Jamie McCoy

I learned a bunch of cool things about how birds build nests from a book called Bird Nests and Construction Behavior, by Mike Hansell. There are birds that have processes of nest building that include sewing, pop riveting, weaving, knotting, and velcro. They create their nests with different layers — some layers to provide structure, some for insulation — and use their bodies as forms around which to build the nests. A deep youtube rabbit hole shows birds building nests by piling up loose material and then spinning their bodies in it, almost like they’re swimming in it, to form the shape of the nest around themselves.

Here are some quotes from the book that particularly resonated with me:

“An important negative point to make about builders is that they don’t have to be clever to be good at it” (p14)

“But for structures built from the top down there are essentially only two ways that they can be prevented from tearing themselves apart. They must be bound together or the must be stuck together. It is a problem that must be solved by all organisms that build structures in tension” (p19)

I have started building some nests instructed by the birds building nests.

As usual, glad I went to the thesis group this week. It was a good touch point to keep me thinking about what I’m working on. It was helpful to hear from Nun that when I talk about “garments” it makes more sense than when I talk about “fashion.” That feels more resonant with me too. I am also getting lots of excellent ideas from my classmates and Nun, some really cool artists playing with biomorphic interior design, biomorphic/bio-inspired garments, and tech forward garments — like materials that respond to UV light. Lots to think on there.

I’m STILL thinking about our second all class meeting. I thought it was such a helpful session for a variety of reasons. I really loved seeing what everyone else is working on. It helped me see the shape of the work being done by the entire group, and the way that people were thinking about the topics that they are focusing on. I really am excited to see how peoples’ work comes to fruition. I wa also so attentive during class, not knowing when I would be called on, and it really helped me stay focused and engaged.

It was also super helpful to hear what is coming through from what I am thinking, and what other people heard. In re-watching the video, it seems that when I talk about potentially designing for animals, people hear “pets.” That’s actually not what I was thinking about. I was thinking I would design more for “wild” animals or non-domesticated animals. I also have been getting deep into garment creation rabbit holes, and it seems the animal angle is a bit stickier, which is a good push to keep some focus and attention on animals.

This is kind of the path of the thoughts I was taking, and it generated a few ideas/topics to dig into/directions to go.

I want to continue to research:

• animal craftsmen, and the craft and function of bird nests
• what you can “read” in a nest — what story is it telling
• how is story told in fashion, especially in the craft of haute couture

What stories do I care about? I DON’T KNOW

Prototypes to make:

• nest jacket — mesh jacket stuffed with leaves and straw and the stuff of birds nests
  • how insulating is it?
  • how warm would it be in winter?
  • how would it decay?
  • would it decay in pace with the seasons?
• traveling clothes
  • what were Edwardian traveling clothes for and how were they considered?
  • what is a modern version of traveling clothes?
  • make a set of traveling clothes for myself, and wear them to Shanghai
• what do bird nests do outside of hold eggs? make a garment that could do similar things for a human
  • does it look nesty?
  • does it do the things but look different?

I really enjoyed the first group session with Nun, Nicole, Zoe, Yiyang, and Dora. I think what I liked most about this session was engaging with my classmates’ work and seeing their approaches to what they were thinking about. For example I really latched onto this idea that Nicole is looking at memory and history and holding on to things, and Zoe is looking at forgetting as a magic trick ticket to freedom. Super reductive of both of them so that was NOT meant to be a thorough representation of what they’re doing or thinking about. But those elements are what jumped into my mind and stayed there. I also got excited about Dora’s idea of building a pinhole camera. The stuff of artmaking — processes, tools, materials — these are things that really resonate with me. Also it was very humanizing to hear that everyone felt a bit lost, and to also see so clearly some really rich directions they could go. Gives me hope that there’s something in my own jumbled thoughts that might yield a little fruit.

I then spent quite a bit of time over the next few days mulling and reading and watching and listening to things — a giant inhale. I still have a lot more to do, but here are some thoughts so far:

For 50 Days, I am doing 50 days of seams, which feels relevant to this class because I think I want to do something wearable/garment-adjacent for my thesis. I got a book about haute couture techniques and was reading about how different haute couture garments come together, all the many hours of work and everything hand done, etc, and I started wondering why I even care about haute couture. And honestly, IF I even care about it. I am in complete awe of the craft of it, but I don’t know why. I am certainly not “fashionable” and don’t aspire to be. I find the fashion industry deeply problematic in their treatment of women and bodies. It’s only in the last two or three years that I started wearing dresses with any regularity, yet I am so allured by them.

I decided to dig into the stories that show up in fashion. What is behind the incomprehensible garments on a runway. What the hell is happening there. I love Anouk Wipprecht’s work, the spider dress MAKES SENSE to me. I can see what is going on and I love it and gravitate to that. What the hell is Alexander McQueen doing? I don’t know and I’m not sure how much I care. I did some reading into Guo Pei, and then watched a documentary about her work called Yellow is Forbidden. I found it super interesting to see the process and how much history and story goes into the work. About how so much of the story of the cultural revolution in China influenced the dresses she created and the world that she built.

I then researched more about fashion and communication and storytelling. I read about the rise and fall of the fur coat, and about how the dressing is an applied art, much like architecture, in that it is both functional and delightful. This intersection of functionality and delight is something I responded to.

I started thinking about the functions of clothing — protection, identity, creating self image, some really functional clothing like athletic gear, performance gear, a whole host of shoes. This led me to thinking a bit about architecture, and then thinking about nature, and I somehow ended up on bird nests. I started reading about bird nests and what their functions are. Clearly they hold the eggs and allow for roosting, but do they also provide protection? From predators? From the environment? From temperature? I read about social weaver birds, who build huge intricate colonies and how these colonies do all of that.

I’m loving all this reading and absorbing, and I have a lot more on my list, but I need to turn the corner into making. There I get a little stuck. More to come.

I had my first one on one with Sarah on Friday and it was really helpful in getting the ball rolling. We talked about the kinds of things that I’m interested in, like wearables and garments, and the kind of things that I find inspiring. I showed her the work I have done on nature and pants, and we talked about the books that I have on my list of things to read.

I think one of the most helpful parts was just talking about all of this stuff out loud, and processing it with someone else. I’m inspired by nature, but what I really like about someone like Anouk Wipprecht’s Spider Dress is that it also fiercely defines space. It is that second layer, beneath “inspired by nature” or biomimicry, that I want to get to in my own work.

Sarah and I talked about different approaches to thesis work — it could either be one culminating project, or a body of smaller lower-fidelity projects. I’m not sure which I will do, but I like the latter idea. I am going to start with a couple of small projects to get the ball rolling.

Sarah also had some really helpful suggestions of people/work to look at, which I will list below in raw note form. She also pointed me towards different bodies of academic research that I might find useful. For homework I will begin familiarizing myself with the work, artists, and research that Sarah recommended. I will also write my dream review, revisit emergent strategies, and hopefully this week do my first prototype.

Raw notes:

gender inspired by nature biomimicry

I met with Nun, Kat, and Suri on Tuesday night and it was really good to have that touchpoint. I found it really helpful mostly to see the process that Kat is going through — she normalized for me the sense of not having a solid direction at the moment. I am still mulling over the things that I want to work on and the ideas that I want to explore, and she shared some of the exercises that Sarah “assigned” her, so I think those are things to which I should devote some serious time. More soon.

I walked away from the first class session with a lot of thoughts in my head about thesis — equal parts excitement and “I’M NOT READY!” It was really helpful to have a generative session of brain dumping and mulling. I definitely plan to continue this type of mulling and reflecting, as I don’t quite feel like I’ve landed on anything solid yet for a direction. I thought that the paired feedback was also great — in talking with Nicole, it was helpful to speak to someone who is not in my head, but does have some familiarity with the body of work that I have done. I look forward to more sessions of ideation.

This is a test of posting in the thesis journal. Here we go!