Gabrielle Burgess

thesis proposal (currently no title)
15 May 2017

At the beginning of this semester I was pretty confident in this crazy idea of using the environment to create three-dimensional letterforms using space and photography to capture them. Most of what I created was breakable or something that could only exist in the moment. Sticks and shells will get crushed, string will unravel, they are just not sturdy structures. I found the documentation of the letters themselves to be far more difficult to achieve. There are tons of outside factors to plan around when I took on this endeavor. Timing, the sun and the weather are all big components when it comes to the outcome of making these forms. I was really attached to the idea of using nature and being able to translate these words. I wanted to make the viewer look at the little things in life. I wanted them to see everything a little clearer with a bigger perspective. People just don't care about the big picture anymore, they are worried about themselves and their lives and focus too much on the destination instead of enjoying the ride. That's what I really tried to do here. I wanted to make someone looking at what I was doing really ask themselves some questions they maybe haven't thought about in a long time. I think what I was really trying to capture was this idea of communication.

People have this awkward rift in what they are saying compared to what they mean. This happens because people are raised different ways, they come from different subcultures, and the communication means different things to them. When it comes to a basic conversation between two people from different areas for example maybe some people will take things too seriously and others not serious enough, offending the other person without meaning to.

I am not sure I want to continue the project I've been working on, because I'm not sure I was able to communicate what I wanted to, but I also don't think I would know where I wanted to go at all if I hadn't taken this project on. It was a wonderful study of my typography skills and also the combination of type, something made by hand, and the environment, something we as humans have next to no control over.

I want to work with these same basic themes over the summer to create a more solid approach of this break in communication between people, and between the environment we live in. I also believe that the way a person draws on paper can illustrate how exactly their brain functions compared to others. Over the summer I plan to continue making things and recording people talking and arguing, as well as possibly the same subjects drawing as well, to see if there is a connection there. This semester taught me a lot about execution, and about what I could actually get done in a given amount of time. I can't wait to develop my idea over the summer and start really working to be able to inspire people the way I'd like to, and finish my time on a good note here at Montserrat.

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