Post 6 - Site Response/Analysis and Metaphor/Concert ideas.

Upon first visiting the site, I think it is an excellent area to put a art museum, but I also realized through our inspection today that the best place for a Pop Art museum may be in a heavily populated, urban area because consumerism and modern technology is very prominent. However, rural Aloha is still a close-to-ideal spot for a Pop art museum, specifically the site in question. In the summer, the browns of the field are dominate by brilliant blues and harsh yellows, colors that are typically favored by Pop artists. Also, the field is currently cluttered with some favorite subjects of a Pop art painting. Shopping carts, empty water bottles, beer cans and spray paint containers a scattered across the building site, nestled in the long brown-green grass and weeds. The items adjacent to the site also reinforce the Pop art theme. There is a school, a bus stop, a church, and a popular road intersection. I personally feel one of the main goals of Pop art is to provide insight to consumerism, even if that means a consumer product is meanly featured but understated in a simple design. The sound of heavy traffic is prominent on the west side of my site, one again drawing attention to the consumer driven life of most Aloha residents. I personally feel the community aspect of the site, although eerily a calm area amongst the hustle and bustle of the adolescent population to the West and the Christian population to the East, will entice art lovers and those eager to participate in intellectual stimulation. Thus, I need to fully erect a concept in which I can create an Andy Warhol museum to entertain the population of Aloha. I am still toying with my design, but I think it will most likely consist of rooms with stained glass ceilings so that, from a birds-eye-view, the museum will look like a famous Andy Warhol 3x3. Each stained glass ceiling would be a different segment of the museum. I am considering pairing the walls of each individual segment with the color of the glass but mainly accenting each room with a color that directly contrasts with the ceiling and wall colors. For example, I would pair blue with orange accents, because these colors are considered to clash by most standards but were featured in several Andy Warhol color altered panels of the 3x3s. My metaphor will be a little more in depth, and I still haven't completely decided on how to execute my idea, but I want each colored segment of the museum to achieve a different mood. When I individual spend time dissecting just one colored piece of an Andy Warhol 2x2 or 3x3 I notice that each image invokes a different mood and emotion. I hope to somehow find a way to do this in my museum.

Post 5 - Collage

This is my rough draft of my pop art collage. I searched, using the Delicious search engine, for Andy Warhol inspired Pop Art images. This search took me through several pages of "Make yourself into an Andy Warhol painting" - apparently it is now a fad to toy with personal pictures until you have successfully made yourself look like the famous Marilyn Monroe picture by Andy Warhol. Eventually, I arrived at google images where I found several famous Andy Warhol prints. I took the suggestion given by Mr. Runberg and decided to use the typical 3x3 grid of an Andy Warhol but change each frame to a different famous Pop Art photograph or painting. Also, I altered the colors of the original pictures, as well as increasing the saturation of color, so that each picture looked entirely transformed and also because pop art is all about in-your-face color and style. Tomorrow, I am going to add a black grid to my 3x3 but I intend to use words in place of a line so that my painting strays from the typical Andy Warhol paintings and is unique

Post 4 - GoogleDocs

Upon first coming into contact with GoogleDocs, I see it as an excellent way to store my projects, organize my work, and keep track of the tasks I have completed or have yet to complete. Personally, I think the best part of GoogleDocs for me will be the presentation feature, in which you can create and save a presentation in GoogleDocs. This feature is so appealing to me because I can access it from my home computer and my school computer. In the past, it has been a pain emailing info to myself from school so that I could access it from home and visa versa. The whole Google system, not just GoogleDocs, provides a means of accessing my email and personal tools that I use on my home computer that I have lacked in the past. I personally wish I would have signed up for Gmail, and therefore the rest of the services Google has to offer (such as blogger), a long time ago. I can see myself using the Google tools outside of just architecture class.
This is my web page, created by Google Docs, for my narrative research essay.

Post 3 - Art of Interest

Ever since reading his personal biography, I love Andy Warhol and I personally feel like a Pop Art museum, mainly displaying Andy Warhol's work, would be my best bet for a project I could remain thoroughly interested in all trimester. I enjoy Pop Art and love that people take the average and the everyday and step back to look at it from a different, more artistic perspective. Specifically, I love the pictures of Andy Warhol's coke series. I think it is specifically interesting that he took one simple idea, or good, and ran with it in such a way no one ever had before. I can imagine the criticism Warhol received because most designers and creators of his time most likely wouldn't have considered the work Warhol was doing as art. Warhol revolutionalized the genre, modern art. I think the subject of pop art in general is extremely interesting and I am excited to immerse myself in it as I create my museum designed for it. Below are some of the most famous Pop art pieces, and my most favorite:



Richard Hamilton's Just What is it that Makes Today's Homes so Different, so Appealing



Roy Lichtenstein's Drowning Girl



Wayne Thiebaud's Three Machines



Andy Warhol's Campbell's Tomato Soup Cans

Post 2 - Course Description

Architecture 1

The main theme of this trimester is considering the art that is home to other art. As a student, I am going to be personally choosing a type of art I have interest in and building a museum to reflect that which it houses, the art of my choice. I am going to be asked to open my mind and discover my personal design styles, which will most likely be characterized by the art I choose and how I reflect it in my museum design. I will be designing this museum to fit the empty lot directly across from the East side of my school. I am excited to see what creativity comes out and how the final project looks.

Post 1 - Blogging in Architecture

Since I was little, I have absolutely LOVED architecture. It was strange for my mom and dad when I would look at pictures of buildings, or when we would pass by the old buildings in downtown Portland. My reactions to buildings was never "Look mommy, they are sooo biggg!" as my older sister had exclaimed when she first saw the skyscrapers or the old chapel with the stained glass that I love today. Instead, I would point out the color of the brick of the skyscrapers, or talk about how I thought the stained glass made the run down church seem young, yet stil anciently beautiful. For me, architecture is so much more then just structure. I love how one small house, when designed properly, can completely light up a street, so much so that it would compel you to drive out of your way just so that you may see the certain building from time to time. I also feel even the most simply planned houses, business buildings, or service places, such as restaurants or libraries, can be beautiful in their own was, or at the very least interesting. There is a motive behind ever creation. I many times feel so curious I would love to know these motives, but I think it is the mystery that makes architecture so full of depth.

Also, since about middle school, I have LOVED blogging. Although other blogs have come and gone, my first blog I ever wrote I still keep today. It has slowly morphed into a place that I keep private so I can truly spill my guts to hyperspace. Nowadays, only my two best friends are able to view and comment on my blog. On my blog I talk about anything from my death-defying highs to my extreme lows. I find expression as one of my best means of catharsis. Sometimes I find myself completely ranting, but I always keep even the most random blog entries. I later go back and read the blogs, especially the ones from "heat of the moment" situations. I use it as a learning experience. Often times I later do not understand why I was so mad or so happy, but it is still fun to monitor my unrationalness. I enjoy blogging and I excited about keeping a blog as an online journal for this class.