Start of The End

 Hello, everyone!

This is Renee GueriWelcome back and I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season. My break had been a bit busy on the hunt for identification of the exact pigments and materials I wanted to buy. Since the goal of my thesis is looking at materiality, for the handmade pigments for the historical egg tempera paint, I wanted to make sure I chose reputable, quality-focused materials. I ended up using the website Natural Pigments because of the good reviews and summarization of their materials and sourcing. Additionally, I needed dried form animal glue as well to create the primer and gesso layer, so I bought 100g of fish and rabbit skin glue from Kremer Pigmente, as I have purchased materials from this site before and trust the quality it produced for past projects in bookbinding and on substrates like parchment. Now, it is a waiting game to see how long the materials take to come in! 

One of my main adventures that occurred during break was going to the local Lowes to find an oak panel as my painting substrate. My father came along to help as he has decades of woodworking experience, and can more easily identify good types of wood. We looked at a few samples, but I ended up going with a double sided, oak panel that had other layers of softwoods in between them as it was a sturdy, and affordable option, and is the same type of material as the original piece I will be referencing in my recreation. What I need to do now is sand the edges and cut the entire board to size. I am planning on doing a double sided painting with the different types of tempera in order to keep things precise and in order; when I initially cut the wood after the final painting is done to section them for exposure to certain agents of deterioration, I will create a labeling section to make sure pieces don’t get flipped around or misplaced. 

Finally, I finished gridding the piece of my recreation, The Vision of Saint Eustace by Pisanello, digitally and outlined everything into sections, and used this reference for my large scale drawing I first completed on tracing paper to later be transferred onto the gessoed and cut oak board. I’m very excited to begin the actual painting process, as I know it will take me a long time since I am doing it to scale, and am doing either two to three paintings, depending on my revisions and time constraints I decide on. This is all the updates for now! Very enthusiastic to keep on pushing this semester. Good luck to my fellow peers as well!

We're Back!

Hi everyone! It was wonderful to hear about everyone's updates in class. As I stated, I am feeling lost. Thankfully, this is temporary. 

My original title was: A Path Forward: A Proposal for a New Walkway at the Genesee Country Village & Museum. As I write, and ruminate about my topic, I find that the GCV&M is a pond of a bigger revenue. 

As I think about this, and edit the title and proposal. 

My focuses include: 

- Physical accessibility to museums 

        - the physical part of it (design, type of museum places as in historic village))

-What does accessibility mean? 

        - define what accessibility means 

May all of you find time to rest and reflect!

If you need someone to bounce ideas off of...feel free to email or text. 

     

Back from Break!

 Hello!

It is good to be back after a very much-needed break. I got to spend time with family, see friends, and generally shut my brain off after a stressful fall semester.

As the Spring Semester starts, I am looking back on the work I did and realizing that I have several parts I need to revisit and in one case, finish. I'm looking forward to seeing my thesis with fresh eyes and am especially looking forward to basically taking a red pen to it and really cleaning it up. I've got a few emails to write as well, as my survey hasn't had any responses, so I'm planning on reaching out to a few people to get the word out.

Lots and lots of writing ahead, and I'm looking forward to making my proposal into an actual thesis.

See you in the next update!

(Pete turned 17 last week!)

Welcome Back Everyone!

 Hello!

Today was the first day of MUSE 490, the beginning of a new era in my college life. I am thrilled to begin the in-person work for my thesis. 

Before the semester started, I visited my old high school (which holds the gallery where I am displaying my exhibition). There I collaborated with the art, history, and tech teachers along with facilities. In doing so, I created an updated gallery analysis that I wish to take part in my thesis, designed the gallery to scale in sketch up, and collaborated on potential project ideas. 

Working with the students reminded me of my younger years. Excited by the praise and potential of my stuff to be displayed and celebrated throughout the gallery. Although I wish to inspire the community to appreciate their surrounding environment, one of the main overall goals is to continue establishing self-validation and worth for these students. This can be done with or without a gallery theme, however adding the theme, Finding Balance: Exploring our Relationship with Nature transforms the exhibition experience. Since it now can validate students through the display of their work, but also advocate for environmental awareness. 

As always, a nice cat pic for the way. 

Finn