A New Beginning

I can't believe that my last post was my final project from last year. So much has happened since then. Last year was really difficult for me. Moving to college and learning new habits was hard enough but I wasn't able to adjust to a schedule very well since IARC took up so much time and effort. I cannot tell you how many all-nighters I pulled. I became very well acquainted with the cleaning lady who promptly came to the 1st year section at five am sharp. I loved the program and I wanted to get started with my passion right away however, I don't think I as ready for the demands of the program. Many people who had a great passion and talent for design have since left the program. It sadens me to think of all of the talent that has left. But then again, if you are really committed, responsible, and efficient you will be able to achieve your goals in this major. Last year I was so overwhelmed I gave up. I worked so hard all the way up to the end however I had gotten so behind that I don't think I could have saved myself any more than I already did. It's easy to sleep in and not go to class when you have pulled an all-nighter the night before. I was committed to the program but at some points I needed to put that aside and worry about my health. All in all I would have done a few things differently. I would have gone to ALL of my classes every day (even if I was sick) and I would have done the work as early as I could have and used my time a lot more wisely. I was able to succeed in high school with terrible time management and I graduated with a 3.8 gpa. It may not be the best but I never pulled an all nighter and always did my homework the last minute. Needless to say I don't think my high school experience prepared me for college and especially the Iarc program.
Well, I am sure if you are reading this you are wondering if I am still in the program? I am in the Iarc program this year you could say. I am taking the design history course this year and the rest of my classes are general education courses. I needed a year away from all of the stress of the program to settle down and really focus on learning good study habits. I want to be prepared for next year when I enter as a second year. Now I have time to sleep, hang out with friends, DJ for 103.1 WUAG once a week, and do all of the things I love. Its funny how much you take for granted a good night of sleep before you enter Iarc. I'm living off campus and it is SO much easier to live in an apartment. The dorms were awful and between living in the dorms and the studio I felt like I was in prison. I am so happy to have my own room, bathroom, and I can cook now! No more Caf food!
I know I belong in this program and I will fight to be recognized as a talented designer. I have tried to imagine what I would do if I didn't do design and I can't think of anything else that I would want to do with my life. So for now I am taking some time off. If any of the 1st of 2nd years need help I am always here. I have a lot more free time than any of the Iarc students right now and I know what everyone is going through, I would be happy to help. Email: mejacque@uncg.edu

Elsewhere

Welcome to Elsewhere. A place where other people's junk is turned into composition. Our art is funny, playful, and changes people's perception of what these everyday and sometimes strange items can be used for.
Visiting Elsewhere as a class was an interesting experience and it was something I was so glad we did. Elsewhere is so interesting and there are so many things we could play with and draw it was a never ending mess of artwork. For our 'space' that we were supposed to mark off and draw I at first tried to rearrange a bunch of toy cars and put planes and helicopters on the ground and cars in the sky hanging up. I realized that this would take forever to do so I decided to just draw something I saw at the front desk. I didn't make it to Elsewhere during the class period every time since my car broke down one day. That's what you get for running on E for a week strait. Gas prices are so high! Anyways, I visited Elsewhere in my spare time probably five more times outside of class. Being in Elsewhere when it wasn't class time was a very different experience. I loved this assignment and can't wait to visit Elsewhere again.

Object Vingettes

A Statement on Consumerism

This was a small project where everyone in our class picked a letter of the alphabet and we each did an illustration that represented our letter and sustainability. My letter was "C" and my illustration was a statement on consumerism. Millions of unnecessary products are put on the market each year. People are extremely wasteful and instead of recycling water bottles, clothes, and other products we throw them away. The depletion of non-renewable resources and people's carelessness is what has gotten us in this mess in the first place. FYI: I drive a brand new Mazda 6. It is a small car and shouldn't take more than thirty dollars to fill up. It took 65 dollars to fill up the other day. This energy crisis needs to stop!

Furniture Renderings

1st Sketch Up Model

I am so excited we are starting computer modeling. Although I love pulling all nighters making perfectly hand-crafted models...I am ready to start using the computers. I really like doing graphics on the computer and I think I'm really going to enjoy using sketch up.

Sleeping Spaces Redefined

This assignment is a little different from most of our assignments. We are making a sleeping space that is supposed to redefine the meaning of a bed. We must use only a certain amount of materials for our models, using a different amount of materials may be justified; however, it needs a purpose behind it. I don't like the spaceship looking egg beds such as the Lomme Bed (third from the top). I want to use contemporary strait lines; however, the comfort of the organic shapes bring something to the table as well. I just feel like the whole rounded shapes have already been done so with my next models I am going to try to stay away from the organic look.

CAPitalizing on Re-Use

Let there be light! Inspired by a contest from Terracycle, this project was to re-use bottle caps in a way that is interesting and still eco-friendly. Every day, bottles are processed in recycling centers and every bottle that still has a cap on it is thrown away. Thus, in order to get bottle caps we had to go dumpster diving! My partner Chelsea and I struggled with this idea of re-using bottle caps at first and wanted to steer clear of making something tacky and cheap looking. At first we had a coaster that looked like a flower and it was fun, yet bulky and cheap. Next we had a shower basket where the gaps that the circles made when connected allowed water to fall through, yet that also turned out to be very flimsy and cheap. Finally we came up with a bottle cap chandelier/ light fixture. We really liked the way that light showed through the clear bottle caps. We added colors that were of the same color palette as a Sun-Drop or Mountain Dew can. We even used parts of aluminum Sun-Drop Cans on a few bottle caps. There is a glue that is eco-friendly and glues together plastics, metals, and many other materials that can be used to attach the bottle caps. We used hot glue however if this were to be manufactured again, Eco-bond glue will be used. Overall, Chelsea and I are happy with out project. If we had more bottle caps I think we would use on the light fixture so the light bulb and wire is more clandestine.

Our First two iterations (shower basket and coaster)

The wire frame made out of recycled hangers

We cut out the flat circles of the bottle caps and glued them together to make larger circles.

Chelsea and our final model! Let there be light!
A view from underneath

Baths of Diocletian

Time for a group assignment!

Team Ferguson

For this project we were divided into groups of about five. We analyzed buildings on UNCG's campus and sketched out their floor plans, uses, and architectural details. We then took our drawings, bubble maps, and detail sketches and made a presentation board. I thought it would be a lot easier to plan out a presentation board however I learned a lot from this experience that I wouldn't have guessed I would. For example, we had to have fifteen 8.5x11 drawings and they had to fit on certain size boards with many other different size drawings. We had to make a scale layout of what our board would look like in order to see if everything would fit and to make sure we had an appealing and effective layout. A lot of hard work and time went into this project, and a couple dollars as well. In the real world, presentation boards are extremely important to designers because it is the first thing a client sees and if the client doesn't like the board, the design usually doesn't come to life. Overall I was really pleased with my group's work and I am very proud of the outcome of our board.



To the very left, outlined in red are our detail sketches of the building. The diagram was done by heather and shows the different sectors of the Ferguson Building.

The next diagram was done by Christyn. This shows how the floor plan is layed out and what it connected to what.

The final diagram was done by Lily and shows the private and public areas of the building. As you can see the building has a lot of private rooms that we didn't have access to.

Our group chose earthy tones and coordinated the colors and the layout. We worked for a very long time on the board and I was not expecting it to take that long. This project definitely prepared me for our presentation boards in our studio class as well.

Quick! Draw Somebody!

Wow it's been a long time since I've drawn people. I need to start again because these are really scary haha.

Drinking Coffee & Drawing

I didn't like the way my coffee shop drawings turned out at all. Needless to say I don't like these either. Maybe I just don't work well in coffee shops, I don't know...

Coffee Shop Drawings.

I really wasn't into drawing today. You can tell because my drawings are embarrassing. I might go back and redo this whole project if I have time and the grades aren't final on it. I absolutely hate these!

Perspective Drawings of Ferguson

For this assignment we looked up drawing styles we wanted to recreate and we tried to emulate these styles through out perspective drawings. I drew perspectives of the Ferguson building on campus. I am really pleased with the way they turned out but it took a ton of time to get the angles and everything right.

"God Is In The Details"

Some of my favorite things

I wanted to practice my hatching so I drew some of my favorite things around my room just for fun.

Scale Figure Inspiration

A little Behind...

So the flu has taken over my ability to upload most of my work. I am trying to get everything back in order though! I finally got some decent medicine today so hopefully I will feel better soon! I will probably have everything uploaded by Saturday =D

What a Mess!

I really enjoyed this assignment and I think I have improved when it comes to drawing objects. People are still pretty difficult for me though. I had no problem drawing messy areas since my room is ALWAYS a mess! My favorite were the last two drawings I did because I spent the most time on them and I was slow and deliberate with my strokes. It takes a lot of time and work to make a drawing beautiful with cross-hatching. It makes you really appreciate the drawings where the artist's cross-hatching is soft and life-like.