Lisa-Marie's Pi Panic

When I first read Betty’s challenge, I was excited. I have always loved the elegant simplicity of symbols, rich with meaning yet clear and concise. The challenge to create a symbol of my own was daunting but exhilarating.

I had several ideas of situations that needed symbols: 

•   Murphy’s Law (If anything can go wrong it will, and at the worst possible moment)
•   The pain of the mundane (the endless stream of meaningless obligations)
•   The odd experience when, after re-tying a shoe that has come untied, the other shoe suddenly feels too loose.

Unfortunately, my enthusiasm quickly gave way to panic: what in the world will I create? It’s one thing to conceive of situations, but how will I depict them? I got tripped up thinking my symbol had to be linear, like an Asian character, but then I started noticing logos and how figures and words are also used. I noticed that symbols aren’t necessarily completely unique, they are often just an innovative way of rendering existing shapes.

Lost and Found

AT&T

Phew! That helps alleviate some of the pressure. I am not limited to line, I can use letters or figures or combinations of these to create something new. 

Though I see a broader range of possibilities, I confess, I’m not making much progress. 

I have, however, noticed my challenge experience follows a familiar path: 

1. Excitement
2. Panic
3. Procrastination
4. Design
5. Deadline
6. Reality
7. Relief
8. Repeat

Looks like I’m right on target.  Maybe I need to develop a symbol for that.

Mary's Take on Challenge 2

Well, this is a Challenge group, indeed! This whole experience has been quite an eye-opener for me because I am so unaccustomed to being assigned a subject when making my artwork - I come up with my concept and I proceed to make the vision a reality.  So this group is definitely pulling me out of my very comfortable little rut and making me think in all kinds of new ways. Which is the point, right?

The last challenge had me cogitating on how to depict something auditory in visual terms.  That was tough enough! Now I have a two-fold assignment: design a symbol to represent something that doesn't have one, and then depict it in an aesthetically pleasing way.

Like Martha, my mind turned first to the symbols we see around us all the time - to warn us about dangers: ...

to tell us what we should do  ...                                                                               

                                                                           ... or should not do ....



I can see it might be easy to have a lot of fun with this challenge.  Martha's post title was "Too Much Pi" and I imagined designing a symbol for that!

But I was flummoxed enough to write to Betty and make sure I grasped what she was envisioning.  (Is that cheating?)  :)

Aha! Emoticons! :D  Wonderful little symbols for expressing tone of voice so emails don't get misinterpreted!

:-O   Gasp           0:-)  Angel                :-{{  Angry face           >:-(      Annoyed  

@:-}     Just back from hairdresser

:-(O=    Too much pie

So in the interests of sharing my newfound knowledge with my struggling colleagues, here are Betty's hints:

Think of something that takes many words to approximate (like pi can take many numbers) and then make a symbol for it. 
like- that feeling in the morning when you get an idea when you're half asleep and then spend the next couple of hours trying to remember it ... or- what happens when you're listening to someone drone on and on and really want to be someplace else


Okay, that helps.  It's coming to me.  I think I will work on designing a symbol for that feeling you get when you are facing an insurmountable challenge! 


!
o A

Too much pi: Martha Weighs In

Universal Choking Sign

The second challenge, served up by Betty, is a profound one.  What immediately sprung to mind were two pictograms - the Universal Choking Sign (which, admittedly, could have been a reaction to the challenge) and remember when Prince became "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince" back in the 90's? It got me started on what has turned into a really challenging process......to think of a situations that needs to have a symbol to represent it and create it.

Prince's Love Logo

No Sausage in the Freiburg Münster 

We are utterly surrounded by signs, symbols, logos, trademarks, emoticons, and more. We don't even notice the difference between a word and a symbol in many cases. We know what they mean....

Some tell us not to do things.

No Man's Best Friend

!, indeed @ Giessbach Falls 

 

Some warn us to "Look Out!"

Some are just universal product recognition.

.......now I start to think deeper, product recognition means different things to different people....ie, great quick meal vs poor diet choice.....unlike pi that has only one meaning.....

Apple Store @ the Louvre

In fact, some symbols even polarize us.

 

Equal Rights Campaign

So, I think I need to create a symbol that represents some universal truth, something non-subjective, something that can only mean one thing.  It gets more difficult.  Things that come to mind now....hiccups?  I start to realize how few things in my experience mean the same thing to everybody else.  Even scientific data can be interpreted in different ways.  Maybe it will *have* to be something mathematical...

Challenge 2-pi

When Martha first came up with the concept behind this challenge group, and we took the online quiz to see what our strengths and weaknesses were, I realized my least inspirational field was math.  Never liked it since the answers were either right or wrong, black or white.

but.......pi.

It's an invaluable mathematical constant, a ratio that has been known and used since the time of Archimedes, but it can't be precisely expressed through mere numbers.

So a symbol had to be invented for it.

So, my challenge to you is to think of a situation that needs to have a symbol to represent it-

and invent that symbol!

Orientation: landscape

Looking forward to the second virtual gallery on 26 June.

It’s On

My piece is inspired by the feeling of excitement and speed I experienced while listening to Vivaldi.
The music reminded me of the first few minutes of a race… A lot of adrenaline, energy, momentum, a feeling of being chased.  The moments after the starting gun can be a little chaotic (which is why I tend to stay on the outside edge and hug the curb). Everyone is going in the same direction at different speeds. I sometimes feel like I’m being swept along, almost out of my control.  It takes a few minutes to calm down and get my bearings.  But pretty soon I get into a good rhythm and have fun.
For this piece I went a little bit out of my comfort zone and tried a few new approaches.  For the figures, I used bright colors without any modeling or sense of light & shadow. I also purposely stitched outside the edges of the figures with loose sketchy lines, pushing the colors into other figures, trying to create a blurry movement around them. 
The runners in the distance fade out and disappear into simple line drawings.  That gives me a little visual “breathing room” and allows me to see the curve of the road.  The scene is crowded but I didn’t want it to be oppressive and claustrophobic.
I always add a binding to my quilts, usually a thin black line around the edge. But I thought that would ‘trap’ the figures and stop the action. So I experimented with matching the binding to the image using different fabrics. That way the runners can move out of the frame.

Technorati Tags: Challenge1,Themel,Vivaldi

Halfway

"Halfway", Martha Wolfe

When I started, I knew what the music reminded me of, a frenetic time in life when things were always moving.....fast.  Run, run, run, and then it would all calm down.  I went through numerous illustrations of this experience in the design process and finally just closed my eyes and listened again.  Building to a crescendo...running up stairs, running down stairs, a sunny window halfway, briefly harmonious.  Repeat.  With all due respect to Vivaldi, no summer in sight.

"Halfway" is made from hand dyed cotton and raw-edge appliquéd.  Machine  detail and quilting.

"Halfway",detail

From old memories

"From old memories", Misik Kim

When I was listening to music, I remembered my long ago memories of my works.


Faded memories ......


It is first challege to me, so  little afraid.


But I could  also enjoy to work with a different feel.

"From old memories", detail