Ellen George: BFA Project | Why Create?
Completing my BFA project has been an incredible experience. I was been able to challenge myself and in return grow and learn new things.
I started thinking about what I wanted to do for my BFA project in the summer before I took my first semester BFA class. I had been making sock creatures all summer and wanted to brand them. I wanted to create a whole store for them and other creative things I had made. After I went to my first semester BFA class I changed the project to informing the general public about good design. Then I read Elder Uchtdorf’s talk “Happiness, Your Heritage.” After reading the talk I knew I wanted to focus my project more on creating and why we do it. A couple days after reading that talk I had an art seminar class with Erik Adams. He came to my BFA class and I was able to talk to him about my project. He said instead of focusing my project on what I create, focus it on what others create and get as many people involved in your project as possible. It took me awhile to get over my idea of having my project about me, but I’m so glad that I listened to what Erik had to say. From there the concept for my project was set. I then started to create a list of people that were different ages and created different things. By this time I entered into my second semester BFA class. I started to interview people. The interviews took anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. I would ask then questions about what they do or create and why they do it. My husband Daniel would come with me and photograph during the interview. He would photograph them creating something or photograph projects they were working on or had already done. This part of the project lasted several weeks. During that time I started to think about the format of the book I was going to be putting this information in. As I completed an interview I then had to write up the interview and edit through the pictures Daniel had taken. Then I would flow the text and photos into the book. From there it was a long process and editing, designing, printing mock ups for critique, taking the feedback and adjusting and finessing the project.
The idea for displaying my project was something that came to me the more I worked on my book. I was looking through Martha Stewart’s website and came across a photograph of several empty frames that were all different sizes and shapes that were painting in an analogous color scheme. I feel in love with that idea. I didn’t want to put up foam core boards in the gallery, which is want most graphic designers seemed to do. It is a gallery for art and I wanted the project to fit in the gallery. So, Daniel and I spent a week going to the thrifts stores picking up picture frames that were different sizes and shapes. The oval ones seemed to be the hardest ones to find. We then spent the weekend sanding, priming, and painting the frames. Since I was displaying a book for my main project I needed something to set it on. I didn’t want to use the stands they provided in the gallery. A friend gave me the idea of having an environment of a creative setting that would have a desk and supplies to create things. I bought the desk and wanted to have things on the desk to have it feel like a creative environment. I ended up not putting supplies or too many other things on the desk just so that the book would be the focal point.
I am completely satisfied and happy about how my project turned out. I had a lot of doubt but I was able to accomplish something I didn’t think was possible. I remember going to the gallery as a freshman and looking at the BFA projects. I thought to myself that I could never do something like that. I thought there is no way I could ever be that good. Now here I am. I completed a BFA project (that is pretty good) and I’m still alive.
Some advice that I would give to anyone that is thinking about doing a BFA project is first of all do something that you love. It would be very hard to work on a project for two semesters that you didn’t have a passion for. Another thing is to prioritize your time. I knew that I wanted to focus on my BFA project my last semester so I didn’t take another design class that semester. I feel that was a huge help. I didn’t have to juggle my time in between two top priority classes. I took 12 credits and also worked at least 16 hours a week at Graphic Services on campus. That still gave me time to work at least a couple hours a day on my BFA project. Another thing I would recommend is that you do something that you haven’t done before. I already had a lot of posters in my portfolio so I knew I didn’t want to do posters for my project. One thing that I didn’t have in my portfolio was a text heavy project. A project that showed I could work with a lot of type. That is why I chose to do my project in a book format.
There are several things I learned from completing this project. One thing I feel I was able to learn and develop more was a greater knowledge of typography. Another thing I learned was it is important to listen to other people’s opinions but ultimately it is your project and it is up to you. If I wouldn’t have listened to Erik Adams advice to involve more people in my project I don’t think my project would have been half as good. It wouldn’t have pushed me as much. I had to get outside of my comfort zone. Something else I learned was that a book doesn’t work very well in a gallery setting. It is hard for people to look through a book. They would rather take a little walk around the gallery and not have to stop and look through a book. I don’t regret doing a book though. I learned that it is very important to manage your time and set deadlines for yourself. In the beginning of the project I made a calendar and gave myself weekly assignments so I could make progress every week and have plenty of time to get my project done by the due date.
Tags: BFA Project