Final Project--"I Need You"

Hey guys!

All right, so thank you for keeping up with the craziness of this project for the past week or so. Here's everything in a nutshell... :)

Premise:

Each and every story of adversity is unique to the individual, but it has the capacity to connect us all and inspire. So, I am taking peoples' stories (retaining the anonymity of the individuals) and creating pictures from their accounts. I will make the pictures out of words.

Website: http://www.ineedyouproject.com

Blog: http://www.ineedyouproject.wordpress.com

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/INeedYouProject

Email: ineedyouproject01@gmail.com

New Idea: This is where I really need your help!

I met with my mentor and discussed the project idea yet again (yesterday). Having done a final project with words in his class, he urged me to look at buying a projector that would project words onto the pieces (instead of making the pictures out of words). I have dabbled in both, and I am going to explore what each does to the concept at hand when I get into summer. But, what do you think? Here are some examples of both--

Questions: Do you like ONLY the background made of words? Or, should I make the whole piece out of words?

Questions: Do you like the projection? Here's what the projection does: it allows people to walk in front of the piece and be "in" the piece as the words run across that person's back. Also, I could tune the projection to different slides, so with the same piece, there would be multiple slides of that individual's words (in that individual's story).

Application for the artist:

So, being the artist of this project, I also wanted to put myself into this . . . literally. So, I put in a story :)

After anyone submits a story, the submission page reads, "Thank you! I promise I'll take good care of it."

Process:

1.) Submission of story

After someone submits their story via one of three things: email, website contact box, or blog, the artistic process begins. But, it all starts with you! :) Which, is a very cool thing.

2.) Sketch it up!

So, after I receive a story, I make a sketch, or a couple of sketches. Here's one for my story:

Specifically, I tagged the part where in my hospital visits, I had IV treatments. And, this is what I came up with. Usually, I do sketches in pen and shade them with colored pencil. I know . . . I'm weird. haha!

3.) Break out the graphite

After I make a sketch, I choose the paper (maybe 2-ply--and for a side-note, "ply" is the amount of sheets an artist's paper is made from; if we say 5-ply, it's pretty thick. If 2-ply, the paper will be thin, and I do light graphite, which does not require thick paper--or, I was thinking of something thin, like parchment paper, something that will fade with time, that looks archival, playing off the simile that people are like walking books . . .).

So, for this part, I will do a more detailed, time-consuming piece. Like so:

4.) Start all over again with a new story

This is always an adventure.

5.) Hang it up in the gallery :) (and this is still tentative--this may be completely different come time when I decide between pictures made of words vs. projected words)

But, the rough gallery sketches look something like this right now:

The little rectangles are the frames (and this is a quick Hite gallery sketch--where the BFA exhibitions take place). And, the small gallery space allows for a ( ) hanging, like two parentheticals, almost like an eye shape. And, these will be chained to the ceiling, or maybe even hovering with fishline. And, in the center there is a mirror box, where individuals (I use this word a lot, apparently!) will be able to write with dry-erase markers on the mirrors, as well as input their comments on comment/submission sheets that will be on the table.

This gallery space is a little bigger--this is where we went to see Smilde's cloud-works. So, I outlined the gallery and placed a few (okay, a lot of) frames in the gallery space. In the center of the heart shapes, there are double sided frames, so the frame will all be suspended and will allow for a walk through of the gallery, any side you want to take.

The name: I need you:

The name came from one of those epiphanies you always here people getting. I thought about calling it "catharsis," or "Soul Works" or something I thought was clever. But, when I started on the website, what really came to the forefront of everything is that I need you. I need these individuals and their stories. I'm not in a bubble, especially as an artist. And, I need people to make art, to digest it, and to be influenced by it, and to influence me. So, I need you. :) I hope you will take the time to tell your friends/anyone who's interested in this project. It's going to take a lot of time and effort and research (I'm researching literary theory right now to see how I can further my words and make my own fonts and handwritten scripts to help these stories breathe on the page). But, I really believe that stories, especially yours, can be powerful. Your story's worth believing in. I believe God made you--and your story. So, it's valuable. That's why I want to tell it.

And, I need your help to do that. ;)