Assignment 6: Signs and Place
Phase 1 -- Sign Series
High Exposure
Most dangerous intersection of San Jose: McLaughlin Ave and Story Road
Low Exposure
The clearing behind the bench at the Alameda Quicksilver County Park
Though there are a few other benches on the premises. This bench is one of the closer benches on the less extreme hiking routes. It is set aside from the trail so that you can sit without disturbing others. If you follow the pseudo handmade foot path behind it, you’re led to a little clearing behind the trees, where you get a nice view of the city. You can see Downtown, and Communication Hills.
Medium Exposure
The Gnomes of Oakland, specifically at the Cleveland Cascades across Lake Merritt.
The gnomes are a form of public art created by an anonymous artist. There are more than 5,000 little gnome painting on wood nailed to the bottoms of telephone pools and in this case to the bottom of some other electric box. Partly why the artist remains anonymous is to keep the stories surrounding the gnomes a mystery. Without any background, people can create their own stories and interpretations of their existence. There are many different kinds and different styles that perpetrate certain neighborhoods. It has created a sense of community, and makes the place even more special.
Phase 9 -- Final Documentation
2 Test Stamps
Stamp Images
Click the rendered image to view a public link of the Fusion project. ^
Here is the final result of the stamp carved with the CNC router in class. The process took about 45 minutes to complete. including the set up time and testing.
ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ Below is the set up for printing, as well as the materials I used. ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ
ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ Below you can see the end result of the printing process. ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ ˇ
My Google Map
Click on the image to be taken to Google Maps. Each location has a customized icon to represent the location, as well as a brief description of each location and its significance.
Simulated Signs
Click each rendered image to see the public Fusion link.
^ This sign is based on the Little Look Out location. The imagery is attempting to convey that ahead there is a spot to sight see behind the shrubbery.
^ This sign is based on the The most dangerous intersection in San Jose location. Like the previous sign, I use imagery to convey the meaning of the location. Unlike the previous, this sign utilizes English text. However, it does not rely heavily on it to send the message that accidents are prone to this area.
Video Compilation of Simulated Signs
Selfies of Location Visitations
The Gnomes of the Cleveland Cascades
Here is my Stamp location. I placed up my printed flag over the the first gnomes I discovered here. I tied extra fabric through the grammets for decoration, and utilized surrounding rocks as weights to place over the utility box.
Avery's Goose Location at the Almaden Lake Park
Based on Avery's map, this should be fairly close to the exact location of her stamp based sign. There was a family fishing in the area close by, and an aggresive little family of geese that I did not want to approach.
Tiffany's Foundry Location
Based off Tiffany's map, this should be the correct location of her sign.
Tiffany's "Go?" Under the Overpass
I'm failry certain this is the exact location Tiffany had in mind, though I'm not sure if it is the right light. Upon arrival, I attempted to cross the street. The walkman turned just fine, but on my way back in the opposite direction, despite pressing the button, the signal didn't change!
Artist Statement
The idea behind the stamp was to create a glyph that would be recognizable to whoever sees it as well as to tell the viewer to do something. I created a simple eye that incorporates an arrow pointing down in its iris. Rather than two symbols side by side the two images are combined into one symbol. The stamp glyph corresponds to my location of the Gnomes of the Cleveland Cascades, which are a series of amateur gnome paintings painted on blocks of wood and nailed to the bottoms of public street lights and utility boxes. These small scale paintings are not extremely well known, so my stamps would be calling attention to them. One challenge was using a CNC machine for the first time. The process seemed intimidating but I think going back and doing another one would be a lot easier.
Failures of this include the lack of connotation to the locations importance. In a re-do, I would still use the eye and arrow but maybe create a cyclops gnome, or possibly just add a gnomes pointed hat over the eye. Regardless of this, I did attempt to reconcile the subject of gnomes and the stamp flag with the use of color. I chose a green fabric for printing (I almost bought a mushroom printed fabric but was worried the ink would not appear well) and used red ink to print. Red and green are both colors associated with gnomes.
Successes of the stamp design would be the very clear message of the sigil. It is clearly and eye that cleverly uses an arrow for its iris. Other related successes would be the decent printing onto the fabric. Though the stamp itself has a border carved into it, I meticulously applied the ink so that the borer would not show. Similarly, I made sure the shave down the wooden stamp in a way that would leave a clean print.
Considering the rendered signs would not have to be cut with the CNC machine, this allowed for more design possibilities, including text. Both signs are based off a low traffic and a high traffic area, utilizing both text and imagery to convey the significance of the area. Coming up with imagery is more challenging than text, because though the text can convey clear messages, the imagery should be able to stand alone too, and at the very least compliment the meaning of the text. The sign for the Almaden Trail uses only imagery, arrows, binoculars, and green organic colors to tell the viewer there is a sign behind the shrubbery. The sign of McLaughlin and Story Rd uses clear images or two cars crashing into each other with text telling viewers to watch out for frequent accidents on the street.