Evolving (devolving? ah! who can say?) thoughts

I had a lovely and supportive chat with Nicole today that was extremely helpful and centering. It is so helpful to hear about how other students are navigating this ambiguous process, and get feedback on the clarity of my own ideas from someone who is not inside my head.

Sarah pushed me to think about whether the syllabus is the thing, or the nests are the thing. I think that the syllabus is primary, but that I don’t want to have one without the other. I think the syllabus, and thinking about birds, their intelligence, and their technologies, puts this thesis squarely within Process Oriented Work, and toeing into a Design Framework. I don’t think it is solidly a design framework, because the answer to what exactly the framework is has not been clearly articulated in my mind yet. The process of learning has been clearly articulated, as well as my progress through that process.

A link to my syllabus is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZmNyiUIvmzF8WtP0beZYEcD4x32YfZoymxLgBZIKtIE/edit?usp=sharing

So while the syllabus is the primary artifact and the representation of the larger conceptual idea, I think that the physical objects are extremely important to follow through with. These objects are representatives of me moving through the ideas. And while I expect to finish formalizing my thoughts around the class as a whole, I think my object-making may only get to the mid-term of my syllabus.

My migraine vest, at this present moment, is a vest with an extremely oversized hood that I can crawl into when I’m feeling sick. It is my hope that I can build in some additional elements (fans, etc) to fully realize the idea. But this only brings me to the midway point of the class I am envisioning. To arrive at the point of the intended final, I want to consider vastly different materials, processes of fabrication, and parallel metaphorical forms revisiting this same purpose or topic.

Other ideas for Nests for Jamie that I’d love to realize, and then re-examine through the lens detailed above:

• A traveling cloak. Dress, coat, etc for wear when traveling. Make one that maximizes my own comfort. Then make a new one that begins to untangle the extremely complicated footprint of travel.
• Migratory dress. A dress with LEDs built in that create a visualization of my travels over the last year, inspired by this migratory map of birds. Then make a new one that begins to tackle human (and my own) impact on bird migration.
• Symphony of Time Scarf. Inspired by the advent of open window season in Chicago and the ways in which bird sounds and non-human sounds ebb and flow throughout the day, make a scarf that plays the sounds out the window in Chicago, New York, or other location. What would life be if that was your clock? Then do a rev that begins to unpack noise pollution and its impact on humans and non-human species.