Some behind the scenes photos of "7 DAYS OF COLOUR"...

Hard ar work haha

what what.

The staple all-nighter diet

nikibumz and willybumz

verrryyy creative

 one of naseries's origami cranes

Not the best of days haha

Dont mess  yo

"7 days of headaches"

All together now

Shawna and here illuminating PINK

say CHEESE!

DAY 7.11:30. HOME

And it all comes to an end.  Although i could technically call this day "6 and a half" because we aren't allowed t work on campus on Sundays, and I've organized for all my printing to be done tomorrow on Monday.  Also I'll be doing my final interview on camera.

But ya, today is much more of a rest day. Ive completed my digital pieces.  And both my canvas pieces.  All there is left to do is a few touch ups and to write the descriptions to place by the artwork for the exhibition. 

For the first time this week I'm still in my PJ's at about 11am at home.  I'm eagerly awaiting a yummy Sunday lunch my mother dearest is preparing.  Then maybe after a little nap and some family time I'll start the touch ups, and last minute adjustments so all my stuff will be print ready for tomorrow. 

I expected myself to be a lot more stressed on the last day. But things have come together quite nicely, better than i expected.  Also a good nights sleep really helps keep the stress levels down :)

To sum things up, for me, 7 days of colour as been more than just a college project.  Its been a crazy week full of madness and creativity and laughs.  I feel like I've bonded more with some classmates i wasn't close too, and i feel like I've used as much energy as i could possibly gather to put this practical thesis personal project together. 

Oh and one more thing :) just because 7 days of colour is coming to an end, it doesn't mean this  blog has too.  I'm thinking if carrying on blogging on creative evidence. to share any awesome designs or inspiration i come across.  And when the documentary has been put together I'll definitely post the link on here, as well as pictures from the exhibition etc. PHOTOS coming soon tho...(as mentioned)

DAY 6. 13:24. CAMPUS.

And so the end draws near for my experience with 7 days of colour.  Its currently day 4 for everyone else.  I  try to remember how i felt on day 4, but it feels like a bit of a blurr. I could probably sleep for a week straight when this is all over.  Ive really used as much energy and effort that my body and mind is capable of for this project.  And nearing the end now, I'm really glad that i did.

I had the most amazing sleep last night, after being here on campus for nearly two days in a row with about 2 hours of uncomfortable sleep on a few chairs i put together from our class.  Not the most comfortable "makeshift bed" at all.  Sleeping here on campus, working through the night, really took its toll on me.  Laying in my own bed had never felt so good.

ANYWAY. I'm nearing the completion of my 2nd canvas piece, and have to finish 1 more digital piece and then then I'm pretty much done and dusted, apart from a few touch ups here and there.  The campus doesn't stay open on a Sunday so at 4:30 today, when it closes we all can take our stuff home to work on it on Sunday, which will officially be my 7th day.  I've set aside Monday for the printing of my digital pieces. And the on Tuesday (which is everyone else's day 6 - where i am now) i catch my flight at about 3 in the afternoon.  I'll be leaving my work, for my dear parents to set up for the exhibition on Friday.  So that's the only thing I'm going to be stressing about but that i cant DO anything about because I'll literally be on the other side of the world.

DO try come to the exhibition on Friday, any time from 4 to 8 at the Dream factory in orphan street, in town.  :) The projects that me and my peers have been working on are bound to blow your mind! :) plus there will be eats and drinks, music etc, bound to be an interesting evening for anyone :)

Another thing i forgot to mention is that once this whole 7 DAYS OF COLOUR experience is over, and we come back from our mid year vacation, we are required to hand in some sort of documentation of the experience, whether it be a booklet, video, blog, photos etc.

Ive actually been doing all of that, hence this blog.  Ive captured some awesome video moments which Ive handed over to our lecturer creating the documentary, and Ive been taking plenty photos throughout.

ON TOP if all that documentation i really would love to create a booklet as well. Over achiever much? lol maybe... but its more that Ive felt SO incredibly passionate about this project, that every bone in my body wants to do anything and everything i possible can to contribute to it.

So I'll love and leave my dear blog, and get back to work. and once I've sorted out some photos I'll definitely post them here.

ALMOST AT THE END!!! AAAHHHHH :D

Day 5. 17:00. Campus.

This day. is a biatch and a half.  Most people are reaching there breaking points.  and I'm so beyond that.  Ive reached a weird tired over it mood. And I'm hungry.

OH i found my USB thank goodness.  I'm getting somewhere. but it feels like I'm not.  I really need to eat now. and maybe sleep. maybe.

We were interviewed on our progress, on camera again today.  This time they mixed things up a bit and had two people in the interview at a time. So we paired up, and each were asked the usual questions, but this resulted in some funny moments indeed.  i really cant wait for the documentary.  which will probably only be ready after the holidays. 

After this, its really the final stretch. NO more procrastinating.  Hence the shortness of this post. 

I shall post some more photos later though.

THIS IS WAR. LOL

7:05am. Day 5. Campus.

Well. :/ not the most comfortable sleep, but still comfortable enough to struggle to wake up.

The only thing that's keeping me functioning right now is an apple from Amber's "fruit bowel" (or fruit pot to be specific.  This pot has been here since the others first day.  It was FULL of apples.  and now they are gone. like my energy.  sad face.

The point of this observation? who the eff knows. The first classmate for the day just walked in the door now - and for me? this is like the"day" beginning.  The AM hours i just sacrificed here at campus weren't wasted though if you are wondering.  And now this lovely classmate of mine just offered me a Red BULL!! SCORE. 

I kinda feel like a homeless person.  I spent all my food money yesterday on paint.  so all i have left is coffee, no milk, some hot chocolate, and quite a variety of cup-a-soup packets.  so until i go home to shower and such things I'm hustling for some decent food of drinks.  its a hard-knock life yo.

I THINK Ive caught up with my own deadlines. Last night/this morning was quite productive.

I HAVE A GAME PLAN. GOTTA. KEEP. GOING.

okay I'm out! Gonna hop on this shit. what what.

DAY 4. 20:00-ish. CAMPUS.

Today felt like a bit of a blurr.  Time is going much faster and is starting to make things that bit more stressful. 

Ive officially reached and passed my halfway mark of this week.  out of the 6 pieces i plan to exhibit, two are basically complete..which means i am now one project behind where i should be. eek.

So because of this, im going to be pulling an all nighter to catch up a bit.  Hopefully this will be successful, as i work better in the AM hours.

This afternoon i realllllly struggled to do much.  I was way to distracted but cameras and conversations and visitors and food and just plain procrastination.

I don't even feel like doing this blog post.  It feels like im wasting time that could be used productively... so I'm keeping this one short. ish.

One last thing to mention, is that I've definitely noticed the mood change quite dramatically from the excited starting one yesterday.  People are starting to stress, piss other people off slightly, getting tired, getting stress pimples and doing weird things.  Which was the expectation.  A lot more "skinner" happened today too, its been very easy to forget that the cameras are there watching us, so its been quite weird to watch what we say or not to mention names sometimes.  Anyway...

I'm starting to ramble in my tired state.  Time to get the kettle on. Get some coffee. And start burning ze midnight oil, yo.

OH MY BLOG (thanks nicol)

This isnt my dailey soup but, im having a break, and im buzzing on this hype and work i just cant resist another blog post. 

Today was another good day for FREE stuff.  Convenienly it was our one lecturers birthdays. so he brought us thee most amazing birthday cake this morning, as well as some yummy soup.

One thing i forgot to mention is that some some bizzare reason our class has kind of been separated into two groups.  Downstairs, in our usual 3rd year class, are where most of the guys are working on the MAC's. And upstairs in one of the spare secondbyear classes most of the girls are working on more practical "crafty" things.  There are now cameras in both classes, to capture the progress and events of each day.  Its quite weird though, because of the cameras people are trying to watch what they say if convosation while working leads to skinner.  I sense a very scandalous documentary coming out of this whole experience. Maybe. We will see in good time. hahah.

OH MY GLOB...time to get back to work.  I've probably reached the half way mark by now.  FUN stressful times ahead. 

PS.  THIS is a shoutout to NICOLi and the JANDRO experience who were sitting a few computers down from me, helping me procrastinate on this blog post.  Shame on you guys.  not really. 

i will end finally with a quote from our dear NASseries:
"you better HOP on that"

ok im out. 

The official exhibition poster! CHECK IT OUT! :)

DAY 3. 22h00-ish. STILL AT CAMPUS. WHY AM I STILL HERE.

Instead of blabbing on more about the day i thought i would share a list of some funny moments that happened today...

1. Watching Niki hammer the life out of an old motherboard of a computer, while almost taking out Amber's foot in the process.

2. The appropriate and inappropriate selection of music in our class play list.

3. Literally getting drenched in colour.  I was working with some power paint today, in an attempt at some photography for the exhibition, and literally tipped a whole board of this power over me while carried it out the door.  It looked like i was going to a HOLI one fest.

4. Neil's voice note reply to one of our students, which consisted of a very put on accent which was extremely funny, but taken the wrong way by the student. ouch.

5.  Attempting to fold an Origami paper crane to contribute to Naseera's project, lets just say i failed epically.  I'm going to try again tomorrow. LOL


BUT WAIIT THERES MORE....heres some select sneak preview photos... :)

Sneak Preview of my progress on one of my pieces

Yes - that's a scuba diving mask. Don't ask.

COLOUR! gaahhh...

Another Sneaky Preview

SPLAT!

DAY 3. 21h00. CAMPUS.

Again i find myself sitting in this empty class.  The last other classmate here left about 5 minutes ago.  And a rush of dejavu washes over me as i sit staring at this screen trying to fill the silence of this campus at night with the shuffle of my itunes.  Alas, today was a very good one. 

It was DAY ONE for everyone else.  So the excitement bubbled through the morning setups of the various other projects of my peers, and through the very "interesting" selection of music that made up a play list create by Neil (our one lecturer).  We were being filmed (for the documentary).  And some very interesting moments were captured on camera - which i will definitely mention :)

The day dragged, but never has a day dragged where its felt as exciting as this one.  When the afternoon eventually came, it was time for the interviews.  Each of us was assigned one or two journalism students, who put together a few questions for us to answer on camera, which was a bit nerve-wracking for some, but quite fun overall!

The afternoon soon turned to evening and more classmates started to disperse.  I don't blame them though, on my first day of this on Monday i really didn't wanna push myself too hard, and to save my energy for later in the week. 

For those few of us who stayed that little bit later, we were offered a very rushed last minute invite to join the multimedia lecturers in there industry Indaba discussion which was happening tonight, to talk about our experience as a student here, for exchange for free food and wine.  Of course i jumped at this, anything FREE sounded too perfect at the end of a long day.  Especially to a student.  I'm so glad i went, the talk ended up being really interesting and informative, and opened my eyes up to a lot that was going on to the design industry. The wine was good too, ha ha. 

Over all progress was good today.  Although i think i spent more energy and time on capturing funny moments on video, instead of grafting hard.  The half way mark is approaching so i better pull up my socks. *gulp*

DAY 2. 18h00. Campus.

Still no sign of life here in the evenings.  Damn, this place is so deserted at night.  And its flipping cold here now! yoh!  #campusproblems?

Highlight: Missioning to Burger King for my break.
Low light:  Freezing all alone in this 3rd year class, watching my fingernails turn blue as i type this.

Again. Today felt like another ordinary college day.  This whole thing will hopefully all hit me tomorrow, when i can feed off the energy, stress and excitement of my classmates.  Which would also hopefully result in more entertaining blog posts. 


Although i did everything today that i planned, i still felt like i was unproductive.  I am constantly flipping between aspects of this project, instead of working completely on one thing at a time till each is finished and moving on to the next.  I find this approach easier to handle in the past, although time will tell if its helped in the next few days.


As mentioned my highlight of the day was Burger king (I'm such a fatty sometimes lol)  After we went to take some measurements at our exhibition venue - The dream factory... I then found myself standing in one of the ever so famous ques that the new Burger king in Cape Town always seems to have.

I'll admit though, that every minute i was away from campus and not working, i felt guilty.  At one point i was even paranoid that time would fast forward as some kind of punishment.  But that's just the stress talking. Working on an empty stomach is a BIG no-no.  So after that i was a lot more motivated. 

I would post some pics of my progress, but i don't want to give away too much before the exhibition...  I'll definitely post some sneak previews though, and also of the busy bees working around me tomorrow, and capture there bright eyed excited-ness that i had on Monday.  It's kind of dulled a bit since reality starts to hit. Buuut got to keep calm and carry on...After this is posted i am going to be adding colour to my large canvas piece until i cannot no more and decide to go home and rest, and await the crazy kids of my class to join me tomorrow...

DAY 1. 19h00-ish. Campus.

Highlight: Climbing on tables and starting on my canvas piece. 
Low light: Losing my USB. Meh...

And so it began.  The day started out kind of rushed and normal, as any other college day sometimes would.  And thanks to our lovely cape town winter - it was raining and miserable.  Although i love to work in this kind of weather. Its calming.

To be honest i only started to work at about 12 noon, as a result of a few errands and because the rest of my classmates aren't in "freak out" mode yet.  They only start on Wednesday.  So its a bit hard to get down to some hard grafting, while the people around you are all in another buzz.  As soon as Wednesday comes along - then the real freak out mode starts i suppose.  That kind of thing is easily rubbed off on others ha ha. 

Although i have got quite a bit done.  If any word could describe the work i did for the project today, it would be "tedious".  Editing plus minus 50 scanned fingerprints, and tracing an image from a projector. makes up the bulk of it.

Tedious indeed.

Amongst my tedious activities i was even climbing on tables, thanks to the oddly placed projector in one of the classes.  Not that i cared, all i got was a few puzzled looks from 2nd years as they walked past me crouched awkwardly on a table.

So its 7pm, and I've settled down to work for a couple more hours here and then head home to get some good rest.  My hands still have a bit of ink here and and there. And i cant for the life of me find my USB flash drive.  Very convenient. :/

TOMORROW.

Tomorrow is where it all officially starts :/ ...well for me at least.  Because of circumstances and my trip to Europe in the vac, i am starting the 7 days of colour project two days before everyone else, so i can still complete my 7 days and catch my plane on the Tuesday the 2nd, while everyone else finishes on the Wednesday.


This means two things:

1. I have to spent two nights at college working late alone.

2. I'm not gonna be there for the final exhibition on Friday, 5 July.


Which kind of sucks, but i suppose life gets in the way.  Not that i mind working alone, i kind of like it - its less distracting.  Sometimes you want those distractions though, to entertain and give you a reason to procrastinate.  NOT that procrastination is the best way to deal with this week.  ahem...

You could say the tension and stress levels are starting to rise already.  I was part of a photo shoot my one classmate had to do today in preparation for his project in the 7 days of colour.  Just by being there it started to hit me.  The photo shoot took place in the studio which also happens to be our final exhibition space.  I sat there and it hit me that through these few days we are putting our blood sweat and tears into art projects that will fill that same studio.

Its quite easy to underestimate how much work could actually be completed in this time, its limitless.  Its simply a matter of , "what you put in is what you get out".  Whatever the final result of this project may be, is a result of how much i put into it.  Quite the obvious statement. But consciously realizing it, has made me freak out, just a lil bit.

There could be many emotions that might get in the way of this project.  I have a lot of excess drama and worries, that i really don't want to limit me, but now i realise if i channel all that negative stuff, into positive passionate hard working energy then i wont be limited what-so-ever.

I might be making this project into much more of a big deal than what it appears to be, but for me its an opportunity i probably wont get to do again very easily.  When am i ever going to get a week off from my normal routine of life to work on an art project, with absolutely no limitations, and share the experience with my very talented classmate and friends.

I will be reporting back at least once every day on the happenings and my progress.  (and by this i probably mean a few blog posts a day...im' going to need some form of procrastination!? ha ha)

Anxious. Excited. Amped. Terrified. Inspired.
Here's to tomorrow.
And also to Wednesday, when I'm finally joined by my fellow classmates
Here's to the beginning of  "7 Days of Colour" ...

One more week to go!

Time has literally flown by, and its officially a week till i start my project for the 7 Days of Colour!

Not that i'm freaking out or anything (Ahem...), its just that i have to finish up all the deadlines for college in this last week of term, which doesn't leave much time to think about next week.

I've got a game plan of some sort, for some aspects of next week, and for others... i have no clue how on earth i'm going to pull it off.  But maybe, just maybe thats the beauty of it all - the unknown.

Sure, that may have sounded a bit cliché', but it holds a lot of truth.  And as my 3rd year design draws closer to starting "7 days of colour" i can feel the panic already rising.  The good kind though, the panic and anticipation of the unknown that awaits us.

Follow my progress as i embark on this journey next week.  Not only will you be flooded with late night, philosophical, sleep-deprived posts like this one, but you'll get to follow the unfolding of an art project with no final destination thats been set.  You will basically be discovering what the hell i'm going to do, while i discover it for myself.

Here's to the unknown journey that awaits... (gulp)

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Design with Purpose

"Design with Purpose" - To put it simply, design is more than making things look "pretty" or "awesome".  Design is so much more, and CAN be so much more than that.  Design can serve a purpose in improving social, economic and cultural development.  

We were given a talk at college today from the creative director of D4, a design company in Sheffield, in the UK.  The concept he brought across, about "design with purpose" really stuck with me.  Its not that I've never heard it before (our lecturers drill that sort of thing into our heads all the time), its just the way he explained it, and proved it in terms of what his company stands for and how they work. 

It made me think more about how design is simply about finding solutions to problems.  How each answer seems to unfold the more your research and find inspiration.  Its a journey, a discovery and a mystery all in one. (haha deep much? got a bit carried away i think)

All these thoughts got me thinking and triggered the ideas i had in terms of this personal project.  The title I've given it for the moment, "Creative Evidence" kind of links up beautifully with the idea of mystery and discovery.  Just as a detective goes about collecting evidence and getting closer to solving a case or crime, we designers are presented with mystery (the design brief) and through our design process ( research - conceptualise - scamps - revise - production - presentation ) we find solutions.  

Quite a sweet little metaphor, and quite weird how things kind of link up.  But i guess that's the beauty of a journey, whether it be a crime or design mystery.  One finds clues along the way that lead to a discovery. A final conclusion or product.  A solution.  An answer.  Evidence! 

Creative Evidence. 

The minimalistic logo of the company "D4" - check out their website here http://www.d4online.com

The Little Black Book...

This little beauty has been in my bag/pocket/draw/almost lost for the past 5 months or so.  Its been holding the many fingerprints Ive been collecting from my family, friends, peers, lecturers, colleges and pretty much any one who I've come into contact with.   

I must admit though,  i have been pretty slack about it, forgetting to bring it to places, bringing it and then forgetting about it, forgetting where it is actually and freaking out -etc.  But the sooner the 7 Days of colour draws near the more I'm starting to get worked up about it and the more people I'm getting to contribute to the little black book.  

Oh, the reason for all this? This is part of my research.  A HUGE part of the core structure of what I'm basing this "Creative evidence" project on.  Fingerprints. 

You cannot tell race, gender, personality, nationality, disability or social status from the unique design of ones fingerprint.  I find it fascinating that one fingerprint will never be the same as the other.   Each to their own.  Each an entirely new design that will never be repeated :) 

i wont give too much away about what I'm going to end up doing with this little book full of fingerprints ( if i don't lose the damn thing - *fingers crossed*) .  The first reason being i think it would be better if i unfold the content of the project a little bit at a time, like a mystery.  Surprise is good!  The second reason is, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure yet of EVERY little thing I'm going to try to create with it - I've got the basics covered tho. I think. 

Here are a few ( "very confidential" ) pictures of this little black book herself.  And yes, now I've made it a her.  No clue why.  But there she is, and a select few "sneak-peeks" of what her pages hold.  

Inspiration [ PART 1 ]

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 I've come across an artist who really inspired me from the work of his very own personal project that has grown into a huge international art project. 

"JR" - the controversial artist & creator of inside out

 

 

A controversial French artist, who goes by the name “JR” (doesn’t reveal his real name” created an project called “Portrait of a generation” in 2006.   He printed portraits of “thugs” in huge formats, and illegally posted them all over various districts of Paris and eventually wrapped the Paris city hall building with all these massively scaled photos.  Also in 2007 he created the biggest illegal exhibition ever which was called “Face 2 Face”.  He posted again huge portraits of Israelis and Palestinians face to face in 8 Palestinian and Israeli cities.  He also did some other big projects in 2008 and 2010.  In 2011 he won a TED prize from TED TALKS.  The project that really caught my attention in terms of my personal project was the one currently going on right now called “Inside out”.  This is a huge international art project that he created, which allows people from all over the world to take there portrait pictures of form a group of people and have there pictures taken which then gets printed at a large format and send back to them so they can post them around there community or city, to support a cause or idea, or share there experience.  

 In December 2012, over 120,000 people from over 108 countries had gotten involved.  In other words –this is one massive personal project consisting and made up of thousands of smaller personal projects branching off from it to support ideas and share awareness of what ever subject or issue or experience the participant wishes to share.  I think its quite amazing how his small personal projects gradually grew into creating such a powerful one that reaches people all over the world and allows them too, to get involved and “become” the artist.  I really loved his idea of spreading this concept to so many people and getting them involved.  

I don’t plan to create my personal project like the scale JR has managed to, especially not with the time frame we have been given.  What I would like to do is reach as many people I can in my life, in terms of getting the fingerprints.  The fingerprints will be the core material that makes up what my artwork IS.  In a way, it’s basically a way of saying that all the people I collected fingerprints from, ARE the artwork.  JR reached many people on an international scale to inspire them to make personal projects with the huge printed portraits.  The act of him reaching so many people WAS a huge part of what the personal project was.  So I hope I convey the same kind of message, but within my community… that because I went out and collected some identification from all these people, therefore, THEY make up my personal project.  They are involved in my project by simply inking their thumb and placing it on paper.  The people ARE my personal project.  

7 DAYS OF COLOUR: Creative Evidence (an introduction)

The purpose of this blog, is not only to record my progress over the 7 days of madness that take place in order to complete this project, but to hopefully reach and impact some people with the concept of my project itself.  

Im not intending to change the entire world, but if i could change a small part if it, it would be cool.  

Which leads me to think of a quote from an artist who inspired me: 

HERES just a little more information from the Facebook event page: "The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most – John Ruskin

City Varsity’s Third Year Multimedia Students invite you to an exhibition showcasing the personal projects created by them in seven days. The only word on the brief was the word colour, allowing the students to let their creativity take them in which ever direction they so wished. 

From the 26th of June to the 3rd of July the students will be living, eating, sleeping and possibly losing their sanity at City Varsity, to produce the work to be showcased on the 5th of July 2013, at The Dream Factory. (10 Orphan Street, Cape Town.)" ***NOTE the new venue change  to the dream factory instead of kloof street campus!