Final Learning Portfolio Post and Final Paper

Final paper:

Research paper seminar-2gebe1t

“What I’ve made for the final bridge project in studio and seminar is not what I would have made on the first day of either of these classes.”

The first week of Seminar and Studio this past semester I wasn’t sure what to expect. The idea of incorporating systems and strategies into my art seemed strange to me. I assumed Systems and strategies were more business design focused and was wary of what I was going to learn in this course. As the weeks progressed my eyes were opened to how systems play important roles in our everyday lives. In looking at exhibits, writing and creating art I was able to learn where my place in certain systems is and how to incorporate systems into my own work. 

When we began studying Future Farmers my eyes were opened to how art/ design can be used in exhibitions in regards to how systems connect together. They’re able to create many systems within one large system to work towards solutions. “Founded as a design studio in 1994, Futurefarmers slowly expanded their work into an artistic practice that incorporates technology, gardening, and civic structures. In the 23 years since, the group has worked with hundreds of specialists in various fields, creating a geographically dispersed network of artists and collaborators, and creating projects that aspire toward an improved social existence.”(future farmers catalog)

Jane Jacobs writing affected how I viewed our society. It introduced me to being an observer. In the Bridge 2 assignment, I related back to quotes from her when walking around the city. “When a citizen has to choose, for instance, whether he will take responsibility, or abdicate it, in combating barbarism or protecting strangers. There is a short word for this assumption of support: trust.”(Jacobs pg 56)

 

 

For our finals in Studio/Seminar, we were split into groups to make books based on a topic that we felt needed a solution. My groups topic was the Gun violence Epidemic that America has been facing for many years. We chose this topic in light of the frequent school shootings occurring this year. Each chapter was based on systems that were related to gun violence including Personal, political, and social systems. In these chapters, we went in depth on how each of these systems was crucial to the gun violence epidemic. In each chapter, we were also to create art pieces in reaction to the systems we researched.

 

After taking Systems and Strategies my perspective on the world has changed. I’m now able to analyze things and put them into the perspective of systems and how every little thing plays a role to make things work and I’ll continue to incorporate this in my future work.

 

Final Paper: