The conversation between the “Wiser” and the “Lesser” will be my attempt at humorous pedagogy between two volunteers. These participants can either know or not know their partner, however one will immediately be designated “the Wiser” by the size and stature of their chair in comparison to their counterpart’s. This conversation could last for hours, for minutes or possibly for seconds; however, the short term goal of the conversation will be for one of the participants to have learned or experienced something new. This “something” should not merely be interesting, but hopefully life changing. I aim for the scene to take place in the Hunt Library but not simply for it’s pedagogical nature. Rather than simply place my ‘guinea pigs’ on a regular floor, if this conversation were to take place in the rare art book room (fully stocked) I feel that the conversation will take very wild and unexpected turns. My prototype is based off of a strong, simple and traditional wooden chair. Rather than implement ornamental and decorative style for the forward and back ends, I chose to allow my early models to simply reflect the “strength” of the pose the chair will take. It should be tall, and wide in comparison to “the Lesser’s” chair. Further down the line I hope to add etching and stylizations to both chairs in order to better develop their subversive meanings.

Conversations are not only spoken-word. They can be initiated and sustained through body and expression. I imagine my chairs to be slightly angled, forcing those who sit to touch knee to knee. This conversation takes place between two people who both share feelings for eachother that are unknown, both under the impression that their affections are one-sided. Upon a slight touch, like that of knee to knee, feelings are molded into realizations.

CFA students has long hours of studios and heavy work load. The chairs at the studios, however, aren’t that comfortable to sit log times in. To add to it, there are no place to sit down and have some food or enjoy the little time between classes at CFA building. I want to make a chair that would able students to relax the time they have and sit down to talk about other things beside the arts related subjects.

I went to a Quaker High School for three years, but it wasn’t about religion or god. It was about inner peace and meditation. I imagine this chair being used in that mindset for an intimate conversation or a group reflection similar to a Quaker meeting. Quakers sit quietly until they feel the need to speak. This is the environment I want to create. I want the sitters to be surround and close to nature  which is the reason for the low seat. I want to sitters to find inner peace and connect to the people around them. This chair can be anywhere where you can reach your hand down and stroke a blade of grass or a leaf. I chose to place the chair on a little clear grass next to the Morewood parking lot on the way to my dorm. People can stop, think, and converse here. College students and the community can find a moment of peace in the middle of their hectic lives.

     Hidden behind decades of desertion and unforeseen fallibility, lies the ruins of the once great, Behemoth. Unable to power it’s reign of tyranny any longer, the machine that claimed the minds and souls of generations, collapsed upon itself; choked by the weight of the iron from which it once gained its strength. The ominous power of the Behemoth is now consumed by the growth of the same earth from which its metals were once forged. From steel and stone, a habitat of prosperous green life now arises.

As I set out to create a story about an imaginary habitat, I wanted to focus on the idea that inhabitants are what make a habitat more than just a place. I relied on my own home environment to draw inspiration for representations of habitats and inhabitants. I focused on how people can occupy the same space in such different contexts. How do people choose to interact with a place? At the same time? At different times? While co-inhabiting, what are there relations with that space and with each other? How do they feel about a space and the objects in that space? What do they associate with those things? How do the meanings of those spaces and objects differ between people?

The pieces are made from 1/16″ black and white acrylic.

Using a pristine, white overview of my apartment’s layout to establish space and relation of objects to each other, I set the ground for a narrative to be created by the people who interact with that space. I begin by dripping purple acrylic paint over the scene, mapping out how I perceive my boyfriend to move through the space and I strategically draw attention to the objects he spends the most time with, especially when he’s not interacting with me. My boyfriend similarly routed where he perceived me to spend most time, using pink acrylic paint. In the end, it became obvious that (in my mind) he spends most of his time in the corner (at his desk) or on the right side of the bed. (In his mind) I spend most of my time in another room (on the couch) or on the left side of the bed. We use the kitchen and table spaces very rarely.

The next portion of my project details our more personal associations with the objects in our apartment. For each item, my boyfriend and I wrote words that came to mind when interact with it. I scanned those words in, and vectorized them in order to engrave them on the base pieces of the furniture. Words like “privacy” appear on things like our shower. My boyfriend associates his desk with simple themes such as “computer” or “internet,” while I perceive the space with words like “neglect” or “mindless” because of the amount of time he wastes there without interacting with me.

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When creating my habitat I wanted to play with the relationship of the inhabitants and the habitat itself, and how the latter can be shaped by the former. While designing this I was imagining the “habitat” of a renaissance woman. Everything is dark and barren as she lives hidden away in a cave among a mountain range representing her solitude. The lattice and shard looking pieces are meant to symbolize her presence, her thought, her work. Inside the cave is cluttered where she spends her time, she looks around her and there is only this big mess of all her projects and studies. Then outside the cave reaches a much more organized beautiful arrangement of her presence. But it reaches out into blackness, disconnected from everything, representing the futility of her efforts.

Unfortunately the project is not complete but I had fun experimenting with acrylic.