MFA Journey: 2011-2014

Last month I finally finished my MFA Thesis Book. It’s been uploaded to Blurb.com and can be previewed by the following link:MFA Journey 2011-2014 by Gladys Chow

MFA Journey: 2011-2014
MFA Thesis Exhibition + Written Component
(Cover Design)

MFA Journey: 2011-2014 can also be viewed on the ISSUU website.

The book discusses the experiences, projects, activities, and design processes while obtaining a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Texas at Arlington. It went through several revisions throughout the last semester, and it was definitely challenging putting it all together. Thank you to my professors, colleagues, friends, and family for their input, guidance and help during this process. The past three years have gone by so quickly and the book is only a short summary of this rewarding experience of obtaining an MFA.

Also wishing a Happy Canada Day to friends and family back home!

MFA Thesis Exhibition Setup

Setting up the MFA exhibition was a challenging task–designing for a dimensional environment, there were a lot of factors to consider. I wanted to create an environment that is similar to being at the Mid-Autumn Festival. I received a lot of feedback from my MFA committee and vc colleagues to think about the setup of the space. I reviewed publications and online resources. Below are a few images of the process for setting the components for the exhibition.

was able to use the corrugated cardboard cutting machine at the school facilities to cut out the characters life size

part of a poster series to be placed on the wall; my colleague Maryam helping to trim the posters to edge

the print was cut around the cardboard, then the print was spray mounted on the cardboard; turned out larger than I thought

process of ironing on a mooncake design to a pillowcase

seeing the components of the exhibition put together

tried to line up the iPads and tables to be placed n the center and in front of the posters

lantern display with characters; originally I had about half of the lanterns shown here, but it felt that there was still some negative space that showed too much of the cord, so adding more lanterns to fill and brighten the space

some viewers at the MFA exhibition reception

close-up of lanterns

the lanterns at the bottom are bulbs connected to a electric cord; for Sophie’s lantern on her hat, there are two battery operated LED lights (still doesn’t seem bright enough though)

MFA grad posters (designed by A+AH department designers)

although I didn’t have this illustration in the exhibition, it still conveys the concept of some of my work–experimenting with cross-cultural designs

the MFA reception poster (designed by A+AH department designers)

MFA Thesis Exhibition: Sketches

Started thinking about the layout of my MFA Thesis Exhibition. My original sketches seemed suggested that there wasn’t enough time to complete the components, so my professor suggested simplifying the layout. The purpose of my MFA thesis exhibition is to create an educational, interactive, and fun environment to promote the eBook iPad story Missing Mooncakes. Some initial sketches below:

projection of the storybook app on the wall; seating area on the floor

perhaps a vinyl cut of the moon on the wall as the background for the projection, and Sophie and Sam cardboard cutouts on a small table

large cardboard cutouts of the family against the background of clouds, seating area switched to the other wall

putting shelves against the wall for the audience to try different activities (eg. puzzles, writing, matching vocabulary and imagery)

the Chinese characters represent ‘family’ and are enlarged for potential photo opportunity for visitors; lanterns printed on transparency would hang from the top

a long shelf to elevate the characters and area for promotional items such as trinkets, t-shirts, books

simplifying the color theme by changing the animal lanterns to solid shapes; the lanterns hanging from the top try to simulate a small part of the environment of visiting Mid-Autumn Festival festivities

seeing how the shelf may look if other items from Missing Mooncakes are displayed–perhaps a moon cake box?

Ideas in Art: last day of exhibition

It was a good experience to test out some of the visual components of the Missing Mooncakes storybook app. Some thoughts of the presentation were that the presentation did not seem to invite a more interactive/immersive experience; elements seemed too spread out and the prints were pinned too high. Elements were too close to the wall. Revisions will need to be made for the MFA Thesis exhibition in terms of how close the visual elements are, color, promotional items, the intended target audience, to what scale/height should the characters go up to; and printouts can be removed. I thought it may also be neat if there was some form of pulley-system where the audience can turn a wheel to move a mooncake character up and down the lantern string–that’s probably getting too complicated and out of context, but seemed like a fun idea. Some photos of the display before the display take-down:

the randomness of the sunlight across the wall added some nice shadow effects against the work

character from Missing Mooncakes: Sophie (some visitors took photographs of her)

character from Missing Mooncakes: Sam

close-up of the vinyl lettering

more photo documentation

more photo documentation

Ideas in Art exhibition: Reception

ideas in art 2014 poster (design by David Wang)

after placing the vinyl lettering on the wall

the Ideas in Art proposal submission for the Missing Mooncakes storybook app

Ideas in Art winner Ryan as the first participant on reception day to try out the Missing Mooncakes storybook app

Ryan was also kind enough to help me record some of the audio for the Missing Mooncakes storybook app (Thanks Ryan!)

fellow vc grad colleague came out to support the Ideas in Art reception (thanks Maryam!)

wouldn’t be complete without a group pic (Ryan, Nikki, Maryam, and myself)

Nikki testing out the Missing Mooncakes storybook app

perhaps I went overboard on the pictures, but needed them for documentation

Ryan with his Ideas in Art presentation of his film Not Abel

unfortunately Sharon was not able to make it, but Ideas in Art coordinator Jess was kind to step in for the photoshoot!

some down time with no one testing out the Missing Mooncakes storybook app, thought the sunlight coming through the blinds gave the display a nice glow

yay! more testers!

Ideas in Art exhibition preparations part 3

Cut and print some more graphics/visuals from Missing Mooncakes to add to the exhibition.

print out of the lanterns, mooncake designs, and mooncake characters

cutting the graphics to size

adhered the printouts to the cardboard

Ideas in Art exhibition preparations part 2

Thinking about adding some pieces to the current exhibition layout. The initial cardboard stand for the characters was not stable enough to hold the top weight of the cardboard, and also seeing if adding lanterns and the mooncake characters to the wall will liven up the wall.

set up the scene printouts in the gallery space

current exhibition layout–added the cardboard characters to the scene, with the iPad to be placed on a pedestal

thinking about adding lanterns and mooncake characters to the exhibition space

set up the shapes to cut (mooncake shapes, lanterns, mooncake characters)

revising the current stand for the cardboard characters–have the cardboard character be placed in the slot of the mooncake shape

mooncake shapes being cut

shapes of mooncakes, lanterns, and mooncake characters cut

set up of the printouts to be pasted to the cardboard shapes

Ideas in Art exhibition preparations part 1

With the Ideas in Art exhibition approaching, it was a chance to test out the presentation of Missing Mooncakes. The character shapes were cut from corrugated cardboard (about 40 inches tall), with their printout adhered to the cardboard. Some photos of the process:

proposed layout of the Missing Mooncake characters and scene printouts

initial sketch of Sophie cardboard cutout and measurements

Adobe Illustrator file with the shapes to be cut

shapes being cut

the cutting continues

character shapes cut

the remaining piece of cardboard showing the cutouts

Sam character from Missing Mooncakes cut out and placed in box stand

Sophie character from Missing Mooncakes story being printed

Sophie character continues to be printed

Sophie and Sam characters trimmed and ready to be placed on cardboard

testing if the cardboard pieces fit in between the bleed lines of the prints

trimming the print to the edge of the cardboard

Sam character is trimmed to edge of cardboard

trimming the Sophie character close to the edge of the cardboard

cardboard iPad stand with mooncake shapes at the top edge (cardboard slotted in grooves of the mooncake shapes)

Since there is currently no iPad on display at the gallery, a printout indicates that the Missing Mooncakes storybook app can be tested on reception day

missing mooncakes: scene revisions

Working further towards the scene revisions for Missing Mooncakes. In remembering plates that my parents used to serve home-cooked meals, the plates usually had some Chinese characters that related to luck, prosperity, or longevity. Incorporating the Chinese character for luck/joy/happiness on the plate seemed like it could end the story well. The character is revealed after the mooncake is cut.

scene 12 of Missing Mooncakes–family shares the last mooncake

after cutting the mooncake, the mooncake disappears to reveal the Chinese character for luck/joy/happiness

cloud covers ‘the end’ for last page

the clouds move off to the ends of the page to reveal ‘the end’

missing mooncakes: animations

I’ve been working on some simple animations to incorporate into the Missing Mooncakes interactive eBook. These animations were created using Adobe Flash CS 6.0. Illustrations were completed in Adobe Illustration 6.0 and CC.

animating leaves falling from the branch (for scene 08 of Missing Mooncakes)

screen of the middle of the animation

applying an opacity to the leaves as they fall to the ground

animating Muffles’ wings flying

the start of Muffles being discovered with taking the mooncakes

Muffles hops closer to the penguin backpack

Muffles feeling a little embarassed for taking the mooncakes

animating some of Sophie’s expressions

Sophie’s starts to wonder where the missing mooncakes are

Sophie is surprised that the mooncakes are missing!

Sophie’s ‘wondering’ expression

start of the squirrel animation

squirrel sees the nut on the branch

squirrel jumps towards the nut

squirrel about to take the nut

squirrel finally captures the nut; animation is played a few seconds after the scene appears

scene 11 of Missing Mooncakes–bubbles animation placed in the goldfish tank

scene 11 of Missing Mooncakes–goldfish swimming animation

scene 11 of Missing Mooncakes–animating the swinging of plants in the aquarium

Some additional interactive functions from Demibooks Composer Pro app were added to the above animations to improve the overall experience of the scene.