Alyssa Kerrigan

Inspirations:

Be pre-peared

Materials/Tools used: FDM

Process: For experiment four I wanted to expand from the past three experiments and to create a voronoi pattern on a poly surface, aka a pear. However, after two weeks of prototyping, tutorials, and trial and error I still couldn’t get grasshopper to work in my favour. Learning rhino and grasshopper has been a challenge and although I don’t want to give up I had to find a simple way that I could achieve the same result. So I used a website called voronator.com. Unfortunately, after I had sent my experiment off to be printed we went into another lockdown. Therefore, I am unsure of how the final product came out. This experiment for me was to understand grasshopper better, and ultimately create unique structures that I could experiment with a variety of materials. If I could have expanded further, in regards to what I gained from all of these experiments, I would have attempted to create a vessel. A fruit bowl to be precise that included this voronoi pattern, either using the stamp method or even using slipcasting from a 3D printed mould. This would have required a lot more time and further iteration on my part and I plan on continuing with the knowledge that I’ve acquired throughout these few weeks.

You gotta be kiwing me

Materials/Tools used: FDM, PLA, Clay

Process: When I began my third experiment I only knew what fruit I was interested in using, initially I was trying to branch out and find other functions available in the grasshopper plugin, I downloaded weaverbird and kangaroo and spent many hours trying to get something to work but nothing stuck out as significant and relevant to the project’s intent. I went back to the start, voronoi patterns and data objects, how could I create something with clay that would also incorporate an object that was applicable to the keywords we had outlined, I was still focusing on organic and engraved as my main keywords but as you’ll see it developed into something more that I feel encompasses all of the keywords. I was exploring for inspiration when I found clay stamps, I realised I could create a stamp with a voronoi pattern to emboss the clay that I had at home. I used a different coding method to extrude the voronoi pattern onto a rectangular box. It felt a bit incomplete, the examples I was looking at were spherical balls that could roll onto the clay, and it was something I wanted to replicate but as discussed this is quite difficult to achieve using grasshopper. Then I realised, thanks to Matt, I could manipulate the shape of the rectangle, bending into a u-shape - the stamp was now vastly improved. The object was organic, awkward to use, had texture and could engrave into the clay, ticking all the boxes there. I 3D printed the stamp and used it to roll it into the clay. I created three different experiments with clay. Ultimately, I really liked how this experiment turned out, especially because I was able to combine concepts from digital fabrication with what we had been shown in the wet labs. I would really like to continue experimenting with this stamping technique. I would like to create more stamps of a variety of shapes and patterns. 

An ap-peeling sight

Materials/Tools used: Laser-cutting, bamboo paper

Process: As I was researching about clay printing I came across a book called Advanced 3D Printing with Grasshopper: Clay and FDM. This introduced me to grasshopper a rhino plugin in which I was already very intrigued. I decided that I wanted to incorporate grasshopper in my rhino creative process. I was very interested in Voronoi patterns and how they reminded me of the fruit MRI scans that we were looking at, especially how the scan processes in real-time the shapes expand and contract, the voronoi pattern to me is almost an illusion of this action. Delving into grasshopper was particularly challenging for me. Initially, I wanted to emboss or engrave this Voronoi pattern into a banana or even print a banana that had a negative and positive imprint of this pattern that would join together. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that Grasshopper’s surface function is only compatible with a planar surface, which made the whole process extremely difficult to carry out as I’m still a novice. I experimented in many different ways and realised that I would have to conduct further research and carry on in another experiment as I was running out of time to complete my experiments. I decide to laser cut a Voronoi pattern into a banana and it would be very relevant to the project and a few keywords we were honing into - organic and engraved. I created the pattern keeping in mind a project from creative technologies that I really enjoyed called data objects. The project’s aim was to create an object that could visualise data in a unique and informative way. With this in mind, I created the pattern based on data I found about the yield a banana tree produces annually. But alas I ran into another problem, the pattern in the illustrator file was filled with hundreds of double lines and required a lot of cleaning up, something that would require more time than anticipated and out of worry for messing up a perfectly good banana, I decided to laser cut into bamboo paper something that was still organic and could be engraved into. Luckily the paper could handle the double lines and created a really wonderful multi-monotoned colour palette of burnt ambers and Sienna. The paper is quite thin allowed for light to shine behind the paper and it made us think of insect wings, water droplets on a spiders web. And on the topic of fruit, it reminded me of a cross-section of fruit almost as if you were to look at the fruit from under a microscope. I was quite pleased but also surprised with how this experiment turned out as it seemed that my expectation were always met with an obstacle but I managed to create something that made me think about other options and other ways I could reach a similar outcome to what I had initially planned. If I were to iterate on this experiment further, I would have loved to use a material that related to a banana, maybe using banana leaves or somehow making paper from fibres from banana trees.

Newton’s discovery

Materials/Tools used: FDM, PLA, Pinkysil

Process: My interest for my project was to find a way to incorporate the tools available at the wet labs with digital fabrication. I created an apple mould that I could use for the wet lab induction. The colour of the pinkysil matches quite well with the concept of an apple and it appears to be fitting for the object. What I really enjoyed about the process was that it was new to me, so there was a lot for me to observe and I have many thoughts for iterating from this experiment. My first observation was how well the shape of the apple worked for a mould, additionally, the 3D printed mould left unique markings that were picked up by the pinkysil - at first glance, the object appears to be 3D printed. If I were to further iterate on this experiment, I would like to experiment with different infill densities as well as an experiment by sanding down and filling gaps to create a smoother more polished effect. Another interesting part of the process was the fact that we had to rotate our mould around until the pinkysil stiffened and could create a hollow solid object. It made me wonder if there could be design improvements made to the mould because we poured the pinkysil directly into the mould as it lay flat, we wouldn’t need the pouring spout. This could lead to creating cylindrical or spherical shaped moulds that could be rolled around and possibly landscapes that could create different densities of pinksil that disperse around the mould. We definitely discovered this when we made our first mould, we had let it sit on its side after rotating which allowed for the pinksil to disperse and collect at one side/face of the object. This created a unique object, one side that was significantly more hollow and one side that was dense and heavy. This experiment and the other processes we were introduced to at the wet labs is definitely something I would like to continue on with going into project two.

Scene One - Lachlan

Scene Two - Lachlan

Scene Three - Alyssa

Scene Four - Alyssa

Scene Five - Fox

Scene Six - Fox

Much like the ‘show not tell’ technique used in literacy, relying on sound or lack thereof is important to the context of the scene. If the visual component is strong then the audience wont notice lack of sound. Here are a few examples and techniques to evoke emotion/context/vibe.

Creating tension

Repeating one or two sounds, and gradually intensifying them.

Introduce a scene with layers of sounds that gradually drown out.

Using extremes - sound to silence

Creating confusion

It is important to think about what the audience is seeing, and how the sound is providing context to that.

Think about what the character is thinking and feeling

Using juxtaposition of sounds

Then I explored how lighting is utilised in cinematic storytelling.

Spotlighting on the important part of the scene.

The lighting of the other characters reveal how the protagonists feels about them

Hard vs soft lighting

Colour theory - emotions

Limiting lighting show what the character can see (boxed in)

Focusing in on the most important components of our installation

Space

Image (Visual)

Sound

I decided to case study one of my favourite childhood movies ‘Coraline’. I believe that Coraline’s story isn’t just about a child navigating her relationship with her parent’s, I think that the ‘other’ parents are a metaphor for her parents having hardship in their marriage. I wanted to explore further how ‘Coraline’ manages to deliver a story about the relationship  a child has with a parent. 

When Coraline finds herself frustrated at the lack of attention she’s receiving from her parents, she encounters her ‘other’ parents. Ones that cater to her every whim and desire, who are attentive and loving. It turns out the other parents are evil entities who want to kidnap her real parents and sew black buttons into her eyes to ensure she stays with them for eternity. In the article i found they state “Ultimately, Neil Gaiman argues that sometimes, children must be the ones to help or even save their parents; the love and responsibility between parents and children must, he suggests, be a two-way street.” 

This quote hit close to home as this was exactly how I had felt when I grew up; I took on a lot of responsibility to ensure that my parents felt as if they were making the right decisions for themselves, and neglected the hurt and pain it had caused me. 

Coraline believes that her parents exist solely to provide for her, entertain her, and, in effect, worship her. She believes her parents are boring and uninteresting. “Coraline is so detached from them that after they first disappear, she doesn’t quite seem to mind until they’ve been gone for a full day. [...] she feels if she could be free of them, she’d be happier—a notion that will soon be questioned as a strange turn of events takes place.” 

“Neil Gaiman uses Coraline to create a portrait of a family in flux. In their new surroundings, Coraline and her parents are uncomfortable with and slightly resentful of one another—they’re all trying to adjust to their new home and test the boundaries of their relationships with one another. All of this, Gaiman ultimately suggests, is normal. A child’s expectation that parents will always behave perfectly, adoringly, and dotingly is unfair and impossible, as is the idea that children will be as self-sufficient, responsible, and mature as their parents might like them to be. Ultimately, Gaiman shows that parents and children have a series of responsibilities to one another in spite of their imperfections—and that to dream of a conflict-free parent-child relationship is to erase all the struggles and hardships that create a strong bond.”

I think with our storytelling we need to ultimately focus on how the relationship with our parents was then and now. It was suggested that we look at the good and bad times however, that doesn’t show that there was an understanding or or even repercussions to the divorce.  

Sources: 

I wanted to look at unconventional ways and some artists in particular. Some of these I have found useful and some of these are not my cup of tea. But regardless, it’s useful to someone.

 1. TRAUMACORE

Traumacore is a type of imagery that delves into the themes of abuse and trauma. It often draws heavily on childlike and angelic themes, done so as a means to try and reclaim their innocence. Many people turn to these images to help them cope with the pain they suffered in the past. Traumacore is more of a type of art therapy or visual journaling for many people with trauma.  Traumacore draws upon a delicate, childlike but implicitly disturbing aesthetic, and aims to blend the unsettling with the innocent. Dolls, angels, bedrooms, and corpses are common motifs used. 

Sources:

https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Traumacore

https://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2014/06/feeling-mighty-unreal-derealization-in.html

https://www.ccpa-accp.ca/psychological-benefits-of-art-therapy/

2. Comedy

Comedy is another form of exploring trauma. Comedy and trauma share two characteristics: they are both perspectival in nature and hold incongruity at their core, however, their impacts are profoundly different for the perceiver. As comedy and laughter open one’s psyche and invite positive social exchanges, trauma produces more dissociative, dysregulated and dysfunctional interactions. Many describe comedy as a coping tool to their trauma. Finding some humor in a situation allows you to step back and see things more clearly.

Sources:

Landoni, Alison M., "A Laughing Matter: Transforming Trauma Through Therapeutic Humor and Expressive Arts Therapy" (2019). Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses. 224. https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/expressive_theses/224

https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/January-2020/Using-Humor-as-a-Coping-Tool

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For this semester’s project, Lachlan, Fox and I want to create an installation that depicts our individual experience of growing up with divorced parents. Something that has deeply been ingrained into the essence of who we are and our individual experience.

I want to discuss a little bit of my background as an artist and creative and reveal the reasoning behind why I would want to participate in this project. Even before I came to university, art was my way of coping with growing up, my emotions, and vitally, my trauma. Whether or not I realised it at the time, my artwork was connected to an aspect of my trauma. My trauma has shaped who I am. Before I was able to create an identity or personality I was put through trauma. As a child my cognitive functions were rewired in order to survive through my childhood ( fight or flight ). To this day I deal with the resulting effects of PTSD ( I feel as if I have to mention this, I am formally diagnosed by a Psychologist ).

Those who haven’t experienced trauma tend to prescribe the notion that trauma is too sensitive to be brought up and that it should be delicately presented to prevent triggering those who are victims of trauma. Personally, as someone with PTSD triggers can occur anywhere and at anytime. In my experience, there hasn’t been a day that goes by where I don’t encounter something that is a trigger. Eventually, you learn to be able to guide yourself through or even out of situations that causes a trigger. I do advocate for the use of trigger warnings as they can be very helpful for one to prepare themselves before proceeding or they can chose to avoid. In the end, avoiding the topic of trauma creates more stigma around the experience. Not being able to discuss it openly and appropriately can feel isolating to those who have been through trauma.

Another notion that is brought up, is that the way that the artefact or artwork is presented is insensitive and shouldn’t be displayed out of fear of the effect it would have on the audience. I can understand where they are coming from and their concerns, but telling this to an artist who is creating work about their individual experience is incredibly invalidating and can take away from the healing experience - that creating that artwork was meant for in the first place.

I feel as if my work returns, in some way or another, to a focus on trauma. I believe that having the ability to discuss and create something that relates to a difficult experience in my life is soothing. It doesn’t take away that experience, it doesn’t fix my PTSD, but it takes a memory that I have spent years mulling over, rewriting, dealing with foggy dissociation over, and it makes it into something digestible and real. Something that translates the emotions into something that can be viewed in real life.