hospital mural

hi everyone, after the mandatory meeting I started thinking about the design of the tree, and I know that I haven't been to the the meetings and been involved until just now, so I thought I should post some sketches that I did, and most likely I will do a lot more before our next meeting. I know everyone has there favorite part of the mural that they want to work on, and since no one was too big on how the tree should look exactly, so I thought I'd do some sketches, but I promise my tree of life is going to have more life next time.

Developing the idea

4: Canopy, last of trunk, people, birds
3: Trunk, people in branches
2: Ground level, garden landscape
1: Root system, underground

The first floor, the partial wall would be the underground root system with underground veggies, roots, and bugs. It would be done fairly simply, as an introduction to the piece.

The second floor would be the starting of the ground level, which would wrap around the wall, setting the line for the end of the underground root system. It would be a mix of a large, worms eye view garden turning into a basic landscape with people

The third floor would be the trunk and branches, with people playing, climbing, and generally being active. It would be the most labor intensive level, but should still be done simply, to allow for both time and differing styles.

The fourth floor, being the largest wall area space, can be a continuation of the trunk and activity, then break into leaves. This should end up being done simply, as a tie in with the first floor. A few people and birds and other flying things will tie in the theme of the continuation of activity and wellness.

This is what we have come up with so far. We have the basic idea down, but are still working out the more in depth details. Another meeting is potentially being planned for later this week, so it would be fantastic if everyone could have sketches by either then, or our normal Tuesday meeting.

Cheers
Denny

Walking into a vegetable/fruit garden

Hey my fellow glass fellowers

So i have drawn out what has been floating around in my head. I invision a tree being on that main wall that then can be painted straight upwards. And then around it on the bottom floor as you walk into the staircase the staff are walking into a beautiful simple garden. A garden that can inspire the staff to grow their own garden and to encourage them to eat beautiful, fresh food.

My sketchbook drawing is simple and I used watercolors to color it, however when painting the mural I strongly encourage us all to be very graphic and bold with coloring the images, rather then rendering it well.

I will be out of town once again for the next meeting. But I hope that my idea will be shown at the next meeting and it can be taken into consideration for the bottom floor of the staircase.

Thanks guys :)

Tree Sections

This is a rough sketch playing on the idea of painting a tree that spans the 3 large walls (opposing the doors).

In this schematic, there would be a continuous tree that the viewer sees grow as they walk up. When one first enters the stairwell from the ground, they are "underground", following the root system up to the 2nd floor. On the second floor, the branches follow up to the midsection of the tree. At the top floor, the viewer finally sees the canopy bearing brightly colored fruits. All throughout are iconic images of vegetables and fruits. Nothing is rendered - it is made up of defined, readable shapes.

This mural reflects wellness because it portrays growth and engages the viewer to identify all the natural foods (root vegetables, above ground vegetables and berries, tree fruits) which give life. The tree of life must be fruit bearing and vital.

The tips of the branches end at before they reach the doors. It would be best not to paint around the doors, because it is not an ideal place for someone to stop and stare. The most interesting imagery should be along the stairs and at the platforms in-between where the large walls are.

Vignettes could be introduced into the shape outlines of certain leaves or fruits. There an individual artist would have a chance to show their personal interpretation of wellness.

GLASS- reminders

Hi everyone,

I am leaving town for two weeks, but never fear! Heather will be around if you need something:

hkushner@ringling.edu. In the meantime, be setting up your individual projects so that you can be ready to go the first week of June. Please block your calendars for Tuesday, May 31 so we can schedule the day for you.

+You must send me your timesheets EVERY Sunday. Include meetings, research time, etc. Be specific in your descriptions on the timesheets.

+Please start posting your artwork on here so everyone can get a feel for your work and style.

+Post weekly updates on your individual projects.

+Post any ideas you get for the SMH mural, GBM Teen Summit, or MHI web site. If you see another artists work, or an article, etc. Please post!

We are still looking in to the computer lab availability. If you wish, you may coordinate with Heather to use the conference room on Tuesdays (through May) from 11am-4:30pm. I will be able to check my email somewhat while I am away, but not everyday. Let me know if you have questions!

Have a great couple weeks- thanks everyone!

Hey y'all, sorry I just got these up I'm still learning Blogging...

I know these are maybe outdated now since the last meeting but I thought it important to post them anyway :)

The hospital project so far:

During the last meeting, we discussed many ideas, and while the project is still in a very new and transitory phase, this is where it stands so far. I've included images I found and used as reference, obviously none of them are mine and I am not claiming them as such, I am adding them to help illustrate my idea.

For the unifying element, we have decided to go with a "world tree" that would cut through each floor, roots on the bottom, trunk and branches on the middle two, and leaves on the top. This fits in with the idea of growth, wellness, and life, and since the idea of the world tree, or tree of life, is present in almost every culture, it is a very accessible symbol. To make sure that everyone in the project is able to work on the mural equally, we talked about going with a simple painting style, think of cell shading. To keep the mural interesting, we talked about adding patterns and images inside of the tree. Personally, I was looking at celtic design for the idea of interesting and complex patterns done in a fairly simple way.



We decided that each floor should have a different theme of wellness and health, perhaps sports, gardens, activities, the like. There was some discussion as to how to tie each floor in with the theme of the tree, so it felt like a cohesive whole, instead of random images simply tacked onto a tree mural. The most popular idea was to have whatever the theme of the floor was start off as carvings inside of the tree, break out, and become less geometrical and wooden and more organic and flowing as the images wrap around the stairwell to the door. The closest representation of the idea I could find would be the tree of life in Animal Kingdom.



In order to draw interest to the stairwell, we talked about painting whatever the theme of the hall was on the door to the stairwell, so there would be something to draw you into the stairwell. While we were discussing what we wanted to paint on the walls, we felt we should make sure to represent what the staff of the hospital would want to see instead of just whatever we would want to paint, so we decided to email a survey out to the staff asking what they thought of when they thought of wellness and health. This way, our mural would directly appeal to the staff.

This is an overview of our ideas and our direction so far, any suggestions to better the idea, and even sketches to further illustrate your ideas are welcome.

~ Denny

Whoohooo !

Ringling College Glass Fellows 2011 !!!