Category: Process
sketches
For my embroidery project I want to use old fabric swatches from a company that my mom works for that sells mens clothing. She has a lot of different samples of different suiting materials. This represents the idea of the business man and woman going through these parks and commuting. I want to stitch all of these materials together to create a big sheet. I plan to embroider vine/ flowers into the material to show the aspect of nature in the city which is mostly what I was studying at my field site. I may also incorporate the famous monuments at each location, the flat iron and the arch.
3 sketches for fabric project-Scyler
Concept: To recyle fabric and dye with different tea, coffee, and natural dyes, creating an array of colors. Then I would cut the fabrics into pieces and and repiece into one large piece of fabrc. I would then use this new fabric to construct a hat that covers the eyes. This process would reflect the contradiciton I noticed at my field site–the interconectiviy among the people at Bwe Kafe, as well as the barrier that technology created in the space. If I don’t do a hat, I will do a wall hanging with embroidery in the same process as the hat.
3 sketches for fabric & thread project -dilara
My concept for this piece is to explore the narrative I encountered during the time I spent at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe by creating a “book” made from fabric and perhaps other materials that include pages that will contain quotes, ideas and imagery I overheard there by the bookstore-cafe goers. My goal is to highlight how the bookstore-cafe was a “safe space” for many who chose to spend their time there and through the quotes and imagery, give a small glimpse into the lives of those people.
Florence Gao Zine Reflection
Below is the link to my whole zine(flipping through the entire zine), it was too large of a file to be directly uploaded to this post.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uuV6i9cF8wm5Eka13X_aoYwqeeDcBJRC/view?usp=sharing
(please log in to your New School email account for access)
Zvc My zine was about my trouble of sleeping and how my cat that I adopted helped me through it. Basically, my zine contains a few pages of me alone, then introduced my sleeping problems and smoking problems, then to when I first met my cat and at last I gave up smoking+slept much better now because of my cat. In the end, I also attached a part of my therapist’s letter about my cat being my emotional support animal, which I hope it would help my readers understand what my zine is about. Above is the front cover or my zine. For the cover, I used one of the previous pieces that I did called “Studio Chaos” that was based on my nightmare/the messy feeling that I had while working in my studio.
I feel like it would be hard for a lot of people to understand what my cat means for me-to me, he is more than a pet. Before having him, I would wake up at least 3 times per night and have reoccurring nightmares. After getting my cat, I not only got less depressed, having him slept by my side also made me able to sleep without taking medicines. I feel that my cat is a big part of my identity, just because that sleeping is so important(think about this, about 1/3 of our life we spent sleeping).
Here is what my zine looked like in my indesign. One of the photos of multiple me and my cat was photoshopped. That took me a long time and hard work but I love how it turned out, that is for sure my favorite page of all.
I made all my zine except the handwriting part on InDesign and printed the final one at village copier. I first tried to print it on the procolor printer and the first day the printer broke so I could not print at all. The second day it successfully printed but it was a much bigger size than I wanted and also the color was quite off(I had a lot of vibrant colors). Then I went to a shop to print out my zine in the size and color I wanted, but when I wanted to pick it up they told me that their machine was broken so they could not bind my zine. In the end, I had to go to village copier the day before it is due and paid the extra fee for the rush fee and got my zine 30 minutes before school started and wrote rest of my scripts when the class was starting.
If I would do another zine, I would definitely make sure that my printing was successful at the first time. It was such a struggle to print and this was my first ever zine so I never like tried to print anything like this. I think this was a great experience to try making something that I have never done and I think I did a pretty good job of making the whole zine looked put together and all the concepts throughout my zine made sense. However, my handwriting is crappy because I was in such a hurry and made a writing mistake. I would so want to do it better if I had more time(but I guess it kinda represents the clumsy side of me..). Other than that, I think my zine was very put together and I am satisfied with my first ever zine.
Interconnectivity Project Idea
My idea is to make a skateboard from fabric. I want to focus on the friendship and community created by the teenagers/young adults skating together in Washington Square Park. By stuffing it like a plushie, I’ll show how the skateboards are like a teenage comfort-toy. On the bottom of the board, where a design or stickers might be, I’ll embroider “stickers” in skater-brand fonts with different phrases about friendship and community. 
2 Maps of Community, Manci
map of site communities
map of my communities
Interconnectivity Drawing – Alyssa Vitalino
site : my local public library
Identity Zine: Dilara, So Far
For this zine, my overall concept was to express parts of myself from the past and parts of myself right now. I had trouble with the overall idea of identity though because I feel as though my identity constantly fluctuates and often times, I don’t really know how to describe myself which I expressed here in my zine. I also wanted to create a nostalgic vibe through the old, childhood photos. The motif of the picture frames also plays into that by in a way, “landmarking” these past events. Originally, I wanted to make the zine larger (about four times the final zine) but decided to go with a more petite size to create a feeling of smallness and daintiness which is how I feel like most memories live in my head. After making this zine, I learned that there is still a lot about myself to learn.
Self Portraits
These were my top 3 photos from the week of self portraits. What I like about the first one is the color coordination of the “crocs” store and my outfit, the second one has both my favorite jacket and pants in the same photo and kinda looks like Im levitating with one foot, and finally in the last photo I like the pants with the doll in the pocket because it adds a nice humorous touch.
Favorite Portraits – Kirsten
These were my favorite portraits throughout the process of this assignment. Rather than taking photographs, I decided to draw my portraits each day. Personally I’ve never been particularly drawn to photography, and I don’t like taking pictures of myself very much. I also thought that drawings could better reflect my overall thoughts and mood for the day through exaggerated gestures and expressions! For the 6 day journal assignment, I labelled each portrait with the day of the week I drew it, and Tuesday is my free day so I tried to capture the calm but slightly bored feeling I was having. My second portrait was from the second round of portraits, and I was a bit frantic and stressed that day so I drew out a mind dump of the general thoughts/emotions running through my head at that time.
Transcribed Interview
Sol: What is your gender orientation?
Tatyana: Um, that’s a good question. I mean, I feel like fairly female but… I don’t know if my confusion in gender identity is a gender thing or if its more just like a sense of self sort of thing. So I’m not really sure and I’m just sort of like whatever about it. So I don’t care–she or they is fine for my pronouns. So I’m just like whatever, gender is a farce anyway.
Sol: So you don’t feel completely female?
Tatyana: Yeah, I just feel like gender is sort of stupid? (laughs) Not really like stupid because its important, but I don’t really like being ascribed any certain way, if that makes any sense.
Sol: Oh I see… and what is your sexual orientation?
Tatyana: It’s sort of the same, it’s like whatever.
Sol: Oh, are you pansexual?
Tatyana: Yeah, basically… It’s just sort of whatever. I would say queer because I don’t really want to out a specific label that ascribes certain, like, distinct parameters. So like, yeah, whatever. I don’t really like men that much. But still, I’m unfortunately attracted to them sometimes.
Sol: (laughs) Yeah, yeah, yeah… Unfortunate.
Tatyana: It truly is unfortunate at times.
Favorite Potraits
These are my favorite photographs that I took for my self portraits. In the first image, I am standing next to a gallery painting of “Friends” at The Hole in Bowery. I felt that this represented me and my childhood desire to assimilate to American culture. By gazing at such an Americana, true, and traditionally 90’s vibe, I am inserting myself into the narrative of being an American, all while being Korean. The second photo is a self taken photo of me at my internship taken at a down up angle. I wanted to depict my strong work ethic and ambition; my diligence is what led me to New York City in the first place. I also wanted to represent women in business and entrepreneurship, almost as a personal process within myself to prove that my work will prove my success, not my gender. Lastly, I intentionally took a selfie with a necklace shaped in the letter “S”. I wanted to make this photo intimate to myself because I tried to illustrate a narrative that starts from being ashamed of my Korean name and overcoming it by wearing an accessory that reminds me of it.
Favorite Self Portraits
The following images were my favorite contributions to the self portrait project. I feel as though these images represent the most personal parts of me. Compared to the rest, these pictures show who I am. Music has always been a big part of me. Posts from my Soundcloud date back to 2012. It can be used to show how I have musically evolved as well as the posted interview, which details accounts and recollections from my past. Jewelry and accessories also make me who I am. Without these rings or silver buckled belts a huge part of my identity would be missing.
Favorite Pictures – Rachel Lee
I chose these 3 images because they are the most meaningful to me being that these are shots with either some of my closest friends or during the time I was with friends. I particularly like the first photo due to the foot positioning which creates a sense of parallels. Also, you are able to get an overall sense of who I am through these photos with my style. My personal style is usually wearing mostly black as I don’t really want to stand out. That can also be seen throughout my photos as I usually don’t enjoy showing my face.
In Class Collage- Rachel Lee
For this in class collage, I used images of some of my most worn items in my wardrobe. I wanted to convey the the typical look I go for like how I usually wear mostly back with some red or white. I used fabrics and bubble wrap to create not only a sense of texture but, to illustrate the different styles I try from urban chic to street style. The drawn question marks are to illustrate my journey into using fashion for my sense of identity.
Self Portrait/Identity Photos
For the image of my side profile with the mouth of a cat, I wanted to express my spirit animal by connecting part of their face with mine.
The picture with multiple versions of me walking on shopping bags, I wanted to express my addiction to shopping. How sometimes, I need to just get one item, but somehow, the more I walk around I end up buying more things that I planned on buying.
In the last picture, I wanted to show how I daydream and the process of it. I always think of some sort of alternative world where nothing would really make sense. Or sometimes, I like to add to the boring reality that I live in.
Florence’s 3 favorite image
Out of all the photos we took for the class, I like the 2 identity shots I took with my cat the most. I feel like my cat is a huge part of who I am. I spend all my personal life with him, we sleep together, play together and support each other with love. Without my cat I would not be the person that I am right now. Before having him, I used to not sleep well and had anxiety when I had to stay alone. After adopting my cat, at my apartment, there is always someone who is waiting for me, that kind of feeling of safety and security really made my life better. He is more than an emotional support animal, but family.
Favorite Images – Alyssa
I picked these three pictures from my self portrait/identity pictures, which I feel are representative of me. The things included in all three of these images are my everyday essentials. The first picture I took while waiting for the bus (I liked how the sun was hitting the stop.) It shows my favorite sweater, necklace and scarf. I’m also holding my water bottle that I bring everywhere and am wearing a usual puffer jacket. The second picture I took while in the UC library cause I’m usually there between classes throughout the week. I’m wearing converse, Levi’s and have a copy of Just Kids in my lap. I read in my free time, so this is a usual part of my everyday routine. The last picture I took right before a class started because I was cold and still had my jacket on inside, which was funny to me.
Self portraits & Identity, Manci
This is how I prefer to wear when going outdoor to have fun. I hate carrying heavy things, which gives me a sense of burden, so keeping it as light and casual as possible makes me feel at ease.
This is a reflection of how my friends see me, very complex. They see fortitude and determination in me, from the way I handle work, the way I walk, the straight forward way I talk in, to my appearance: locked brows, my angular chin, and my serious (sometimes even seems to be angry, they said) expression when I was thinking or focusing. But they also see blandness and indecision (and stupidity) in me when I take care of friends, making various decisions, get shy or respond to funny things.
This is the way I see myself. Hard to describe. I am super emotional, I laugh very loudly and joke with my friends for 24 hours in a day. I only reveal my humor in front of intimate friends and I enjoy killing time in nature with them.
Zine by Alejandra, Noel, Annie, Manci
Joy relates to everyone.
What do we do to stay alive, and to cr e a t e j o y ? . ….
the planets and panic attacks (excerpt from oral history)- dilara
alyssa: what are you interested in that you think most people aren’t?
dilara: … I have like this weird thing with like, science and like, we were talking about this in seminar, like my fear of the universe but it’s also like a huge fascination
alyssa: oh, so like space?
dilara: yeah, like I watch documentaries about like, space and like, the planets and time
alyssa: thats cool, maybe it’ll make you less scared
(pause)
dilara: no, it gives me panic attacks!
alyssa: it makes you more scared?!
dilara: yeah!
(laughter)
alyssa: oh no, so then don’t do that maybe.
Self portraits and Identity
through my self portraits I created digital collages of different outfit details and mood boards. For the identity portion I was in the middle of an identity crisis and was unsure of what my identity was so I created a set up in my room and on my bed where I feel most myself. Vogue covers in the background express my interest in fashion and my collection of the magazine. I recently got bangs so I made sure to emphasize them in this photo. My shirt in this specific portrait I am wearing an emerald green shirt which is my birth stone. Which I love to incorporate into my every day looks. 
Tieler, Thomas, and Elenas Zine
A zine that allows other people discover an identity for you
Identity crisis
This morning I woke up in an identity crisis. I am unsure of the style I would like to pursue and I am lost in my closet. With this collage I created a background with the clothes that I wore during these shoots. I cut up pieces of my face from my self portraits and placed them on top of my outfit pictures because before I can figure out what I want my style to be I have to figure out who I am. 
Scyler’s Oral History Excerpt
Lisa: Do you have any pets?
Scy: Yea, I have three dogs.
Lisa: Woah!
(Laughter)
Scy: A yorkie named Marmduke, a mastif named Shea, and a yorkie poo named Hershey.
Lisa: that’s cute! Where did you go last weekend and what did you do?
Scy: last weekend…uh…hmm
Lisa: Just homework?
Scy: Probably homework…uhh..huh.. shit …I have no idea!
(Laughter)
Scy: Oh! I hung out with my mom’s cousin. We got boba. Yea.
Favorite Identity Images
These are my favorite images from the portrait/identity project because I feel they represent me best; In the first photo I am wearing my dad’s Irish sweater, in the second I’m painting, and in the third I’m using my mom’s bag from the Philippines. So, I felt these shots all represented me and my identity in some way.
self-portrait + identity pictures – dilara
2 black and white portraits
1 color
3 different sides
of me
framed for your viewing
Scyler’s collage
I created this collage by using the larger pictures that I feel represent me best, then I doodled over the entire thing.
dilara’s collage
b/w v.s color
Yogio Collage
