I am currently a freshman undergraduate student at Parsons School of Design. I will be majoring in fashion design, starting this fall.The fashion design department at Parsons is the most competitive one with a large number of students enrolled in the department compared to the other departments. I am ready to set foot into an exciting and great learning experience of my major.
Throughout my first semester at Parsons I had a real and practical style of working on my projects. This was due to the classes that I had enrolled for in my first semester. All my projects were less conceptualised and were therefore more practical or definite.Whereas in my second semester I had the opportunity to explore the abstract way of working on projects, which helped me read and study art objects and works with a very different approach. I am glad that I registered for Drawing and Imaging in the fall as I used the drawing technique and skills I learnt in that class throughout the year in both my studio classes. The topics were discussed in my studio classes were on the same were on the same wavelength as my seminar classes. But I felt it was more “integrated” and coordinated in the second semester, which helped me in researching for the various bridge projects, as the information that I was finding for my studio helped me build an idea for my seminar. The artists that were discussed in my academic classes for studying their work were also brought up in my studio classes for taking an inspiration for my projects. I was more dedicated and inclined towards a project if it was related to my my area of interest or if it was something I had never done before but I had always wanted to. I find the process of making and experimenting with materials that I used for my studio classes to get s desired result, extremely exciting. Because while I’m experimenting I witness a lot different results, which sometimes help me build a style or a concept for my other studio classes. Research has helped me have a better understanding of the topics that I got for my seminar papers.While researching for my seminar papers I also looked at some practical or real life examples or evidences to state my argument, these examples were either advertisements or art works, which helped me form an idea or concept for my studio classes.
Some highlights of my work in the past year:
- The Dauntless Cape
Before making the a garment or piece of protection we were asked to interview a student whom we had been allotted by the professor. We were suppose to interview our partner about their fears. From the list provided by our partner we were suppose to choose one fear and build a garment or and accessory which would help our partner fight the fear. My partner happened to be afraid of birds, pigeons in particular, therefore I decided to construct a cape for him. The cape is an amalgamation of a lot of different elements such as lines, cones and spirals. The colour and the design of the cape were chosen keeping in mind the fear of my partner. I chose a combination of bright colours for the piece because of it attractive quality. The design consists of cones which were made taking an inspiration from bird spikes.The centre of the front of the cape consists of three different layers. These layers are made with the purpose of reflecting a bird like touch in my piece. The three layers are like modified bird wings.The centre of the back of the cape is made of a triangle of cones for resolving my partner’s fear. The cones also add a design element to the whole piece along with the eyes of the tribal men form the Ethiopian painting and the spirals in the front part of the cape.
The Ethiopian Painting Bird Spikes
The Interview Process Prototypes
I got to explore and develop my deigning skills for the first for this project. It was a challenge as I had to create a piece of clothing or an idea for protection with a very limited scope for inspiration as I couldn’t have deviated form my partner’s fear while I was looking at other artists’ work for inspiration. I had to look at a more immediate and practical sources while I was researching for my piece.
Sketches for my design
2) Blow A Kiss !!
I decided to create a hand gesture for the project. The hand gesture is that of “blowing a kiss”. A kiss can be “blown” to another by kissing the fingertips and then blowing the fingertips, pointing them in the direction of the recipient. This is used to convey affection, when partners are physically distant but can see each other.
Process:
The wooden model is constructed using plywood. The movement takes place in the wrist of the wooden hand. The model also consists of lips, which are in motion along with the hand.
The lips will be move in a vertical motion with the helps of a spring attached behind the lips. The hand and the lips are attached to the same source of lever. The lever is pulled back in order to make the hand and the lips move in sync.
It was the first time that I was working on a moving object. Therefore, this project was very exciting for me as I had never done something like this before. While working on this project I learnt a lot about the technicalities of wood carving and the various mechanisms of levers. It was a challenge for me as I had not done anything like this before but I had always wanted to.
In the future I would love to work on things that are challenging. As in the process of making something challenging I would learn s great deal of things which would help in polishing and further exploring my skill and capability.
