Thesis Week 14

 Well my thesis has changed a lot since I first started. I know this is a good thing and it means that I'm making progress and cutting out things that don't work and adding things that do, but it is a bit nerve-wracking changing things around in ways I hadn't originally imagined. For example, this entire time I was sure I was focused on digital preservation, and after much thought I realized that I am actually working on digital reconstruction. I've also realized that I am goin to dive deeper on cultural heritage, whereas before I thought the majority of my time and research would be on education. So although I have made a number of changes, I think I am now on a better and more focused track than I was before, which I guess is good progress. Hopefully this will help me over break so that when I come back next semester I have a lot of good work done.

Thesis update

Things are now living and breathing. Since my last post, I've come up with an attractive title and drafted up a thesis proposal. I have now received feedback on my literature review and proposal, so I'm creating a revision plan and outlining all of the work that needs to be done over winter break. I'm excited to make some real progress in the coming weeks. I feel there's not much else to say about my project at the moment, but exciting developments are on the horizon. Huge thanks to the entire MUSE 489 class for all of the encouragement! 

Thesis Progress

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My! With the amazing crowdsourced title for my project and the final project proposal turned in, things really feel like they are coming together at this point. My next big step is writing the protocol for my research, and submitting it with my IRB form. I just booked my flight to Berlin so there's no turning back now! I am both super excited and super nervous for this adventure, but I am extremely grateful to Dr. Decker and my classmates for all of their support and advice through all of the preparation. 

Thesis: Week 10

 After finishing the lit review, I'm not sure if I feel better or worse. I feel good knowing that I'm actually bringing my research together and am able to write something about it, but I also feel like there is so much I still don't know. There are aspects of my own topic and of information I have that I do not fully understand myself. I feel like I need to read more books or more sources if I'm going to accurately convey certain topics within my thesis, such as the history of Pakistan and the Mughal Empire. I know where I am going from here though and what my next steps are, which will involve interviewing Atia Newman, a primary source. I know this will probably make the biggest difference in my thesis as I'll get an abundance of information from her, but it's also daunting at the same time. I've never interviewed someone as a primary source before, and coming up with the right questions to ask is stressful and nerve-wracking. 

Week 10 update

 Today, the draft of our literature review was due. Writing the literature review was pretty challenging and it felt like a lot of work. What I found challenging was developing the correct tone and I still am not sure if I accomplished that. I also found it challenging to find sources on posters as communication but I think I framed it in a way that works better by focusing specifically on rock posters and how they were communicated instead of posters in general. I feel good now that the bulk of it is done and I can now make final edits and additions to it. I am nervous about the final thesis proposal approaching but also excited to share my work. 

Thesis Progress

 Oh boy! The semester seems to be flying by. Final thesis proposals are creeping ever closer and closer. I feel both good and bad about where my thesis is right now. I feel very supported and like a lot of work is getting done towards the final project, which is good. I also feel like I'm working in an order and method that I'm not very good at working in and haven't ever really done before. I understand that that is due mostly to the large nature of this project, but it is still throwing me a bit. 
In general, I'm learning a lot, both about my topic and about myself as a writer. I am excited to keep moving forward and learn even more!

Thesis progress and stuff

 Hello everyone!

The short summary of my thesis project is that I am visualizing quantitative data collected from the green infrastructure showcase at the Rochester Museum and Science Center, using digital visualization software such as tableau. We're collecting a lot of different data, so recently I've been trying to narrow down what specifically I will be working this. To do this, I had to set up criteria for what I wanted people to learn about green infrastructure, so I've spent a lot of time outlining that and thinking on paper. 

I'm thinking that I can answer a lot of these questions using the new ecosystem services data that we are about to begin collecting in correlation with weather data from the meteorological station. These topics highlight the importance of green infrastructure, and are relevant to the daily lives of your average Rochester citizen. Furthermore, I think they'll be fun to visualize. I've also visited the museum earlier this week to help me think about how these visualizations might be implemented digitally or physically. Soon I would like to start conducting visitor studies, I think that will help me understand what I need to do a lot better. I'm also making a mental note to take more pictures of the things that I'm doing so I can include something fun in these blogs. 

Week 8 Update

Things really feel like they're starting to come together, I am feeling pretty confident about the sources I've found thus far and I'm excited to use them to develop my methods of data collection. The work for creating the letter of inquiry made it feel like everything was finally being tied together and this project is starting to have a focused plan and goal. I think that the most difficult step going forward is going to be contacting the zoos that I will be visiting, just because of the distance and language barriers that may come up, but I am also excited to try to develop a relationship with them and I am hoping they will be excited about the research I am doing! 

Thesis week 8

 Now that we are in week 8, things are starting to come together. I feel that every week we have added a new piece to the puzzle. We've selected our first readers which makes me more excited to start diving deeper into researching. There is still a lot of work to do and I am feeling slightly overwhelmed but I will hopefully use this week to get my thoughts organized. I am excited to select the posters that I want to include in my project soon. 

Thesis Progress

 Now that we are heading into Week 8 of the school year, things are really starting to get underway with our thesis papers and projects. Although I have definitely made progress since I started, I feel like things are still moving slowly for me, as I still am having a hard time seeing how my thoughts and ideas are going to come together with the sources and research I have so that I can have a well-organized and successful paper at the end of this. 

  Hi everyone!

My name is Vanesa Chiodo and I'm from Penfield, NY. I am a 4th year Museum Studies major, with minors in history and legal studies, as well as being on a pre-law track. It is my hope to go to law school and study art law or cultural heritage law. I would love to one day work in a museum and deal with legal issues regarding repatriation of art and artifacts. 

I've been able to have some amazing internship experiences over the years, the first of which was at The Strong National Museum of Play. I was a public programs intern and was able to create fun programs from children that revolved around different exhibit themes going on in the museum. For my other internship, I worked with the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, where I lead all of their social media accounts. I was able to do research on many different cultural holidays and events so that I could post about them on social media, which was a great learning experience! 

                (This is a photo of me at The Strong Museum next to the Berenstain Bears Exhibit)

Corrina's Introduction

 Hello, My name is Corrina Mullins, and I am a 3rd year Museum Studies major on the Public History track with a theatre arts immersion. 

I am from Northeast Ohio, around the Cleveland area. I have twin sister and a younger brother, Kayla and Wyatt respectively. When the three of us were little, my dad worked days and my mom worked nights. Over the summer, my mom would take us on day trips to museums, zoos, and libraries around the area. I can't remember a time when I didn't have a interest in museums. Specifically, I've always been drawn to living history and live interpreters in historical spaces. 

This summer I got the opportunity to work with the Rochester Museum and Science Center expanding the Changemakers exhibition online. This opportunity helped me to grow my research and writing skills and helped me realize a passion I have for researching an individual. This new found passion works very well with my passion for live history and creating stories for interpreters based off of real people's lives. 

I hope to bring all of these passions together in my thesis project and am very exciting for the upcoming semester!

An image of me portraying the wife of a Revolutionary War Veteran at a live history installation

Angie's Introduction

 Hey all!

My name is Angie Maier and I am a fourth year SOIS student with concentrations in Environmental Science, Museum Studies, Journalism, and Spanish. I like to call this smorgasbord of a degree "Communications in Environmental Science" and I hope to use it to get into some form of environmental education, or any way that I can take possibly complicated or confusing scientific information and make it accessible and engaging to the general public. In a time when so many people are finding themselves inundated with misleading or downright false scientific information, I believe that this is more important than ever.

I have had experiences working at various summer camps, creating and implementing environmental education programs for kids and I have found that I am very passionate about that, although I can see my career taking me in the other direction creating content for adults as well. This summer I worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture doing invasive insect research which I found to be very enjoyable and interesting. 

On a more personal level, my interests include hiking, camping, and just being outdoors in general. I also love biking, so if you ever see someone biking across campus in the dead of winter it's probably me. And when I'm not doing all of that, I love hanging out with my kitten, Winnie, who turns one on the 28th!

A very cheesy photo my mom insisted on taking of me with one of the insect traps I used for my research this summer.

Introduction

       Hi, name is Hannah Riley. I am a Museum Studies student with a minor in History. I am from Buffalo, NY which is home of the Buffalo Bills. Fun fact: I share a birthday with Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. I am also a peer navigator for the College of Liberal Arts. In the future I want to work in a Museum as a curator or a collections manager. My dream job would be at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame because I love rock music. Some of my favorite bands are Fleetwood Mac, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Lumineers. Listening to live music is one of my favorite things to do. I also enjoy thrifting, painting and swimming in my free time. 

I have been fortunate to have many great opportunities in the museum studies field that I would not get anywhere else. I have had the opportunity to work at the Genesee Country Village Museum, The Albright Knox, and the Castellani Art Museum along with working with a private collection. My favorite project was working with the private collection. This project was cataloging William C. Miles poster collection. This was a private collection of over 1,0000 1960s counterculture posters. This included drug posters, political posters, and psychedelic rock posters with artists like Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and Jimi Hendrix.

(This is one of my favorite posters from the William C. Miles poster archive collection. It is a rock concert poster for the Big Brother and the Holding Company (Janis Joplin's band) It embodies the style of psychedelic art in that era.)

Struggling, but Hopeful

 I have been quite off the rocker when it comes to school this semester, and this year in general. I feel like I've let down my professors, peers, and myself. To be honest, my mental health hasn't been in a great state. I really want to get back on track, but I often feel like I am drowning. I feel terrible that I've put others into bad positions. Still, I have to try. I think that I can still get on pace and do okay, and I am putting in the work to do so. I know that I put myself into this position, and it is up to me to dig myself out of it. I am eternally grateful to the help I have received from others, and that is the only reason that I can see myself getting through this. I just need to push myself a little more, and hopefully then I'll be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm hoping that I can end this semester on a strong note, and put myself in a position to succeed after this semester is over. Until then, I will be grinding my work as hard as I can. 

Thats all folks

 Done and done. At this point, I'm happy it's done. I want to explore my game more. As much as I wanted to I didn't finish it technically. There aren't a lot of specifics that were finished but the game is playable in its current state and it's fun. I think this could actually be a cool thing for teachers in the museum studies program across the nation to use in an introduction class. There were a lot of ups and downs during this period and there were many stressful days. I am overall happy with the final product that I have created and I'm glad I chose to take this project down the path I took it. The project transformed so much since December and it ended up fantastic.

Getting off the Rollercoaster!

 Having submitted my final paper and presentation today, it truly feels like I am in the midst of getting off of a rollercoaster-- and I'm a bit sad that it's over! This has been such a wild ride, with forming an idea that has essentially been alive and evolving since I thought of it, and going to Brooklyn, which was an experience I am forever grateful for. As a result of this project, I have learned so much about KAWS and about myself, and what I am capable of. With my undergraduate studies coming to a close, it all feels very bittersweet, and as I move onto new adventures in the future, I will always remember what the Museum Studies program has given me.

Here is a quote from Michelangelo that I saw the other day:

"Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it. ”

While I am in no way comparing my thesis to the masterpieces of Michelangelo, I definitely feel as though I accomplished carving my vision from the marble it was hidden within.

What Do I Do Now?

 It feels really weird to be finished with my thesis. This time tomorrow, all of my final edits will be done and submitted. I'm really not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, this marks the end of my undergraduate experience. I'm not going to graduate school in the fall, so I'm done with college for a little bit. I feel empty knowing that I don't really have any large projects going on.

On the other hand, it's really nice to know that I now have a large amount of free time and that I can use it for whatever I want. I didn't realize how much time I was spending working on my thesis until the work finally began to wind down. I'm not really sure what to do with all of this extra time now. 

Thesis Complete!

 Hello Everyone! 

I can't believe my thesis is finally complete. It was a quiet journey of both great and hardship. I can tell that my work has evolved since last semester. There were some times that my work had some barriers and needed to change. But looking back now, I can say I am very proud of my work. I remember  I decided to change my major to Museum Studies; one of the requirements was a Senior Thesis Course.  I was horrified having to write over 20 pages. Now I know I can do it. I have a couple of things I need to revise then I will be officially done. 

Can't Believe It!

 I honestly can't believe I made it. Thinking back on this process I can say that I have grown as a writer and student. I was always so nervous to think about writing such a big assignment and now that I am finished I am so proud of myself. Having put the final touches on my paper and the video I am very happy to be done but know that if I had to do it again I know now that I can.

Almost towards the finish line.

Hello everyone!

We are so close to being done! It has been a wild ride!! My next challenge is to put together my video for the capstone. I haven't many experiences with editing. Also, I need to figure out a way to record myself and have an interpreter voice for me at the same time. I have hopes that the video will turn out fine. 

Phew!

 Having submitted my full draft last week, I can now look back and really evaluate the process of how I reached this point. Thinking of August and September of last year, I remember wanting to write something about the Impressionists and their effect on Art History, but I also knew that I should step out of my comfort zone, and expose myself to new ideas and works. Moving into the world of contemporary art (and KAWS) was really different for me, and I definitely had to adjust my thinking, but I am so excited about the opportunities and lessons my research has given me.

In terms of moving forward, I am looking forward to the final adjustments and tweaks that I will make to the final thesis, and also to finalizing my video presentation. While this is all very exciting, I do realize that my time in the Museum Studies program is coming to a close, making everything very bittersweet. Having said that, I will do my best to fully take in the next three and a half weeks, and if I'm lucky, I may even think of a title for my thesis!

Nearing the End

 Having just turned in the final draft, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Now I just need to make small revisions to finalize it and will be done! I have completed the video presentation aspect also. It feels so great to be so close to the end and have everything completed!

(S)Printing to the Finish Line

I know that I still have a lot of writing to refine and flesh out, but it's really nice to be finished with the project portion of my thesis. There is something really nice about having a physical, tangible reflection of the work that I have put in this semester that makes things seem less stressful. I think a lot of what makes things less stressful is knowing that there isn't much writing to do, and I need to finish refining things and adding additional sources to help support what I'm writing about. 

With the full draft due next week, I'm pretty hopeful that I will actually be able to have everything done without too many issues. It's also very cool and satisfying to have 3D printed letters on my desk now. They're a fun decoration to have, and they hopefully serve as the start to a nice collection of memorabilia related to projects and papers. 

Here is an image of me printing with the letters that were recreated.

New developments

 So this week I had a meeting with my advisors. It was helpful and productive and pointing me in the direction I need to be going in this last week of work, but it seems like something that should have been done earlier. Up until this point I had met with both my advisors once before, but I had met with them individually a few times throughout the semester. I was thinking that they liked the game and what I was doing and that the biggest problem was that I wasn't identifying the purpose well enough in my paper. This week they said that my game doesn't reflect how a museum works well and I knew that was true, but I was trying to focus on a few key points and keep it very simple so it could be played in all sorts of learning environments. I don't think it will be that big of a deal because I have a lot of ideas, but it was very confusing to me especially since most of the professors keep saying to narrow the project down and to reduce the scope. Now I'm aiming at remaking the game for museum studies maybe, I just wish I didn't have these thoughts a week before our final submission is due. Hopefully, it turns out well.

Almost Done!

 Can't believe we're already in April. Feeling confident about the end of the school year, and for the good weather to come. Been working on my thesis and making sure I'm on top of my current schoolwork. I'm currently attending the IEEE's VR conference and that has been a great help and good source of things to think about when it comes to VR's wide application in other industries. There was a talk about emotional impact of VR that I want to cite in my thesis. They also have VR developer tutorial conference which really cool to see! I'm in a discord as well for the conference so it's been great talking to VR informed students and individuals. Overall, I am really excited to get the thesis done. Just got to keep up the motivation. 

Week 10 almost towards the end

 Hello Everyone,

I can't believe we are so close to being done with our thesis. I am grateful for my five classmates supporting each other until we get to the finish line. I know it will be a stressful week completing everything before the deadline. However, I know everyone around me will encourage and support me. Today, I had my second thesis board. I feel like everything is falling in place. I am so excited to show how much my thesis idea has changed since last semester. My advisors are happy with what I have been doing. 

Almost There!

 As this semester gets closer to the end I keep looking back on all of the work I have done. I am close to finishing the writing portion of the thesis. I am now working on the presentation aspect and cutting down this huge paper into a few slides. After presenting to the class and advisors for practice I feel like I have a better understanding and idea of what this presentation and video should look like for the final presentation. 

I have also met with my secondary advisor, Cindy, again to discuss the quilting exhibition going live on the History Center’s website. She also showed me the early numbers of interaction with the exhibit before the marketing aspect takes effect.

So Close, Yet So Far Away

I think that we, as a class, have reached the point where it is time to simply put our heads down and really work toward the finish line. Hearing about everyone's topics, and how they are coming together and concluding, has been really exciting, and I am really looking forward to hearing and seeing the end results. Especially since we are navigating the new pre-recorded video presentation format, I believe it is important that the six of us keep supporting each other, and working together to succeed in such a new process. 

In terms of my personal progress, I am at the point where I know exactly what I have to do, and I must simply push myself to do it. Reaching such a crucial point is a bit intimidating because the time to make changes is coming to an end, and I must ensure that the work I have completed is the work I want to put forward for submission. Additionally, I find the upcoming formatting edits especially intimidating, as they are so tedious, and I am forever worried about missing small details! 

Overall, I think I am in a great place, and I just need to make the final push!

Keep on Chuggin'

 I am making swift progress on the thesis! This week, I interviewed Michael Haley Goldman at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is the Director of Future Projects and has worked on brand new tech within the context of their museum. He was a really interesting person to talk to, and was incredibly knowledgeable of new tech in the museums and the challenges that come with that. It definitely reaffirmed the thesis concept for me, because a lot of the questions I asked him in terms of the thesis, we had lengthy conversation about. The interviews are a saving grace for me: Getting opinions from professionals has led me to further hone in on the topic. The struggle I am having is finding a good way to integrate our conversations into the thesis. I am still thinking of ways to make our conversations into "sources." My overall survey is going out this week too! Huge thanks to Dr. Decker and Dr. Carroll for the help; I am super excited to disseminate it and get that info. 

You Know When Everything Piles Up?

 I think we all know the feeling of having a really detailed, precise plan. And I think we all know how, inevitably, something will happen to throw that plan off. I'm a bit behind schedule for creating my facsimiles (#ThanksLife), but I'm really hoping to kick it into overdrive and get the four facsimiles made in the upcoming week.

Beyond detours and delays, I did complete my second draft and have realized a few things. The structure of papers change so much as you write them. Originally, I had decided to leave authenticity as a small section my literature review, but as I keep working on the project, I am finding authenticity to be central to the argument of my thesis. I'm working on restructuring my content outline to match the more central position of authenticity in my work and gathering additional sources to support my arguments on authenticity. 

While these changes do create a lot of extra work for me, I do enjoy them because I love to see how my writing and focus has changed and grown. Writing is so fluid. It's alive, and being able to see how drastically my work is changing and shaping brings me a lot of joy. I think the changes of focus that happen during the writing process are my favorite part of writing. 

Second draft completed

 Hello everyone,

Everything is going well so far. I have gotten a lot accomplished for my thesis, even though I have encountered many barriers trying to get my thoughts out. One problem was putting my ideas on paper and getting ideas accomplished. But after our last class, I got a great idea to get interviews from some of my Deaf and Hard of Hearing peers and friends. So I am currently developing questions so I can ask them while being COVID safe, which is taking some time but I can accomplish this soon. Also, I am working on my Powerpoint so I am hoping it goes well and that you all see the time and effort I am putting into it when I present. It is really hard to transfer my ideas and thoughts from my paper and convert it into a 5-minute Powerpoint, but I know I can do well and look forward to your feedback on this. 

I am excited to complete this project and look forward to seeing what everyone else has accomplished during this!

 Hello once again welcome back to the Brian Zabawa Blog station. This week we'll talk about my second draft for my thesis as well as the changes that I have made based on my advisor's response.

This draft of my thesis came out really well I think. I had some really good motivation while I was writing and the sections where I explained and justified the game mechanics were really solid. The justification for the purpose of the game still needs some work, but I'm not as worried about that because I recently switched the purpose of my thesis and I have to find more sources that I just didn't have yet. The game itself feels so close to done I just need to work out a few more kinks especially with how the different museums win the game. Right now they're all playing the same but they're trying to collect different categories of items. I would like for them to feel unique and I think I need to workshop it. Please send me an email if you would like to collaborate on this portion of the project with me. It would be fun just playing a game for a bit and giving feedback. 

My advisors have claimed that I need to do more in the justification of the existence of the game. I think this is slanderous and absolutely ridiculous. Just kidding of course, I completely agree that there needs to be more explanation of why the game would help the field. One of my advisors Trent Hergenrader gave me some excellent feedback on how to structure my introduction as well as some things to include.

I feel like I will be able to make the third draft very nice.

Getting Closer!

 After writing the second draft of 8 pages for my thesis, I am feeling much more confident about my research in a way that I did not expect. Having spent so much time studying KAWS' career, it was both challenging and refreshing to then shift into researching the Brooklyn Museum, in addition to the legacy of street art in the borough as a whole. I had not initially planned on including such material, but after speaking with Dr. DeRoo, it was determined that in exploring the location of the KAWS: WHAT PARTY exhibition, my research would become far more grounded and focused. 

As the borough of Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Museum of Art both have such rich histories, I have realized the importance of learning more about their respective relationships with street art, and how this may have led to a collaboration with KAWS. There exists a very interesting contradiction in the fact that the museum has touted the artist as a lifelong member of their tightly knit community, and how he also carries such star power in his growing fame and corporate sponsorships. I am very intrigued by this notion of the complexities of the relationship that has formed between the artist and the institution, and have started to question the original grounding of the collaboration (local artist vs. pop culture sensation), and what it has now grown into.

While I have many questions, I imagine some will be answered this weekend, when I visit the exhibition myself!

Second Draft Down!

 After finishing my first draft and thesis board meeting, I felt really good going into writing my second draft. I had a new idea to include a quilt exhibit from the History Center so I thought the second draft would be even easier than the first. I was very wrong. I sat down and quickly realized that after introducing my new idea I do not have all the necessary information yet to include, because the planning and meetings are still taking place. So I was stuck and not sure how I was going to make my eight page deadline. I decided to include a section about deaccessioning to go back and broadly answer my research question. I thought I would give it a try and see if it works. I can always go back and take it out/edit it. 

I am so beyond proud of myself to have made it this far and to be very close to the finish line. 

First Draft!

 It has been kind of topsy turvy trying to make sure I am caught up in other classes while doing the thesis. My first Draft has come together, and it is such a far cry from my original concept! I have created my best practices guide for VR development which has probably been the hardest part so far. I am an amateur when it comes to development, but having friends who do this for a living has been a great resource. Now, I am focusing on finding people to interview for original work. Some professional VR devs are willing to do it, which is great. Coming up with questions has been hard. It's also been hard trying to find Museum professionals to interview. I plan on creating a google survey to send out, but I just need to get the motivation to do that. It has been a really busy couple of weeks, for sure. I am excited to speak to professionals and gauge their opinion overall, though. Catching up in everything is exhausting. Though, hopefully by next week's class meeting, I should be on track. Looking forward to it, future John. 

Dr. Decker also recommended a VR conference that I am really excited to attend. I think it'll open up a lot of the view for me, in terms of VR in museums. It'll be great material to work with. I'm taking this weekend to focus solely on the interviews, and have two lined up! I wanted to do Zoom interviews, but one guy is only willing to do typed answers. Though he is willing to correspond in the future, which is great. 

First draft completed.

 Hello everyone,

I am pleased to tell you all that I had a great meeting with my Thesis board. We all were able to share our ideas. I am happy with the results, we all agreed to focus on research methods. My advisors and I have picked a couple of museums/galleries to analyze what they did best or needs to improve to meet Deaf visitor's needs. I struggled to try to complete 8 pages due to not able to have enough information in time. Not only that, I am usually capable to complete my papers by having a conversation with someone to help me expand my horizontal views on certain things. Right now, everything seems to be on a right track and I will continue my research. I am excited to see how things go.  

First Draft in the Books!

       As I initially prepared for my Thesis Board Meeting, I was very hesitant to write anything in advance, as I felt that I did not yet have an idea that was focused enough. While I have spent so long learning about KAWS, I knew that this knowledge and my own personal fascinations had not yet come to form a solid foundation for any further writing. As luck would have it, these reservations were put to rest once the day of my meeting came and Dr. Lent, Dr. DeRoo, and Dr. Schroeder took the time to patiently flesh out various ideas with me, until we settled on the best choice.

    Discovered during our discussion, was the fact that the Brooklyn Museum of Art will be holding a KAWS retrospective, entitled KAWS: WHAT PARTY, beginning on February 25th. This exhibition is so important, as it will allow me to focus my thoughts on KAWS' relationship with museums, and see how the two parties represent each other. This idea relates back to the initial example I had formed in September of last year, but it is now far more nuanced with a particular focus on KAWS and his connections with cultural institutions. 

    With my trip planned, and the anticipation building, a recent meeting with Dr. DeRoo pointed me in the direction of additional topics to write about in advance of my travels. I am very excited to write about these topics, as they relate to the idea of "the artist's persona," as well as to the history of the Brooklyn Museum of Art- in connection with street art and the recent trend of gentrification in Brooklyn. Through writing additional sections on these ideas, I believe my visit to the exhibition will be much more informed, and will allow me to ask even more questions.

***Fun Fact- The exhibit is sponsored by Dior, which further emphasizes the impact of KAWS' work with fashion brands!

Progress & First Draft Done!

 

I can’t believe that I finished my first eight pages! It started off well but as I went on it got harder to get to that eight page mark. I found myself struggling to come up with more ideas and was stuck.

I found that when I got to my thesis board meeting I was out of ideas. However I found that my secondary advisor, Cindy, had a new idea for me to explore an exhibition about quilting. The History Center has a large collection of quilts that have been sitting in storage and they have decided to make an online exhibition utilizing those quilts. They also are making the plan to have this exhibit in the physical space come 2022. I am going to integrate this exhibit and the process into my thesis to help further my ideas. 

Progress on the Process (and Very Fast Paced Progress at That)

I feel like I’ve gotten whiplash from the differences of pace between my last entry and this one. I felt like I was trying to eat sand when it came to writing eight new pages and organizing and finalizing the project aspect of my thesis. I somehow, miraculously, managed to write eight new pages almost entirely on the process of the many decisions that went into the project aspect of my thesis. Who knew there were so many factors in choosing a letter or a font to work with?

Compared to the slow crawl of gathering materials and information to write eight pages last week, I am absolutely overwhelmed by a whirlwind of progress. I feel like I have done so much and the first round of creation will be completed soon, which is absolutely amazing, by the way. I’ve also learned so much during the process of creation. This past week, I’ve been focusing on 3D scanning the physical typefaces I want to recreate. You would think that scanning four letters would be a pretty simple process, right?

There are a lot of nuances that I didn’t even consider when it comes to 3D scanning. The scanner operates off of two cameras that focus on the object. Lasers then triangulate information based on the location of the camera and the object. Each object needs to be scanned from multiple angles in order to have a full, detailed render. Each individual scan takes about three minutes. Needless to say, I spent about two hours scanning each letter from multiple angles. Sometimes, the same angle would be scanned before there was a high quality image that could be worked with. When working with the third and fourth typefaces, the scanner did not want to pick up on the letterface, and there were large portions of data missing. I think with the third typeface, there were a lot of issues with exposure. Typeface are incredibly dark from decades upon decades of ink, and the background for the scanning was a dark table. The fourth typeface would not scan because of the above reason but also because it was such a glossy letter. The lasers used for 3D scanning need to be able to “grab onto” the surface of the object to record data points. A glossy object will reflect the lasers, and it can cause large gaps of data in the image. 

Scanning typeface involved placing the letter on a small pedestal within view of the two cameras on the actual scanner. I would select a part of the image for a detailed scan from the preview given to me by the cameras. As the scan completed, I could see the parts of the image that were fully captured as well as what data was missing. 

In the end, the inability to gather nice scans of the third and fourth typeface is not a large issue that makes or breaks the project. There are other ways to go about making a facsimile than 3D scanning. What this means is that I can’t 3D print those two typefaces. I will still be able to create facsimiles of all four letters through other means. I just need to scan and create vector files for the four type I am looking at. Once that’s done, I just need to find some time to head on over to The Construct, the maker space on campus, and do some routing and laser engraving to get some facsimile typefaces made.

This is what the one of the scans of the fourth typeface looked like. All of the white areas are areas on the letter that were too glossy for the laser to register any information. 

Changes in the Process

 It feels really weird to jump back into writing and working on my project after such a long break. Writing about my process has brought about a lot of thought on how much my thesis has changed since I first started to think about this idea. The ways in which I am recreating typeface both digitally and physically has drastically changed. I've changed the number of typefaces I am making as well as what I am focusing on for the creation process. 

I think looking back on all these changes and explaining the rational behind the changes is really important for me to be able to understand my project better as well as the process behind writing a paper and working on a project with such a short deadline. I think it has taught me a really important lesson on narrowing my focus and trying to avoid being too ambitious. I know I tend to think big when I first start a project or a paper, and that is generally a problem for me. It isn't feasible for one person to create scans, vector files, and accurate recreations of a full set of typeface, generally around sixty to one-hundred twenty characters. It is a lot more feasible for one person to create scans and recreations of four letters from four different fonts and have them print accurately. 

I think despite the long break and all of the changes on how to go about my process, I am enjoying working on both the written aspect and project aspect of my thesis. It's really fun for me because I absolutely love working with typeface, and having an excuse to talk about them, printing presses, printing history, and typography has made the whole process even more exciting for me. I'm learning a lot from the process of working on my thesis. It's okay to have a narrow scope, and it's really important to write about something you're passionate about. I wouldn't have anywhere near the same amount of motivation if I was writing about recreating a ship as I do with recreating typeface. 

Getting There

 I feel like I'm getting to a better place when it comes to my thesis. I had a meeting with my advisor that went quite well; It gave me a lot of ideas for new pages as well as some new avenues to take when it comes to "making" an original contribution. We talked about setting up interviews with some museum professionals to discuss their thoughts and their institutions thoughts on VR, as well as VR's viability when it comes to small museums. I think finding that middle ground that allows VR to be accessible while giving people a reason to use it is going to be the hardest part. VR is niche, and I get that; I think it is an important cornerstone in tech, and it could be utilized effectively for a lot of museums that typically avoid technology. The hard part is convincing people that it can be useful, especially when it has mainly been used by larger museums in long, costly exhibitions. I don't expect people in the museum world to give full approval for fairly new tech with niche application, but if even one professional reads and approves of this idea, I think I'll be happy with that.

 Hello Everyone! It's time for me to work on my thesis paper. I am nervous about my paper because what if my thesis is too general or not enough to write about. But I know I have people who will support me. During the break, I was able to do more research on Accessibility for Deaf visitors cases. Also, I think I am going to focus on research methods because I feel like survey I was going to do won't give me the results I am looking for. Today, I will have my first thesis eboard meeting. Wish me good luck! 

8 new pages

 8 new pages can be a lot. Granted I shouldn't have put them off till the last day to do them but I have written more with less. I think the worst thing about it is that the advisor discussion post I had gave me a lot of great ideas, but I haven't had enough time to determine whether or not they will be making it into my final project. I think I'll still include it in my pages cause it's not the final draft, but it doesn't feel good to write stuff that will not be making it into the final. Either way, I have to begin writing now and determine what things I want to start with first. 

Jumping Right In

 As the Spring semester continues to gain speed, it has become very apparent that I am nervous to start writing the next chunk of my Thesis. Following the break, I feel as though I have become so knowledgeable of KAWS' career evolution, and yet I am still hesitant to make a strong statement and move forward with it. There are so many aspects of KAWS' rise to fame that interest me, and I think that this may be the reason why I am struggling so much to narrow it down- if it was up to me, I would try to write about everything. Since this is not feasible, I must now focus on the parts that interest me the most, and allow my newly found passion for this topic to propel me forward. This passion centers on the ways in which KAWS utilizes social media and brand collaborations in an effort to expand his following and reach broader audiences. This ever-growing audience has aided KAWS in becoming more and more famous as time goes on, and has also cemented his status as an emerging figure in pop-culture. For me, the most interesting phenomenon to be drawn from this, is the fact that the growth of KAWS required little to no intervention by cultural institutions- implying that they may no longer be necessary for an artist's fame to grow.

With this perspective in mind, I can continue to narrow my thoughts and move forward in the writing process....hopefully forming my ideas in a manner consistent with how they are currently residing in my mind.

Starting The Writing Process

 I was originally very nervous and uneasy about starting the writing aspect of my thesis. However since we talked about it in class and I have looked over a few other students' theses to get a better understanding and idea of what the final looks like I feel better and ready to start writing. I am starting my first eight page draft soon and I already have some thoughts in my head that I have started putting to paper which feels really good. I’m now more confident and excited about the rest of this process.