i AM the luckiest woman alive

Welcome to the post-grad me! As I file away my student card and start the post grad journey into employment, I have decided to suspend my blog posts on bon mardi and amalgamate my professional site with my blog so they can be found in one handy place. So feel free to trip on over to my newly renovated website: www.luckiestwomanalive.com , take a look around and sign up to receive news of my design exploits in this next, slightly thrilling, phase of my career.

Thanks very much for following - as I write this post I note that bon mardi has attracted over 20,000 views in four years which is pretty cool. Your interest has been a happy accident on my road to creative fulfilment. And one thing I have learnt in the last four years is that happy accidents can be the catalyst for amazing things.

The other things I have learnt? In taking on two degrees at this stage of my life, I have learnt that I continue to be capable of doing anything I desire and that photography, as well as being a rewarding career and pastime in itself, can also be a treasure trove of inspiration for many, many other areas of work. Armed with my various cameras, I look forward to the possibilities of a career in design, academia, curatorial roles, communications or the production of art itself. And these are just the tip of the iceberg... it really is on me as to where I go from here. I have never felt more full of potential. 

Finally, I have learnt that I AM the luckiest woman alive - because I am surrounded by love which informs all my craft and makes each of my days that little bit easier to get through. So to those whom I love and love me:

thank you

For all your support. And as Kevin Smith would say:

Don't let anybody tell you different, man: the main goal in life, career-wise, should always be to try to get paid to simply be yourself. 

Bon Mardi out.

Victoria University Graduation May 2016 Ceremony 3

Design in action

Cool idea found on kickstarter this week:

 

K-tel "Record Selector" commercial

Nostalgia hit

Just for fun | Might be time to revise my Flash skills...

This reminds me so much of growing up around the patterns and pattern books mum would inherit from Mannings when they were finished with them:

Source

ARTH 218 | exhibition catalogue cover design

My final assignment for my art history paper on the Baroque.

© luckiestwomanalive 2014

Here's the brief: 

You are organizing an exhibition of Baroque art on art and power. In addition to a list of works and a plan of the layout, you are writing a catalogue essay in which you explain the theme of the exhibition using the works you have chosen to illustrate your argument. (You should look at some examples of actual exhibition catalogues of Baroque art to serve as a model)

I have written the essay (and submitted it) This design cover was also submitted and is intended as a bonus item - I got a little excited - it is the first time I have truly felt my design degree crossed over into my BA. 

I selected the Galerie des Glaces at the Château  de Versailles as my dream venue for its relevance to the power theme.

Château Versailles’ Galerie Des Glaces. Digital image. Château Versailles. 16 May 2014. Web

And here is a sample of the art I would install in my ultimate Baroque exhibition.

Carracci, Annibale. The Choice of Hercules. 1596. Oil on canvas. Galleria Nazionale Di Capodimonte, Napoli. 

Bernini, Gian Lorenzo. Bust of Louis XIV of France. 1665. Marble sculpture. Château de Versailles, Versailles. 

Rubens, Peter Paul. The Elevation of the Cross. 1610-11. Oil on canvas. Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp.

Claesz, Pieter. Still-life with Wine Glass and Silver Bowl circa 1635. Oil on panel. Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin

I particularly love the Claesz still-life - who knew I would turn into a Dutch still-life fan? Inspiring course by David Maskill who turned me around on the subject of Baroque art. What a wonderful teacher.

CCDN 371 | object redesign | project four

My final project for CCDN371 focuses on the theme of imaging because the creation and meaning of images in art, film and photography is the area I have gravitated towards during my studies. My work in the previous projects has led me to investigate the use of images and the role magazines play in image storage - especially since digital magazines have come into being.

My point of departure for this project was a professed avowal of my love for magazines. It informed my process throughout the past two projects. I appreciate that they can inform in an entertaining way, at the same time enhancing one’s surroundings. They are a means for collecting images. They also act as a storage place for ideas. (Albeit one that is not curated).

Even though digital magazines have been successfully integrated into the magazines market, we know that the analogue version of magazines still holds a strong appeal especially for those who enjoy tactile experiences. There is also a risk of losing digital magazines as recently discussed in the media after comments from Google VP, Vint Cerf.

After feedback from project three, I was able to narrow down my key objectives to three main criteria. The new object needed to:

* deliver a more sensual experience that appealed to more than one sense

* introduce a degree of curatorship into the user experience of magazine reading and collecting

* incorporate the existing ideas of collecting and keeping images into a more restrained practice. In response to the desire to simplify my existence.

The outcome is a self-made book that retains my original branding as a succinct way of expressing its purpose. These are the magazine images and articles which are designated ‘keep’.

The concept was to elevate the status of the magazine to something elegant and covetable and personal. Something the user would never dispose of - will want to keep.

This has been achieved visually and through touch. As well as good craft.

© luckiestwomanalive 2014

© luckiestwomanalive 2014

© luckiestwomanalive 2014

Functionality

If this was in some way commercialised, it would be important that the user be able to engage in the assemblage of the final product with a degree of ease so that the experience should be pleasurable. It is a modular object – designed to build from components – A4 sheets attach to A3 sheets combined into signatures of whatever is the desired size. Signatures then combine to form the final magazine which inserts into the cover and forms a book. Each signature could represent a genre of magazine or a period of time (as is the case in my example).

Materials

Velum feels pleasant to the touch however it is semi transparent so it is important to provide backing to each page, so there is a protective divider between each page – reminiscent of a photograph album. I liked the way an old idea was reincorporated into an object built to deal with a new problem. Each is sized A3, The printed pages are sized A4. The end book is neither and makes for an unusual size that contributes to its unique aesthetic. But all the components are standard sizes that are adapted to the size of the book.
Each signature is attached to the spine of the outer cover which is covered in soft, natural linen. The brand is embroidered/hand printed onto the cover. In this instance I used waxed thread that was passed down to me by my grandmother who died in 1983 which has further elevated the object’s meaning to me.

Other functions

Pinterest images and personal images could be added.

What I have learnt:

Adding importance to the image increases its importance to the user. This is how my design might change the perspective of users. In addition, it is the process that becomes important. Immersing myself in the process of crafting a safe haven for my magazine images was pleasurable and felt worthwhile.


Finally I have realised that by remediating digital images into material objects, I am reengaging with the question of the purpose of photography which lent a sense of meaning to my design.