Back in the Groove

Well, school has started back up and everyone is off and running. I am taking three classes this semester for the usual total of fifteen credits. A whopping nine of those credits come from my grad studio class. This entire year in the studio is devoted to thesis work so I won't be responding to specific assignments as I have done in the past. Instead, we are encouraged to explore our own area of interest. Along with the pieces we produce we are required to write a paper that serves as a written documentation of the idea we choose to explore. I expect my thoughts will grow and change over the course of the year but I am beginning my work looking at biological systems and the current interest and issues that surround them as a jumping off point. My work in general already has a strong basis in systems and interactivity so I think the idea will serve to make my work relevant and more focused.

In addition to my studio class which meets twice a week, I am taking two electives. The first being a class that will be researching materials not typically used in the design of furniture. We are encouraged to choose a material and explore its potential through experimentation. The class is not all play and no work though. We are required to produce a flawless finished product by the end of the semester. The work of the entire class will be evaluated and selected pieces will be chosen to be a part of an exhibition at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York in the spring. I have chosen initially to work with rawhide, which is the skin of an animal that has not been exposed to tanning. We are free to change our material at any time...as long as we finish by the due date.

For my second elective I will be doing an independent study with Yuri, the instructor of the Design for Production class I took last spring. She knows a lot about woodworking and is going to help me make a dining room table with a slide puzzle top and maybe one chair to go along with it.

The table has the potential to be pretty complicated, especially with wood expanding and contracting the way it does. I want all the pieces to work perfectly so I will need lots of help to pull it off.

So, those are my classes. In other related news, I have a new roommate. She is a first-year grad in the jewelry department and things are working out perfectly. I miss Mallory and Quigley the Cat, but Yoshie is as good of a replacement as I could hope for. To avoid eating from the expensive, limited, and unhealthy food choices around campus I have a new resolve to go to the grocery store every Monday. So far, so good; but I know it is just going to get harder and harder to make the time for that. My classmates make fun of me for drinking my meals in the form of protein shakes but they are just so convenient!