Blog 5: Locovisual

The architectural rights to the Wellington Town Hall were competed for in the year 1900. Joshua Charlesworth won with a neo-classical design. Construction began in May 1902 and the Wellington Town Hall was opened in December 1904.

The Wellington Town Hall is an historically significant building in New Zealand as it "has had [and still does have] strong ties with Wellington residents and their local body of power"(Ian Bowman, 1995). As a building that is related to the governing of what is now the capital city of New Zealand there is an expectation that the building will reflect the values of strength, stability and prosperity that reflect what we expect to see in our mayor and city councillors. The Town Hall announces the presence of these values through recognisable neo-classical features. The exterior walls of the building have repeating flat columns all the way around it, these structurally stable features not only hold up the building, but they announce to us that they are doing their job, holding up the building and (metaphorically) holding up the cities values.

Wellington Town Hall Civic Square - Photographed by Jayden Hamilton

The front entrance of the Town Hall is framed by four large cylindrical columns, they are the obvious  central point, visually leading us to its high ceilings and again reminding us of the building's strength; These columns are adorned with decorative capitols, "true art", as Owen Jones says, "idealising, and not copying, the forms of nature";(1856) a small amount of art which portrays the city's values of prosperity. Some more typically neo-classical architectural features of the Wellington Town Hall include triangular pediments atop of many of the windows, and the delicately carved parapet that wraps around the top of the building.

Wellington Town Hall Front Entrance - Photographed by Jayden Hamilton

Works Cited List

 Bowman, Ian. "Wellington Town Hall." Heritage Buildings Inventory. Vol. 3. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Wellington City Council, 1995. Print.

John Ruskin, "The Nature of Gothic," excerpted in Gorman, C. (2003) The Industrial Design Reader (pp.18-20). New York: Allworth Press.

Imprisoned Curves

Imprisoned Curves #1

Imprisoned Curves #2

"Faith and doubt both are needed - not as antagonists, but working side by side to take us around the unknown curve"(Lillian Smith, 1944). This was definitely the case throughout the production of this piece. Vigorous critiques of  earlier designs led to much doubt in my ability to produce convincing fluid forms.

If faith were to be a solid rigid form then doubt would be fluid form. I have a firm faith in my ability to produce rigid and geometric forms, but doubt comes when introducing fluid shapes into my designs, the finished design is a result of an internal battle between the dominance of geometry and the rebellion of curves. A struggle ensued inside my mind but the minority of curvature was contained and bound, this is shown in this piece, imprisoned by the solid steel square and bound by the white knotted cotton are the oppressed plastic curves, trying to snap free of the bounds that hold them captive and be expressed, but staying oppressed by the captor which is geometry.

It wasn't until late into my development that I began to find non-geometric curves coming into my designs, I believe that with further development the fluidity in my shapes would have evolved a great deal, however my mind has been conditioned in my college graphics class so that I am akin to symmetry and geometric shapes which can be easily constructed and replicated.

The model that has become my end product shows off the fragile yet tensioned cotton as a feature of the overall presentation, I remembered the teachings of the arts and crafts movements: honesty in construction and truth to materials(Ruskin, J.) whilst making the conscious decision to show off the white thread. The thread portrays tension in the piece and through this tension we see the transition between the curved and flat planes.

 Smith, L. (1944). Strange Fruit. Jasper, Florida. Houghtton Mifflin Harcourt.

Ruskin ,J. Wk_4_design_reform.pdf. School of design website. Accessed through http://schoolofdesign.ac.nz/mod/folder/view.php?id=434 


Photographs by Jayden Hamilton

Antiques Hunter - Athena

Antiques Hunter - Athena

http://www1.trademe.co.nz/home-living/lamps/floor-lamps/auction-469171456.htm

Whilst browsing trade-me for a worthy piece of design to comment on I found a 'gold lady statue lamp', also said to be known as Athena. The design of the lamp is rococo-esque.

Hunter-Stiebel, P (2008). described rococo as a "sensuous impulse [that] looks to nature for models that feature the sinuous S-curve"(pp.3).  This is evident in the 'gold lady statue lamp' which is based on a lady, a common rococo design influence. Women are regarded as both curved and naturally beautiful, recreating their form in design is ideal.

All of the statue except for the lamp is coloured gold. "Precious metals led this luxury trend... ...[gold and silver] projected the wealth and daring tast of their owners"(Hunter-Stiebel, P,2008,p.4) . The use of Gold was prominent in rococo as it portrayed wealth.

The lampshade of the 'gold lady statue lamp', which is supposed to appear as if it is a torch, is proportionally larger than the women. This is characteristic of many rococo designs; proportion was not taken into consideration.
 "It is with much regret that we find ourselves obliged to beg them (artisans) to confine their genius within these laws of proportian." (Charles-Nicholas Cochin, 1754). A torch which is that disproportionally large when compared to a person  is insufficient, if real, it would be heavy and tiresome to carry. When an object is disproportionate it appear unintelligible, as if the creator of the object did not consider it. The 'gold lady statue lamp' gives us the impression that a lady is able to torch five times the size of her head above her head easily.  I think that anyone would struggle to hold up a torch that proportionally large.

The name Athena comes from the Greek God of Wisdom. Rococo designers have taken influence from many things including Greek culture.


Charles-Nicholas Cochin. (1754). Wk_3_Baroque.pdf.  http://schoolofdesign.ac.nz/mod/folder/view.php?id=434
Hunter-Stiebel, P. (2008). The Continuing Curve, in Rococo: the continuing curve. http://schoolofdesign.ac.nz/mod/page/view.php?id=366

DSDN171: Blog 2 Research Statement and Annotated Bibliography

Book (Single Author)
Irwin, D. (1997). Neoclassicism. London : Phaidon Press

Contains neoclassical design and art exhibitions.

Journal
Alm, G. (1994). Neoclassical furniture design in Sweden.The Magazine Antiques. 145.4,562-571.Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.helicon.vuw.ac.nz/docview/211178012

To view examples of Neoclassical design movement in Swedish.

Edited Book

Clifton-Mogg, C.(Eds) (1991). The neoclassical sourcebook. London : Cassel

Information concerning neoclassical architecture, art, design, decoration, and ornament.

Website

Melanie. ( May 10, 2011). Veranda – Neoclassical Design for the 21st Century, Retrieved from http://www.classicaladdiction.com/2011/05/veranda-neoclassical-design-for-the-21st-century/

To view some applications of Neoclassicism in today's society.

Picture 

Figure 1. Ingres, J,A,D. (c. 1827). Apotheosis of Homer [Painting]. From Baudelaire and the Impressionist Revolution, Neoclassicism. Retrieved from http://impressionist1877.tripod.com/neoclassicism.htm

To view the sorts of architecture, clothing, paintings, that were common during the Neoclassical period.

Jayden, Ken, Waterfall

My name is Jayden and I want to be a designer. All throughout my life I have consistently liked drawing; this didn't necessarily mean that I was good at it but I stuck with it and I like to think that my ability has improved.

My hobbies include: Hockey, Scouting, Tramping, Music, Guitar, Staying fit, and creating things. My hobbies are likely to become  inspiration for my work. I call 'creating things' a hobby because I use the random bits and pieces that I collect and transform them into pieces of wacky art and gifts. Doing this has allowed me to appreciate the bits and pieces that I collect as materials rather than trash.

Throughout College my favourite subject was graphics. To me graphics was a chance to capture my creative ideas and funnel them into a specific design brief. I enjoyed this type of work at College, I was able to get away from the strictly academic subjects and express myself through design. The next step towards furthering my skills in design was obviously University.

At Victoria University I am majoring in design and minoring in film and media studies. My ultimate goal is a career within the film industry, aspiring to be like Sir Peter Jackson, whether this is in the area of film directing, prop design, set design, or elsewhere, I am yet to decide but I would love having a career where I make a visible contribution.

My future currently appears positive. I am enthusiastic about my first year at University and am looking forward to producing an impressive portfolio of work over the course of the year.