Eva Warne – Cross Course Reflection
Bio: I grew up in Florida, where I went to a Arts High School for Digital Media. This is where I found my love for furniture design and decided to apply to colleges that would help me further my design education. Parsons Product Design department interested me because of the amount of facilities I would have access to.
Coming from an Arts High School I had a lot of background in working with many different types of mediums, especially graphic design and 3D work. My first year at Parsons I tried to focus on what I was still unfamiliar with, such as drawing, painting, and video editing. Most of the work I completed this past year was either about furthering my skills or pushing myself to try new mediums.
Summary of works: My first semester in Studio 1 I did a collage project that ended up being my favorite work from the entire semester. It was one of the first collages I ever did and I found myself trying new collage methods for different assignments during second semester.
My favorite projects were ones that I had a personal connection to. Being interested in furniture design means my work usually is about functionality and aesthetics, not very personal. So when I was given the opportunity to do art about my dreams or my sexuality, I found myself somewhat uncomfortable to share a personal side of myself with my class. Pushing through the discomfort and ending up with a final piece that I was proud of definitely made it worth it.
One medium that I never worked with before coming to Parsons was stickers. During the first semester one of my teachers wanted us to become familiar with the graphics lab by making us create a sheet of stickers to get printed. I absolutely loved the results and began using stickers for other projects.
I used sticker making for a performance piece for my second semester studio class. This involved me placing stickers around Washington Square Park about the parks history. After this I was very familiar with sticker making at the graphics lab and began to make sticker sheets for myself and for friends.
Two Highlights: Sustainable Systems and The Laser Lab
Sustainable Systems: My favorite class form this year surprisingly wasn’t art oriented. Sustainable Systems was truly eye opening. I had an amazing teacher who pushed me and the entire class to our limits. I learned so much and discovered my love for sustainability which eventually led me to declare my minor, Sustainable Cities. On the first day of class Diana, my teacher, told us that we will be writing a 10 page research paper. Looking back now it doesn’t seem that bad, but at the time I was extremely intimidated and almost switched into a different class. Writing is not my strongest skill, especially researched based writing. I decided to stay in Diana’s class and it was the best decision I made at Parsons. I choose to write my paper on Uber drivers, less specifically – the sharing economy and how it negatively affects cities.
Researching and getting sources wasn’t too hard but when it came to putting all the information I gathered into a 10 page, single spaced paper, I began to panic. Diana helped me break down all my thoughts into an outline and somehow after weeks of work I had a coherent research paper. This process taught me more than I learned in my entire time in high school english classes.
Taking this class with Diana and writing my first research paper is something I will always cherish about my first year at The New School. Without this class I probably wouldn’t have declared my minor until a few years later, if ever. Sustainable Systems really changed my perspective on the world and how my actions affect the planet.
The Laser Lab: My favorite project from this year was one that wasn’t assigned and that I never actually never finished. I really wanted to use the laser lab before the year ended so I decided to make a storage chest. I made plenty of different sketches, trying to figure out the perfect size and shape of this object. First I had to get orientation to use the laser machines. The hardest part was creating the Illustrator file. Working with .001 lines made the design difficult, but ultimately rewarding to finish.
After getting the craft-ply laser cut I planned on using the steam bender to create a mold in order to build the two sides of the storage chest. However, life got in the way and I never ended up having the time to finish this project. Maybe it’s my favorite project because the fact that it’s unfinished and I never had the chance to mess it up. I do plan on saving the laser cut pieces of wood till next semester and finishing the chest when I get the chance.
Conclusion: I still want to get more familiar with the wood shop. Before I came to college I expected to build at least one piece of furniture my freshman year and I’m kinda disappointed in myself for not doing so. Next year I want to work on pieces that I can put in my portfolio for jobs and internships. I know sophomore year my class assignments will be way more Product Design orientated which I’m excited for.
