In terms of self-evaluation so far in my internship I would have to say that I am doing a pretty good job so far I think. Throughout these past few weeks, while trying to work on the site and going back and forth on ideas I have gotten some critiques in terms of the design of the revamped website look that I came up with. Taradash was concerned about how the new design I made was too structured for her liking and goes against her theme of light and wind. To that I would say that I made the effort to try and come up with a new design I was hoping she would like but I had to take in the critiques and apply them to come up with some new ideas for the site layout. I would say that I have done a good job so far of accepting critiques and applying them.

One of the main projects that will be going on during my internship is collaborating with Prof. Taradash and her former Intern Daniel to revamp Taradash’s website and give it a modern makeover. Daniel and I have been working together to come up with a new elaborate design to Taradash’s website while still having it keep the free flowiness look to the site since Taradash’s sculptures revolve around light and wind. We came up with some concept sketches to show to Taradash and to get her feedback on. With her feedback we are continuously working on coming up with a design that will satisfy everybody and will work. We are hoping to have the website completed by the end of this semester. The beneficial aspect of this is working with a team of people of different skill sets and ideas that can work together and can bring something new to the table. The thing that makes it a little difficult is the fact that two great ideas are crashing into each other on what the design should look like and making sure it is what the client (Taradash) would be happy with.

Some of Taradash’s feedback with this first design approach was that she was not very happy with this inital design. She felt like this design was too constricted and boxy for her theme of light and wind which is supposed to have a loose and flowing feel. The idea of the site like the menu bar and slideshow at the top were approved on her part. Other things like the typography and the color also need to be revised and reworked. Again,  this is only the first real shot at designing the web page so I was not expecting to get the design 100% approved on the first showing. I have to keep in mind the idea of free flowing and movement within the site.

First two digital drafts of the site layout done in Illustrator.

Card pamphlets that were handed out at the event.

Digital poster advertising the event

This past Thursday on September 26th I was able to attend the opening of Khary Randolph’s show in the Grace Gallery called ‘Getting to Know Black/Excellence’. It was definitely a great experience seeing a lot of other COMD students and professors and even those not in COMD coming out and showing support for Khary and his great artwork. The work that was on display from Khary was donated to the school by him. The artwork was a lot of concept art and art revolving around his graphic novels ‘BLACK’ and ‘WHITE’. Khary was also there and I previously met Khary before about a year ago; he was a guest speaker in my Narrative Illustration class. Overall it was a great experience showing Khary my sketchbook and talking with him for a little bit about each others work and the event itself was packed.

Back on Sunday September 15th, I went to Photoville which was by Brooklyn Bridge Park in Downtown Brooklyn. The whole setup of the event was interesting and was not what I expected. Aside from a typical photo gallery showing indoors, they displayed the photos in shipping containers and were outside in a lot. I thought that was innovative and drew me into the event more. There were a variety of other people there raging from tourists to other students like me. I saw that some students were representing Parsons or SVA etc which I thought was pretty cool. The photos that were on display were taken by a wide variety of photographers with a wide variety of subjects like women, people of color etc. There were photos displayed of different issues as well from environmental issues, to race, sexism etc. They also had different workshops and discussion panels as well; Unfortunately the time and day I went there were none at the time.

So far in this internship even though I am personally not interested in Web Design, I still am learning a lot of things and experiencing things that will help benefit me in my career. I am becoming more familiar with what exactly it is like build yourself and your own career once you graduate school. Taradash was telling me about how she came to establish a name for herself. She told me about her first jobs as an artist as well as her first studio spaces when she started out on her own. These were interesting things to take note of since it will give me an idea of what living as an artist is like as well as tips to better establish a name for myself.  In terms of a typical day for this internship, how it would go is that we would meet up at one of our common locations and we would talk about her website we are trying to redesign. Next we would toss around ideas to each other about the layout photos that should be included, ideas on about the artist, things that should be on the main page etc. Then Daniel and I would sit down and work together to try to narrow things down. We decided that between Daniel and I that I would be more responsible for the aesthetic and design of the layout for the site and he would handle the coding for it.

First Sketch of initial website layout

The workspace of my internship varies almost every time we meet up. There are times we meet at the school, or her studio, or even her apartment. But the overall feeling and vibe of the environments we have been in are relaxed and welcoming. We meet up at whatever time is convenient for all of us and we can come dressed however we feel comfortable. As far as breaks or lunch we can take any kind of unofficial breaks throughout the day. While obviously not for too long and not getting too side tracked, we are able to handle the break situation pretty easily. We usually work anywhere between 2 – 5 hours in a day.

During this time also Daniel, who is the other worker for Prof. Taradash and I arrange our own meeting without Prof. Taradash. We decide to meet up inside the school at a convenient time for us to really sit down, discuss, and research ideas for how we really want to layout and design the site. Once we get the idea of how the homepage will be designed we will able to flow with the rest of the web pages since they will follow if not the same but a similar layout. So Daniel and I sat in the 6th floor computer lab for about two hours bouncing back and forth different ideas and layouts and researching trying to get some inspiration. Eventually we came up a with a concept sketch of the homepage and the plan is to create a rough design of the sketch on illustrator and go over with it with Taradash to see what she thinks.

My role in this internship with Professor Taradash, is me working along with her and one of her former interns Daniel Rodriguez to establish and assist her with her career essentials. For example, one of the main things we will be working on this semester is rebuilding and modernizing her website. I managed to develop a connection with Professor Taradash by first being in her Life Drawing class 2 years ago. Then by also assisting her with setting up the student show in the Grace Gallery for the past few semesters. I then signed up for her 3D Design class last Spring and she then stated that she had interns for that semester. After that class I asked her if she was holding interns for the Fall, and since we already had a close connection I thought that it would be appropriate to ask. I was lucky enough to acquire the internship with her just by asking because we have already worked together for the past 2 years almost. However even though all I had to do was ask, it took some time to build up the confidence to ask her since I didn’t know what the internship would require. I am about 2 weeks into my internship right now and it is going very well so far.

This semester I am interning with one of my professors here at City Tech, Meryl Taradash. She teaches Foundation and Figure Drawing as well as 3D Design at City Tech. So far she just has her studio here in Brooklyn that is filled with an array of sculptures, studies, and drawings she has done throughout her life. Over the years, she has been expanding herself and her name to other artists and art collectors. Right now she is privately managing herself with her work and where it is being displayed.  Taradash has been promoting her sculptures for decades now and has had her work featured in many locations and media outlets. Some news sources where she was mentioned are The Daily News, The Washington Times, and Sculpture Magazine. Some of the places her work has been installed at and on display are Fordham University NYC Campus, Long Island Children’s Museum, Art Museum of University of California, and Jacksonville Art Musuem. This semester I will be working with Taradash on a variety of projects ranging from redesigning her website to working with her in her studio. I will also be working with another student, Daniel Rodriguez who was her intern from last semester to help restructure the design of her website as well as help out with any other design and art related projects she has going on.