Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Sydney!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Final project
A summative, reflective piece (5-6 pages or more, as needed*) that describes and explains how you researched, conceived, designed, implemented, and responded to the project you present(ed) to the class. Again, consider all of the writings we've done this semester as feeding into this piece. How have the different parts helped you arrive at a certain point in your work? What works have you cited? How was this a *research* project for you? Was it successful, and what's next? How did the other class members respond to your work? Does this project and approach correspond to the ways that you approach your other classes and disciplines? How is writing a mirror to your practice?
Also due April 20
Bibliography:
Including everything, everything, everything you've researched this semester, whether directly cited in your pieces or not. All of it. The bibliography is a road map to/through your work.
*The document length here is a guideline only. As we've discussed, depending on the format you choose (perhaps this is a play, a score, some sort of hybrid writing--) this may be substantially longer. It should include a cohesive argument, description, and explanation of your project and how the work developed.
Project Schedule
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Survey Says
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Death and Life
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Wednesday, March 25
We're meeting tomorrow at Kerry Hall for a walk down to The Egan House. Information on the location (and image) courtesy Historic Seattle here.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Week of March 23rd
Monday, March 16, 2009
Tomten album released
Friday, March 13, 2009
Post-Spring Break
Mon, 3/16: Welcome back! Discussion on the Weather Journal in progress.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Tacoma Underground
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Rainier Square
images courtesy Lead Pencil Studio and Lawrimore Project
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Discussing The Mezzanine
Thursday, February 5, 2009
I LEGO N.Y.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Semester project
As we’ve been discussing, and as Heather Sheppard outlined during her research presentation (using Ballard Denny’s as a model), all of the writings for the rest of the semester will be considered as ONE PIECE. While some weeks will be prompted, others will be self-directed. Formats and responses will be different—some weeks you’ll write poetry, essays, short stories, scripts, blocking notes, proposals, forms, drafts, and notes. All of these writings (along with your notes from class and observations from the field) will be submitted periodically throughout the semester (see below), along with a bibliography. The bibliography is a cognitive map of your investigations during this course. It will record the places you go, the books and articles you read, the images you see, interviews you conduct, tours you take, films you watch, music you hear, conversations you hold. The semester will see this writing project grow organically.
To begin, we’ll look at your writings weekly (2-3 pages recommended per person, every week), in a series of peer-review sessions; sharing approaches, reading works for content and form. We’ll integrate textual analysis, research methodologies, and conceptual approaches to a potentially wide range of places around town.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Reverse Charrette Project
You've worked in groups together, exploring the layers of your own discipline and a new, perhaps foreign, way of responding to the environment. What drives you, and how is that drive perhaps encapsulated or exhibited in the project you've made? Are there things that you learned through the process that you feel are vital to share with an audience, or things that may just need to be written to clarify them? How have you seen these disparate sources link together in your writing? In your project? Are there things that really worked in the group project? Was your voice heard? How did the project develop with you or around you? What role did you find yourself taking in the process, and is this a role you've previously had in other projects? Part of the ensemble? Composer? Author? In building a document of this nature, I would encourage you to look back at the readings we've done and the writings you've done (your notes, your descriptions, your research), looking for patterns and (MLA-style) possible citations or quotes. Did certain authors articulate thoughts on a particular aspect of this program for you?
In considering the length of this document, I'm not going to offer a *word count* as a guide, but my suggestion is that it is a length (maybe 4 pages or more, or more) that allows you some space to substantially discuss everything that went into this project for you. DUE Monday, February 2.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Snack Day Friday Returns
Here's the tentative schedule. And remember, like last semester, it's not a meal, it's a snack.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Proposed Land Use Action Calendar
Wed, 1/14: SEMINAR--Course reader re-cap: Steve Featherstone, Alain de Botton, Alfred Kazin, JB Jackson, Nicholson Baker, Susan Mitchell. Reading assignment: Andy Warhol, "Atmosphere".
REVERSE CHARRETTE: Taking our cues from Sydney and the charrette project we did last semester, we will again be working in team-based situations. However, like a really good reality tv show, there is a new twist: You will be again be working with a group in your discipline, BUT you will be using the tools and methods of ANOTHER discipline to execute your project. For instance, if we take a group of dancers, lead them to a site and ask them to do a visual art project with the material, what will the results be?
Wed, 1/21: Writing project DUE with Reverse Charrette casebook on Monday, 2/2: Borderline or, Writing Around the Block. Working with only found text, appropriated from a one block radius (same side of the street) as the site at 2105 6th Avenue, create a written piece that gives a sense of the location, the neighborhood, and the experience of walking around with the group. Reverse charrette group work and writing, discussion on site. Reading assignment: Handout.
Fri, 1/23 Tour Paramount Theatre, 2 pm.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Friday, November 28, 2008
Final Portfolio
During the semester you have been investigating sites ranging from physical locations (parks, offices, libraries, schools, a bus tunnel, and City Hall) to more conceptual spaces (Calvino’s text “Invisble Cities” and your own proposed charrette spaces). For the final writing exploration of this semester, you’ll be investigating your own body of writings as sites of inquiry.
By the time the portfolio is submitted, you will have had exposure to a broad range of writing opportunities (journal sketches, revised drafts, self-reflective essays, proposal/charrette briefs, presentations, revisions, synthesis of resources, and blog entries, among others). Is your writing moving in directions that are helpful to you as an artist? In what ways can you improve upon this process?
For your portfolio (and this list in consistent within all the Integrated Studies courses), please include the following elements:
2. From these works, you will select and foreground three (3) pieces of your writing from this semester which will be the basis of a self-reflective writing introducing the portfolio (see #3 below). These three papers should be clearly separated from the other works in your binder. They may be any three pieces you’ve written--they could be three distinct works, multiple revisions of a single work, or a combination of these things. They may be notes, papers we've already discussed, or something new that you've been developing.
3. An introduction/self-reflective piece introducing your portfolio. For length, consider a significant writing (100o words is a nice start, right?), although you may want to explore this writing; I'll read as much as you write (it takes me awhile, but yes, really), and it's a great opportunity to really unpack your work this semester and take some time with your output. What worked? What sucked? Ideally, this paper will include your responses to both the coursework and your own writings. What role does writing fulfill in your artistic practice? How are you taking steps to develop your work? What direction would you like the writing aspect of the course take in the future? Are you seeing your writing process grow? What are your hopes for writing in the coming semester, or coming years at Cornish?
In this self-reflective, introductory (to the portfolio) writing please also describe your process of selecting three pieces from the semester. Why are they vital to you now? What links the works together? Is your process of research the same from one piece to the next? Are there common elements in the writings? How are these writings exemplary of your progress this semester?
All works for this writing portfolio are Due Monday, December 8, 2008.
Everything* should include--if you choose-- a fair selection of your notes or preliminary writings. You don't need to extract or copy all of the pages from your journal, but if there are specific writings or notes or diagrams you've taken that have helped you go to someplace new in your writing, then yes, by all means, include them here.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Columbia Center
Here is a page of fun facts on Columbia Center
For our visit to the building, I asked everyone to consider the pace of business. How quickly are people moving through the building? Where do they congregate? What paths do they form, and how do they navigate?
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Writing about Parks
We've visited numerous parks: Freeway Park, Volunteer Park, Westlake Center Park, Seattle Times Park, Cascade Neighborhood Park, and (soon) Denny Park.
Synthesizing your readings on parks (including Calvino, deBotton, and others), William Whyte's research models in The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, our collaborative work with Erica Howard's class, and our own navigation through those diverse spaces, how can a writing tie together you diverse experiences in these locations? Do the parks all share common attributes? How are the bordered by and linked to their surroundings?
Do parks offer a comfort and diversion from the pressures of the city, or are they something else entirely?
In a significant writing (let's say maybe 1000 words or so), describe and explain what our explorations through the green spaces of Seattle have made you consider about the changing roles of parks in our city. Are they being used in the ways that you expected? Do they remind you of other similar spaces you have explored on your own; a park where you grew up? Which communities are activating (enacting) these sites? What draws us to a park?
In this writing (like much of the work we've done), don't feel compelled to write an essay. Rather, consider this as a platform or question in terms of the form of the writing. Do you write about all parks the same way, or does each park offer it's own voice? We've explored these disparate spaces by different prompts-- overheard conversations, found writing, lists of resources. Is there a hybrid of writings that you can assemble to give a rich portrait of our parks?
In line with this, please include a list of Works Cited, identifying any quotes or citations that you reference in your work. For assistance with formatting, please see the Cornish Library website here
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
I want to go here at Volunteer Park
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Go Water Taxi!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Invisible Cities
For the writing, please consider and respond to the following:
Working from both the reading and your memories, describe at least three of the cities Marco Polo discusses with Khan, and compare to cities that you know, have visited, read about, or feel an affinity towards. What unites these disparate places? What differences do they exhibit? Who populates them? How do you navigate them? What is their character, and how does your writing reflect that character? Do you need to use different types of writing to give the sense of each different place? Is one city defined through poetry while another needs to be interviewed? When do you gain familiarity with a city? Can you trust a city?
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Freeway Park
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Mid-term conferences
Monday meetings at Kerry Hall (we'll meet in the lobby, or most likely at Joe Bar)
Ian
Carla
Stella
Brian
Zoe
Angel
Brendon
Kelton
Camryn
Abbie
Wednesday meetings at MCC, 7th Floor, Faculty/Staff Lounge
Lisa
Jessie
Sam
Sasha
Sydney
Travis
Eunyi
Keenan
Ross
Blake
Monday, October 13, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
SHARING=CARING
Every Friday:
10/3: Jessica, Travis, Marc
10/10: Sasha, Angel, Sam
10/17: No Food! Cornish Library Orientation 2:30- 4:00
10/24: Carla, Stella, Zoe
10/31: No Food! Water Taxi!
11/7: Ross, Ian, Brendon
11/14: Sydney, Blake, Brian
11/21: Camryn, Kelton, (Eunyi, Lisa TBA)
11/28: No food! Thanksgiving!
12/5: Carla, Stella, Jessica
12/12: Blake, Marc
Food Pyramid provided for the public domain by the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) 2005. The image and text has not been modified from its original form.
Janet Cardiff
Here is the link to Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller's website which has audio samples from many of their walks. Cornish also has two books with companion audio in their collection (link to the library is on the right-hand side of your screen).
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Charrette timeline
Many of the activities below reitterate the course calendar, but my intention here is to couch them within the framework of the CHARRETTE
PROJECT 1: CHARRETTE CASEBOOK
Your first major project for our class is a “charrette,” a term that comes from the disciplines of design and architecture. A charrette is “a period of intense (group) work, typically undertaken in order to meet a deadline. Also: a collaborative workshop focusing on a particular problem or project; a public meeting or conference devoted to discussion of a proposed community building project” (Oxford English Dictionary). The term comes from a customary practice of French architecture students, who would use a small cart to carry their models and plans on the day of an exhibition; the word “charrette” literally means “handcart” in French.
So what do handcarts have to do with cities, interdisciplinarity, practices and collaboration? We’ll be adopting the charrette paradigm for an interdisciplinary and collaborative group project in which you identify, analyze and resolve a problem or gap within a specific urban community: the Cornish community.
Our process over the next few weeks will involve several stages and the practices of different disciplines to help you identify, analyze and resolve the problem or gap your group wants to work on. The project will culminate in two final products: a group presentation of your design and a “casebook” that you put together on your own, which will include materials you created along the way and a short reflective piece of writing on your experience.
The gap (or problem) we are attempting to expose is this:
Where and how do you see opportunities for practitioners of your discipline (or, really, you) to work between the Main Campus Center and Kerry Hall? How and where does your studio practice potentially unite the Cornish communities with the greater Seattle community?
Is this a project that could happen in multiple places, at multiple times? Are you working on it when you ride the shuttle to class? Have you ever been to Kerry Hall?
For this project you will be producing two key elements. The first is a casebook, or portfolio; a collection of all your writings, maps, and notes on this project. This may also include any research you are doing along the way. Many of the elements included in the casebook will be group authored--we'll write them together in class (similar to the disciplinary "maps" you've made and presented to the group. In line with this, you will also be composing a summative writing or response to the entire process, describing what you did, how the work developed, and what the experience meant to you. More information on all of the elements to be included in the casebook will be provided in class.
The second element is the project itself. Rather than say this is a presentation, it may be helpful to think of it instead as a performance, or installation, utilizing the methods and tools of your discipline. For example, it minght be that a musician in the class may choose to design a performance to take place somewhere along the route from MCC to Kerry Hall. Perhaps the music they play references the history of the area, or their feelings about a certain space.
This project is designed to be temporary and non-invasive. No illegal activites will be considered or discussed in this framework. As much as we are examining the boundaries of our neighborhoods and communities, my expectation is that you will also examine the boundaries of the law.
Here's how we start:
Wednesday 9/10
We'll do a mini-mapping project, taking a block (Lenora-Boren-Terry) around Cornish and describing (in writing, maps, photographs, drawings) everything we can see, hear, smell, touch, and taste there (okay, not everything, but you get the idea). Time permitting, we'll look at the results at the end of class, or more likely at the beginning of class on Friday.
Friday 9/12
We will meet in the Faculty/Staff Lounge and, using the same tactics as Wednesday, you'll explore/chart/find routes between the main campus and Kerry Hall, describing and mapping the area you traverse. How do you get from one place to another and what dictates that pathway? What factors help you choose your route?
DUE MONDAY:
1. Transcribe (type) and print your observations/drawings/notes from your field work on Wednesday and today.
2. Make a map of your route and copy for everyone in the group. Map should include street names, clearly depict he route you followed, and note both landmarks in the areas (neighborhoods) as well as indicate potential sites for your group project(s).
3. Read articles from Twyla Tharp, Ed Ruscha, and John Cage for discussion on Monday.
Mon 9/15
Discussion on Tharp, Ruscha, Cage.
Reading for Wed: James Rojas, Jess Mowry
Wed 9/17
Discussion on Rojas, Mowry
Reading for Fri: Klosterman
Fri 9/19
Discussion on Mowry, Klosterman, Rojas
Writing Center orientation 2:15- 3:00 pm
Film: The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
Reading for Monday: Calvino, Marcovaldo
WRITING DUE NEXT WEDNESDAY: Two elements, as follows (approximately 3 pages or more):
First, an outline of the project and your contributions, including a daily timetable between now and the presentations, scheduled to begin on Friday, October 3. In this outline, please also describe the relationship of your project to the readings we have done in the course, and how they may (potentially) overlap one another. Are there spaces that Rojas describes that you find yourself gravitating towards? Does the way that Robby negotiates his environment in "Rats in the Trees" offer ways of understanding how you move through a park, or bus stop?
Second, a rough draft (or preliminary version) of your project, identifying the components-- what you will be doing or making as an artistic response. This may include any number of things, such as blocking diagrams (for movement pieces), short scripts or character sketches for performances, layouts/comps for posters, stencils for chalk designs, etc. Remember, this project is-- in part-- being designed to introduce you as members of the Cornish community to other members of the community (including Cornish). Beginning next Friday, we will share these with the class.
Week 4
Mon 9/22
Field work in groups, locations to be discussed prior to class
Wed 9/24
Field work as group. MEET AT KERRY HALL.
Writing project: Kerry Hall sound/music map-- listing spaces, the music or sounds that they conjure, and brief descriptions of how the spaces & sounds go together. Please consider this as a draft, a document we will build and change throughout the next couple of weeks. Some of the ways that students have handled this prompt in a past class are archived here
Fri 9/26
Discussion on Kerry Hall music, look at different strategies for navigating the building and music
Discussion on excerpts from Italo Calvino's Marcovaldo
WRITING DUE NEXT MONDAY: Describe (using citations or quotes) an instance in Calvino's story where Marcovaldo regards the city in an unexpected way and explain a situation where you may have had a similar experience. When has the city surprised you? What, if any, ways can you integrate these *surprises* of the city in the charrette project you are designing?
Week 5
Mon 9/29
Discussion on Calvino & Lars Eighner
Reading: Center for Land Use Interpretation/ Wendover, Denis Wood
Field work, location TBA
Writing DUE Wednesday: Assemble a writing (to be read in class on Wednesday) that consists ONLY of written text found during our class walk. As we designed the rules in conversation, some of the things to keep in mind: found words may be used multiple times in your work, but cannot be pieced apart to make new words.
Wed 9/30
Field work, location TBA. Class reading found works (as above), and group work
Fri 10/3
Class meeting looking at draft versions of charrette projects IN PROGRESS
Week 6
Mon 10/6
Student Affairs Presentation
Wed 10/8
Presentations, as needed TBA. You'll present your proposal or project or work in progress or piece to the class. This will most likely take a couple of days, and span the distance between/across the campuses, so prior to this day, we'll design a schedule of events/presentations to help you plan.
Fri 10/10
Presentations this day
Writing DUE Wednesday, 10/15: An essay responding to your experiences and the development of your charrette project. This piece is designed to reflect on the last six weeks of the course, and describe/explain particular elements that have been significant in your work (in IS) during this time. As we've discussed in class, the curriculum has (obviously) been very layered with readings, videos, audio works, your writings, field work, seminars, and group/collective project work all sharing the same place.
We've met with representatives from across Cornish, including the Writing Center, Student Affairs, Marketing (Meike Kaan, for those of you in Design), and others during this time. We've ventured out into the surrounding neighborhoods. We've walked up Capitol Hill. We've ridden (commandeered?) the Shuttle. We've read (together, sometimes out loud) fiction, poetry (in two languages), essays, maps, and the landscape (including moving buses).
You've worked in groups together, exploring the layers of your own discipline. What drives you, and how is that drive perhaps encapsulated or exhibited in the charrette project you've made? Are there things that you learned through the process that you feel are vital to share with an audience, or things that may just need to be written to clarify them?
How have you seen these disparate sources link together in your writing? In your project? Are there things that really worked in the group project? Was your voice heard? How did the project develop with you or around you? What role did you find yourself taking in the process, and is this a role you've previously had in other projects? Part of the ensemble? Composer? Author?
In building a document of this nature, I would encourage you to look back at the readings we've done and the writings you've done (your essays, your descriptions, your notes), looking for patterns and (MLA-style) possible citations or quotes. Did certain authors articulate thoughts on a particular aspect of this program for you?
In considering the length of this document, I'm not going to offer a *word count* as a guide, but my suggestion is that it is a length (maybe 4 pages or more, or more) that allows you some space to substantially discuss everything that went into this project for you.
Week 7
Mon 10/13
MEET AT Kerry 218
Debriefing/ discussion on charrette, writing project: describe and respond to Soundtransit projects on Broadway
Reading assignment: Calvino, Invisible Cities chapters 1, 2-- pp. 1-39
Wed 10/15
Begin discussion on Invisible Cities, chapter---
Fri 10/17 Cornish Library orientation 2:30- 4:00 pm