Education for All by Brian Cuellar

HONORABLE MENTION – Education for All by Brian Cuellar (Colombia)

In many parts of the world the education programs are inadequate, mostly in the third world countries. This right does not reach the most vulnerable communities. It has been said before but education IS the key to solving all our problems, even poverty.

Education for All is based around a book-mobile. Most impoverished children in the world have never even see a book. The system has storage for books, didactic materials, and lesson plans. It can be transported by a truck, motorcycle or even a helicopter to the most remote regions. It is made in fiber glass which doubles as a wonderful white board to conduct lessons with.

Read more at http://www.yankodesign.com/2008/10/30/design-for-poverty-winners/#He0vprItmeJ9wv2V.99

Fred Wilson, Artist

MINING THE MUSEUM
Text excerpts from an essay by Elisabeth Ginsberg
Source is beautifultrouble.org

“What they put on view says a lot about a museum, but what they don’t put on view says even more,”[2] Wilson said in an interview about his installations. He communicated this point by contrasting what is with what should be. By drawing attention to the overlooked black figures, his installment asked whose truth was on display at the Maryland Historical Society.

Metalwork 1793–1880

The installation juxtaposed ornate silver pitchers, flacons, and teacups with a pair of iron slave shackles. Traditionally, the display of arts and craft is kept separate from the display of traumatic artifacts such as slave shackles. By displaying these artifacts side by side, Wilson created an atmosphere of unease and made apparent the link between the two kinds of metal works: The production of the one was made possible by the subjugation enforced by the other. When the audience made this connection, Wilson succeeded in creating awareness of the biases that often underlie historical exhibitions and, further, the way these biases shape the meaning we attach to what we are viewing.

Modes of Transport

Wilson communicated his critique through a strategic juxtaposition of the museum’s artifacts. The audience was left to draw the conclusions. Wilson exhibited an old baby carriage in which a Ku Klux Klan hood substituted the usual bedding. The baby carriage was placed next to a photograph of black nannies with white babies — their future employers. Again, Wilson did not make any explicit statements, but simply provided the audience with a strong visual statement about the persistence of racial hierarchies. The suggestion that children readily absorb their parents’ prejudices was clear.

Why it worked

There have been other attempts to use satirical techniques to critique museum institutions from within. Often these have caused controversies due to misinterpretations and the difficulties inherent in the ambition to destabilize one’s own foundation. “Mining the Museum” worked because it was suggestive rather than didactic, provocative rather than moralizing.

Wilson’s intervention was a correction of the museum’s identity in the sense that it made the underlying racism apparent. Using glass cases and neat labeling, Wilson’s installations mimicked the usual methods of museum display but with a twist so that a new voice or persona was created. As he said it himself: “By bringing things out of storage and shifting things already on view, I believe I created a new public persona for the historical society.”

Love and Loss in the Milky Way, 2005

1 table with 47 milk glass elements, 1 plaster bust, 1 plaster head, 1 standing woman and a ceramic cookie jar, 

77 3/4 x 92 x 43 7/8 inches. 

Photo by Kerry Ryan McFate. Courtesy The Pace Gallery, New York.

 Untitled. 2005. 

1 table with 47 milk glass elements, 1 plaster bust, 1 plaster head, 1 standing woman and a ceramic cookie jar, 

77 3/4 x 92 x 43 7/8 inches. 

Photo by Kerry Ryan McFate. Courtesy The Pace Gallery, New York.

"...Love and Loss in the Milky Way is a subtle and moving assemblage that reflects on the fragility of human relations. Here, seventy-five pieces of milk glass—one of which belonged to Wilson’s late mother—are displayed on a tabletop. Among these vessels are four sculptural elements: a standing Greek figure, the bust of a black woman with an elongated neck, a mammy-type figurative cookie jar, and a broken plaster bust of a white male, modeled on a classical Roman prototype. The work suggests an encounter between various cultures and alludes to the relationship between fine art and material culture. Yet the figures here are not just true to type. The way in which they face one another, with the white male figure lying broken among them, suggests a more philosophical response than one expects from Wilson. No longer does the artist attempt to embody one of these representations. Instead, he approaches his subject from a distance; viewers may sense that the real story lies among these pieces, in the gaps between races, ideas about race, and the way those are fixed in objects." 

John Zarobell

March 14, 2012 artpractical.com

Fred Wilson

Because Who Is Perfect? Get Closer by Pro Infirmis, Swiss Charity

Pro Infirmis, a Swiss charity organization for people with disabilities, has created a series of mannequins that reflect bodies of people with physical disabilities for a project titled, “Because Who is Perfect? Get Closer.” 

The process of measuring the bodies of 5 people and sculpting the mannequins was captured by director Alain Gspone in this moving 4 minute film. The reactions of each person upon seeing their mannequin are also captured, with one woman remarking, “It’s special to see yourself like this, when you usually can’t look at yourself in the mirror.” 

For people not used to seeing reflections of their body types in the commercial world, these new mannequins create an empowering experience by providing a platform of visibility in an industry that so often neglects to represent the diversity of bodies.

After the mannequins were created, they were placed in Zurich store fronts, on a popular downtown shopping street, Bahnhofstrasse, in honor of International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The video shows a range reactions of people as they walk by the store front, captivated by these new mannequins.

Through this project, Pro Infirmis wishes to raise awareness of the lack of representation of people with disabilities, especially in the world of fashion and retail. You can find more photos and information about the project on Photopress.  (via the huffington post and the daily mail). 

-source is beautifulldecay.com

Submarine Sandwich by PES

Watch the video below to see behind the scenes. 

Listen closely to what the artist has to say - he is a good example of how practice 

and taking chances leads to success. 

For more, go to artist's website, pesfilm.com

The Height Adjustable Chair

Remember those moments when the chair was too low and you couldn’t reach the table? This chair provided with ‘pages’ allows you height adjustments for your lesser tall acquaintances. Source is brash.comhttp://www.brash.com/10-inventions-you-wont-believe-actually-exist-or-will-exist-soon/?utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=pld&utm_campaign=awareness

The Toy Eating Monster

The eternal toy mess finally ends with this funny device. Your kids will definitely fall into the ‘pick what you throw trap’ of this case. Source is brash.com

The Foam Chair

Buying beanbags has always been a tricky task due to their shape loss. Take the shape loss off your shoulders because this foam chair returns to its original shape!
Source is brash.com

Alexis Valladares, Student Work

• For this project, I was inspired by Art Deco and Renaissance architecture. I chose to primarily mimic the angles and structures present in Art Deco. I used motifs found in Renaissance architecture mainly in the tile, paint, and arches. I also made it interactive, placing a pully that lifts up the ship so as to insinuate "blast off".

Monica Stauffer, Student Work

Materials: Soap, balsa wood, pins, hot glue, paint.

Measures approx. 4 inches tall x 6 inches x 3 inches.

Cassie Fernandez, Student Work

Cassie Fernandez, Student Work

I choose Gothic and Early Modern. The Seville Cathedral inspired me with the design on the side. My first instinct was to start with a cross figure and build layers that would come off the wall. I really liked the geometric style in the Goetheanhm. Each flat surface had a very distinct purpose that gave it a superior outline.  I incorporated some Early Modern patterns with the string, including the string on the center piece holding the rose window approximately 6 inches off the wall. I was inspired by the window in the Westminister Abbey photo. The rose window replicates the medieval period from which Gothic was introduced. I incorporated the columns within the cross to provide more features from the Gothic style. I am most proud of the rose window since I used a scroll saw to cut it - this was my first time using a scroll saw.

Materials: Foam board, balsa wood, thread, tape. Measures approx. 20 inches tall x 17 inches wide and 6 inches deep.

Monica Stuaffer, Student Work, Memento Assignment

Approx. 8" in length.

Wood, fabric and tea.

Artist Statement:
There was a week over the summer where a friend came up to St. Augustine and visited. For the majority of the time we were together we lay on the hardwood floor in my house, wrapped in blankets, drinking tea and drawing. It was easily the greatest part of my summer.  I am extremely nostalgic for that time. 

The three materials I used are wood, fabric and tea.

I took two pieces of wood and wrapped them in a piece of fabric (color scheme is similar to the comforters we were snuggled in). The whole piece was then dipped in tea, resulting in a stain on both the fabric and wood. The decision to keep the fabric unattached to the wood is representative of the numerous ways to be swaddled in blankets, constantly moving and being tangled in them. The combination of the wood and the fabric is similar to how I felt lying on that floor - comfortable, but also uncomfortable. 

Monica Stauffer, Student Work

Approx. 8" x 12" x 1"

Paper and Wood Glue

Monica Stauffer, Student Work

Alex Barnes, Student Work, 3D to 2D Assignment

                           I used the top half of my relief sculpture. The sculpture was made out of balsa wood. 

I duplicated a section of the sculpture, added color, made it symmetrical and added circles and lines. (original image of balsa wood sculpture not available)

Danielle Sumner, Student Work

Annabel Lee

BY EDGAR ALLAN POE

It was many and many a year ago,

   In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you may know

   By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

   Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

   In this kingdom by the sea,

But we loved with a love that was more than love—

   I and my Annabel Lee—

With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven

   Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

   In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

   My beautiful Annabel Lee;

So that her highborn kinsmen came

   And bore her away from me,

To shut her up in a sepulchre

   In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,

   Went envying her and me—

Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,

   In this kingdom by the sea)

That the wind came out of the cloud by night,

   Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love

   Of those who were older than we—

   Of many far wiser than we—

And neither the angels in Heaven above

   Nor the demons down under the sea

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

   Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,

   In her sepulchre there by the sea—

   In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Rebekah Richardson, Student Work, Poetry Garment

Poetry Garment

Materials: Paper, masking tape, spray paint

Two Coffins by Against Me!

Two coffins for sleep
One for you, one for me
We’ll get there eventually

In the dark of our graves our bodies will decay
I wish you’d never change

How lucky I ever was to see
The way that you smiled at me
Your little moon face shining bright at me
One day soon there’ll be nothing left of you and me

Two coffins for sleep
Two coffins for sleep

All the things I have yet to lose will someday be gone too
Back into annihilation
All things will fade, maybe it’s better off that way
I wish you’d stay with me

Statement:

I imagined a dark looming figure and felt a sense of morbidity and death.  My inspiration for the arms of the garment are based on the “coffin”.  In coffins, your body is restricted.  The arms I constructed restrict yourself from doing anything with them. The shape and texture of the arms add to the looming feel of the song, by extending further passed the hands and twisting at the ends as if they are wilting away like flowers. I gave the bodice a crumpled texture to resemble the idea of decay.  The skirt is constructed of crumpled strips of paper attached to a tape “belt”.  I did this to mimic the same idea that the arms are wilting away.  I wrapped the strips around my legs to represent death consuming me.

I left my face clean of any paper because it is the most living part of me.  My body begins to decay from top to bottom, taken from the song: “All things will fade, maybe it’s better off that way”.

Melissa Yearwood, Student Work, Poetry Garment

For this project I was inspired by a 19th century poem, Spirits of The Dead by Edgar Allen Poe. I wanted the garment to resemble a mourning dress from the 19th century because the poem is about death and loss. I also made a paper mache death mask. I used black because this color is associated with mourning. I also added gold accents to symbolize the beauty Poe saw in death. This project is made entirely out of paper and paint with some staples and tape to hold it all together.

Thy soul shall find itself alone

’Mid dark thoughts of the gray tombstone—

Not one, of all the crowd, to pry

Into thine hour of secrecy.

Be silent in that solitude,

   Which is not loneliness—for then

The spirits of the dead who stood

   In life before thee are again

In death around thee—and their will

Shall overshadow thee: be still.

The night, tho’ clear, shall frown—

And the stars shall look not down

From their high thrones in the heaven,

With light like Hope to mortals given—

But their red orbs, without beam,

To thy weariness shall seem

As a burning and a fever

Which would cling to thee for ever.

Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish,

Now are visions ne’er to vanish;

From thy spirit shall they pass

No more—like dew-drop from the grass.

The breeze—the breath of God—is still—

And the mist upon the hill,

Shadowy—shadowy—yet unbroken,

Is a symbol and a token—

How it hangs upon the trees,

A mystery of mysteries!