▲▲❍: Spring2010

Donald Judd by Sarah Lee

by SeungYeon Sarah Lee, RISD '13

This piece is the Final Project for my Spatial Dynamics(3D) Class from last spring. (Spring, 2010) We were assigned to choose an artist's work and imitate his/her work so that one would not know the difference between the real piece and ours. My artist was Donald Judd.

I have never heard of Donald Judd before I did this project. I was in the Fleet Library, researching on modern artists, when I came across his book. He is a minimalist artist who wished to create a democratic presentation without compositional hierarchy. He was not only an artist, but also worked with furniture and architecture in his later days. His most known works are...

Knowing that it would be impossible to finish all those squares in a week, I decided to make something very simple. I settled with this piece...

From the Book (Bad Quality)

Closer to actual colors

This work is Untitled, made from Wood (the orange sections, and the inside of the purple section), Tinted Plexiglass (purple section - reflective, creates an illusion from a straight view). I figured it would be easy because as you can see, it is just a cut-out cube. However, little did I know of minimalism. The simpler it looks, the harder it is. It required a tremendous amount of exactness, craftsmanship, patience, time, effort, and money. Once I bought all the materials, it was too late to pick another work, and I had to stick with this one.

I decided that instead of using wood for the whole cube, it would be better to use foam core because it was cheaper, and was easier for me to carry down the notorious hills of the freshmen quad to What Cheer Studios for the Critique.

Foam core base, before it is colored

Then I would use wood and plexiglass for the purple section of the piece. I even had to ask a friend from the Industrial Design Department to help me cut the wood and the plexiglass. After cutting everything into the right sizes, I started coloring them(acrylic paint for the foam core base, and Watercolor for the wood). Then I glued them all together, and ta-daa!

In My Dorm Lounge

Different reflections with different angles (Critique at What Cheers Studios)

Comparing my work to the picture in the book

Although I explained the process very simply, there were many trials and errors along the way that made it harder than it seems. As a person who never really appreciated minimalism before this project, I know how simplistic art looks easy, and not so special. People think 'I can do that, it's just a sliced cube.' However, if I had learned anything from this final project, it would be that behind simplicity, there is reason, thought, speculation, time, work put into it. And I now very much enjoy and recognize minimalism.

Overall, this Spatial Dynamics course with Gareth Jones(great professor, artist, mentor & philosopher) was very helpful to my development as an artist. I honestly learned so much from this class while enjoying the work without even knowing it. I would never have imagined myself saying that 'I enjoyed working,' but I really did during the spring semester. It was partially because there was a freedom that I can choose what I wanted to do, (there was not much limit to projects for Gareth) but I believe it was more because I grew to love art more that I did in the first semester of Freshmen year. First semester of Freshmen year, the overwhelming work and due dates just crushed down on me that I did not even had a moment to love it, but as I got used to the sleep-depriving workload at RISD, I slowly got to appreciate the opportunity to do what I really love to do : ART.

materials: foam core, wood, plexiglass, acrylic paint, watercolor paint,

Book of My Story

Bookbinding by SeungYeon Sarah Lee, RISD '13

For Freshmen Foundation Design(2D) Class in spring, (Spring, 2010), with Nicole Juen, the final project was to make a book about myself. We did a couple bookbinding and paper making sessions throughout the course, and as a final project we were to make the book and fill in the book with our stories as well.

I didn't have a clue about what I wanted to fill the pages of the book with, or any idea of what the book should look like. So I just started mixing up some fabric ink that I had left from Drawing Class and dipped wet paper. I didn't use good paper to start with, I just ripped pages from my first semester English textbook that I was about to throw out, in case I didn't like the ink. Contrary to my concerns, the pages turned out pretty well. The way the blue was dyed irregularly reminded me of the sea, and I decided to use these pages directly from a paperback book. After 2-3 sittings of dyeing, I was able to get about 70 pages dyed in a gradation. Then I sorted out 50 pages that worked well together.

Paper Dyed in Fabric Ink

Deciding that the theme of my book to be the sea, I wanted to represent myself as a little boat lost in the sea, unsure of the future but experimenting and trying to move forward. I cut square subsequently smaller in the middle of the page, and in the inside of the back cover of the book, I made a boat, so that it will show once you open the front cover of the book.

When you open the Front page...

I binded the book using the wire-o-binding method. Then circled words that are important to me with white acrylic paint.

You can close the book by wrapping the strap around the Oar

The Sea

Boat reveals it's position clearer as you flip the pages.

Towards the end

The Little Boat at the End of the Book

materials: bookbinder's board, fabric ink, paperback book, acrylic paint, wire-o, yarn,

Unraveling the Fabric of Time

Installation by SeungYeon Sarah Lee, RISD '13

This is a project that I worked on last spring semester (spring, 2010) in Spatial Dynamics (3D) Class. The assignment was to visually portray time. There were no limits to materials, size, and location.

While I was brainstorming ideas, I read my friend's note on time, and came across a phrase, 'unraveling the fabric of time.' As a knitter, it instantly caught my attention. And, of course, I asked her if she was using that idea, and she said 'no.' So I settled with the idea of 'unraveling the fabric of time.' At that time, I had already took a Machine Knitting class(great course, everyone should take it!) during the winter session, I machine knitted 9 black fabrics of different widths and lengths. Although I made them vary in sizes and techniques, I was sure that I wanted them all in black. Because time is infinite and, therefore, confounding, black was the color to represent its enigma. As I was knitting the fabrics, I did not cast off so that when I set them up as an installation, people can go up and pull on it, which would represent the interactive 'unraveling the fabric of time.'

Finishing the 9 fabrics, I washed them and steamed them so they would appear flatter. Brought them to my room, and started randomly hanging them on the ceiling with fish wires. After making my room a total mess, I was finally able to come up with a composition that I liked, which is...

please excuse my messy room, I was in a hurry

Once I decided the composition, I ran to What Cheer Studios (Benefit St., Providence, RI) where I had my 3D class. It was around 10PM, and luckily, there was no one in the studio working on his/her project, which is very rare at RISD. So I was able to move the tables around, turn the lights on and off, and change positions of the lights for my convenience. I set up my knitting installation on a pole right next to the pole with the lights, so that when I turned all the fluorescent lights off, except for the 2 halogen lights right in front of my installation,I would get strong shadows and a calming atmosphere. Then for the finishing touch, I connected all the dangling unfinished ends of the 9 fabrics to the cone of yarn that I made the fabrics out of. I wanted to create a sense of transformation of the forms (yarn to fabric) and give an extra indication of time. Making sure the fabrics, the cone of yarn, and lights were placed in the right place, I strolled back to my room.

10PM at What Cheer Studios

First when I presented my work for critique, I was pretty nervous because Gareth Jones, my professor, suggested that it has a nostalgic feeling and is aesthetically beautiful enough that it does not have to be interactive with the viewers. However, I insisted that it was important to 'unravel' the piece, and my classmates went up one by one and started unraveling the fabrics. It turned out to be a great success. Not only was it very interactive with the viewers, but also it left behind bits of fractals(we studied fractals in this class for our first project, sadly this project is at home in Seoul, Korea :( i may be able to post this up when I get home during the summer) on the floor with the unraveled yarns. Although I do not have anything of this project left with me except for pictures and a couple of videos, overall, I believe it was a great experience(first interactive installation of my life) and a lesson(you don't always have to do what your teacher tells you to do, ha!).