MOCA Pacific Design Center

Over the break I decided to go to the Pacific Design Center (MOCA) because I always passed by it and I thought it looked really cool. I especially liked the exterior--there's three buildings: red, blue, and green. I spent most of my time in the blue building where most of the exhibitions were. Most of the rooms were filled with high-priced furniture, but I did get to see some cool stuff.

I was especially intrigued by the Piet Mondrian-inspired abstract sculptures made out of construction paper and black painted wood. They were around twice my height and reminded me of the color assignment we were doing. I feel like this artist also used the simple concept of emphasis/economy and balance very well even though his pieces were very simple. I really liked how he used the mirror (the picture with the smaller squares and my friend in the black room) There was also a little girl accompanied by her parents walking through the empty spaces of the sculptures, which was really cute.

The picture with the words were actually x-actoed off a photograph. I laughed and half-cringed imagining how hard it would be to carefully trace out all the letters one by one.

And of course the chair--it was made by melted plastic, just appealed to me how creative people can be.

It was a fun visit: there's going to be more exhibitions starting on March 25 called "Design Loves Art"...I'm hoping it's really related to the connection between design and art. I also got to stop by the USC Roksi School of Arts room (a few students were there setting up, but let me look around).

-Joyce Pak

Journal/Bookmaking

I really enjoyed this exercise when we learned to make books out of paper, cardboard, and glue. I regretted not bringing better quality paper so I could use it as a sketchbook or artbook, but I think I'll be using them as more of a write-in diary. These could also make as really nice gifts if you personalize them for friends. I think I actually like the journals without borders.

I really liked my yellow and blue interior the color contrast is amazing (although a Bruin color). There's also some silver within the bright blue color with quotes like "Creativity takes courage" and "Who ever said that pleasure wasn't functional?". And of course some pink (my favorite color).

I'm looking forward to making some more when I have more time and better quality paper =).

-Joyce Pak

journal/bookmaking

I thought the bookmaking workshop was a good idea. I use this journal as a diary and I write down my daily thoughts and reflect back to the days.

orange you glad we're doing the color wheel...

Despite my cheesy title, this photo is pretty cool.. it just shows that what we are doing in class right now can be relevant on a whole other level, and a bit more creative too. I found this on stumbleupon.com, WHICH, if you have never tried, you should go do it...now. Fun stuff. see you all bright and early on Tuesday


Irene

I liked this so much, I almost forgot I went for extra credit.

Thankfully, I went into the screening of Beautiful Losers with completely indifferent expectations so when I had that OMG I CAN TOTS RELATE TO THIS moment it was even more legitimate. I know several people have written on this already so I’ll keep the summarizing to a minimum. Artist, writer, curator and director Aaron Rose set out to make a documentary that was meant to inspire people to “make cool stuff” and to encourage their friends to do the same. The documentary was humorous, genuine, modest and interesting. I loved how the film explored the backgrounds of the artists in attempts to answer the question “Why do you make art?”…a daunting but ever-interesting question. For me, I came to USC without any intention of becoming an art major, but still wanted to take classes because I’ve always loved making things. I didn’t want to pursue art because I always thought in order to be successful nowadays in the art world you basically had to be a crazy person with some insane agenda. However, the film reaffirmed my current belief: if you have an innate desire to make art, than you are an artist. Art should be about making cool stuff because you want to and it feels like something you should be doing. I’ll figure out some way to make money (hence my business minor ew) but for now I feel pretty confident that being an art major isn’t completelyyy impractical because making art is never a waste of time. J

"Tarasaur"

My friend Tara asked me to do her hair one night so I gave her a 'do inspired by her favorite extinct animals. Just thought I'd post this picture of her trying to be fierce? haha...

Clever Things

I love it when people redesign a seemingly everyday, or practical object, that, once commonplace, become works of art that evoke a smile (and in my case, usually an "I wish I had come up with that..."). This website is full of things that are brilliantly simple and endlessly creative. Here are a few of my favorites!

I didn't mean for both of these to be drinking vessels, but you get the point. Check out the rest of their website! I think these products are great for cultivating inspiration. Enjoy!