Post 13 - Me, My building, My Adventure.

I am a music loving gamer who is highly aesthetic.
This may be what defines me. I use the word may because its all in a mater of opinion: my opinion, your opinion, an outsiders encoding upon first glance. In my opinion, this statement means a variety of things.
First of all, music is a huge deal in my life. I generally am open to the widest variety of music - people get caught off guard almost on a daily basis when I work music into my conversations because I listen to everything from the popular to the entirely bazaar. I have been in band since middle school, and I can honestly say I enjoy classical music. Not all of course, because some of the most complex chord progressions can still be perceived as dull. But even when I do not enjoy music - whether it be country music, which is one genre I identify with the least, or screamo, in which my opinion differs song to song - I can always appreciate it. Because, let's face it, someone put there time and energy, and most likely their everything, into the creation of the song. And I will always appreciate creation when the work is genuine. However, I don't think that through most people's view of the word "define" I would say music defines me. Because every single song that exists, every note that is uttered, resonates which each individual differently. I feel that at first glance at the music I listen to, not one single person could actually know the real me. I do not always listen to music that I identify with. Often, I just enjoy sound and that is why music is so large in my life. I think music is so ambiguous that through my perspective, music is not a defining factor in my life. However, I still think it would be enormously fun to sit down every night and create a soundtrack for the day I just experience - sad songs to accompany the rough times, up lifting and fun songs to document the joys I experienced. It's sad to know that my knowledge of music is not large enough that I could pick perfect songs to parallel my experiences.
Secondly, I am a gamer. By this, I mean I am competitive in nature and have an active soul. I played soccer up until high school, where I passed up the sport for drumline. I played volleyball for my church for three years, the last year being my sophomore year. I thrive in an competitive environment and miss having a sport in my life very much. I receive so much joy, sadly, from my personal success at sports. However, I think I have a healthy outlook because I do not feel sad when I play bad but instead I seek pleasure from my day to day improvement. I also love working as a team. When my team would do well, I swear my body somehow received an extra kick of endorphins, because my moods were always phenomenal. Now that I lack a team and a way to stay active and feel that kick of adrenaline, I run. Sadly, it's alone and on my treadmile, but I again view this as a place I can mentally thrive as well as physically. I blare my music and work hard. When I finish a workout, I always feel better about myself. However, my gamer status does not just apply to my physical work. I also love video/computer games. I begged for guitar hero for Christmas this year, and have progressed from level easy to level hard in about four weeks of play. That should portray a little of the time and dedication I have accidentally bestowed upon this passtime. Also, I play tetris at least once a day, whether it be in handheld form, on my boyfriend's phone, or late into the night on my computer. My love of games extends to sudoku and the famous Rubik's cube, but I normally do not delve too much into problem solving games because they tend to be stress inducing and not stress releasing.
Lastly, I am a hugely aesthetic person. The world exist visually for me, not physically. Subjects like science bore me to no end because I would much rather go play with the brilliant green frogs than discus their anatomy. Chemistry was even worse than biology - I am social person, I prefer to think in the 3D, talk to a face, not think of the compounds which made up my best friends. I enjoy cognitive aesthetics too. I like people who think creativity instead of critically. My world is really about colors - which is probably why I gravitate to Andy Warhol art, as well as pop art in general. I prefer thinking that things cannot be defined any way but visually. I really do not form many opinions on color because in general, for me, in the right environment every color has its place.
As a participant in the building I am constructing, it is safe to say I would really enjoy to visit a museum like this. I would enjoy the Andy Warhol as well as the color and the way the building is created to be a part of the community, consumerism life. Andy Warhol also was a sponsor of his local music scene, especially rave-inspired bands and grunge enthusiasts. I would like to have the music that Andy Warhol was exposed to also be exposed to the members of my museum. To the community, my building will be a functionary part of the environment. It will use the set up transportation of our current Aloha environment. It would involve the people of the community, as it is a tourist attraction.
My favorite space within my building is going to be the coffee shop / biography station. I LOVE reading, and I have enjoyed two of the biographies I have read on Andy Warhol. Also, coffee is a regular drink for me. The combination would be amazing. I would love to curl up in a comfy chair in a museum dedicated towards a wonderful icon and read all about him as a sip I white chocolate mocha. That's my bliss.

Post 12 - Goals for week 1/20-1/23

This week with my perspective drawings I hope to narrow down my ideas on color. I love the idea of incorporating all sorts of wild, neon, and electric colors but I can't decide which to highlight or which to make more subtle. Also I feel the need to add more texture to my idea because when I visualize my ideas I always find myself dreaming up a colorful, smooth indoor look. I think Andy Warhol was less defined and therefore I must find the right rough edges or textures to highlight that personal opinion. My building does not portray a journey as much as it hopes to establish open mindedness. I would like the outside v. the inside to ultimately achieve "Don't judge a book by it's cover" and well as "Just cuz Andy Warhol was different and looked intimidating doesn't mean he wasn't one of the most creative individuals of all time."

Post 11 - Bubble Diagrams

Throughout this week while I constructed my bubble diagrams I had a hard time achieving a dynamic look that I was aiming for. I wanted my museum design to reflect the magnificence and creativity that is the mind of Andy Warhol. However, I did master my restaurant idea in two different bubble diagram plans that I now can't decide between. One features the restaurant in the very center, so that consumerism is centered. The other has the art galleries built on top of a hidden restaurant, supporting the idea that consumerism holds up and is a center role to society. In my sections, I personally feel that the restaurant being the focal point in the center would provide a more interesting and visual dynamic that the tiers of art gallery atop the restaurant lacks. However, I like how the tiers of art gallery smack you in the face when you first walk into the museum. I like focusing on the color and I feel it would achieve more of the metaphor effect I hope to establish. Oh well, the debate rages on. Hopefully I will choose the one that outweighs the effects of the other.

Post 10 - Goals, Week 1/12 - 1/17

This week I hope to spend a large amount of time creating my bubble diagram. I am a very indecisive person so I foresee myself going through a lot of paper with every change of idea. For me, almost every time I come up with a new idea, accompanying said idea is three other ways in which I could execute it differently. That being said, I am deeply hoping that the general pictures of my project I have already begun to envision can make the transition to paper without many erasure marks or "do-overs." I think one of the biggest challenges will be when I try to include the restaurant, labs, and offices, and I feel any of such could distract from my metaphor if not properly executed. I am particularly torn, cuz Andy Warhol would appreciate the consumerism and maybe even place these areas at the forefront of the design, making his museum as people-friendly and consumer-driven as possible. However, I want the inside to more readily reflect Andy's mind and ambition in a way that do not let his passions stand out too much. For instance, Andy enjoyed producing, writing, and filming pornographic films. And if this is included in my museum, it will be as understated as possible , such us just a small section with a listing of movie titles. I hope that my museum will be family friendly and focus on the enchanting works Andy Warhol achieved. Hopefully my bubble diagram will reflect this hope.

Post 9 - Presentation Reflections

The presentations were very fun for me, more as a viewer than a presenter. In my opinion, I love hearing others peoples ideas and adding to them. My mind has a habit of being pulled under by my creative side. So, my favorite part of the presentations was thinking the "What if's" through with other peoples projects. At the same time, the presentations in general really allowed me to open my mind about what I personally wanted to achieve in my project. I feel my metaphor needed work, and after hearing students have an inability to fully connect their ideas with the outside and the inside of the building, I decided I wanted my whole building to truly embody what Andy Warhol is. My metaphor is now a mere personification of the walls of what I hope to build. I want the outside of my building to represent Andy Warhol's appearance - intimidating, quirky, out of the ordinary. But I want the inside to portray the amount of color and creativity that filled Andy Warhol's whole outlook. I want the contents of the building to reflect the contents of Andy's mind. And I also hope to hit people straight in the face, so to speak, with what I accomplish. I personally feel that is the path Andy Warhol's life followed. He looked intimidating and could make people feel wary about venturing closer, but one you allowed yourself to hear what he had to say, Andy Warhol said it willingly, and the ideas and genius of the man were enough to leave you speechless.

Post 8 - Narrative

Peculiar was my definition of art. Basically, the fact that I didn't have a definition was my definition. Art was ambiguous. Art was Billy's euphoric expression caused by our little visit to this small chunk of land. Art was the mud on my shoe - zoom in on the mud itself and art would be the molecules nestled closely to create such an obscure, unique mix of mud and water. My most criticized art was my love of consumerism. To most artists, the daily processed goods we, consumers, purchased on a daily basis were the antithesis of art. A common fallacy is consumerism kills art. I felt the opposite. This made me a freak. And this freak wanted to create what he wanted to create. And that's how I governed myself.

More of my idea.

Post 7 - Google Earth and Sketch Up

The picture seen above is the birds eye view (Photo taken from GoogleEarth) of our building site for our museum project. It is nestled in a small community beside an medium sized High School. Although the area seems relatively quite, the location of 185th in proximity to the sight creates a louder than average noise level that minimally detracts from the West side of the school. However, the East side of the site is beside the Aloha Church of God, which creates an unexplained stillness away from the activity on the West side of the lot. Because of the location of Aloha High School, both the road and the community experiences busier surrounding roads while school is in session, September-Mid June. However, taking into account all of the above, the lot still remains relatively still and untouched. I'm more than curious to see what would happen to that area if someone did actually build one of the proposed museums. I would be most curious to see the churches reaction because of just how close their proximity would be with the new establishment. While there is a limited ammount of space between the walls of the schools and the building site, there is even less of a space between the Aloha Church of God and the building site.



Seen above is the set up of the buildings within the immediate area. Personally, I feel Aloha High School and the church are the only two buildings really of significance. The small houses in the community in the community are unimposing and mostly inconspicuous. Aloha's high structure seems to dominate the view from the west completely. In turn, the church from the East also is experienced in the visual aspect from within the site itself, but it is much less imposing and also seems shabby and simple compared to the neighboring Aloha High School. I feel the architecture of the meseum itself would have to be visually very intimidating if it hopes to compete with the grandios size and brick-and-rock-structure of Aloha High School. However, in my opinion, I would like to take my building plan and actually do the opposite. I would like it to not try to compete with anything in the neighborhood but instead be an aspect of the community you have to search for to find. It itself would be part of the metaphor of the meseum, which in the last five minutes I have seem to mentally stumble upon. Andy Warhol himself relished consumerism. The placement of the building, in the middle of a community that obviously takes part in consumerism, would have greatly appealed to him. But I would like to take it one step further and place the very structure of the building embedded into the Earth, so that the museum itself would be deep within the ground that makes up a community that grew from dirt into a successful suburb. This metaphor, however, would be much more subtle and unapparent compared to the metaphor that correlates more accurately with everything Andy Warhol was. I have an idea as to what that metaphor is, but as I have no quite completely established it, I don't really want to write about it in this post until it is more refined. So, with the completion of this post I am going to go do more research on Andy Warhol. I am truly greatful I picked him because I am only now beginning to realize just how interesting is, and how easy and fun it is going to be when I use his life as my inspiration for my museum.