Artifacts of the Classroom: Eye of the Storm

Course: ARTS 317-01 Collaborations

Eye of the Storm is the cumulative effort of a semester’s worth of teamwork between all seven class members of this studio-based seminar. They explored modes of collaborative working practices using both traditional and new media techniques. The core idea originated in a desire to (re)create a natural environment through artificial means. Individual opinions differed on the approach; as a class, they worked to integrate separate ideas into one collective project. The decision to work with money came from current economic situations—with Occupy movements voicing financial disquietude around the globe, money seemed a theme that pertains to everyone’s lives. Integrated with umbrellas, the financial turmoil turned into a storm. Each student designed her own currency and hand-printed each bill on a Vandercook press with various papers and color inks. This let each person express her own artistic license while unifying the piece under one central motif. If only money were really raining from the heavens.