For the Team Project, I was grateful to have been chosen to execute my proposal. I proposed to explore the intersection of nature and the mind using sensory perceptions. Materials used were mixed-media (video clips collected being projected), nature sounds, and others such as a fan and sheer curtains to allude to the qualities of nature. I drew inspiration from Artist Rachel Schmidt. Her installation “All My Children Sleep in the Sea” was exactly the idea I had in mind when brainstorming this project.

After doing further research on this artist and her works, I cam across another installation of hers titled “Out of Balance”. This installation is a mixed media work that explores the topics of climate change themes. It is accompanied by series of abstract paintings and sculptural elements that allude to the distrusted landscapes in nature. It also accompanied by chakra healing frequency-like sounds created by Kevin O’Meara. The videos of nature play on loop.

My group and I first began by locating a specific site where we would like to install this project. We ended up choosing the closet in the back of the screen printing room since it was very spacious and allowed for easy access to outlets. We cleaned it out and covered the walls and windows with some panels that were in there. We also decided to cover the windows from the screen printing room to allow for minimum amount of light from the outside to come in to allow viewers to see the projection best although, the long windows in the right side still had some light coming in. After this we used the super long tall latter to begin clipping some “clippers” to the ceiling panels. We tied the fishing line from these clippers to the metal rods which is how we were able to hang the sheer curtains.

This process took a while because we tried to be strategic about where we wanted the curtains to hang from and what angle we wanted them to be facing. We considered the viewers experience as well in regards to what passage/direction the location of the curtains would lead them to take. When I first proposed this project, I thought I wanted all of the curtains to all be hanging parallel to one another while they were all staggered, each having a different length to them, but as we began hanging the idea of creating an immersive experience for viewers came into mind which is why we ended up using the entire space in the room.

As a team, we divided the task of collecting video clips to later edit and put together on loop. We also divided the tasks of collecting nature sounds. I was able to capture videos of nature using my 50 mm lens camera which allowed for very detail, depth of field videos.

I used the audio recording app on my iPhone to record sounds of water, birds, chirping, and other sounds of nature. Once all of the curtains were hung, we sat down as a group to look over the video that America had put together no edited. We decided we wanted not only peaceful sounds with a Chakra healing frequency over it as the zen-full, peaceful clips were being portrayed, but we also decided to incorporate a couple sped up, more chaotic sounding clips to throw viewers off. After the video was finalized, we set it up on two projectors, each being on opposite sides of the room.

Overall I was extremely happy with the outcome and extremely thankful for such an amazing group. I am very thankful and appreciated of all of them and of this project.