Michele Rosenboom’s Tiny Dwellings…
Design One: Twisted Abode
Design Two: Undulate
What a whirlwind of creative energy has been going on in my studio in the last couple of days! So many ideas, so little time. My studio is totally trashed, but…it’s a beautiful mess and it was fun.
One of the things I did to kick off the design process was to build some tiny dwellings with my kids. Winter has given way to warmer temps in Iowa, which means MUD! Below are some photos of our “fairy fort”, complete with stone table, chairs, and tree house. The activity didn’t produce a design epiphany (which I was secretly hoping for)…but we had fun!
The structure of the French braid quilt was what inspired my final designs. The blocks look woven, so, I decided on a woven dwelling – a nest. But, it couldn’t be just any nest. How about a human nest? I remembered seeing Patrick Dougherty’s work at the Sioux City Art Center. He builds swirling, nest-like sculptures out of saplings. They’re very fantastical and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find an Ewok living in one. They remind me of playing in the grove on my parent’s farm.
My color inspiration came from a few of my photographs. I’ve been building up a collection over the past 2 years and refer to it often. I think it’s important to search for inspiration outside of patterns. I look to nature, fine art, architecture, fashion…even food. A tool I like to use for color schemes is Adobe Kuler. It pulls colors from an uploaded photo and you can import them as Adobe Exchange files.
I hope you enjoy “Twisted Abode” and “Undulate”. I have so much more to share, but it will have to wait until next time!
What a marvelous, procedural piece! I saw this work a bit out of order (I guess– I don’t really know what the order is, or if it has anything to do with anything), but saw it out of context on the web and thought it was one of the most imaginative surface designs I’d ever seen. Now, reading your background piece, the work becomes part of a memorable parable about designing as life’s work. If there’s a special award for methodology,…!
Fred, I give a lot of credit to ISU for teaching methodology and design process well! I know you also believe we can find rich life experiences to draw upon, wherever we are. It really doesn’t get more mundane than mud and sticks, does it?