Print Series Statement

My collage print series started with the words:

mesozoic
mother
book
blizzard
smitten

Creating the first print was the most difficult task for the fact that I was taking the words too literally. Once I got past seeing each word as just a noun or an adjective, I was able to associate colors, moods, textures and places with each item.
Applying various hand-made collages to Photoshop, I combined many aspects of at least 10 collages into the three large prints.
Color became a major component in tying the three works together as a series. I have always been interested in compositions that possess multiple textured layers as well as opaque, bright, and saturated colors. Text, handwritten and found are also implemented within all prints.
I believe this project was helpful and beneficial to me in understanding my process of collage on and off of the computer. The size restriction to this assignment also challenged me, and acted as a jump start to assessing and constructing large format hand-made collage.

Print Series

Personal Book Statement

Mixed Goods & Co. was a collective made with friends and fashion in mind. As the photographer/ graphic designer/ editor of Mixed Goods & Co., I developed a magazine/catalog spread of seasonal items my close friends have been known for wearing. These items of clothing and or accessories are personal to them and me, as things that I immediately recognize as being associated with that particular person.

The format is an in color 8-page spread, double-sided, and stapled- like a typical catalog one would receive in the mail.

I used Photoshop to edit the pictures I shot of the “merchandise” and “models”. In order to achieve the barcode on the back cover, I used Illustrator and imported it into InDesign and changed its opacity. The rest of the layout –the manipulation of text and imaging effects on specific boxes were done in Indesign.

The typefaces I chose are reminiscent of text within clothing catalogs for twenty-something “trend-setters” or “hipsters”. The title on the front cover, also incorporated into to the name labels is FFJustlefthand. The item descriptions are in Bodini typeface 10pt. All of the descriptions have 12pt leading for a clear break and flow for reading the lists. I also used Synchro LET for the mailing address text and changed the opacity and elongated the vertical scale on it. Goudy was used on the postage and return mailing address intentionally to look like a mailing preset for the company.

The construction of the piece was multifaceted. I worked with square and rectangular shapes primarily in a collage aesthetic. Mixed Goods & Co.’s catalog shoots for a personal scrapbook touch that many popular clothing companies are trying to market. There is my own personal narration within the notes of humorous item descriptions and price requests.

Mixed Goods & Co. (Personal Book)

Mural Write-Up

About our mural:

"Our group’s concept was inspired by Turkish Iznik ware tile designs. Original Iznik ware was painted with stylized and symmetrical designs of flowers, leaves, and fruits, along with abstract linear motifs based on these natural forms. By the mid-16th century the range of colors used in the decoration had expanded from blue and white to include turquoise, several shades of green, and purple and black. Red had become a frequently used color by the late 16th century. Our design was created to reward repeated viewing, which is a theme that is frequently present in many forms of Islamic Art. We aspired to combine the aspects of traditional vegetal imagery and design with icons that represent modern environmental issues. The inclusion of modern environmental subjects plays off of the Islamic use of vegetal imagery which alludes to 'paradise' and how the modern state of our natural environment is anything but ideal. "


Inspired by the arts of the Islamic world, created a mural that showcases this culture's mosque mosaics (specifically Turkey's Iznik tiles). We also connected Islam's idea of heaven being a "garden of paradise" by including traditional vegetal motifs and flowers. Furthering this theme of the ideal paradise within nature, we incorporated current global/environmental concerns to highlight our world’s contemporary crisis with nature.
Our mural is composed of traditional fine art- blue and red watercolor- that was scanned into the computer then fused with computer graphic elements (such as the borders and top corners). Teri McCans and I rendered the flower blooms by hand and imported them into the computer. We then worked with Kerrin Paul to assort and “cut” them from their background in Photoshop. I also pieced together the mural as well as grommet it.

Collaborative Mural Progress

Personal Book

sourcing catalog inspiration:(top to bottom) urban outfitters inc., jcrew, urban outfitters inc., anthropologie

After thinking long and hard and finding out the specific details for the digital series print project, I have changed my idea for my personal book. I originally wanted to use this idea for the print series, but I think it would be more suitable to use for my personal book. The concept is a glossy magazine/catalog format with photographs of the people I know in life modeling specific articles of clothing or accessories that I immediately recognize as being associated with that person. I would have text boxes on every page- a description of each "outfit" and price, as well as blurbs about the person/my relationship to them in another separate text space.