Conclusion: Wrap all the main ideas to one, coming back to the thesis statement

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Comprehensive Outline:

comprehensive outline

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Artist Talk:

As an international student who had lived nationwide starting from Asia to Europe for a while, and finally in America, fate had given me a glimpse of the future to come without warning: introducing and involving me in to the fashion world. Living in Europe, France and Italy in specific helped me to further study and observe fashion in real life. All the knowledge and experiences I’ve acquired from my life in Paris and Rome showed how Fashion is not a subject only found in clothes. I saw and found fashion everywhere in everything as “fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” according to Coco Chanel, my inspirational person.

Even though I was fascinated by the fashion industry and was willing to pursue my career in it, becoming a fashion designer wasn’t my dream. Instead, I chose the business side. Now in Parsons, I study Strategic Design & Management and the idea of economic strategies, marketing and merchandising engages me.

For Bridge 4, I did a research on Cooper-Hewitt Museum: how the museum is capable of holding arts from all ages, and made a brochure out of it. I truly enjoyed the process and study of how I would attract people’s attention and they allowed me to create a work successfully by showing the contrasting subjects(old and elegant structure of the mansion) blend in one. In the coming future, I would like to continue and work on advertising and marketing and I do sometimes imagine myself as a businesswoman in the fashion world.

Final Draft:

Research paper final