Kismet Arts Tangent

This is me on my way out the door at 8:41 in the morning for my first class this decade. Does my face express the simultaneous uncertainty and optimism that I was feeling? I have a school schedule containing the following classes: Drawing 1, graphic production 1, History of Graphic Design 1 and New Media.

As per some strange school ritual, first-years were grouped off and led by second-years for a tour around the facility. The lovely Jaime Patneaude showed me around the school and told me of the epic Mama’s pizza, the place to get pizza, and Stumptown, one of her main haunts, which is down the street.

Drawing inspiration from Armin Hoffman, a class exercise involved black sharpie-made shapes against a 2x2inch square piece of paper. Going around the classroom, admiring other people’s shapes, their crisp lines and cohesive collection of interesting zigs and jags and blobs that seemed to swim off the paper, I felt like a fish in a small pond of potentially amazing designers. Hard to say from the well-executed squiggles, but I was intimidated.

Project Penway is afoot. My first challenge is to take one of the shapes I made this morning and using “the ideas of balance, tension, rhythm, pattern and overall shape” (see syllabus) I must create a 10x10in. composition. I am intrigued and inspired.