This is Alyssa's very detailed blog of her time in Ghana:
http://happyyourselfspot.blogspot.com/

News from Africa

One of my good friends from high school is on student exchange in Ghana. This was her reaction to my postcard:

Awesome postcard.  I'm all for it.  I have firsthand accounts of
that stuff.  It's terrible, and it's incredibly overlooked,
especially in Africa.  There are villages in Ghana that have
just one well, and it's next to the pit that everyone uses
as a toilet.  I know it's worse in other countries, but it's
still not good.  What's more, there are no waste disposal
plants.  In Accra maybe, but definitely not in Ho, even though
it's the capital of the Volta Region.  So all the trash either
goes in the gutter or it gets burnt.  It's terrible.  I want
to cry every time I see a burning pile of trash.  And the
river that goes through Accra... I've never seen more rubbish
in a river. Ugh.  But I'm making myself sad.  So I'm gonna
stop.  But awesome postcard.  I love the design.

Other works.

Portland Community College. Spring '08

University of Idaho. Fall '07
Birthday gift for the boyfriend, Brian. Dec '07
Portland State University. Fall '08
Portland State University. Fall '08

charity:paper and charity:images

Im Sorry, these are really bad photographs. Above is the postcard. Below is the Poster. I forgot to save them in file format smaller than a tiff at school and I don't have photoshop at home so I can't resave them as jpegs. Sorry again, but you can get the design idea.

Thank you, Luke. Thank you for an eye opening term.


Jasmine Silver
Bertus MW
Art 118 630-920
“charity: water is a non profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. They give 100% of the money raised to direct project costs, funding sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need. They also work to raise awareness of the water crisis through events, fundraising exhibitions and other public awareness campaigns. Right now, 1.1 billion people on the planet don't have access to safe, clean drinking water. That's one in six of us…”

Charity is not something I have ever considered to be a “real” job. It just has never really crossed my mind. I don’t know anyone who has worked in charity, so it’ not something that has been positively reinforced in my life. When I think of charity I think of the people who force contact with me in hopes that I will sponsor a child in a developing country or donate to a worthy cause. I spot them from afar. Their white notebooks give them away. Then I try to avoid them. It’s not like what I think they’re doing is wrong, I commend them for trying to get the message out, but I am still very annoyed at their tactics.

As I was walking to Stumptown Coffee to work on this paper I was forced into an over enthusiastic handshake and hello by a white notebook person. Not to shake hands with her is extremely rude, while to shake hands with her is to invite unwanted charitable solicitation. So I tried to go for the in between. I shook her hand and said “sorry not today.”

Once, I had I had some time to kill so I decided to find out what their charity was all about. It was so easy to contribute. Basically, they just take X amount of dollars out of your account every month to help send children to schools overseas. “Great,” I thought, “I can do eight dollars a month. I just have to not eat out for one meal.” But then it turned out that you have to be 21 to donate. Age is one thing I’m definitely lacking in.

When I found out that we were going to be working with a charity in class, all these preconceived notions about charity flooded my mind. I would like to say that I was excited to be doing something real. I would like to say I was stoked, but that would be a lie. I just wanted to do something “normal,” to tell you the truth.

Then there was the water bottle chandelier idea and I was instantly on board. I felt guilty for not liking the Charity project, so I wanted to create something to make up for my selfish thoughts. Over the weekend I planned and collected and created, but, when I was finished, I wasn’t happy with the results. I showed my chandelier to Heather and Laura from class who told me that that they really liked it, even though I didn’t. They gave me enough courage to bring it to class. In class, my chandelier was shot down. Not even some recognition for the hours I laid down to produce it. I was immediately cynical again, but tried not to be mad because I didn’t even like it.

My natural draw to leadership pushed me out of my negative little world. When it was time to research other non-profits, I pulled a small group of people who expressed interest in building a chandelier together. We compiled a list of materials to get the class thinking about what they had at home that could help make a better chandelier than mine.

“Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war. Many people in the developing world, usually women and children, walk more than three hours every day to fetch water that is likely to make them sick. Those hours are crucial, preventing many from working or attending school. Additionally, collecting water puts them at greater risk of sexual harassment and assault. Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of unsafe water. Of the 42,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation, 90% are children under 5 years old…”

My career goals are to design for Advertising. I made that decision when I was a junior in high school. Now I’m a sophomore in college and I haven’t looked back. Have you ever seen a TV commercial so good that you felt emotionally affected afterwards? Have you ever turned a page in a magazine and gasped at the brilliance of the photography or the creativity of the design? I have. Maybe it’s just the music, Simon and Garfunkel, they have playing at this coffee shop, but I am getting emotional just thinking about it. I consider myself a smart shopper, but I also acknowledge the fact that I am much more inclined to buy a product who’s packaging visually stimulates me, than one that doesn’t. I know advertising works.

It interests me that I would love that job that Scott Harrison, the founder of charity:water, gave up. It’s not as though I would reject a job at a nonprofit, I have just never considered it as an option before. Design, for me, is not about the money. As long as I can live comfortably and be surrounded by design, I will be happy. I sincerely love it.

Maybe I will design for the other 90%, and maybe I won’t. What’s important is that I now know an alternative to advertising for a large wealthy company. Working for a charity had never crossed my mind before. I think that life is all about gaining new perspectives, which is exactly what learning about charity:water has done.

Me.

I think it is important to know yourself. I think it is especially important for an artist. But to know thy self is such a challenging task. So let me rephrase- I think that it is important to be in pursuit of knowing yourself. Especially for an artist. I think that it helps to create if you know how you like to create. I mean, that is the point of this process book, right? To learn ones own process. Because everyone works differently. More than a few professors have told me to go out and look. Look at what you like. Look a design you like. Look at type you like.

Design, for me, is fusing what I like with MY process.

It seems to be all about me. Ha ha. Of course it's not. It's not that simple. But myself is a very important aspect to how I design.

So I wanted to talk a little about my life story. Or my recent life story anyway. The reason I am into knowing myself is because of therapy. For a long time I was very opposed to seeing any psyciatrists/psycologists/shrinks/therapists/councilors because my parents made me see different forms of them for years after they got divorced. Basically I played with toys for a half an hour and went back to school. From what I knew about therapy (via TV) was that it was expensive. So it really bugged me, even at the ages of 8-11, that my parents were paying money for that.

Long story short I started to have major anxiety problems and panic attacks when I moved to the University of Idaho. Eventually the severity forced me to seek professional help. Through disscusion and self discovery I was able to completely stop the panic attacks and majorly improve the severity of my anxiety.

This is why I now value trying to really know myself.

Now I have been back in portland for almost a year and some of my more severe anxieties have resurfaced. I deal with it by thinking about things in my life critically. Analyzing my urges, my actions and my thoughts. I think a lot.

To come full circle, my process is a lot in my head. I will think about a major project a hundred times before I start it.

Right now I am working on a gross project. I am only in the collection stage. I am collecting my own hair and laundry lint. When I have enough I am going to felt the hair and the lint together to make a gross fabric. I want to make a gross dress, a gross sweater, and a gross scarf.

Recyling is such an abstract concept. Every day I collect my paper, plastic, metal, etc. and put it in a green dumpster that exclaims "All together!" Then it is taken away to a magical place and somehow made into pretty recycled things that are (generally) more expensive than new things.

So why not collect my hair and lint? I want it to be gross. I want it to be dirty. Anyway-- that's all I got so far.

I learn more everyday. About myself and my art. Both are a process. Both develop over time.

Book Pages + Explanation

"Unique"

This image was crafted using some of the ideas of seriality that Andy Warhol (and many others!) played with. It is not just the seriality of what is portrayed in these nine images, but also the seriality that is created by using a digital camera.

I didnt create the lamps, I just documented them.

Andy Warhol repeated popular icons in his work, which made the actual person portrayed loose their meaning. I repeated these lamps not to make them loose their meaning, but to create a new meaning.

In reality, each of these lamps are different. I photographed nine lamps at sunset transit center, in Beaverton. Each of the lamps were probably made in a factory out of a mold, so essentially they are the same. But once they were put outside in the world they each experienced something different.

maybe someone kicked one lamp, maybe one lamp got hit by a bicycle, maybe another has a crack in it from a cold winter, maybe one is close to a tree and gets less sun and is less faded, maybe one got graffitied on.

There are an unlimited number of variables even in the small vicinity of the transit center.

But the point is, each lamp is both the same and unique. I think that fact is an interesting contradiction to think about. Especially in relation to humans and their lives. Sure the lamps are an oversimplification, but analogies often are.

"Depression"

I love it when nature conveys emotion.

This tree was photographed during the rainy period between beautiful fall and barren winter in a Target parking lot.

The interesting thing is that this tree was trimmed (or hacked) to be pleasing to the eye during the spring and summer months when it has leaves. Its upward growth has been stunted so that it will forever look like a young tree.

This tree is made to seem youthful, but in the winter it is just a depressing sight.

"My Very Own Garbage"

Waste is sort of a hot topic, especially in a city known to be "green" like Portland.

So I wanted to know about the waste that is in my vicinity. Of course, not all this garbage is "mine." The photographs are from shared receptacles, but I just wanted to know what waste I see everyday. So I compiled the photos to just lay it in front of myself. I guess as proof. Proof that I contribute to a lot of waste.

I didn't necessarily want to judge the situation. I wanted to display facts.


"Play"

In my compilation of pages I wanted to include innocent play. So I took a photo shoot with my cat Oz.

Ha ha. I dont know what else to say. It seems that innocence doesn't need much explanation.

"Pig Girl"

This is sort of a self-portrait. Sort of not.

It's like a snapshot of emotion at one moment in one single day.

It deals with body image, as well as my inability to draw a nose that doesn't look like a pig nose.

"Pantry"

This is a comment on foods that are cheap and bad for you. Gluttony combined with nessecity.

"Untitled"

This is part of my cat photo shoot. My idea was playful innocence, but this photograph came out a bit ghostly.

I really enjoy working with contradictions.

It is playful, but I feel as though the playfulness (signified by the string and the cat) is slipping away. The cat is only a tail and the string is almost transparent. If play=youth, then this photo represents the loss of youth.

"Friends"

The more I age (ha ha, I got a whole nineteen and a half years behind me) the more I find that everything is connected and everyone has their problems.

I created these little characters to kind of embody that (I dont know what to call it) revelation.

All the characters fit together and they are all kind of weird in their own way.

When I have anxiety attacks I feel so Isolated, so Alone. But I know those feelings are a lie. Im not alone at all. In fact I couldn't be alone even if I tried. Everything is connected. Everyone has their problems.

I don't know what to call this one. I've been through a couple titles. Ambiguous. Untitled. Gender.

I guess I could call it- "Stairwell"

I have always been curious about gender and sexual orientation. I dont question my own gender or sexual orientation, which is why I want to know how people who are gay, lesbian, bi, transgendered, etc. feel about being themselves in a society riddled with predjudice against them.

I mean, as a recent example, proposition 8 prohibits gay marrage in california. Prop 8 makes me so angry. Why would anyone think that it's nessesary to take someone's rights away? It makes me sick and sad that that could be passed.

Most of all I don't want to offend. Which is why I dont go around asking such personal questions. And I dont even really know how to ask either. I have gay and lesbian friends and so in being close with them I have gotten some of my questions answered.

I dont want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. I am just naiive. So I keep my mouth shut and express my questions visually.

Paper

Jasmine Silver
Bertus 118 MW 630-920

Fluxus

If you asked me a year ago if I liked art history I would have told you no. Since the graphic design degree requires art history, I have now taken two different classes. I have fallen in love with it. To know about the history of art is so important because it can serve as a starting place for one’s own work. When you see good design and recognize it, I believe that become imprinted in you. One art movement that I feel is strongly pertinent to contemporary design is Fluxus because it is all inclusive, playful, and thrives in a setting of globalization.

Calling Fluxus an art movement would probably humor its participants. Fluxus is a way of doing things. It’s a way of thinking. It’s a philosophy. With Fluxus everything is art and everything should be considered as art, if you put forth the effort to think about it in that way. Though, it is ultimately without a definable purpose, the process of Fluxus is available to everyone and anyone. It is anti-elitist. Light a match and watch it burn to the end. Anyone can do that. The experience of doing is what Fluxus tries to embody.

I was initially drawn to Fluxus because of its playful nature. I think that Fluxus really personifies my outlook on life. I have some very strong tendencies toward debilitating episodes of anxiety. To be able to function like a normal person I just have to view things positively. Now, I’m not suggesting that I am the only one with problems. Everyone has some issue that they have to deal with on an everyday basis. But that is the point. Fluxus is a way of looking at the world and at life positively and playfully. The point is that everyone can look at life with the philosophy of Fluxus in mind.

While researching Fluxus, I found that Fluxus is currently a clothing brand commonly worn by celebrities. Their website states “Fluxus celebrates the relationship between everyday life and art. Creating it is an art, wearing it is an art.” They specialize in simple knits. This is an interesting manifestation of the ideas of Fluxus, but, besides the celebrity prices, it makes sense. Wearing clothing is an art experience. Feeling it on your body. Appreciating how it looks. For me, Fluxus is really about valuing everyday experiences and recognizing them as art because they deserve it. Fluxus is all about equality. Everything can be art and everyone can be an artist. All it takes is thought.

The all inclusive nature of Fluxus provides room for discussion and transformation. Not just the transformation of art, but also the transformation of art traditions. The definitions of paining or sculpting are fluid. They are not Greenbergian. Fluxus makes room for intermedia and globalization. It literally obliterates the line between art and life. Life is art and art is life. It’s all connected. Everything works together to create the reality that we live in.

Globalization is a word that gets thrown around a great deal in our world of fast transportation, cell phones, and the world wide web. Fluxus grew from a global tradition. It put importance on ideas rather than individuals. Today, globalization has been essentially achieved, so Fluxus has a better setting than ever to thrive again. The idea that everyone has the potential to create value and be valued is very attractive. And it’s not only attractive, but meaningful. Fluxus philosophy is so difficult to describe. When using Fluxus to consider life, a person gets to create and recognize meaning. And in that action is a feeling of empowerment. Not in a dictatorship sense of power, but in a humbling way. Like discovering something so obvious that seems like common sense, but you feel enlighten, not ignorant. Fluxus is gaining a new perspective.

Adding new perspective and new ways of looking at the world is the daily goal of my life. Fluxus lets me expand on that principal. With Fluxus in the background of my mind I can apply design to everything that I do. When I look at things I make compositions with my frame of view. If everything can be viewed as art then an artist is working everywhere all the time. That’s what I strive for. Everyday of my life I am practicing. I think that using the ideas of Fluxus helps me to be a better designer, a better artist, because I never stop viewing things as art.

Type Compositions

Playing with type. Playing with type was really fun, but I don't think that this result is anything to be proud of. It is whimsical and fun, but not anywhere close to a masterpiece. This composition was more of an experiment with illustrator and the type tool. It was just to see what I could do.

I have always though that Q's look like quails and G's look like geese, so that is where this composition got started. It is also another experiment with type and illustrator. Again, it'd alright, but nothing special.

My third experiment with type I did by hand (and cat paw). I used india ink and a bamboo brush to make two intertwining C's. I also used college in the background and cut windows in the brown paper to create a nice layering effect. My cat also got into my ink halfway through, so used him as well. The result was an intriguing composition and ink splattered all over my face. I think that this compostition was a nice blend of everying I have been working on so far inthis class.

four color compositions

For this assignment I tried to do less planning. Usually I sketch before. When I finished this first composition I really didn't like it. Now that I have looked at it several times I really like it. I think that it is a little childish because of the construction paper and bright colors. I think that is why I initially didn't really like it. Looking at it now, the childish aspect juxtaposed with the reaching hands has assigned a new meaning to this composition. My response is to think that the hopeful, reaching hands are trying to get a childhood that is now past, but also still present in the current generation. I wonder what this would look like in grey scale.

I dont particulary like of dislike this composition. I think that it works, but it's nothing special to me. My idea was to try and create depth using geometric shapes. In my first one and two color compositions the geometric shapes were on a flat plane, so I wanted to overcome that flattness. I think that goal was a success in this composition, but it is not particularly interesting.

This this composition I wanted to continue my study of makeing a composition and then putting a screen over it to create interest. I think this isn't so much a composition, but an object. Which is fine, but I dont think that I achived the interest that I was trying to create.

Three Color Compositions

I tried to create space without denying my love for bold cut shapes. It was successful, but a bit bland. I wish the background wasnt white. White is just so "in your face". If I could change it I might leave the white as the background for the bottom right triange, before the red "river." Behind the red dividing line I would change the background to something darker, maybe brown.

This was my second attempt at three color. I really like it. It's just really apealing to me. Maybe it's the use of magazine collage. I dont think that it really creates depth, but it is very interesting.

This was my last attempt. I was rushed for time. All I knew is that I wanted to make a knot in a tree trunk with and "ocean" behind it. I made that, but I didnt really like it, so I covered it up. Fourtunatly, this action made a wonderful composition.

What do I like about this, so I can recreate it in a more planned composition? I think it is the simplicity vs. complexity. Most of the page is pure, white, simple, but then your eye gets to look through the white veil into something much more complex. Your eye wants to figure it out. I think that is why it works.

Two Color Compositions

For this assignment my sketching wasn't so much a template for final composition, but more of an experiment. I wanted to see how a could play with background and foreground and see how it would come out. I wasn't really impressed or inspired by any of them.

This was my first attempt at creating a two color composition. I wanted to make the brown mountain shape look like it was falling down. I started on the right with organized pieces and proceeded to the left with more fragmented and random pieces. I wanted the green in the background to create a downward motion that instigates the feeling of falling.

I do not think either of my missions were successful. It doesn't have to be a two color composition at all. And that was the assignment: Make a two color composition. If it was all one color the viewer wouldnt feel any different or get any less out of it. But, of course, I didnt realize this until after I had finished all the compositions.

My "make it look like falling" mission was also unsuccessful. When I look at this composition my eyes sweep from the left to the right, so instead of looking like falling-down, the composition looks like building-up.

The second attempt.

For the second composition I stayed on my falling-down mission. I fliped the "mountain" so the eye can go on it's natural path: left to right. I used the vertical lines to try to create a downward motion.

Again the use of two colors was not nessesary. I do think that my crumbling mission was acheived, but the vertical lines could be taken out. They are a bit distracting.

This is my favorite way to work. I love to make flat designs. Is that ok? Designs should be simple, but that doesn't mean they have to be flat. Can they be flat?

My third attempt.

The second color was the most necesary in this composition. It makes a nice horizon line. This composition is boring, in my opinion. It works as a design, but it's nothing special.

Brainstorm with words.

Next assignment: 3 two color compositions.

This time I will experiment with mixed medium.

I want to explore the layering qualities that can be used by combining paper on top of pastels.

3 one color compositions.

When I make my compositions I like to start out with a few sketches to get me started. It provides me with some options and the convenience to be able to pick and choose what I like verses what I don't like. This first sketch is one that I decided against. It rings empty for me. But I included it because there are things I like about it. It is grounded because of the two shapes on the bottom, yet your eye is drawn upward by the thin shape on the top of the frame. i also like the element of three I didn't enlarge this sketch because I felt it was unresolved.


This is the sketch that I chose to enlarge. I love to make long, whimsical characters. My favorite thing is that even though the "characters" aren't really characters, they are abstract shapes, the majority of people will identify them as characters. It is so interesting that people will try to relate anything and everything to the human form. Just because these little guys have a mouth shape they suddenly are a character.

Here is the final image that I presented to the class. My classmates rotated it in almost every direction, but this is the way I think that is works the best. The idea behind this design is ancient asian artists used positive and negative space in their portrayal waves.

This is my favorite. Even though the majority of the composition is white, the viewer gets a dark feeling. I created motion from left to right by trying to unify the angle of the implied diagonal line that reached toward the dark area on the right. This gives the composition a dark overall tone, because the lines point toward the dark.

This was my least favorite. This was the best direction for the composition, although it started 180 degrees in the other direction. While I was making it I couldn't see to make it resolved. I feel like it is still just teetering around, not sure what to do. Maybe another color could have saved it.

First Three Compositions

Make three compositions.

One color.

this is so open ended. which makes it harder. because i dont want to do it wrong. so im just going to do it. Does one color mean black and white plus a color, or does it mean black and white, or does it mean one color on white?

one- black construction paper on white paper
two- purple ball point pen
three- pencil

Process

I took a class at the University of Idaho that was focused on process. I loved it.