Cross Course Reflection

I am currently finishing up my first year at Parsons School of Design where I am a fashion design major.  I am also planning to minor in environmental studies and I first came to Parsons because I knew of the importance of sustainability at this school.  Coming from the suburbs of Maryland, studying at New York City has given me endless opportunities in attending talks, events, panels, and in meeting similar creative minds.

Across all my classes this year, I improved immensely on developing and documenting my creative process.  The interplay between integrative studio and seminar 1 helped to develop the way I start a project and the meanings and connections that are made between my work and my beliefs.  Specifically, my final project for the class was an exploration of the word, “tear” where I incorporated both research and personal experience to develop a paper and garment. Having an item hold so much symbolism and personal feelings gave me a deeper connection with it during its making.  

This has traveled across my other class such as Time and Seminar 2 where I allowed my personal passions and experiences to influence my work. My Time final explores feelings of anxiety and self-consciousness that come with centered attention, and in the filming, I came to understand more of myself and fabricate these discoveries into something tangible.  

My Seminar 2 research paper deals with sustainability and alternative textiles which ties deeply into my passions and where I want to direct my future at Parsons as well as my career as a fashion designer.

In my Time, Space, and Studio 2 classes, I developed my skills in physical fabrication of design and creating things three-dimensionally. In Space and Materiality, I discovered new methods and materials which not only helped in the class but across all other courses as well.  Through this class, I got comfortable using certain tools, especially in the wood shop. I also learned patience through specific projects in this class such as the tree carving and cardboard topography which translated itself over to my projects in Time, such as my costume project and the inflatable structure project.

A highlight of my first year experience at Parsons has been the work I created for my Studio 2 final project.  We were placed into groups and assigned to create a cohesive collection that deals with an issue in the fashion industry.  We planned through group discussions and brainstorms and then through individual designs and later collaborations on those designs.  The outcome was something we were all proud of because we created original designs that met our expectations and the photoshoot presented our hard work.  This project encouraged close collaboration and development of group-skills which I think is something we will all encounter continuously in the future. I enjoyed working with all my group members and bouncing ideas off of each other because I think it made us push ourselves and ideas to come to something we all agreed on.  The project itself dealt with sustainability and zero-waste which is something I personally want to further explore, so getting to get involved with these concepts were exciting.

Another highlight was the inflatable project from my Time: Embodied class.  This was another group project in which we were assigned to create an inflatable structure that would hold the entire class.  We were given material restrictions and had to make it solely out of plastic painter’s drop cloth and tape.  Because of all these constraints and requirements, creating an original structure forced us to think deeply about how not only the process would go, but what the outcome would look like and how air would travel successfully.  A lot of brainstorming and research went into the preparation, but the most difficult part was the execution because it was so consuming and had to be done on a large scale.  However, our group cooperated well and encouraged each other when things became tiring or difficult.  I learned a lot about trial and error and the quick thinking involved in creating something we has all never done before. 

I definitely want to further explore the zero waste approach to design and incorporating film and 4D media to my design process.  I want to learn more skills that deal with these subjects such as editing and textile making while incorporating it with my fashion design projects.  

 

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