Summing Up 2020

It certainly was an eventful semester. I learned a ton about how aesthetics influences our everyday lives. Additionally, this course showed me the societal divide between the arts and engineering, and I made my best effort over the semester to bridge the gap and incorporate both artistry and engineering within my projects. In future personal…
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Main Project Inspiration 2020: Desk/Table Lamp

Introduction For this course’s Main Project, I would like to create something with regular functional use. My current room in graduate housing only has one oddly-positioned overhead light, so even with an additional off-the-shelf lamp, in the evenings I’ve been finding that it’s functionally impossible to get any non-computer work (paperwork, reading. etc.) done within…
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Upcycle Progress 2020: Pocket-Sized Sketchpad

Shortly after making my inspiration post, I found an extremely similar process conducted by a craft-cycle.com user “McKenzie” posted to the site – https://www.craft-cycle.com/upcycled-receipt-notebook-2/ – on August 3rd of last year, with pretty promising results regarding notebook/sketchpad functionality. Reading through this post addressed a lot of my own concerns regarding how I would proceed with…
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Aesthetics Game 2020: Novelty Roadside Architecture and Coat Hangers

Group members: Justin Engbrecht (myself), Patrick Bodine-Ellison, and Benjamin Robles For the Aesthetics Game this semester conducted by guest lecturer Dr. Greg Whiting, our table received the object “Coat hanger” and the aesthetic “Novelty Architecture / Roadside Vernacular Architecture”. We initially had no idea what this aesthetic was, and had to google it to find…
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Aesthetic Exploration 2020: Retrofuturism

For my first aesthetic exploration, I have chosen to explore the Retrofuturism aesthetic. Building upon the concept of futurism, retrofuturism has the distinction of showing retro styling and perspective at odds with a futuristic depiction, especially regarding technology and machinery. Visually, retrofuturism eschews the blocky form in favor of curves and contours, often featuring vibrant…
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