Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Over break I visited many of the museums in Washington D.C. but I went into the Hishhorn Museum for the first time. The museum is filled with many interesting sculptures ranging from materials. One exhibit that stood out to me was that of Andy Warhol's titled Shadows. The exhibit consisted of a repetition of what seemed like the same painting just in different colors.

Here is the link for the exhibit too: http://hirshhorn.si.edu/exhibitions/view.asp?key=22&subkey=511

Open to closed dilemma

All of these are examples of open to closed or closed to open obviously. But what's not obvious is how to go about making it abstract, and not just a literal translation with our bristol board models. I had this image of open and closed in my mind that were all so literal. I had to think of what open and closed actually meant to me, but the only way to do that without thinking about the opening and closing of a door was to think of the root definition of each word in its simplest form. Open- allows movement and doesn't allow restriction. Closed- restricted area, or blocking movement. After that, I could get away from the popular open square to closed square, and move towards something more unique. I suggest for your remake, if you're still having problems deciding what you want to do, give what I did a try, and just start sketching!

El Pimientera Elementary School

Over winter break, I traveled to El Progresso, Honduras. For 8 days, I as well as 22 other Virginia Tech students laid the foundation for an elementary school in the village of Buenos Amigos just outside of Villa Soleada. Before we arrived at the village, the school consisted of a tin roof and a dirt. When it would rain, school would be cancelled for the day. Together, we dug a 4 foot trench, constructed rebars, mixed and poured over 50 bags of concrete, and began to build the walls of the school. My service trip to Honduras taught me a lot about the actual construction and execution of a design, and what it takes to make a sketch come to life. I attached photos I took of my experience, and a before and after shot.

Pittsburgh

Over break I went to Pittsburgh, PA to visit my grandmother. Pittsburgh is notorious for the many bridges in throughout the area. I found the detail and timelessness of the bridges very interesting. Since first semester I pay more attention to the little details in my surroundings. Signs throughout the city use texts that grab attention. The tall buildings are amazing structures. Pittsburgh has so much architecture I've never noticed before since this semester of studio.

cool sites

Alright so I found a few sites recently that have lots of really cool art/design/architecture, and I figured I'd share them in case anyone wants to check them out. They're updated pretty regularly and you can also follow 'like' them on facebook and follow them on twitter!

Colossal (blog for random art and design projects, ideas, etc...)

here are a few examples, but the site includes tons of different types of media

design boom (publishes art, architecture, design, etc...)

this is pretty cool because the site actually tells you a lot about the projects and shows process, etc...

the images here are from the designs proposed for the dalian museum in China.

hope you guys find it interesting!

Park City

I spent a couple days snowboarding in Park City, UT over christmas with a group of guys with my family. The space of the mountain is open and free. It felt great to be alone in the mountains separated from the mundaneness of what everyday societal life brings.

SCUBA Diving Key West

Over the break my family and I took a trip to Key West to enjoy some warmer weather and a change of pace from our usual lives. While on the island, my step brother and I took several daily excursions into the deep blue abyss, exploring several ship wrecks and reefs off the coast.

The pictures my brother took with his camera don't really do justice to the atmosphere and the experience of diving. As a marine biologist, he was more interested in the local wildlife. I on the other hand, more enjoyed the act of exploring decrepit ships and immersing myself in that eerie, almost ghostly, atmosphere.

It was a wonderful experience and I kind of expect us to take trips such as these on an annual basis. If you'd like to see the rest of my brother's pictures you can see them on facebook here. (NOTE: he might have his privacy settings to where you won't be able to view them)