Emily Cappa

In late August I laid out my design problems and explored my psyche. I knew I wanted my thesis to be a reflection of me through my daily happenings. I knew I would not be engaged continually if it were otherwise. I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I look back at these initial aspirational inclusions. I have managed to find a medium where I actually have the ability to tackle all of them.

In the beginning, I was so set on getting off the computer and doing something print. After prototyping I realized that using the computer as the medium to display my work actually allowed me to spend the least amount of time on designing and the most amount of time creating. I am not interested in having my thesis be concerned with the adobe programs. I also realize the print piece I intended was not sustainable. I am not looking to add more waste.

I realize I draw my creative inspiration from my daily life, and I am very interested in merging my life and my art. I now realize this is realistic.

Challenges that I have faced thus far were when I realized I had the content, but I didn’t have the form…(magazine was not the right answer). Now I believe I have the form (the blog), but now I need to make the content more appropriate for the blog. It is also very intimidating to stand up in front of your blog and talk about it. I get really self-conscious. I will definitely continue to face this problem as I continue tackling my thesis. I need to get over my hesitations and realize that it doesn’t matter what people think. I must also realize that it looks better to stand up and appear confident, even if you are not.

Over break I am going to read more fiction books to get inspired to write creatively. I will read more Murakami, because his stories are so out-of-this world and interesting. I will blog, blog, and blog! I will spend time carrying out some experiments and producing content for the blog. I will also be very diligent about blogging my daily happenings. I will elicit feedback from my brutally honest family and friends. I want to see what people who do not have an art or design background have to say about my blog.

The final critique felt forced. We had such a short amount of time to thoroughly explain a semesters worth of prototyping and conceptualizing.  After explaining my process and thesis journey thus far I had very little time to explain where my thesis is at right now. This might be my own fault; perhaps I should’ve spent lest time explaining process and more time explaining my blog. The feedback made sense and I will spend time over winter break incorporating what was said. I will consider what it is that I want to build…aka harnessing my design student skills, and avoid producing boring results.  I will consider why I am bored, perhaps taking specific note of my surroundings when I feel bored.

Over winter break I will do some more focused projects. Actively making content for my blog, as well as continuing to document my daily life.  I will have the time to do some interesting things. It will also be interesting to see the turn my projects take when I am upstate and not in a busy city. I will also explore creative writing. Jess and I talked about this at our last meeting. The challenge came from not knowing really where to start. Recently, I have been reading more non-fiction books. To get in the creative writing frame of mind, I started reading some Murakami. I thoroughly enjoyed and am enjoying him! His stories are so out of this world. I will continue to read fiction books and then start to write.

MAGAZINE COMP…

In order to get feedback on…

-  content

-  layout

-  type

- size

- index

It was nice to see different classes project process thus far. It was extremely helpful, both as inspiration and to get feedback on my work thus far.

I am continuing to handout my prompts and cellphone picture solicitations. I have been asking people that I come in contact with to participate, and have continued to collect work from them. In the past week, I have also gone to many museums and exhibits to serve as a source of inspiration. I have gone to many galleries in Chelsea, the Cecil Beaton exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, the New Museum (so cool!!! - slide, carousel, sensory deprivation tank, these insane glasses), the MoMA, and the Neue Galerie. I have been bringing my camera everywhere and haven taken many pictures, as well as continued to collect things I find that will be good additions.

I have also worked on the layout of the magazine itself. I have found a way to structure the contents, decided on dimensions, explored possible typefaces, but it is time to hone in on the specifics. For the third prototype I plan on having a mock magazine compiled; cover decided, table of contents, & the contents of the magazine itself laid out…numbered. Once the first comp is done I can get feedback on the way it reads and what changes I can make both with the content and the layout.

I am researching artists who have made art of everyday life because I am inspired by the things I witness everyday. I am doing this in order to stay engaged and not get bored.

Throughout my process thus far I have had a strong desire to not add constrictions…

After my recent visit to the Fluxus (<3) exhibit at the Grey Gallery, I have come up with an idea of how to structure my magazine without constrictions (myself or anyone else)…the exhibit was separated by different “essential questions of life”

My intention is that all works that are created (by me or others) can fall into one of these categories…

+ change!

+ danger!

+ death!

+ freedom!

+ god!

+ happiness!

+ health!

+ love!

+ nothingness!

+ sex!

+ time!

the categories will always be sections of the magazines and then the works will placed into the appropriate one…the work is not made for the category it goes into…it simply fits into it…

the table of contents will have the categories prominently and then the secondary information will be the page, creator, and title

Read list thus far -    

                  + Choices: Making an Art of Everyday Life by Marcia Tucker*****

                  + Postcards to Box 464 by Amanda Laughtland

                  + Interview by Hans Ulrich Obrist & Hans-Peter Feldmann

                  + No One Belongs Here More than You stories by Miranda July

                  + Inhalt by Sophie Calle

                 + M’A-TU VUE  by Sophie Calle (also went to her exhibit at hotel)

                 + Fluxus and Friends »oh cet echo!« Maria & Walter Schnepel Collection

to read -

                 + Keith Haring Journals by Keith Haring

                 + the Secret Life of Salvador Dali by Salvador Dali

                 + The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Oct 25 ~     + things collected/scanned

                   _visit to Fluxus exhibit at NYU

                   _continue reading keith haring’s journals

Oct 26 ~    + camera carried around all day, pictures taken

                  _visit to AIGA and MoMA for inspiration

                  _continue reading keith haring’s journals

Oct 27 ~      + poems made, (laid out nicely?)

                  _continue reading keith harings journals

Oct 28 ~      + paint! (then scan)             

                  _continue reading keith herrings journals

Oct 29 ~      + make a diorama…photograph

                  _continue reading keith herrings journals

Oct 30 ~      + mail back other Emily Cappa (all past letters scanned!)           

                  _continue reading keith haring’s journals

Oct 31 ~      + trick-or-treating! (pictures, scanned candy, whatever comes to mind!)     

                  _continue reading keith haring’s journals

Nov 1-3 ~  + magazine prototype done & printed, layout considered

                 _continue reading keith haring’s journals

Nov 4-10 ~ + considering feedback from testing refine comp magazine (overall layout;  font, grid, color…), content (mine & everyone elses)

                    + ask friends for contributions

                   _continue reading keith haring’s journals

Nov 11-17 ~

                  + magazine comp (size, type, layout, content)…see the contents printed!

                   _begin secret life of salvador dali

Nov 29 ~

               _begin life of pi

Dec 1 ~

Dec 6 ~ + first issue done, clear concept, grid, aesthetic, layout…upcoming semester execute more, continue with what i want to continue with…now have basic structure so it will be strictly compiling my pieces

I’m walking down the street and I see a woman tear down a posted piece of paper, stomp on it, mumble angrily, and then turn around and give the crumpled paper the finger. The woman looks normal. I then pick up the paper to see what caused this woman so much grief. It was an ad for a copyrighting service run by an NYU grad student…harmless?… weird. I take home the piece of paper, scan it. Now, not only do the scan and story have a home inside the magazine, but also those who see the scanned paper and hear the story think about the strange things they witnessed today and the supposed cause of these happenings.

I want to go trick-or-treating. I get my roommate to take photos, while I do just that. I am now able to go trick-or-treating. For the magazine of course…

I meet a passionate poetry student. I tell them my thesis, ask them if they want to contribute, give them a “question prompt”. They write some awesome poems, that not only look great in the magazine, but also were fun for the poet to write.

My friend has a desire to take pictures of all the pretty doors she sees. But what will she do with all the pictures once she has compiled them. Put them in the magazine!