25 Wednesday Nov 2015
Posted in miscellaneous
To enjoy, to share, to remember.
May life’s storehouse be overflowing with wonderful harvest for you! While we indulge in the prosperity and pleasures of the present, let us have high hopes for the future.
—Associates III
19 Thursday Nov 2015
Posted in design, inspiration
Visiting family in Chicago last summer provided the perfect opportunity to check out the Chicago Cultural Center, originally Chicago’s first Central Public Library and with a dome designed by Tiffany. We were intrigued and found it was well worth the time to go!
The dome is 38 feet in diameter and made with 30,000 pieces of glass. Designed with a fish scale pattern and signs of the zodiac at the very top, it’s not made with the brightly colored glass that is often associated with Tiffany. The glass in this application is a clear iridescent-type glass (Tiffany’s proprietary Favrile glass) that lets a lot of light into the space. While the dome was solely sunlit at one time, it is now lit with electric lights as well. Interestingly, the exterior of the dome was covered with concrete and copper in the 1930’s (what were they thinking?!) but restored to its original design intent in 2008.
The dome covers the Preston Bradley Hall on the second floor, once the General Delivery Room for the library and now used for special events of all kind. There are lovely Tiffany chandeliers throughout the space with the clear iridescence of the dome. The use of color was saved for the incredible mosaic wall designs that cover practically every surface and archway of this room. These beautiful mosaics made from Favrile glass, stone, and mother of pearl intermix symbols related to printing, libraries and books in a palette of bright green, turquoise, gold, gray and white. A variety of quotations carved into marble in many different languages is also part of the captivating wall decoration.
The room has a definite feminine quality to it in a lovely, bright, refreshing way. I was surprised that it was not the dark, subdued colors found to be more typical during the Victorian era of Interior Design. This quote from the center’s brochure detailing the workmanship caught my attention: “The noted Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company of New York executed most of the room’s decorative features, including the dome, mosaics and lighting fixtures, employing mostly a female labor force, as women were thought to be more adept at the fine handiwork.”
—Jill
12 Thursday Nov 2015
Posted in design, environment, inspiration
In recent years, I’ve had the opportunity to visit Japan, and among the many wondrous elements of Japanese design, one design feature that really struck me and continues to influence how I approach design is the harmony created by courtyard gardens juxtaposed within traditional Japanese architecture.
Many traditional homes, both large and small, have a central courtyard that visually becomes part of the interior of the home. Often separated by shoji screens (which are usually kept open during the day), these gardens are instantly accessible from within the home, and provide a refuge as well as ever-changing visual interest throughout the year.
Common elements of Japanese courtyard garden design include a bamboo fountain that pours into a low stone basin near an entrance, lanterns, sand, smooth gravel, artful garden boulders that suggest mountains, ponds, wandering paths, and small bridges. These elements are carefully planned within and around trees and other plants to create a contemplative, serene environment – a special place accessible only to those within the home.
—Jason
05 Thursday Nov 2015
Posted in inspiration
My senior thesis project Vestige is a photographic examination of the collective human desire to document our existence, and the false security that comes with such documentation. The project began out of a personal need to connect with others and as a chance to break away from the self-portrait work that comprised most of my undergrad portfolio. As the project progressed it felt less like a way to connect, in some ways creating more distance between myself and the subject. Through research of contemporary artists and the writings of French philosopher Rolande Barthes the body of work has morphed into a reminder that a photograph is nothing more than reflected light captured in light sensitive materials; in this case traditional silver gelatin. Though we treat photographs as some sort of hyper-real, they are as Barthes says nothing more than “a new form of hallucination.” By creating an impossible space for the subject to exist in, I am trying to remind the viewer that the subject does not exist within the image like we think they do. The image is nothing but a chemical reaction between light reactive particles and a base chemical.
The use of analog materials is important because it not only creates a dichotomy between the real and the hallucination, but reminds the viewer further of the falsehood of all photographic mediums, not just photoshop. The process is slow and methodical, consisting of hours in front of a light table layering negatives to find visually stimulating imagery that obscures the subject yet enhances them at the same time. The use of film and traditional methods also ensures longevity of the work. If taken care of properly, film negatives and silver gelatin prints will survive a century. Digital files on the other hand corrupt easily, especially as technologies advance and change exponentially. Most of the imagery created in this digital age is expected to corrupt and disappear leaving a large gap and disparity in imagery for future beings to study. Unless meticulous care is taken to take pictures in a lossless file format and constant hard drive backups, most of what is taken on your cellphone won’t be viewable in as little as 50 years.
“What the Photograph reproduces to infinity has occurred only once: the Photograph mechanically repeats what could never be repeated existentially.” —Rolande Barthes, Camera Lucida
See more images www.aylaleroyce.com
—Ayla
