Tracing Artifacts

Assignment Description

In this assignment, we created 3 personal symbols from personal objects/possessions we find meaning in. This project focused on how objects become symbols and form language systems/alphabets in our personal lives as well as other cultures. With the concept of taking objects and translating them into symbols and language, we integrated three separate artifacts into a family of symbols we can resonate with. Using Applying elements of gestalt, color theory, and Illustrator tools we created the symbols originated from three artifacts we chose.

 

Process 1

 

First, I scanned three artifacts consisting of a watch, pair of house keys, and a polaroid photo. I chose those three items as my artifacts to create a personal symbol I can resonate with and communicate to others. I chose the objects to represent concept of lost and present time, security from domesticity, and friendship. Then, I uploaded them on Adobe illustrator to create vectors of the images and began making outlines of the images.

 

Process 2

Using the pen tool, I created created contour lines of each image and outlined them. This process included a lot of precision and accuracy. I was able to include the details from the scanned images. Scanned images captured more detail than normal photographs of the objects. I used the scissor tool to connect and remove parts of the contour lines to create the accurate outlines of each artifact.

 

Process 3

Taking the outline of the images, I used the pathfinder tool, shape modes, and other various manipulation tools to create my symbols from the original contour pen drawings. I combined and subtracted parts of the  drawings to bring relation onto the symbols. I used color, stroke, and fill to interconnect them and form them into a collection/family of symbols. I chose an analogous color scheme using different tones of purples and blues. The colors helped tie in the separate symbols together with the chosen color palette.

 

Reflection

William Kentridge from the segment ‘Refusal of Time,’ explains that when you view a piece, you create connections to it by relating it to yourself first. For my symbols, I chose personal objects that I hold personal stories with that a viewer can also relate to in their own way.  For my first symbol, I chose the first watch I received as a gift to communicate the present time and the concept of being unable to control it, slow down, pause, and fast forward it. I wanted to communicate the idea of  being carried away by our thoughts and imaginations that we cannot keep track of it, as well as  believing we have more time than we really do. For the second symbol, I used my first set of house keys that remind me of how forgetful l I used to be when I left them at home and was locked out of my house plenty of times throughout my life. I then began making a conscious effort and routine to have them with me before I step out of the house.Others will read a set of house keys as a necessity to have and an essential item that is convenient for everyone to have at all times. I wanted to communicate thoughts of home and security found in it and through it. Lastly, my third symbol was a polaroid photo of two of my closest friends from high school. The photo taken in 2016 marks the beginning of a friendship that made high school fun and memorable with the memories I hold with them. I like to carry around polaroid pictures in my wallet or hang them on the wall because it makes me reminisce on good times and helps me remember a specific day more clearly and vividly, bringing back nostalgia and good memories. Integrating the three symbols from the artifacts helped highlight the connections we can make with personal objects and the story of “us” within in the work we create.

I laid out the scanned images, pen contour lines, and the symbols originated from it side by side. This visually shows how we can take separate things and integrate them to enhance an idea and create something entirely new. I was able to learn techniques and different processes from working between photographs and digital components in creating the symbols as an embodiment of personal meaning and translation of objects into a form of language.