My design work varies from the poetic to the pragmatic. With self-initiated projects, I tend to design for the domestic sphere, at the scale of the individual, and often without a lot of technology. My academic projects involve greater ethnographic research and participatory methods and tend toward systems-, service-, and strategic-design. The images below represents the "making" aspect of my design practice, often in collaboration with Stephanie M. Tharp and our studio, materious.
2010 marked the 19th Annual Wreathing of the Lions ceremony at the Art Institute of Chicago. The museum invited Materious to reinterpret the wreath, a joyful symbol of the holiday season. Our wreath concept combined the look of traditional North American cranberry wreaths with the hopeful spirit of Buddhist and Taoist wishing trees. In the wishing trees tradition, part of the lunar new year celebration, children throw oranges with attached paper notes over banyan trees.
WREATHING OF THE LIONS
Commission for the Art Institute of Chicago
Clear and colored acrylic spheres and notes from Chicago children
2010–2011
The wreaths comprise 2011 individual hollow red spheres held within a clear sphere. Inside each of the red spheres we placed a note from a child attending Chicago public schools. They were asked to write down their wish for the world in 2011. Below are the first 50 that we received, misspellings and all. (Overall there were an inordinate number of hopes for flying cars.)
My wish to the world in 2011 is...
...that I have a pegasus
...a baby sister
...peace
...to have awsome bicycles
...to finnaly make the Wii2
...for the world to have some peace
...to have a fun year
...is flying cars
...for the compassion of others. Putting others first
...if we coud fly
...so evry man is helthey
...a gum ball mshing
...peace and enough food for all people and homes for people and animals
...to get a puppy
...to have flying cars.
...The world will be a pokemon world.
...for a star!
...Jesus to come right next to me.
...going to california and to get a puppy
...that everyone would know about God and would accept him
...to be happy in a beautiful world
...the improvement of democracy and betterment of mankind.
...Love. Grace and good health
...the land is safe
...to have a really cool vidio game system
...to give the world a coke.
...the environment was better
...that everyone will have many more happy moments than unhappy moments
...a healthier, safer place
...filled with cats
...no starvacon
...that no one will kill anyone else.
...peace
...peace, harmony, love, good health.
...every girl toy for every girl
...a republican to win in Nov!
...people will not hurt others and living creathurs
...for a cleaner planit.
...to have a new tool to help
...everybody should play at the park
...La paz en el mundo y libre de drogadiccion [Peace in the world and freedom from drug addiction]
...cleaner air
...a triumph for the left
...That My family will still love me.
...No War
...fall
...interest in learning about each other