So hopefully some of you remember the garden logo I was working on a while ago.  Well before I was asked to help come up with a few ideas for used tractor tires to be used in some community gardens. I suggested that they paint the tires to look the top of a plant coming out of the ground.  I also suggested that they let little kids come and use their hand prints to paint the tires and then write what they would like to be when they grow up inside the tires.  They ran with it.  While all not all ideas were not used, I am very excited when they sent me a photo of the final product! 

Just received the best news ever and it came by way of email.  The email informed me that I would be the instructor for ARTGR 275 which will be taught in the fall every Tuesday and Thursday from 8:00am - 9:50 am.  My heart is so very happy it could burst.  I feel so bouncy and sick all at the same time.  

I assumed when I was running late for work this morning that today would not be a good day, but I have been proven wrong.  I should never ever assume anything, because life can surprise you.  

I hope to post more about this as I learn more.  I just needed to announce it somewhere.  

Last week I had the pleasure of being photographer for the Youth YMCA summer camp at ISU. I also helped with preparing materials, setting up rooms and helping with some of the workshops. (primarily the mask making workshop) *

This was so much fun.  All the children were so well behaved and I heard from the kids multiple times how much fun they had.  The summer camp was two days in the college of design and lasted roughly 2 1/2 hours.  During that time the children participated in three workshop activities.  1) Mask making 2) Origami  3) Hat design.  For being such little kids the projects held their attention very well.  Even the YMCA staff seemed to enjoy participating on a few of the works shops.  

There is just something so wonderful about seeing kids open up to talking to you through art.  Many of the children were so shy when they first stepped off the bus, but as soon as we started working on projects they seemed to become so much more relaxed and excited about talking to people. 

People that were involved in the work shop were, Calee Himes, Meriesa Elliott, Julian Osorio, Bo Chen, Wonsil Jang, Yin-Sin Chang, and myself. 

* all the photos taken above where taken by Samantha Barbour

Last semester I had the pleasure of being a part of a group that created a workshop for when the University of East London came to visit ISU.  I also helped with transportation and went to lunches with the group.  Before they came we had a video conference meeting with them to discuss what they would like to learn when they came to visit and what we were interested in learning as well.  The photos above are from the camera of Bernard Canniffe and show my involvement in that video conference meeting.  

I loved that Bernard pushed me to talk and explain things during the meeting.  It gave me a whole new level of confidence.  It can be intimidating to talk with a large group of people you have never met before, and then to be worried about the cultural differences can be a little scary, but with his push of confidence, it felt amazing to speak with everyone.  I am proud of how I was able to represent ISU and our Graphic Design program during this meeting. 

Little did I know at the time of this meeting that I would soon meet some great individuals who I would come to feel as if I known them forever.  The group that visited from UEL were amazing and I know it was only a short visit, but I do find myself missing them greatly.  Hope to have a chance to visit them soon....or wouldn't it be amazing to work in London? I personally think that would be amazing and out of this world exciting.  

Working on branding a garden for Kellie Engelman and Central Iowa Local Food Coordinator to create a name and a logo for the community gardens they are building.  

I am having a difficult time with this.  I chose the name for multiple reasons.  1) I wanted something that represented the time and effort that was going into maintaining the garden. 2) Mindful represents a sort of caring or watchful eye. 3) It takes knowledge and communication to run a garden.

The problem is I wanted to design a markup that wasn't too predictable with imagery, but also like the look and feel of showing a plant sprouting which is what these gardens are doing they are sprouting up everywhere, and begin from seeds.  I used gotham as the font. I refuse to use a font that is frilly and foofy. 

If you have any comments or recommendations, please feel free to shoot them my way!

Picked up some new VW advertisements this weekend.  It was my birthday on Sunday and my boyfriend decided to surprise me by taking me to my favorite antique store.  We found some vinyl and then these advertisements. I love the blue one and the double page ad "you do yours and we do our thing."

If I keep collecting these maybe I could make a visual collection database that doesn't seem to be on the internet anywhere else. 

I am so excited to have added these to my collection.  I hope after school I am able to have a real studio room with space to put these up on the wall in frames. 

This weekend I decided to give myself the time to paint.  This is what came out of that time.  I call it sunshine explosion. It is done with oil on canvas. I don't have very much to say about this piece, but wanted to share it on the blog.  So enjoy! 

P.S. I included a photo of the clean up because I see beauty in that part as well.

Update:  I had originally posted this on my phone and wanted to add a little more to this. This painting took roughly 3hrs. I completed it in one sitting. It actually used a lot more colors than expected to get all the hues.  (blue, yellow, orange, red, two greens, purple, and white)

It felt really good to have time to paint before school starts again.  I may try to make one more painting before next semester.  I am hoping to enter this one in a exhibition in the fall and if I make another, I will enter it in the spring. 

Recently I started a internship with Iowa Architecture Foundation.  As part of the project we are working on finding a way to revamp Nevada's main street facade and signage leading people into the town.  I have included with this blog post the images I have created of the buildings of main street as part of the project.  I am learning a lot about architecture and how designers can be involved in helping a community through architecture.  I am very proud of the work we have accomplished so far and I am also excited for our city meeting in a week or so.  Hope to post more about this project soon. 

I have finally finished my summer English course for academic writing.  For the class I worked on my literature review for my thesis.  I am approximately half way through feeling as though it is complete.  There are a few things I am still researching that I feel will fill the holes in my argument. I have sent the paper to my major professor, Sung Kang.  I am hoping to get a fairly quick review on it so that I can make her changes and add the material I am researching.  

After I have the literature review approved it is my hope to have a methodology drawn out for the fall semester. It is my other hope that I get the teaching assistantship position I am willing to sell my soul for because I believe it could potentially help my thesis and majorly help my chances of getting hired as an instructor at another university after college.  Right now it is up in the air for two reasons. One being budget, and two the DOGE of design is afraid it will be too much for me to handle while in graduate school.  I know I can handle the work load.  I have worked 3/4 time at one job while in graduate school and last semester I was in 4 studios and a research credit while working 20 hours a week or half time.  If I can survive any of those semester I could survive and succeed at working 1/4 for design and 1/4 for my current job.  I know I can do this with my whole heart.  So anyone is keeping up on my blog, please keep your fingers crossed for me.  I want this teaching position as much as I wanted to get into Iowa State as a undergraduate and graduate student....which is bad....stomach upset and worrying like mad bad.

Anyways! Back to the paper.  If you do decide to read it and have any comments, please feel free to send them to me! I would love to get all the feedback I can. 

Its that time again.  Especially since I haven't uploaded a post about painting since the first one.  This painting was created by my grandmother, Elaine Workman. A majority of the paintings you will see here are from Elaine.  She had a magnificent ability when it came to painting.  She showed and sold a lot of paintings in art shows. 

It is my intent to add a few interesting facts about each artist, with the release of each painting as the series continues.  A interesting fact about my grandmother was when she was a young girl she was offered a job at a bakery because she came to the store in skates.  She swept the floors and helped bring cakes out to people.  Eventually, the owner realized she was good at counting money back as well.  My grandmother loved telling this story.  I think she was particularly proud that moment, because even though she was a young girl, grownups thought she was smart and responsible.  

This was another painting that was found under the stairs of my grandmother's house.  I wish that many of these had been dated, but I find myself imagining that my grandmother painted so much that dating them seemed a pointless task to her.  

One of the things I enjoy about this painting in particular (besides that my grandmother painted every brush stoke) is that it is both detailed and not too realistic.  It has her personal style to it.  The other thing I enjoy about this painting is that the daisies are painted in the same style as a painting my mother made when she was a young girl.  It is cool to see that some stylistic personalities are handed down from one generation to the next.