Assignment 1 – Kevin Thies

Overall, my process was to find colors that would go well together, and then randomly cut shapes and see how they could fit together in inspiring ways.  In some ways, it was easier to let the pieces ‘decide’ where they wanted to go, although near the end of the form, decisions had to be made in order to close it up.

My first inflatable, Blue, was the most chaotic. Inspired by the handles of the bags, there were many holes with weird pokey corners, and it ended up having a special handle of its own. This piece also blended the two colors the best, with the question of which color was the base and which was the pattern being the most vague.

Green and Yellow, my next two pieces, were really interesting forms. Their fun colors complimented their wacky shapes, and after the practice making Blue, which didn’t inflate all that well, these two were able to hold air relatively well. It was definitely difficult with all the unplanned curves and attachments, but I got a workflow of prepping a lot of smaller pieces of tape so that I could hold them together with one hand and apply the tape patches with the other.

Black was the most well-made of my inflatables, using clear packing tape for some pretty clean seams. The horizontal stripes that culminated in tipped ends was also nice to look at while inflated, and with the simple shape could be crisper when inflated.

Finally, Pink was a little more planned in that I felt like doing something with long strips, and not in the way Black was. So I cut out a bunch of rings from a pink bag and worked out how it would be arranged. I used some lighter clear plastic to fill in the gaps, which left it looking pleasantly organic, reminding me of a lung or rib cage. When inflated, you can also see the condensation inside, which made for a pleasant and unforeseen quirk.

Overall, this assignment was a way to get comfortable with form and materials, while also asking us to not think so much and just trust in the final result. As a set, I think my pieces share a single design language and work well together while also showing progress towards an understanding of the material and medium.