montserrat design
design senior projects, ca 1998-2020
2019 < 2020 > 2021 course blogs : fall 19, spring 20, fall 20
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Arielle Carlow Nathaniel Cioffi Andrew Cook |
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Paige Dempster Claire DiIonno Richard Fraser |
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May Funda (A+IM) Nicole Hosking Rebecca Jones (Book Arts) |
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Cailee Mitchell Zaruga Philips Steven Rudin |
- Arielle Carlow
Repeat, Redo, ReplayThroughout this thesis project I first experimented with the presentation and creation of patterns, and the process I used. After breaking down my original patterns, I started synchronizing them to my music. The animated patterns and music create something entirely new and different.
To make the patterns “move” I utilize stop motion techniques to record the various layers of a pattern as they’re drawn. I then overlap and use blending techniques in Premier, while also synchronizing the images and sequences to music.
Naturally being drawn to little infinities and intimacies in life, I create patterns as a way to escape. While drawing them the world around me seems to go silent and disappear.formats —
pen and ink; robots; stop motion and time lapse animations; etchings; music
and mask making during Covid-19 quarantineArielle Carlow videos at youtube
- Nathaniel Cioffi
Broken Amend/ments; Frustration & Isolation; YOU ARE HERE!, &c.Broken Amend/ments
This project explores the degradation of meaning through repetition and reinterpretation over time. Each of these works represents a multi-poster series. The process starts by formally typesetting each constitutional amendment. After this, the font size is systematically increased with each poster causing the language to become distorted. This is symbolic of the repeated reinterpretation of the laws over the decades, distorting original intents, and covering up racial injustices that are written into those laws. This project raises the question, is it time to rewrite the oldest constitution?
Frustration & Isolation
These works have come out of my own reflections on feelings of anger, frustration, and isolation in 2020.
YOU ARE HERE!
This project explores the idea that we are all together in our shared feelings of loneliness, frustration, and isolation during this unforgettable year.
January 20, 2017 — January 20, 2021
This poster is inspired by the 45th presidential term’s approach to tradition and prerequisite.
Screaming for 60 Seconds
This book and poster combo look to encapsulate the feeling of a good scream.formats —
(type-heavy) books; posters; photography; videoblog posts —
fall 20 - Andrew Cook
Vulnerability / Be A Man — A design commentary on masculinity.This project became a collaboration between myself and other men who believe that the social stereotypes around what it means to be a man are ridiculous and trivial at best. As part of an attempt to help me convey this idea, they agreed to let me photograph their hands with nail polish painted on their finger nails... The simple act of having these men paint their nails... is an act of defiance...
A huge part of this project was dealing with emotion...formats —
primarily posters - Paige Dempster
Nihilist DogsThere must be a meaning to life, but I have no clue what it is or what it even could be. I was filled with this existential dread about halfway through the semester, making it difficult to take care of myself beyond basic survival, let alone produce any sort of meaningful work. I have a bad habit of letting my emotions bleed into my art, as well as the lifelong artsy quirk of doodling in the margins of my notebook, so I put the two together and began drawing these strange looking dogs and combining them with garish handwritten text expressing a nihilist world view, then I finally cut the images up into small books.
The liveliness of the dogs combined with the animated yet existential text create a stark contrast that make them hard to ignore, and the books cut the image up to make them hard to understand, but able to vaguely piece together if meditated on for long enough, just like life.
I knew from the beginning that I wanted these to be small books so people could take a little bit of this sentiment with them, so I included a fully pieced together image as a sticker to encourage people.
For the show, I printed and folded two hundred individual books for people to take home.
Earlier stages of the project (Fall 2020) were devoted to symbols and icons — one shape symbols, brain illustrations (mainly relating to mental states), and preposition icons (e.g., “in,” “out,” “over,” “under”).formats —
icons (many many icons!); books; installation - Claire DiIonno
Mental NoteThe face crystallizes all redundancies,
it emits and receives,
releases and recaptures signifying signs.
— Deleuze and Guattari, A Thousand PlateausThese images of glass, nature, and makeup all have a much deeper meaning to me than what they appear to show to an outsider looking in. My research and self-exploration of the psyche have brought me to this point in my design and it meant to show how many layers and directions I took to end up here.
This work has been fueld by my own thoughts and words and is based off of the things I discovered about myself. Though I tried to stay away from making this project personal, it ended up doing that on its own.
Earlier (fall 2019) research/reading (Jenny Edkins, Face Politics (2015)) and studio work focused on the face.formats —
line contour drawings; drawings from self-images reflected in mirrors; makeup; three-dimensional masks; digitally collaged images (some incorporating text) - Richard Fraser
$LICK — streetwear designExperimentation. When all this started I couldn’t quite pinpoint what $LICK looked like as a brand. I knew the style I was trying to represent but trying to cohesively express that through fashion design was a challenge. My goal for the past year has been to transmit my aesthetic into a recognizable brand. By reinforcing this style through my digital and physical designs I was able to build an expansive assortment of content that aligned with my brand identity. Although this first collection consists of hoodie and strap prototypes, I plan to take this brand places nobody ever would’ve expected.
formats —
icons, symbols; pattern experimentation (e.g., “fluid dynamics”); sweater, straps and belts - May Funda (Animation + Interactive Media)
Adrift — book seriesMy work is about depicting animals in their natural habitats and evoking feelings of being surrounded by them, as if the viewer is in the image as well. The reason I chose to focus on aquatic animals is because they always seemed mysterious to me. They’re beautiful and complicated, and the ocean they live in is so unexplored. The majority of organisms alive currently live under the ocean, and most of the ocean is unexplored.
I wanted to use colors that helped convey the peaceful feeling of each image, and the text in each image is supposed to complement the visuals. I used text taken from spreads in my final book that I printed last semester, to keep some continuity, and I repurposed them to fit the images I’ve added or changed for this book. My goal is to be experimental with the placement of text, using colors and font styles that complement the rhythm of the images from one page to the next.formats —
three books (on whales, sea turtles, penguins); image development; research-based and poetic text elements - Nicole Hosking
Left BehindMy theme is abandonment, specifically focusing on abandoned homes. I took a series of abstract photographs of an abandoned home, located in Danvers Massachusetts. From the inspiration of these photographs I wrote a series of poetry also relating to the subject of abandonment. I wanted to bring imagination and new life to places that are usually forgotten about. By combining the photographs with the poetry it gives the abandoned home meaning again.
Earlier themes (some abandoned, some retained) : conspiracy theories; “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!”; “criminal minds” and other aphorismsAn Abandoned Home, online version (at issuu)
formats —
poetry; photographs; accordion and codex format books; zine; panels (installation) - Rebecca Jones (Book Arts)
Tell Me, O MuseTell Me, O Muse is a thesis work about translation, connotation, and reading.
The same words can have vastly different meanings depending on the reader. This is especially evident when dealing with translation: all translators work from the same source text, but each version is the product of a single person’s education, experiences, and preferences.
The work in Tell Me, O Muse uses Homer’s Odyssey in its original text and its translations to consider the topics of legibility, mutual understanding/exclusivity, double meanings, and characterization.Those Were His Words (available at Lulu) — A brief, poetic exploration into two words found in Homer’s Odyssey: “andra” and “polymetis”.
Rebecca Jones thesis websiteformats —
letterpress and digital prints; books - Cailee Mitchell
Vulva is Not a Dirty WordVulva is Not a Dirty Word is a series of work that focuses on the vulva and the experiences of those who have one. The goal for this body of work is to provide knowledge to others through means that are more interesting than research or reading medical texts.
Throughout the semester, individuals were able to submit anonymous responses regarding their experiences while living with a vulva... The responses gathered were raw, personal, and emotional. These responses inspired prints, embroideries, books, and even a pair of ‘wearable’ vulva earrings. Through this work, I was able to explore a fine art approach while still incorporating elements of design. The result was a series that combines educational purposes with artistic methods.A collection of the work along with all the anonymous responses received can be found at caileemitchell.wixsite.com/vulvaisnotadirtyword.
formats —
books, embroidery, posters, acrylic earrings, website, etc. - Zaruga Philips
PlaitNatural hair can be a political and social statement or merely loving your natural shrinkage and finding happiness within yourself. My poems express deep emotions and my experience as a Black woman while learning cultural differences when it comes to Black hair. Each stanza tells the story of some of the everyday struggles that Black women with natural hair go through. The poems also dive into the cultural significance of Black individuals’ hair. Some of these poems provide modern-day struggles in the Black communities surrounding identity with a few historical oppression on Black women as slaves.
formats —
poetry, drawn and photographic illustrations; videoPlait can be viewed at anyflip
see also
myportfolio
@zphilipsart
and redbubble - Steven Rudin
Positive AttitudePositive Attitude is a comedy stage magic show that was written and performed by Herman & Stefon. The main concept of the show was to challenge the stereotypical image of a magician and create a respectable show. We wanted to create a show that had just the right amount of profanity while still showing off beautiful and elegant magic, and not take ourselves too seriously at the same time. From close-up card magic, to classic side-show stunts, these two bring a performance that shows everyone what magic has been missing.
earlier (Fall 2019) work was devoted to Pareidolia (the tendency to recognize shapes in clouds, faces in inanimate objects or abstract patterns, or to hear hidden messages in music) and Apophenia (the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between seemingly unrelated things); some designs abstracted from a rock; a what-do-you-see exercise relating to patterns on the surface of a cup of coffee; and Rudin’s Weekly Almanac, a info-graphic oriented account of its author’s use of time.formats —
info-graphics; digital images; promotional materials for a magic stage show