February 13th- Class Commentary

I was working on a graphic design program last semester where I was given the task of using design to change the world. Through my research, I discovered Bruce Mau's efforts and actually contacted him through email to see if he could give me any guidance...but I never heard a response from him. Punk.

In response to Oliver Herring's work. When he spoke of the mundane...how he was enthrawled in this pience for over 10 years after a respected artist committed suicide, I thought about things a bit further with regards to repition. I understand that it was meditative to him, but at the same time I think it became more. He spoke about changing roles. I think the knitting was much more than jsut repitious and meditative. It was a constant in his life. I don't think that it was ever discussed whether or not the artist who committed suicide was a friend or not. Obviously it could have been given Herring's response. But knitting was a constant. He had control over it. He decided when it was done, when he was ready to end the process, end it's life, end the journey. He shifted from a viewer to the creator, the controller. He didn't have this control over the suicide of the artist. Maybe he sought and found comfort in this act of control.

I agree that playing is a big part of being human, and it tends to get left out of the academic experience. I actually was unhappy with studying architecture for this reason. It wasn't fun anymore. I was serious. I don't want to be serious. I want to enjoy things. I want to enjoy the act of creating simply to create what my heart fantasizes about. If I ever opened up a design school, this act of enjoyment and fun would be incorporated in to curriculum and experience. I have discussed this topic with a couple of my friends and former professors...how things are taught wrong. No one ever needs to forget the kid inside of them. That was the purest your imagination has ever been. I mean you can pick up a stick and pretend its a sword, or that a box is a space helmet. There were endless possibilities, and that's what education should be like.