Final Plant Project

Here are the pictures of my final plant project!

Project 3

The Colors of Waste Water Treatment

When visiting the water treatment plant, I was inspired by the atmosphere and beautiful colors there, especially when beauty is something rarely associated with the process of purifying water. This series of pieces uses colors taken from six different photographs of the water treatment plant to fill in an abstracted image from the plant itself. It aims to make the viewer more aware of the plant’s beauty and the wide range of color there that is often overlooked.

Review of Project 3 Ideas

The idea that I brought to class wasn’t a finished piece. I looked at the pictures I took at the water treatment plant and, after studying the colors, lines, and reoccurring shapes in the group, I decided that these elements needed to become a part of my final project. I would like to use printmaking at my chosen medium because I think this will allow me to still capture the crisp shapes and lines in the photographs while giving me the freedom to layer and play with the colors from the original photographs as well. I don’t have any designs mocked up yet but I would like to keep an open mind as to how much color I’m going to include and whether or not several layers of prints need to be a part of the piece. I just don’t want to commit to using several different elements from the photos and then having the piece clash and be overwhelmed by them. So far I’m very inspired by the patterns of the churning water and the light patterns on the buildings.

Catch-Up

Oh my goodness, I am so bad about keeping up with posts so let me quick catch up in one really long one.

These are the thought maps we did in class to help us brainstorm project ideas for our systems and patterns project. We were supposed to pick three ideas that came from them for mini-projects.

Here are the three mini-projects that came from it:

This project (above) was exploring the form and colors of the Colorado River Delta.

This poster was exploring the environmental, conservationist aspect of the Colorado River Delta.

This piece was exploring the form of river deltas as well as the idea that delta is also a Greek letter and symbol.

Out of all of these mini-projects came the final one which was exploring the shapes of river deltas from around the world as well as the natural colors of the Colorado River Delta (which were taken from the picture in the previous post). It was also supposed to invoke the idea of a Rorschach test because a river delta can mean so many different things to the plants, animals, and humans that live in close proximity, including a home, food source, and beautiful landscape.

Second Project Idea

Aerial view of the Colorado River Delta

(photo from here)

For my second project on patterns and systems in nature, I researched river deltas--more specifically the Colorado River delta since it's one of the biggest in the United States. I discovered that this desert river delta is drying up due to an overuse by desert cities in the western U.S. As little as 10% of the original water that used to flow from the beginning of the river into Mexico is making it beyond the U.S.-Mexican border. Unfortunately, there are many endangered species that live in this environment and many are close to extinction from their wetland habitats drying up and the salt levels dramatically rising. I think this project will be an interesting one because there are many different ways to approach this problem--namely from a political or conservation perspective.

Some ideas I have include a series posters that show dissections of the endangered species of the Colorado River delta, a poster advocating the return of water to the wetlands, and a poster showing the effects of rising salt water levels on the plants and animals in the delta. They're all pretty basic right now but hopefully I can hone in on one that will make an excellent final project!

Permanent Housing For My Plant

This is the first iteration of my permanent housing for my (still nameless) polka dot plant. It's made from all recycled materials including C.D. cases and coffee cans. The foil is in place to reflect light onto the plant since it needs a warm, bright environment. The coffee can lid that it's sitting in is a small dish of sorts that can hold water for the plant to soak up so I don't have to water it every day. So far this home seems to be working quite well although I look forward to improving the design in the next iteration.

My Plant!

Here are some pictures of my new plant from class! It's a polka dot plant (hence the pinky-red spots). Thank goodness it's not diseased already. I've got to think of a name still.