2.01.2012

Rosette II - the production

Alas it is but time to find a home for my beloved rosette. With beautiful parchment and the inspirational rose, the masterpiece is crafted. A wonderful layering effect has been produced by the 'petals' which hang delicately above an interior sculpture.

Building the rosette was somewhat a ship in a bottle. I designed in layers to bend the rings and build within. Each layer then was glued in place and built from bottom up. As the layers grew the less room I had to work with. The final layer made a depth of about two inches. To finish I needed guiding wires to pull it tight against the mouth. This was done with wire sewn through the sound holes. Once taught, I held for ten minutes to make certain the piece would hold. The product then was complete and ready to be restrung.

The sound is immaculate. It is warm, light and airy. Playing the instrument is to dance with a queen--beautiful and powerful. Any hand who touches the piece is struck with awe. The audience is flabbergasted by the appearance and  drawn in as if a rope was wound around their ankle. 

A six-string guitar is a rather obtuse instrument to put a delicate rosette within. Normally flamenco is played on this instrument, but I was rather diligent in making it strong. The minimal style of this guitar makes the white lace-like effect pounce. The second collar was removed because it effected the beautiful minimal aura. The rose must be the centerpiece to the guitar. Mise-en-scene must be met with a hand shake.


The Rosette Pieces

Washers

Leaflets

Leaf

Main stay providing sound holes

Laid out

Removing Albert Augustine Concert Strings

Raisers allow sound to pass beneath

More Sound holes

Constructing the flower sculpture

Adding more raisers

Complete

Scale

Notice the middle sound hole

Building the height

Bottom tier complete

Bending parchment to fit inside the mouth

Building a ship in a bottle

29 layers later

Notice the lip--this allows sound to pass underneath

Wire to pull tight alongside outer collar

restringing

Finished and Strung

The Guitar Rosette


The Face
The Body

1.30.2012

Rosette I -- a baroque exploration

"My love for antiquity is a shameless venture through time, space and life. Endless lessons of pulchritude clasp your desires for seamless continuity. They revel in your mind. They desire your praise." 

While there seems to be a disconnect with the mainstream market of today, the past plays a wonderful role of designing for the future. It is because of the past we have the present. Never should we forget where we have found our most hidden roots. It creates meaning. Life is but meaningless without the past. Why do we fight so hard to find 'past designs' too distasteful for our stark global modern and post modern thoughts? Why is detail, expression of experience and a love for nature wretched? Why is classicism and decoration so mocked?

{it is because we have forgot where decoration came from--it is just as functional as any piece in a building. Can you tell me why?}

Our corrupt minds have a need for counterpoint. 
Everyone has a bit of renegade within them.

Design is a mere impression in the world of our thoughts. For a designer can not be held in this world without his designs. He is weak without his brain--without his plan. To design is a state of being. Designers design for life. Every aspect is fixated with a willingness to shape details. So let us not forget the past or fight to destroy it. Beauty comes from everything, every style and every person. Shaping the world through a desire to oppose the current might be good. But it does not make the current meaningless. It is a stepping stone to something new.

--For my love of the past I am working to craft something gloriously decorated and detailed--

During the medieval, renaissance and baroque period, the mouth of the guitar or lute was filled with an inverted wedding cake. It is called a rosette based on the inspiring Rose flower. With some work I shall have a beautiful Rosette delicately assembled within my guitar. I hope to create a more traditional sound with the piece. It is decorative, poetic and functional
--why would we be opposed to it?

Quick Sketch of radial pattern

Sketch of interior flower






1.27.2012

Placemaking

The Art of designing a space is intricate and thoughtful:
Will you put a sofa there? 
Can people enter through the ceiling? 
Should brick be used rather than gum?

The act of designing a space is called placemaking. During the 70's there was a revival of what Grecian architects and city planners describes. Since then, working with a sense of place became somewhat of a lost art till this revival. Now planners are immersing themselves with spaces. In architecture space is obviously important. It is the latent, the secret, subconscious and voiceless artist that waits for its victim to enjoy. Design for space, experience and beauty rather than form. Create a sense of place.

--placemaking design tips--
+social design.culture.community.market
+scene design.climate.geography.topography
+substance design.material.colour.texture
+scapes design.landscapes.hardscapes.art
+scale design.dimensions.proportions.density

Placemaking Cards

1.19.2012

A Little Party

A Cake or two with a Pie on top.






1.12.2012

Sepia - A Lovers Gaunt Hunger




Sepia - A Lovers Gaunt Hunger 
by Jeremiah Johnson 
 
Percolating diligently amidst 
the Hair of a Beast 
and a nozzle of metal
comes Apollonian Pulchritude
laced neatly across pale skin

The antiquarian tone bites

nourishing the end of an era
The reminiscing esprit
opens her mind to find totality
in the eyes of dried paint


Frame-less and solemn sits her
abiding to amiable truths,
for the spilling of coffee runs
and opens sores of love
for her dire request

1.10.2012

Labefy:
Why must I stop?
I can not muster the strength to go on.
Lifting myself is tiresome
Ich müsse halt und schlaf

aWordPoembyJeremiahJohnson

1.09.2012

Heterotelic Structural Design---or is it much more?

"The act of designing a structure to fit some particular large open space seems trivial or a mere act of construction but we must dig deep within the labyrinth of knowledge. Structure can easily shape the experience of architecture. If we design for simple pragmatism we loose part of the architecture and part of ourselves. One must be careful when focusing on structural form as something other than a tool for design."

--This design capitolizes on the arch to hold itself afloat.--

Design Board
An Example

Welding or Pin

Base Pin

Foundation Anchor

Beam Side


Is this obtuse?
Miniature arches gripping a macro arch seems obtuse. It breathes a particular system that test our structure today. We may experience this in a new fashion--one which opens the space to light and contrasts with mass. But this is not concrete. Creating a truss system designed specifically for tensile fabrics to pull towards a single point is unique and odd as well.

12.13.2011

A Poem

How Quickly does our Mind Forget
by Jeremiah Johnson

How quickly does our mind forget,
That we have suffered greatly.
In our hands the darkness set,
To blot the callous time.

How quickly does our mind forget,
How ruthless we have become--
To men and women we have met,
Our angered hand strikes o'chime.

Blessed be, Blessed be,
the great old arm chair debt
peeling over we try to see
the Lord and his bright Glory abound.

How quickly does our mind forget,
that we have committed murder.
Upon our neighbor we shunned them yet
and passed our judgments on.

How quickly does our mind forget.
Our life is but glory-less,
without the Lord upon.

12.12.2011

Highrise Photoshoot

Can this obtrusive object be a 'model?' 
Can it be beautiful and glamorous?

Abstract Louver

Cables

Context

Designed for the Brick Wall

Entrance Stair

Experiencing a Collective

Fremont St

Light Entering Waffle Slab

Louver System

Shelving Detail

Sun, Direction and Time


The Book Shelf

The Crown of the Tower

The Fan Waffle-slab

The Louvers

The Tower

Waffle Tear-away

12.10.2011

Boscage:
I can not see through this mess.
A pile of sticks and leaves.
A thicket of light shading devices.
It is solid.

aWordPoembyJeremiahJohnson