A messy, detour ridden approach to thesis
Saturday, April 27th
At 8:00 am, I felt I should send another reminder email. I texted my peers and emailed the listserv. Then I waited. Although I had invited and received confirmations from 17 individuals, half from RISD and half from outside organizations and groups, I wanted to cover all my bases. In the next few hours, I would receive news of two people who woke up sick and one who forgot and double-booked.
At 8:30 am, I walked to the Design Center Print Lab to print six copies of the handouts, four sets of exercise placards, labels, reflection sheets, and sketching paper. I used the time to write a narrative to read at the beginning of the workshop and responded to the last-minute texts from people who couldn't make it anymore. This took about 2 hours. At 11:00 am, I unlocked the church doors, disarmed the alarm system, and climbed the dark spiral staircase to the atelier.
I met Jeff Boomer, a conceptual portrait artist who regularly uses the space. I learned that the atelier doesn't use wifi or Bluetooth and relies on a "jerry-rigged" sound system to play music. It makes sense for the ethos but knocked me for a loop. We spent about 15 minutes trying to connect my phone to their router and IP address… Jeff set up the system himself, so if he couldn't figure it out, my silly playlist would have been for naught. Adorned on my sleeve was my heart. Suddenly, my music filled the room; I probably squealed with joy.
I went ahead and knolled my supplies on the stage and rolled out a blue tarp- it felt apt because they were the actual performers in this 'play.' I set up everything and debated if it was enough stuff for everyone to use. I settled on yes. I laid out the waiver forms and the trays. Then, I ordered three pizzas from Domino's. My architecture friend and workshop participant, Izzy, showed up first with matching iced matcha drinks. The videographer, Sydney, arrived at 12:30 pm, and we all waited together.
At 12:50 pm, panic began as folks trickled into the atelier. At 1:10 pm, I counted six no-shows. I was initially disappointed, but a smaller group of 8 proved to be just right. My control and intentions during the planning process were ultimately subject to other people and their availability. I could only carefully plan for different scenarios and pivot when necessary. That was where my sense of control could be.
Over the next 3 hours, there were four groups of two. I led them through three open-ended exercises on playful production. It was exciting to see what the groups made. Notably, one group of Debbie, Lola, and Naheyla from RISD Architecture constructed an object from a cutting mat, rope, and insulated box liner for Exercise 1. It continued to cannibalize pieces of it for the following exercises to deconstruct for reuse. Another group of Megan and Izzy designed a hinged book made of offcuts, knobs, push pins, and cork boards. They later created a mesh bag for the book to sit in. A third group of Chelsea and Sarah made a knob dispenser from elastic bands, a hose clamp, a 6-inch PVC pipe, string, and screw eyes. The final group created a miniature shelf system made of hinged shutters with tiered shower curtain liners to hold screws and nails. The range of projects was influenced by improvisation and play.
To suggest that we were all connected now in a reuse network, we completed card profiles for my Rolodex and wrote reflections.
The workshop ended at 4:10 pm. By 4:50, I had executed the quickest clean-up routine in the lifespan of workshops. In 40 minutes, every material, hardware, and tool was back in its milk crate, tray, or bag and lined up, ready to be carried out. I was haggard-looking, according to my mom, when she came with the car. For some reason, I believed I had another appointment at 6:00 pm, so I arranged to pick up all the models and sawhorses on Monday morning. I ran into Naheyla and Lola again at the BEB and used a dolly cart to return my sidekicks to my workbench.
When we finally arrived at Dwight House, we celebrated together by reviewing the photos I had taken. And then we cheered as we read the reflections.