RUDE BROOD 2012 Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition at the White Box | Portland

Posted on June 30, 2012 by Sabina Samiee

I believe in science the same way most Christians believe in God: with faith, rather than understanding. I trust logic and order that science offers as explanation for my reality without real comprehension. Humanity inherently sees scientific and technological innovation as both threatening and liberating. Will it turn on us one day? Will it eventually offer us paradise?

– Olivia Storm, BFA 2012, member of the Rude Brood, Portland, Oregon

In their inaugural video to announce the opening of their June 2012 White Box exhibit, The Rude Brood showed us an anonymous hand crudely slapping coffee grounds into an auto-coffee maker: ”Thwap!” Steam wafts off the appliance, the mystery hand pushes the start button, and black fluid flows into the carafe. We see a counter top littered with java grounds, and a lone coffee mug. The hand reappears to pour hot coffee into the white mug. The mug is turned to reveal a horned skull. As if this image is not quizical enough, the skull seems to be frozen, mouth open in jest or gesture. This is the Rude Brood’s coat-of-arms: the skull human remains are decoratively surrounded by acanthus, a crown tops the shield-like image, and a fist holds tightly to two decidely non-digital tools, paintbrush and x-acto knife. The words “Rare Breed” grace the emblem in a ribbon-swirl. Undoubtedly, the students of the Rude Brood knew their audience would be captivated by this crest, and, indeed as you stare, the skull sticks out its tongue and blows. The caption bluntly reads, “Brewed Rude.”

And, so is your first experience with the Rude Brood, the 12 digital arts students who completed their Bachelor of Fine Arts in the Portland Digital Arts Program at the White Stag, spring 2012. For spring term 2012, the Rude Brood percolated under the guidance of Colin Ives, UO Professor of Digital Art. Previously, the group had been instructed by Craig Hickman (fall term, 2011) and John Park (winter 2012). Coming together in Portland for the final three terms that would culminate in receiving their Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees, the Rude Brood’s ideas bubbled and brewed finding increased expression and clarity with each review and project. You may preview images of the final review on the University of Oregon: School of Architecture and Allied Arts Facebook page.

In her artist statement (reproduced in part in the quote above), Olivia Storm offers a glimpse into the curious, skeptical, and questioning nature of the Brood. Proudly owning up to their penchant to be disruptive, the Rude Brood was particularly bent on exposing and investigating the world they were about to wholeheartedly, and post-graduation, venture into. The Rude Brood designated the maxim of Choose Your Weapon to represent their oeurve. Their “weapons” perhaps sybolically represented in their Rude Brood crest (a paint brush and an x-acto knife)—came across as the weapons of their process: not necessarily violent but containing the potential to be disturbing; not specifically aggressive but capable of creating works ranging from frightening to uncomfortable. The Brood shows a vulnerability, an aggression and a demand to be heard, here and now, balanced with the pride and confidence of well-educated youth. Their work brazenly explores themes of suffering, nostalgia, commitment, and the human capability for communication. With that intention, the students presented a wide range of work varing from explorations of the horror film genre to a complete on-film exploration of self-help advice and “how to be successful.” And that’s just the beginning.

Just look at Michael Cooper’s contraption. Almost hinting at an “Eckardesque” appreciation and fabricated out of black leather, reflecting mirrors, and cold welded metal, a cell phone sits in the middle filming what is going on in front while the mirrors depict what transpires behind. One reviewer during the final review session, was overheard commenting that this object suggests an interesting “fetish-like” quality. The harness of this piece fits onto one’s shoulders and subjects the wearer to confront all angles of visual sensory perception. Cooper projects an experimental aesthetic with a nod to Da Vinci-like body accoutrements and an embrace of modern technology. Is this to evoke an idea of suffocating cerebral overload or a comment on our brave new world of constant smartphoning, where being “out of touch” simply has ceased to exist?

Rude Brooder, Grahame Bywater audiciously proposes an almost mocking sneer at expected social etiquette, privacy and confidentially. He audio broadcasts his personal secrets from inside the cavern of a whiskey barrel for all to hear (if you are so inclined to want to lean in and publicly show your interest). Should we be embarrassed to be curious? Why do we want to hear his intimate musings? Or is this one more step in the curating of our selves to others? Bywater doesn’t seem to care—he puts it out there, but sinks his secrets well within the barrel. His audience has to show their interest thus exhibiting care, empathy, compassion, and, for a few moments, granting him our full attention.

So eager and experimental was another, Tyler Centanni migrated off to uncover a “real world ” experience devoting himself to three months of door-to-door sales in a corner of suburbia. He opted for a shirt and tie, hair slicked back, attempted a “dressed-up” assemblage. His experiment culminated in marriage to his girlfriend during the final review officiated by another Rude Brood student. Reviewers and bystanders were left to question the seriousness of this ultimate evocative gesture and wonder if he thumbed his nose at button-downed tradition or truly was about to enter the world of marital bliss. Can a legal union be so spontaneous at the risk of seeming callous? Was it up to us to question their understanding of the sanctity of marriage, or the seriousness of being connected to another person? This was Centanni’s version of success, but one he read in a book and so seems doomed to failure. Perhaps it was all a comment on our own personal paths to happiness and achievement.

That’s just a peek at the savior-faire of this unique group. The work will make you think and wonder at your own ability to communicate, to feel compassion, and to recognize your propensity to pay attention. Overall, it will compel you to question how you interact with others and if you are paying enough attention. The Rude Brood provides a journey for you to wander through their experiments of human social, visual, and auditory interactions. How much you glean from this is left completely up to you: how much of your personal ethos and circumstance are reflected back in Cooper’s mirrors, is your business. The Rude Brood has done an exceptional job drawing the viewer into their frame of reference, into their cultural tapestries, and into exposing their fears, apprehensions, and insecurities.

Make sure you step close, but not that close to Christine Thomas’ wall; please pause to see Leah Chan’s cultural exploration and see a struggle to work through tradition and mesh with modernity; stop in front of Amanda Riebe’s probing questioning of image and internet; and the mixology of electrode brain science put forth by Keith Stedman.

But that’s not all, Olivia Storm will show you form inspired by cinema and you will wonder at function, man, nature or robot-inspired; Keith Chaloux will astound you with his new take on old art history and let you tread on his creation as it winds through the White Box; Brett Ciccarello’s short film of science fiction and robotic creatures will charm and amuse and you will feel empathy for a completely digital, non-living thing; McKenzie Sampson will confront you with a floor to ceiling mural-like depiction of androgynous characters, with significantly noticeable time-telling pieces.

Trevin Swick will rock your world using three large balloons and plenty of conceptual issues; and Katya Vitovskaya will, let’s just say it, shock and horrify but soften it all with lovely water colors. Her world of movie violence and grievious injury absorbing into the paper but shown to us on video as if to say, here there is no wiping up the gore. We can’t even touch it.

If you are in Portland, take a moment to walk around the exhibit at the White Box and see the Rude Brood’s work. The exhibit is up until July 21, 2012. You will experience a fascinating glimpse into both the Rude Brood’s self-conscious personalities and their natural, impulsive inclinations. This exhibit is a bit rude in places, outspoken, questioning, arrogant, and more than a trifle rebellious in justifiable ways that seek to draw the Rude Brood audience to new conclusions and socially relevant realizations within a contemporary culture that has come to rely on digital methods. These emotions and inclinations seethe and brew in the Rude Brood and fuel their creative process.

We wish them well. . . .let’s hope they continue to question and experiment with the incredible talent they possesses. If you want to walk down memory lane with The Rude Brood, we have blogged about them before. Look at their work from winter 2012. And see a gallery of images from their work with Craig Hickman.

Thomas “Gunny” Harboe Keynote Speaker at 2012 McMath Symposium

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Sabina Samiee

The Rookery | Image Harboe Architects, PC

Chicago architect and award-winning preservationist, Thomas “Gunny” Harboe, FAIA , was the inaugural keynote speaker for the George McMath Symposium on May 30, 2012 at the University of Oregon in Portland at the White Stag Block. The lecture was held in conjunction with the presentation of the George McMath Historic Preservation Award. This year’s 2012 award was presented to Portland architect, Hal Ayotte.

Harboe works with the firm of Harboe Architects in Chicago. Harboe’s lecture, “Restoring Chicago’s Icons: A Public/Private Partnership,” focused on describing Harboe’s fascination with the past, respect and passion for historic objects, and his work with some of Chicago’s most historically and architecturally relevant restoration projects. For over 20 years Harboe has played key roles in working to restore iconic structures of the Chicago cityscape, including the Rookery, the Mies van der Rohe apartments on Lake Shore Drive, and the Reliance and Marquette buildings. “Preserving our collective cultural heritage is important to society,” commented Harboe, “we need to give it a life that will extend it beyond us.”

With a lifelong interest in conservation and preservation, Harboe credits his childhood experience of living in a New Jersey Revolutionary War-era home as fostering an early affection for history and objects. It was in this historically relevant family residence that the young Harboe discovered an interest in found objects and gained an appreciation for antiques. Harboe soon turned to an education steeped in historical study, spending a year in Denmark at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen; and later earning a bachelor’s degree in history from Brown University and a master’s degree in historic preservation from Columbia. His hands-on and practical skills were cultivated further with his work as a carpenter eventually leading to a job on the team that would restore the Frank Lloyd Wright Room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Harboe has credited that MoMa experience as being “where the epiphany happened. I realized that the key decisions about what got done had already been made by somebody else: the architect.” Hence, he turned his focus to pursue a master’s in architecture from MIT.

The Rookery | Image http://therookerybuilding.com/

Harboe, equipped with load-bearing quantities of academic, visionary and practical experience was soon working with the Preservation Group at McClier, the architects who would be commissioned by the Baldwin Development Company to restore The Rookery. Considered the jewel in the crown of Chicago’s architectural and commercial built environment, The Rookery is a 1888 Burnham & Root building that included a lobby by FLW. As luck would have it, Harboe was the intern-architect-in-training at the firm, and he amusingly recalls “I was the guy who knew something about preservation.” The rest, as they say, is history. And so, began Harboe’s presentation to the UO audience.

Harboe initially presented his work with the Rookery, completed in 1992. Revealing intriguing details such as how each window had to be removed, all original sashes put back in place, and having to cope with 4000 corners of fenestration where water had ample opportunity to leak in (and it had), Harboe walked us through the trials and tribulations of careful, accurate and painstakingly detailed historic restoration and preservation. Removing approximately 20 layers of black paint from the oriel staircase (removed and cleaned by crushed walnut shells under pressure), and having to rely on a creative interpretation of replicating single piece teardrop elements as two pieces glued together, the architect-preservationist confided aspects of the process to reconstruct the original LaSalle Street and Adams Street lobbies to the original [circa 1910] appearance. Harboe spoke of the importance of finding sources to help recreate or restore elements to an historically appropriate form. This might include the use of historic photographs, finding a small but original fragment of wall or flooring, or simply cleaning a surface down to a semblance of its historic original. Graciously offering credit to the workers and craftspeople who joined him on the project, Harboe firmly advocated for the importance of hiring “the right people for the job,” saying “craftsman make a difference.”

The Reliance Building | Image Harboe Architects, PC

Harboe’s preservation, restoration and rehabilitation of The Rookery was praised by both the architectural and historical preservation professional fields as well as the city of Chicago. Having completed this very successful project, Harboe moved on to his involvement with the Reliance Building, also by Burnham and Company (1891) and completed by Charles Atwood (DH Burnham and Company, 1896). The Reliance Building is one of the most important early skyscrapers in America. At this point, Harboe paused to address the importance of the Federal Tax Credit to his historic preservation work. Harboe explained the effectiveness of the Federal Historic Preservation Tax incentive program as contributing to positive and cost effective public/private revitalization programs and, hence, directly influencing his projects.

The Reliance Building (renamed and converted to the Hotel Burnham in 1999) has been termed “proto-modern” by architectural historians. Its expansive and elegant fenestration and strip-like sections of white glazed terra cotta are distinctive and highly relevant to its design. Like all of Harboe’s projects he addressed during his lecture, the building is listed both as a National Historic Landmark and a City of Chicago Landmark. Harboe noted the remarkable steel curtain wall that is made up of an internal steel two story-high column and provides all structural support for the building. He also spoke of the importance of being creative and flexible when needing to find substitute materials. For instance, the windows in this building were beyond repair, they were replaced. The original cornice that had been removed in 1948 was reconstructed in cast aluminum. Even with these alterations, Harboe stayed persistently true to the original patterns. Harboe further emphasized his use of historic photographs, drawings and remaining fragments in the detective-like job to authentically replicate a structure. Harboe also brought up another important issue in his historic preservation projects, that of the importance of place and infusing a place with renewed vitality. The primary focus of this historic preservation project, he commented was to “give life to [the street] and that [was] the intention of the project, to revitalize.”

Sullivan Center | Image Harboe Architects, PC

Harboe’s work on the Sullivan Center (built 1898-1904) involved all exterior restoration, Federal Tax Credit Program consulting, and City of Chicago façade examinations. A building best known for the elaborate cast iron storefronts and a curved rotunda, the project truly relied on the Tax Credit incentive; Harboe briefly discussed how his focus had to fixedly remain “not doing anything that would jeopardize the Tax Credit.” In order to create the necessary elements for this building, Harboe turned to a sculptor to recreate the details characteristic of the original designer, Louis Sullivan. Working with a craftsperson familiar with the techniques available to create ornamental work was of great importance. With exceptional workers, Harboe maintained his team was able to place remarkable attention to exact detail and towards the investigation of existing parts to restore this building. Speaking of the reconstruction of the ribbon windows, the matching of the colors for the glass elements, and the color matching for the terra cotta (working from found fragments buried deep within the walls), Harboe stressed the challenging aspects of his work. Turning to an amusing anecdote of good fortune on-site, Harboe recounted the team finding a large fragment of paint that had been trapped under a canopy. The fragment would consequently be used to attain a correct color match and be the most formative piece leading to an accurate hue. Using and having a knowledge of forensic investigative-like techniques is very helpful in the restoration field, commented Harboe, noting that he relies on such investigative strategies for each project.

Much of the cast iron work for the Sullivan Center was done off-site. Harboe recalled how this turned the project into a gargantuan job with disassembly of parts that “in many cases were held in place by the friction of the corrosion.” Harboe added that this campaign of difficult structural situations made each stage arduous especially with the added logistical difficulty of having to remove each piece to an off-site location.

Chicago Board of Trade | Image Harboe Architects PC

Harboe’s work on the Chicago Board of Trade Building (1929, Holabird and Root), one of the finest Art Deco style buildings in Chicago, began in 2004 with renovation efforts to restore the Art Deco aesthetic of the lobbies, improve elevator operations for 24 elevators, and modernize building systems. The building was of particular importance to Chicago as it is viewed as a symbol of the city. Harboe began this project by cleaning the exterior limestone surface of the structure simply with water. He advocated for using “environmentally friendly substances whenever possible.” Important features of this project included the interior lobbies with six varieties of marble, nickel silver metal trim and ornamental plaster as well as a luminous ceiling featuring a panel of light. All of the lobbies were illuminated by stylized fixtures using nickel silver frames and glass, the challenge here was to recreate missing fixtures, and nickel silver features. On this project, Harboe related finding some original treated elements that became key pieces to the restoration. Harboe’s keen attention to detail and his willingness to really look, explore, observe and delve into the hidden pockets of a structure and find minute details of ornamentation, color, and materials has lead to many of his discoveries that end up being the pieces that put the puzzle of historic restoration together. The necessity of being able to look and investigate, research and uncover is one of the most important aspects to any restoration project and cannot be underestimated.

Commenting on his experience with all these projects, Harboe again emphasized the importance of the workers who help realize the projects. “The tradesman make the difference,” he asserted. Concluding his lecture with this advice, Harboe took questions from the audience.

Portland Product Design Students Intern with Anthropologie

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Sabina Samiee

My internship at Anthropologie relates to product design in a different way than what I have been taught in class. By experimenting with everyday materials, I’ve gotten to learn techniques for making things in a more craft-based way. Creating these displays has also helped me visualize how product can be displayed in an artistic way and learn about an aesthetic that has already been branded as the Anthropologie lifestyle. I feel like learning the final phase before it goes to the consumer has been very beneficial in my way of thinking about design related to the retail world. –Tori Russo, BFA from the Product Design Program in Portland, Spring ‘12

Tori Russo and Liesel Sylwester at Anthropologie in the Pearl District, Portland, site of their 2011-2012 internship.

Internships at the University of Oregon in Portland School of Architecture and Allied Arts are coordinated by Sara Huston, instructor for the Product Design program in Portland. Students find their own internship position and work on negotiating the terms before bringing their application to Huston for review, refinement and approval. In Portland, there is great potential for internship opportunities related to the fields of architecture, art, and product design. The collaboration between students and prospective employers is viewed as an experience that can lay the foundations for successful careers and can give Portland’s creative businesses access to the University of Oregon’s student population.

In her quote beginning this article, Product Design program BFA student Tori Russo alludes to internships bringing life experience, creative hands-on exposure, and knowledge to students. The University recognizes that internship placements are powerful ways for a student to begin to select a career path, to gain valuable credentials, to work in a specific field alongside experts, and to develop individual capability within an environment of cooperation. It is another step in assisting our students forward on a path to “make good” within the very community in which they live and study. The internship experience also forges connections and networks for the student that can benefit them long after they receive their degree.

This last academic year, 2011-2012, Tori Russo and Liesel Sylwester, both in the Product Design Program (Portland) joined forces and approached retail store, Anthropologie for an internship. The store is part of a chain of retail ventures owned by parent company, Urban Outfitters. Anthropologie specializes in women’s apparel and accessories, home furnishings, replicated found objects, and gift and decorative items. Geared to appeal to the sophisticated 30-40 year-old woman, Anthropologie offers unique, one-of-a-kind pieces and markets its wares to appeal to a lifestyle rather than simply product. Russo and Sylwester applied to work at the Pearl District-based store (a short walk from the UO at the White Stag where both students are in their final year towards a BFA from the Product Design program).

Russo and Sylwester work on a housewares display.

Russo and Sylwester already loved the store and were intrigued by the Anthropologie aesthetic. They went straight to the store’s Visual Display Coordinator, Nicole Faivre, with their internship proposal. Faivre who enthusiastically lauds the internship program comments, “From the interns joining us, Anthropologie gains additional sets of skilled hands to prep and install the displays within our store. The interns also strengthen
our creative energy within the store, which allows us to provide the customer with a complete sensory experience, right down to the details.”

The day I visited the Anthropologie to talk with Russo and Sylwester they were working on a project to create (by hand) canvas cacti. Fabricated from bright green fabric stuffed with poly-fill, the faux-desert flora was propped up next to vignettes of hanging pants, shirts and accessories. The entire store swirled in a painted-desert-like landscape. Even housewares were displayed in this created rugged scene. On a table topped with gravel (complete with lit candles), colorful place settings popped within the vibrancy of light-saturated greens, oranges, and reds, textures and smells enveloping the shopper. The interns mostly work in a small production line creating all the pieces for each installation, or display, and then assist with the installation when the display concept is completed. From this internship, Russo and Sylwester have worked with a variety of materials including rope, fabrics, masking tape, wood, wire, and even coffee stirrers to create unique displays. Faivre told me that “Tori and Liesel have had their hands in a wide variety of displays, using many different materials and processes. They have worked on projects that involve painting, dying, sewing, drilling, hot gluing, taping, assembling, deassembling, and much more. They also assist in the day-to-day store upkeep.”

Russo comments that the hands-on experience, such as crafting the cacti, “gave [her] real-world experience in creating things using materials [she] wouldn’t necessarily use to create something. It allowed us to see the end of the production line and learn about the strategies of product placement and how to make product look better in a surrounding.”

Russo also says the intern experience at Anthropologie has “helped [her] to think about how a product would live in someone’s home environment” and brings an understanding about how “the merchandising is so important and goes hand-in-hand with experiencing installation.” She notes that she is “able to relate that to the presentation of [her] own projects” in the Product Design program.

Anthropologie merchandises its wares with a kind of all-embracing vitality one might wish one’s own life could imitate. Anthropologie illustrates their stores as having “beautiful, ever-changing vignettes and surprises hiding in every corner….spoons and skirts and sofas…..award-winning window and product displays….passionate and devoted customers…. plants, parties and personal shoppers.” The store attributes their success and visual presentation to their “people.” People who they portray as “the most creative, inspiring, dedicated people you’ll ever meet.” The UO interns are no exception to this and have benefitted Anthropologie by, as Faivre says, “utilizing their hands-on crafting skills though assisting in the preparation and assembling of materials used in store displays” and helping to create the invigorating inspired experience that has come to define Anthropologie. The creative vision of Anthropologie, suggested by the home office but interpreted by each store’s own unique adaptation of that vision, gives shoppers an experience of submersion into a world where you feel connected to the creativity, the environment, the uniqueness, even if you only buy a coffee mug. As Russo explains the process flow, “the interns get direction from the Visual Display Coordinator who works directly with the Visual Merchandiser in order to come up with the designs.” She continues, “The VDC and the VM work together to make sketches and come up with a plan of execution and it is this plan that the interns ultimately work with to create.” Russo describes the process as being “just like [she does] in studio—they have a bunch of images that they use as inspiration.” Complimenting the work of the interns, Faivre asserted that Anthropologie is always seeking qualified individuals who can bring hands-on crafting and creative skills and a strong sense of design principles to the Anthropologie creative aesthetic.

In addition to the hands-on experience these students describe receiving from internships, there is an added component: the chance to do something of real interest and to connect to a creative outlet that delivers to a student a sense of personal satisfaction. UO AAA students as interns are given opportunity to interact with professional networks they truly value. And, that is where the pure enjoyment of having the freedom to pick one’s own internship opportunity arises.

Preparing materials for display, Russo and Sylwester in Anthropologie's back room of supplies, tools, and creative working.

Liesel Sylwester might have said it best when she commented,

“I love making beautiful things. Interning at Anthropologie is just play for me. It is so rewarding to create something improbable and fantastic out of the most basic materials and to see it all put together at the end. It reminds me of when I was little and made crazy stuff out of whatever was around. It helps me unwind during a busy week. Anthropologie is one of the few things I will gladly get up at 5am for.”

Adaptive Products, Adaptive Athletes : Enabling Athletes with Disabilities (PD 486) at the University of Oregon Product Design Program in Portland, Oregon, Winter 2012 Collaborates with Nike, Inc.

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Sabina Samiee

With this Body, I Can Move: Innovating for Every Body

Athlete Will Groulx with Ryan Fiorentino's CONCORD | Image courtesy of Ryan Fiorentino

By Sabina Samiee, UO AAA in Portland

“Clearly it is a lack of relevant tools and gear available to [these athletes] rather than [their] attitudes that is holding [them] back….And that’s where we as design students come in with this project.” –Product Design student Jeff Heil commenting on Adaptive Products studio

In an unprecedented studio course and collaboration between University of Oregon adjunct Product Design program instructors, Wilson Smith (‘80 BArch and current Nike, Inc. Design Director), Bob Lucas (former Nike, Inc. innovation designer and current UO adjunct professor in Product Design), UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts Dean Frances Bronet, and Product Design program director, Kiersten Muenchinger, students in Portland’s Product Design program were given the opportunity to work with nationally recognized adaptive sports athletes to innovate functional products specific to physical challenges. The studio, offered winter term 2012, launched the Adaptive Products: Enabling Athletes with Disabilities course and strengthened the cooperative efforts between Nike and the UO Product Design program to develop athletic gear helpful to competitive adaptive athletes who use prosthetic devices and wheelchairs. [See images from the studio and the final review on the UO AAA Facebook page.]

Athlete Will Groulx examines the bike seat designed for him by student Ariana Budner. Image courtesy Ariana Budner.

Inspired by the legendary UO track coach and co-founder of Nike, Inc., Bill Bowerman’s quote “If you have a body, you are an athlete,” instructor Wilson Smith recalls beginning the class with that spirit. “We approached the Adaptive Design, Enabling Athletes with Disabilities studio to improve the athlete’s performance in sport,” he commented. Smith continued, “At Nike, we are always seeking to improve sports performance through our product innovations. The students worked directly with highly competitive athletes and approached the design challenge with empathy and passion, producing inspired and compelling adaptive products.”

The 16 students who worked with the guidance of co-instructors, Smith and Lucas, instructor assistant Bryan Myss, and four United States-based adaptive athletes consistently remarked on the collaborative blend of the course as weaving both ethics and ingenuity. The students functioned in teams of four, each student devoting their design innovation to the specific request and physical needs of one of the following athletes: Will Groulx (recently signed to NIKE ), Paralympics Wheelchair Rugby Champion; Gabriella Rosales, UltraMarathon runner; Joel Rosinbum, ParaTriathlete; and Brandon Robins, Elite Adaptive Action Sports Athlete.

University of Oregon students who participated in the studio are: Zoe Blatter, Ariana Budner, Ryan Florentino, Jake Fromer, Charles Hartzell, Jeff Heil, Matt Kennedy, Ian Kenny, Aleksander Magi, Damien Menard-Oxman, Tara Nielsen, Tori Russo, Liesel Sylwester, Greyson Walker, Alyssa Wasson, and Stewart Worthington.

The Adaptive Athlete studio course began with the premise that enabling every body to perform at the greatest potential possible–while comfortable, safe, secure, and with efficiency– is the ultimate goal. The intention to create, via trial-and-error, user-based products that promote ability, and ability without pain, and with plenty of speed delivered as part-and parcel of the entire concept stood squarely in front of the students enrolled in Adaptive Athletes. This would be a design adventure to co-innovate with direct input from the users themselves. As instructors, Smith and Lucas were fascinated by the countless figurations the human body can, and does, take: the idea of making physical pursuits, whether for fun or competition, accessible to all body types and to design equipment that would enable bodies of any description to move and be active served as the focal point of the course. In a very proactive approach, Smith and Lucas advocated for every body being able to move and be as athletic as the individual desires. Considered a fundamental right of the person, Lucas and Smith adopted the attitude that if you wish to activate your body, physical limitations might pose a challenge, but that very challenge needs to be embraced. Both the instructors are quick to note that as human beings, we all function at different levels of athletic prowess, whether we use a wheelchair, a prosthetic leg , are born without a limb, or even with no loss of extremities, we should work with and use that which we have to the best manner possible. Bringing to the athletes access to innovative designs that enable and enhance life experiences and make success more feasible, was a tantamount concept for the studio.

Student Tori Russo and athlete Brandon Robins discuss designs at the final review.

To achieve this gracefully blended partnership of user and designer, Smith and Lucas crafted the course experience to integrate close collaboration between the athletes and the students. Athletes visited the studio, working in cooperation with the students to create ideas, and provide feedback and concepts. The students quickly learned what was important to the athletes and also came to learn what motivate is a desire to excel no matter what the physical situation. With careers deeply entrenched in design and innovation for athletics, Smith and Lucas both urged the students to rely heavily on the input of the end user, providing ample opportunities for items to be tried on, tested, and used in real-life situations.

Work sessions to discuss and revise designs with instructor Bob Lucas.

Human beings tend to be captivated by movement, the option to have the power to move ourselves, to control our bodies and to have a sense of communicating accomplishments. How we achieve those ends and having the choice to do so greatly effects our perceived quality of life, our self-confidence, our self-assurance—the omnipotent capability to go from doing nothing at all (for example, sitting quietly without movement in a wheelchair) to springing into action with any kind of movement we desire (landing a huge arial jump on a wakeboard). The availability and access to have the equipment, materials, or prosthetics to push one’s limits and challenge the opportunities one has, completes an individual’s combined sense of both embracing the difficult and savoring the victory. The students were infused with a strong sense of enthusiasm to make these kinds of victories possible for the athletes they were working with.

From the onset of the winter term, the 16 Product Design students took their ideas to the athletes and spent hours determining what would be key areas of improvement to equipment, functional products and the existing devices these individuals already use in the everyday and fast-paced world of action sports. Student Jeff Heil comments, “We [had] an opportunity to get the ball rolling with what we came up with and inspire an effort to influence a lot of people’s lives in a really positive way. Enabling adaptive athletes to play their sports is such a unique and deeply interesting topic for design…..I believe design should move us forward.”

And, move forward was what they did. Students together with two of the athletes, Will Groulx and Brandon Robbins unveiled their designs March 14, 2012 during a review session at the University of Oregon | White Stag Block in Portland. Reviewers from Ziba, Nike, Inc., PENSOLE Shoe Design Academy, and others were on hand to critique the designs and help the students move forward in the continued development of their concepts. Crucial input came from the voices of both Will Groulx and Brandon Robbins who took the opportunity to actively engage with the students and let them know how the designs would fit into their lifestyles and athletic goals. It was evident that the lives of these athletes are not determined by what happened to them, or how they were born, but by the path they chose to take, a path perhaps less travelled but forged and fueled by a determination to surpass and accomplish.

From Ariana Budner’s design of the “ALBATROSS” bicycle “Smart Seat” (for Will Groulx) that channels ventilation, cooling, and comfort into the athlete’s ride (Budner cites it as “the handcycle seat that cools the competitive athlete, freeing [him] to focus on the competition at hand”) to Ryan Fiorentino’s “CONCORD” upperbody support system (also for Groulx) that braces Groulx for long-duration wheelchair movement and exhaustive rugby athletic competitions, the student designs epitomized thoughtful design adopting challenge.

Ian Kenny’s “MOMENT Arm” sought to provide athlete Gabriella Rosales with armwear that could “restore, enable, and improve” athletic potential. Kenny’s design concentrated on athletes needing devices to assist athletic performance for below the elbow amputee or missing limbs from birth. Guided by Smith and Lucas, the buzz words around the studio consistently remained “Mobilize Accommodate Empower,” a message that resonated the entire term.

Not only focusing on physical and tangible user-based devices, Tara Nielsen turned to the idea of proactive healthcare. Introducing accessible heat and massage therapy tools for amputees thereby bringing physical therapy and wellness needs into the power and control of the individual.

Zoe Blatter’s “XDRIVE” gave his athlete, Brandon Robins, a tidy and compact package with towel storage, alcohol spray, lubricating ointment, and a screwdriver—all essential tools for an athlete with a prosthetic lower leg to keep himself comfortable on a day spent on the mountain snowboarding.

Student Jeff Heil addressed the importance of athletic training: his “AIRBound” dynamic board sports training system “is an aid to athletes in their transition from injury to competitive performance.” Heil’s ingenious design looks a little like a thick rubber air-inflated snowboard complete with bindings: he used air filled bladders to enable balance, jumping with and bounding off so the user could test and redefine physical limits without the fear of further injury.

As instructor Wilson Smith enthusiastically beams, this is an all things bright and beautiful approach to design: anything is possible, and once you know your limits, you can potentially soar way beyond them…. with the right equipment, but more importantly, with the right attitude. As stylishly tattooed, baseball cap-wearing Brandon Robbins, (a former professional wakeboarder who lost a leg in a motorcycle accident and now is a competitive adaptive snowboarder) proclaims, with a gregarious cheeky grin and while hungrily gazing at his student teams’ designs, “It’s all so great, so great…I just want to try it all!”

Watch UO School of Journalism student and UO News reporter, Dustin Turner’s report on Adaptive Products | Adaptive Athletes.]

[The Adaptive Athlete studio student work is on exhibit in the Jacqua Center, on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene.]

Special thank you to co-instructors, Wilson Smith of Nike, Inc. and Bob Lucas, as well as the students and athletes Brandon Robins and Will Groulx for their enthusiastic participation and willingness to discuss this studio and the projects. Thanks also to Portland Store Fixtures for their generous lending of the forms to display student work on final review day.

Sara Huston’s Conceptual Furniture Design | Objects of Empathy

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Sabina Samiee

Dan Scofield.

The official motto of the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts is “Make Good.” Students in Sara Huston’s Furniture Design course this last fall 2011, took that one step further. Huston led her students on an interdisciplinary exploration of furniture design with the intent to “make good”—better. The course offered in the Product Design’s Portland program, Conceptual Furniture Design | Private Space (PD410) launched an experimental foray into furniture as a catalyst for creating meaningful experiences and interactions between the object and the user. Not only were students welcomed from all Portland programs to enroll in this course, but regionally-based community members and professionals in the design fields were invited to participate, as well. All the students found themselves challenged to embrace their backgrounds whether in architecture, art, or design to create pieces that illuminated ideas and provoked thoughts far deeper than your run-of-the-mill kitchen stool might elicit.

In what became a fantastic combination of the relationship between human behavior and product design, the course moved along with each student being required to develop a piece of furniture that might be found in the home environment. Once the design was completed, students worked on creating production documents to be used in communicating design intentions to fabricators. As a final step,students took part of their creation to the White Stag model shop, the Fab Lab, and built | prototyped the piece with the technical expertise of John Leahy and guided by Huston.

Student Ariana Budner commented on her experience in the course:

Although all of our designs were initially based on a lifestyle (ie. spiritual life), what was interesting to me was how each person began to focus on different components of the design — material, process, overarching concept — to dictate their final piece. For example, I wanted to learn how to use the CNC router, therefore, the concept of the turntable, grew out of the tool’s capabilities.

What I liked about the design approach in this class, specifically, was the diversity and breadth of skills I utilized, learned and strengthened within the ten weeks of the class. We were encouraged to work with fabricators, yet build what we could by hand. I learned a great deal in regards to both. And I enjoy the fact that my turntable is a fusion of my hand-crafted woodworking, digital woodworking, a fabricator’s welding, and a mass produced electronic.

Ariana Budner.

The progression from idea to a tangible piece of furniture was revealed at the course’s final review in early December 2011. The process had guided students down a path of understanding history and precedents of domestic furniture culminating in how they could create furniture with more meaning while encouraging them to defy convention. Focus was put on researching a user’s physical and emotional relationship with furniture and how to blend form, function, and design conceptualization.

When the pieces were put on display for review, the assortment was impressive: students showed a knowledge of materials, and finishes, and had crafted by hand or worked alongside manufacturers to help realize their designs. They engaged with reviewers and spoke about their work, explaining connections to the people who would be using the pieces. The exhibited pieces had been made of natural or deadfall wood, and materials that were completely formaldehyde-free or recycled. Concepts of reduce-reuse-and-recycle were plainly evident. Local manufacturing was the preferred option. This was the brave new world of furniture design. And as reviewers such as Reiko Igarashi , Kate MacKinnon, John Paananen, Dave Laubenthal, David Bertman, Leslie Biggs, and Brian Gualtieri joined the dialogue to critique the designs, the students’ creations received both constructive criticism and praise fueling the realization that furniture design for the home can be a highly provocative topic.

Danielle Thireault.

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Sara Huston about her interdisciplinary product design course. I wanted to discover how she was relating intention, process and her ideals of humanitarian-based design. Huston explained that her Furniture Design course was all about collaborative design, interdisciplinary blending of talents and the understanding that to create something meaningful sometimes you need to “step out of yourself.” This sounded fascinating, so I asked her to continue and to illuminate what it is that compels her visionary approach to furniture design and creative exploration of the form into an object of daily use. The Cranbrook Academy of Art grad (MFA 2007, 3D Design) will quickly assure you that it is her sense of curiosity about “human behavior, human emotion, and how we connect with objects.” She further explains that this element is “something shared with the design profession….To be even more inclusive.” Huston continues, “it is all linked to physiology, sociology, and anthropology.” Talk about interdisciplinary….Huston feels that if one gathers the skills to enable “knowing the right formal expression, proportions, colors and compositions” one can use this melding of experiences to craft a compelling piece. Sometimes the most compelling pieces disrupt expectations and bring attention to passive human behaviors. “Just imagine,” says Huston, “how a table placed between two people affects their conversation, their body language, the way they interact with one another.” Remove that object, and the situation changes or shifts—no longer is there a solid object that projects intention and spatial relationships to a face-to-face encounter.

Zach Rosato Maxwell.

Huston is fascinated by the intimate, or lasting, relationships people establish with “stuff”—objects that are kept for a lifetime versus objects that are casually disgarded. What decides how objects are treated, what gives meaning to a piece? What makes one piece end up in a landfill and another remain a decades-long fixture in one’s living space? Huston believes that if an object does not hold something personal or evocative to a human’s emotional situation, that piece won’t be kept for long—it becomes meaningless, valueless. Posing these inquiries to her practice and embracing the somewhat controversial philosophy of product design as an art and not just a design, Huston enthusiastically promotes her process as akin to a brush thick with paint stroking a canvas-like sense of “freedom to absorb the world around [her] and reinterpret [her] surroundings.” A painterly metaphor gracefully upholds her firm stance that objects must contain an emotional and empathetic aspect. Thereby, her intention is to make design secondary to art, but to retain both as inextricably interwoven. Every created piece must have a rich story: have meaning, value and intention that moves forward with emotion and purpose. Lofty ideals to accomplish, indeed. But Huston is certainly the artist | designer to do just this. Her educational background (in addition to her MFA from Cranbrook, she holds a BFA in Sculpture from the Art Academy of Cincinnati, 2004) and her penchant to self-teach practical methods of woodworking and the technology of tools, has turned this ‘humanitarian artist of the object’ into a realm that rises with silky smoothness over and above only product design.

Zach Rosato Maxwell.

These ideals are interpreted to provoke a design discourse discussion. Huston seeks to get her students to feel empathy with the users of their artistic furniture or, conversely, their furnituresque art, to perceive values in objects that can create a more fulfilled or meaningful life. Perhaps this is a new thinking, feeling, almost psycho-analytical development to product design, dare we say, a kinder, gentler way—the desire to encourage students to create objects that make people think and feel and respond to their environment? Huston would, in her charmingly bashful manner, say that her goal is simply to challenge these young people, to show them furniture is “the muse”. It is not new, it is not revolutionary, she says, but it is a way of teaching product design that puts people first, and commercialism and materialistic acquisition firmly in second place. Students are taught that pieces with little intention and devoid of meaning are quickly put aside.

All of this translates to a course where Huston recognized the creative potential of reaching out to architecture and art students who might not yet have been exposed to furniture design, might not have thought about humanitarian furniture objects, might not have considered the emotional power of a simple usable furniture piece but who already are learning to practice the same inquiries in their creative design. Huston saw this as a chance glance through the lens of their architectural or art learning and realized an advantageous opportunity apply it to day-to-day, hands-on, immediately buildable pieces. With furniture design, Huston could enable her students to explore that their ideas as designs that embody design as a tool to positively effect their environment and draw attention to elements of living on a touchable, comfort-providing level. We see the soft stacking layers of Danielle Thireault’s Homasote chair; and the gentle undulating concave a la convex of Seth Dunn’s chaise longue. And something as basic as a dining room table could be transformed to become integrated with digital, motion-sensitive lights and visually display human movement and interaction, or lack thereof, during a sit-down dinner. Student, Adam Wilson’s table was a captivating commentary on the health of the modern family, a solid recognition on the collapse of a strong family unit –if the family sits down together the red lights dance in response to human motion across the surface of thetable. The piece remains dark with no human interaction.

Seth Dunn.

Lights dance with the addition of moving hands and bodies on Adam Wilson's table top.

Discovering how furniture can relate to and express the human environment, as ideas from solitary sitting, to interactive motion-sensitive devices to pieces that would efficiently spin vinyl and simultaneously hold records illustrated how these students were critically thinking about the functioning world around them, how people relate to spaces and items in those spaces and everyday objects that might provide some glimpse into how we relate to one another. Not to mention, what objects they felt people held or could develop an emotional attachment to. The empathy is found in designing for others and their specific lifestyle: pieces had to work with a humanistic element and had to have an emotional anchor, they had to challenge expectations and react. Students had to grasp what creates furniture. And what compels someone to like something inanimate: what prompts an emotional response, a table, a chair, an object that can hold something of value.

It had been Huston’s keen interest in discovering and developing the possibility of interdisciplinary creativity that would help students see a breadth to their ideas. This concept ultimately led Huston to propose her furniture course series. Huston remembers herself grappling with design versus art concepts during her undergraduate days: the art aspect flowed easily, the design component seemed to be inherent. Did the two need to be separate or as her practice suggested, her work seemed to embrace the dichotomy. She recalls an immediate connection with reflective artistic practice, it resonated with her from the onset of her creative endeavor, and “just” designing seamlessly gained her artistic flair. Huston comments that now having her own established studio and professional practice,The Last Attempt At Greatness, has allowed her to realize a niche for crafting objects that are woven with aspects of humanitarian thought, sustainable sentiment and a challenging process. These were all aspects that would ask students to think differently about standard, everyday objects of furniture. Blending this into a design ethos and getting her students to visualize making furniture as a lasting and influential process made the interdisciplinary combination essential. Huston blazed ahead, her students expressing gratitude for the progression.

Student Danielle Thireault, commented:

The furniture course was the first chance I had to really integrate my architectural and product design educations. It allowed me to consider the spatial implications of the piece, as well as the user interactions. I really enjoyed the experience and appreciated being able to fabricate a concept and get a better grasp on the breadth of processes included in the production as an individual piece, as well as what considerations to take into account on a mass production scale. The environment of working amongst both architecture and product design students also encouraged avariety of exploration that, for me at least, was key to the development of my chair.

Danielle Thireault and her Homasote chair.

The initiation of the furniture series to inaugurate the interdisciplinary coursework at the UO AAA in Portland reflects a passionate, and increasing interest among students and professionals to participate in projects that extend to a greater community in ways that show positive, meaningful, connected work. Huston’s philosophy that asks students to think critically about and be cognizant of the history and social context fosters a much greater contribution to the product design field than simply approaching furniture design from a commercially viable viewpoint. Huston shepherded her students to experience and to merge with the environment they would be creating a useful object to be placed within. And as Huston likes to point out, this method can produce commercially marketable pieces appropriate for a mass-marketplace. However, she is quick to say that for her frame of reference, making things involves more than producing a sell-able item—and this, perhaps is what results in Huston’s craft intention being art first, design second. Or, maybe, intentionally, art that inspires comfort and connection because it just might be your favorite chair and something you feel an emotional connection to.

Our students, future architects, designers, artists will help fill our world with ideas. If they are offered opportunities to collaborate with those ideas, to work within all creative disciplines and to craft work that truly serves a population the field will blossom. Huston feels that it is with students that we “see the most innovation of all.” They are not afraid of failure, they take risks, they question what exists, they try things. This is why Huston says her best and most interactive audience is her students—“they feel the freedom to think and create what might never have been done before.”

Taking this energy into her spring offering of PUBLIC FURNITURE, Huston will be working with students who are interested in the competition, Land Art Generator Initiative, [LAGI serves to educate and inspire people about the potential for renewable energy generation infrastructure to become integrated into the aesthetic of our cities in ways that contribute to the cultural richness of the built environment.] Interested students can register starting March 2012 for this innovative class experience.

Providing key courses that encourage students understanding about the built environment, from the skyscraper to the stool, continues to develop an understanding of collaboration and bringing together ideas, a confluence of creativity. The intersection of thoughts, as Sara Huston advocates, can make good, very good design, but also it can make designs more thoughtful, more sustainable and more connected to the populations that live and work and play with them. From chairs to record player shelves, from tables to work stations, Huston’s class brought together a myriad of students who with different perspectives who had a vision to build something interesting and really think before, during and after. Design merged with art . . . . and it was stunning.

Photos of the student work from the fall 2011 Conceptual Furniture Design | Private Space (Product Design 410) course and the December 2011 review follows.

You can learn more about Sara Huston on her website, The Last Attempt At Greatness. She is currently exhibiting at the MADE LOCAL: Products of the Pacific Northwest show, February 14-29, 2012 at the Bellevue College Gallery Space in Bellevue, Washington.

story and photos sabina samiee