Author: rjwallac@andrew.cmu.edu

Final Project – Jesse

My final project is a series of reflective weavings intermixed with physical mementos from my life, coming together in shadowboxes to create a coherent energy. The final setup of the three pieces is below.

My final three shadow box pieces.

I wanted to emphasize this piece as being reflective, and I did that on many levels. For the entire weaving process that took time from thanksgiving break all the way to finals week, I took the opportunity to reflect on different aspects of my life while weaving. I am feeling as if a big chapter of my life is closing and another one is coming soon, so this project helped me feel as if this “era” was wrapped up. Now, I have mementos from this time in my life to take forward in life. The first weaving I completed was called “slipping through the cracks”, and to me it represents much of the anxiety and mental health issues I have had over the years.

“slipping through the cracks”

The next piece I completed was one in which I spent a lot of time on to perfect. I wanted to dive into the more exciting pieces of life such as my adventures and travels in the past. I have always felt a very strong connection with nature, and I feel that comes through in this piece. I called it “the rush” to highlight my love for adrenaline, but also for the chaos that is normal, pre-covid life, especially when travelling.

“the rush”

Finally, I used our dyed pieces and physical images to create a memento that reminds me of my friends, school, and current life. This one, in a way, represents what is on my mind during a normal school year. Because of that, I titled this one “on my mind”.

“on my mind”

This project has been really powerful for me in terms of introspection. I have enjoyed taking time to improve my weaving and embroidery skills, and creating mementos and weaving habits that will last a lifetime. This class has been really impactful and transformative for me because I found this connection to a great activity, and I am excited to continue building my skills. This project has made me feel more connected to my past self, and I am grateful for that!

Independent Project Update – Jesse

Over thanksgiving break, I spent many hours working on my weavings and setting up frames for my shadow boxes. With the help of Ideate, I got 4 of the below shadow boxes ordered, and they will come in soon:

The next aspect of this project is the miniature weavings. I spent time over thanksgiving break working on two different ones, and progress is shown below:

first weaving session over break.
current progress on my “slipping through the cracks” piece.
current progress on my “mountains” piece.

It was really rewarding to spend time doing this! I also spent some time getting familiarized with the rigid heddle loom and adding progress there as well, but unfortunately I do not have any photos of that yet! Also, over break I attempted to make my own custom frame, but to no avail. However, I show progress updates here as it was informative to try! If I have the time to make more shadow boxes from scratch I definitely will.

gluing my frame.
custom frame first try.
custom frame with my first ever weaving in it, to get a sense of how this will look.

Finally, the last piece of the puzzle is the things, the memorabilia from my life that I am adding to these shadow boxes. I spent some time over break collecting important items to me from home, including polaroids of special moments with friends.

polaroids of some adventures for my shadow box project.

Final Project Proposal – Jesse Wallace

For my final project, I decided to pursue an experimental and reflective piece as a way of collecting my thoughts as this absolutely wild year comes to a close. I typically take a few days around this time of year to reflect on my highs and lows, and this project will be an extension of that.

I want to put personal weavings that allow me to reflect in each box. Each shadow box will represent a certain time in my life, and I will add to each weaving by including physical objects from those times(Ribbon from my robotics competitions, plane tickets, rocks, jewelry, etc.) to create the final piece. Together, the shadow boxes will tell a representative story that I can use to express myself. Finally, a big part of the magic will be in creating each weaving as I use my time to put energy and passion into each reflective weaving.

Digital Repeat Pattern – Jesse Wallace

After initially getting stuck on my repeat pattern work, I managed to teach myself some illustrator skills while completing a bright and abstract pattern that I am really happy with. The process is shown below, starting with my initial sketch:

Initial sketching

I wanted this project to be more abstract and bright, and I wanted the audience to interpret this in a less concrete way. This pattern isn’t a direct one from my surroundings, but instead the energy it exudes represents the energy of my apartment and the people I live with – absolute chaos. The colors emphasize this even more:

Final design

The next step was to pattern this design, which is shown below in various sizes:

Pattern 1
Pattern 2

This project was exciting to me because I learned how to implement a design like this. I also felt as if this more abstract piece captures the bright and chaotic energy that I am lucky enough to say surrounds me in life.

Final Project Ideas – Jesse Wallace

After brainstorming and reflecting, my final project ideas are below:

  1. A full rigid loom project, using brand new techniques to make an abstract landscape 
    1. Specific techniques to learn: 
      1. New knotting techniques
      2. Blending colors 
      3. Different yarns on the rigid loom 
    2. Meaning: 
      1. Ive been practicing manifestation and working on improving my mentality about things through focusing on the good. I would like this project to be a switch from the bleak “Textiles from the Future” project and switch gears to a more hopeful visual and physical piece. 
  2. A digital print, building on my illustrator skills to produce a powerful and personal reflective piece
    1. Specific techniques to learn: 
      1. Get better at Illustrator. I want redemption! 
      2. Sketching and transferring the very real things in my life to a 2D plane. 
    2. Meaning: 
      1. I want to use this piece to look inwards and reflect on the physical and metaphysical aspects of my life, combining them into a colorful and bright pattern with energy that reflects who I am. 
  3. A big embroidery, with an intricate and personal pattern 
    1. Specific techniques to learn: 
      1. Creating symbols with my embroidery 
      2. More embroidery stitches 
    2. Meaning: 
      1. It would be intriguing to create a textile piece that represents this absolutely weird moment in time. Through a detailed embroidery, I am excited by the idea of building up a representation of life that is captured not by a photo but by a physical textile. 

More inspiration for a creative weaving project:

  1. Make a diary shadow box for different phases of your own life(with weavings) – make your own shadow boxes, press flowers, weave lil guys, put fabrics/objects in back as well
  2. Make a tech and weaving interaction – something that measures heartbeat?

Digital Repeat Pattern Project Beginnings

I was inspired by the digital repeat patterns I had researched in the prior assignment, and wanted to include some symmetrical flower patterns in my design. I was intrigued by the idea of using art to represent womanhood, so I wanted my pattern to emphasize that as well. Below are some examples of the pieces that inspired my pattern drawing!

Shown below is the sketch for my pattern drawing that I have successfully scanned, but unfortunately was having extreme technical difficulties with in order to add color. However, I am very excited by the idea of this more freeflowing pattern, so I am excited to see how this turns out!

Digital Repeat Patterns – Jesse Wallace

In order to find a patterned cloth from the past, I looked through The Met online gallery to find one. I chose the one below from the late 18th-early 19th century from Thailand. I really appreciated the symmetry in the pattern because of how it made

Thai tapestry from the late 18th-early 19th century

The modern day pattern I found is shown below. I also really appreciated the symmetry in the pattern and how the pattern reflects itself. It would be interesting to incorporate that with my piece.

Encoded Cloth from the Future – Jesse Wallace

For this project, I wanted to express the absolute hopelessness that comes along with living in the world today. I brainstormed imagery of nuclear war, climate change, or even another outbreak because I wanted to convey the grim reality of the inevitable destruction that will come in the coming years. However, in brainstorming, I faced the reality that we will all likely be trying to navigate our individual lives during that. There will be new fashion trends and phases and new trendy food to eat and new people in all of our lives. The uncertainty is overwhelming, and that feeling is exactly what I wanted to capture in this piece.

My encoded cloth – capturing the uncertainty of inevitable doom.

I chose to use a jean jacket as a connection to the things in life that won’t change – Jean is such a classic fashion material and I doubt it will ever go “out of style”. I don’t know anything in life for sure, but I’m almost positive 2030 will have jeans.

Wearing my Doom Jacket.

The biggest piece of this textile was the tapestry. I have really enjoyed weaving and chose to connect the weaving theme to the theme of uncertainty. The overall look is of destruction and explosive doom, but there are hints of green and yellow to indicate climate change as well.

Finally, I added a heart that is slowly turning black, to represent the inevitable heart-wrenching challenges we will all have to face in 2030.

One aspect of this project that surprised me- I went for a hopeless, destructive piece, but in putting my energy into weaving I felt as if I created something beautiful from the pain I was expecting to portray. It was honestly really heartwarming, and made me think about my mentality about the world.

The Future Part 2 – Jesse Wallace

100 Ideas about my perspective of the future:

  1. War
  2. Violence 
  3. Another virus outbreak 
  4. The same virus outbreak never ends 
  5. Climate change 
  6. Love 
  7. Iced coffee 
  8. Electric cars 
  9. Engineering equations 
  10. Rocket ship 
  11. Astrophysics 
  12. Toxic masculinity 
  13. Competitive work culture
  14. Depression 
  15. Anxiety 
  16. Not being good enough 
  17. Being more than good enough 
  18. Success 
  19. Innovation 
  20. Hard work 
  21. Recognition 
  22. Invention 
  23. World change 
  24. Cultural shift 
  25. Falling in love 
  26. Golden retrievers 
  27. Horses 
  28. Hard work 
  29. Cooking 
  30. Adventures 
  31. Hiking 
  32. Glacier melt
  33. Inequity 
  34. Injustice 
  35. Fascists 
  36. Diving down the rabbit hole 
  37. Unhappiness 
  38. Art 
  39. Beauty 
  40. Dancing 
  41. Friendship
  42. Death 
  43. Hate 
  44. Pride 
  45. Celebration 
  46. Birthdays 
  47.  Health 
  48. Veganism 
  49. Climate revolution
  50. Green new deal 
  51. AOC 
  52. Powerful women 
  53. Judith resnik 
  54. Beyonce 
  55. Doja cat 
  56. Jesse! 
  57. My beautiful friends who have become my family 
  58. Electric airplanes 
  59. Green technology revolution 
  60. Equity revolution 
  61. Chrome 
  62. Hybrid 
  63. Spy kids 
  64. Shark girl 
  65. Lava girl 
  66. Dream 
  67. Socialism 
  68. Communism…? 
  69. Dictatorship 
  70. It be lit n shit 
  71. Party 
  72. Travel 
  73. Peace 
  74. Chaos 
  75. Anarchy 
  76. Dystopian 
  77. Post apocalyptic 
  78. Maze runner 
  79. Hunger games
  80. Alcoholism 
  81. 1984 
  82. Circle 
  83. Lavender 
  84. Jonas brothers 
  85. Pomegranate 
  86. Daisy 
  87. Teddy 
  88. Levitation 
  89. Teleportation 
  90. Dyson sphere 
  91. Flamethrower 
  92. Avengers endgame 
  93. The literal endgame 
  94. Disentanglement and quantum information scrambling 
  95. Planet hopping 
  96. Krypton thrusters 
  97. Space exploration
  98. Sexuality spectrum 
  99. culture, food 
  100. Women! In! The! Future! 

The Future Part 1 – Jesse Wallace

What Will 2030 Look Like?

This question, obviously, is impossible to truthfully answer. However, thinking about the future implies reflection on the current state of humanity and what will be different in 10 years. Nowadays, in this big giant mess of things, my feelings fluctuate between having absolutely no hope for a promising future and seeing small positives that make me think of how good civilization has the potential to be.

Thinking about the future also triggers reflections about human history. Reading about history, from my perspective, is simply reading about unequal societies, injustice, war and violence throughout the human era. Even though we live in a world with so many cruel and harsh injustices, we are in many ways living in the best time human history has ever seen. Women and people of color have finally broken into many white male dominated fields, before COVID we were at a historical low for global poverty, hunger, and disease, and gay marriage has been becoming legal in a mass movement across the globe. Still, even in this hopeful state, civilization is as it has always been: Cruel and unjust. 

 In my stolen textile from that era, that message is what I want to get across. I want to combine three key points: inevitable overwhelming destruction, inevitable cultural change for the slightly better, and my personal growth through it all. 

Now, I will answer specific questions about my future guesses. 

  • What does it feel, smell, sound, or look like? 
    • Personally, and not at a larger world scale, I hope I have the blessing of finding success in my field and pursuing my passions, supporting and being supported by a great group of friends and family, and living in a physical space that keeps me happy and healthy(I’m picturing nature, dogs, healthy cooking, and developing skills in hobbies I am interested in). Also, I would like to not live in the US. 
  • How do people travel? 
    • Electric car, public transportation, electric planes maybe! 
    • Unfortunately still: car overcrowding, mass traffic, planes with combustion engines 
  • How do people interact? 
    • Sadly, a lot of interaction is virtual. And I hate that, not looking forward to it. One of the most traumatizing aspects of COVID is the fact that humanity has accelerated to online and virtual work and will likely stay that way forever. The next epidemic is already here, and its loneliness. 
  • What do people eat, wear, or spend time doing? 
    • A mix of sustainable and fast fashion, based off of income/class sadly 
    • vegan/vegetarian revolution, however entire populations still swear by red meat
    • People spend most of their time using tech and connecting not-in-person(and this legit breaks my heart loll) 
  • What are the environment and cities like? 
    • Scenario A: Complete and utter climate destruction. 
    • Scenario B: Somehow, we immediately and completely shift our entire culture to save the climate. 
    • Scenario C(the most likely one): We save some climate shit, lose most of it, but adapt as a civilization to somehow survive. Dystopian future arrives at an accelerated pace. 
    • Cities: Some cities have been decimated by potential nuclear war and infighting, others have developed sustainable green ec-hubs. New major cities pop up in previously developing countries and emissions increase anyway. 
    • The Environment: the great barrier reef is completely destroyed. However, tech innovations make farming and agriculture more sustainable. The duality of man, I guess. 
  • Do we have more technology or less? 
    • Wayyy more, for the better. Technology and a lot of its new applications give me a lot of hope. 
    • Unfortunately, also maybe AI overlord. Yikes. 
  • What happened between now and the next 10 years to make 2030 the way it is?

NOTE: I try not to hope too much, so im mentally preparing for some bullshit like this: 

  • Trump is re-elected
  • COVID doesn’t stop spreading for years 
  • Cultural and actual revolution in the United States