A curious Slakethirst discovery: artichoke aperitif! It doesn’t taste much like artichokes, more like Campari without the citrus. If you like tasty-bitter stuff, I recommend it highly�pour it over ice.

I feel like I made some good progress on the paper yesterday, it’s still a little overwhelming, but the more I work on it, the more I get a good sense of how it should be structured. I have yet to bring my massive bibliography into play. I will have to work on supporting some of my statements with appropriate citations. Right now the paper is mostly just my description of the visitor experience and my motivation for creating it. I have yet to talk about the historical/cultural context. I have a good idea what that is going to be, though.

During a thesis paper writing break, my mind drifted to thoughts of our poor neglected garden. It’s practically April already and we haven’t planted anything new. (more…)

The ephemera of the past — photos, documents, letters, etc. — have the power to connect us to their time and to the people who lived in it. That power increases when such items are held in one’s hand. The crispness of aged paper, the musty odor, the crackle of permanent creases being folded and unfolded, the sense of being in the place of the owner or writer — these can only be experienced with the artifact in hand. My project creates an evocative setting for the physical interaction between the visitor and three collections of artifacts. Each collection represents a person who lived in a time before our own. The collections are concealed within a cabinet and the individual artifacts are accessed only after the visitor has passed over three thresholds — an outer door, an inner door, and a drawer. This series of steps moves the visitor into a separate imagined space.

I had a successful Thesis day, I think. My summary was pretty well received in class today, thank god! I have to approach the project as creating a context for the visitors interaction with these objects. The physical handling of the stuff is the important moment and everything must work towards emphasizing that moment.

Drafts of the thesis paper are due next Tuesday — I have to really get cracking. I don’t think I’ll be going to any more estate sales this weekend. I have to finish the box, write the paper and create the catalog! Agh! At least I think I have all the materials to finish. I would like to gild some knobs for door handles, though. That would require buying wooden knobs, silver leaf, and leaf size. I’d also like to experiment with paper marbling, but I don’t know if I will have time for that, unfortunately.

The ivory tiles were well received in design class — I’m glad they weren’t considered too cheap or plastic-y looking! It’s difficult to gain objective distance on these things, but I think I’m often more picky than others would be about craft issues.