Week Nine: Drawdio

An art tool with a tangible output that extends beyond the art itself... this output relates to music, but it the Installation context, it is also about sharing, about being a part of something, about seeing the work of others that are a part of the 'community' - the very thing we are intending to create.

Drawdio Installation Art

Jay Silver's Drawdio
What is Drawdio?
"Imagine you could draw musical instruments on normal paper with any pencil (cheap circuit thumb-tacked on) and then play them with your finger. The Drawdio circuit-craft lets you MacGuyver your everyday objects into musical instruments: paintbrushes, macaroni, trees, grandpa, even the kitchen sink..."

Adafruit's Drawdio fun pack

Formative Feedback

Notes on our brief  - feedback during our formative assessment

Our concept and it's light/ movement output has been well received by the teaching team.   From here we need to refine the product, its output and technical workings.

Yasu was steering us towards concentrating on lighting the jar/glass itself, and the area surrounding the jar as opposed to the ceiling.  He said the ceiling effect is possible, but should be considered as a bonus, if you like, that our main intention should be to light the glass itself.   Given there would be different transparency to the liquid, whether dirty or clean, water or turps, lighting the jar itself would provide a more consistent output.

The base should hold all of the electronics and lights - Light could point up, and in, towards the jar - The jar could have a fine texture / reflective material,  that allows the light to bounce off of it in many directions. 

He also suggested a simple magnetic 'tape' wrapped around the brush could be used instead of a grip. The tape could have tiny proximity sensors in it that transmitted small pulses via radio frequency - that it would use very low power and potentially last years.

So from here we need to look at the base of the jar, how to produce the movement & light.  The materials used for the jar itself and the mechanism by which the brush will communicate. 

Week Eight: Final Scenario & Product Development

Of the two scenarios we have decided to go with the older person in Scenario One.  We feel  that considering the overall project this scenario would offer us better possibilities with regards to a genuine need for connecting and communicating with others.

We have assessed several possibilities with regards to tools that could be used to produce the input & output.  We keep returning to the brush as it has a direct relationship with the movements of the painter and it is these movements that we would like to use for communication.

Painting tools and environment

Our other main concern was the number of possible connections that could be made at any one time.  The product will be part of a broader on-line application, a blog or forum for example; here users are able to connect with and view the work of other painters in the network.   I like how the concept has evolved into something that enables the connection of strangers as discussed in an earlier scenario possibility using interactive art.    Here they will also have the option of registering their product to connect with & "follow" specific painters.   However we would also like the participation of painters within the general community to be communicated, giving an indication of just how many people are painting together. If users were able to identify who was communicating with them, either the specific painters or the general community, the output would have to change accordingly and the product would become quite complex...

Dharawan working through input & output 

We agreed that the feedback should be the same regardless of whether it is from the general community or specific painters.  Users then have the option of following up the connection within the on-line forum, they can post their work and see exactly who was painting with them.  This may foster further connections, learning and motivation.

Playing with the Possibilities: The Intention

So we've decided to pursue the water pot idea in conjunction with Dharawan's original concept of the brush strokes used as the means of communication.  

This is a little video to try and demonstrate the intention of our product and user interaction.
One person is painting... through a device on their brush, their gestures and movements are translated into an output of movement and light -
This output occurs at another location through the rinsing jar of another painter.  This second painter is then aware that someone else is painting at the same time as them.  The second painter can respond by touching the jar.  This touch will then be communicated as light to the first painter, comfirming that they have connected with another...
Apologies for the quality - not sure why that hasn't translated - the 1st Pink tag says "Input: Paint Brush"
The Green one says "Output: Rinsing Jar"...

The Art of Searching for Personhood, Daniel C. Potts

The innate power of art in all forms lies in its ability to meld the heart and mind of the artist with that of the observer, to call to consciousness in one human being the depth of emotion, experience, spirituality and intellect behind the creation of the artistic work.  I believe art, in all its forms, to be the purest medium of human connection, the one which most truly promotes holistic communion between individuals.  Artistic expression thus helps to bypass roadblocks to communication and community laid by dementia and other causes of cognitive impairment.  In addition, art can fulfill the human need to create and be productive.  It can even make a person “known” to others who find interaction challenging.  
In this way, the arts help to strengthen the relational identity of persons with Alzheimer’s disease, at a time when their occupational and societal identities may be suffering.  Benefits of various forms of expressive arts therapy (visual art, music, drama, and bibliotherapy) include improvements in behavior, communication, sense of well-being, cognition, and social skills.  Expressive arts therapies can facilitate the telling of life stories that no longer can be conventionally told.  
When such therapies are utilized as an essential element of person-centered care (care that validates the person despite the illness rather than focusing on the disease itself) dignity and perceived self-worth are promoted and positive family and care giver interactions are facilitated.  In short, healing is fostered for all.

Week Seven: Artists Tools & Two Scenarios

In order to understand the Artist and be able to create a scenario and narrative it was necessary to look into the physical space the artist occupies when creating and the tools they use to create...

Sharing Artists Sharing Trailer from Keith Moreau on Vimeo.

I love the ruggedness of this bench and the pots splattered with paint, it tells a part of the story... To maintain  appropriate to the context and the surroundings of the painter it is important to carry these aesthetics...  to allow acceptance of the product as another tool used by painters and to encourage not only adoption of the product but an emotional attachment to it. for it too to become a part of the story and the journey.

The tangible output of doing the dishes....

Of the possible input & output options, the movements during painting, the speed & brush strokes offer great potential... i noticed this on the ceiling at home while doing the dishes - it got me thinking about how movement could be translated through light and provide us with an interesting output ... Perhaps the output could involve the water rinsing pot used by painters. It takes a minute to appear, you see it better when I move closer - and apologies, I couldn't figure out how to rotate it...

Week Seven: Scenario Development : Why Paint?

So. Pulling the concept right back to it's roots.  In my search for meaning and in an attempt to answer the "So what?" question.... Why paint????  Not just the importance of hobbies as investigated earlier, but painting.  What does painting mean to people?  Why do they paint?  What do they get out of it?  What do they share with other painters?

 –Comments & thoughts from artists sharing online.... about Why they paint...

Why do I Paint?

I have an inner need to express without words.

Having dementia, painting helps me to reach into the darkness to find my way.

—Guest Barbara

I paint because learning a way to express myself is on my bucket list. As a beginning class student at almost 65 years, I have a long way to go before I achieve a real painting. I paint every day. Creating in my head is easy, but so far the actual ability to execute a perfect creation has passed me by. I will keep trying because I enjoy the colors I come up with and sometimes just feel a sense of accomplishment that I haven't given up. Another responder said they did not throw away anything, I keep everything as well in a small apartment, and still using the very cheapest of products.

—Guest Renee Millwood

Comment by Diane Widler Wenzel    

http://umbrellapaintingjournal.blogspot.com
Another example of proactive painting is working with my mother who was in the last stages of dementia. She retained an asthetic sense, the ability to sign her name and a joy in painting with me. Making a painting was a visual reminder that I had been to see her. A painting done in just a few minutes was quickly forgotten. But it was real evidence for her to remind her that we had visited awhile when it was time to go. Most importantly painting was a way to relate with one another. Another aspect of painting for her was her joy in learning as she painted. Painting allowed her to see her surroundings in a happier way. She said she thought about what she would paint during the many lonely hours of her existance when she was unable to do any of her life functions without help. The reason she could enjoy painting with me was her art background. She had a Bachelors of Arts Degree in painitng from the University of California in Berkeley in 1934. She had an appreciation of all kinds of art from all cultures. She could enjoy her non-objective abstracts. She had an asthetic sense that was never deminished by dementia.

I don't know, sometimes for getting that feeling of freedom, sometimes because I don't believe that I know how or can paint, other times because when I look at my paintings I'm not sure that I did them until I bring another one to life. I paint to play with colours, feel the joy of colors to fill my eyes with colors, to remind myself that I can be free, to find an answer to anything I can't figure-out without thinking about it, to see someone starring at my paintings and taking a time to understand it visually, to see someone taking the time to appreciate beauty and art, to leave something when I'm gone saying I was here in my own way. I paint what I see to understand what I know, I paint what I cant express in words, and even if I can I would choose to paint it instead of saying it, I paint to learn how to paint. I paint to prove that simplicity rules, Just a wooden stick with hair at the end of it, would create what took 2010 years of inventions to reach the same result but with no soul.

• Sim de Pio Says: June 11th, 2011 at 1:27 am

I feel each mark that I make is a confirmation that I exist. As the forms, colors, images slowly take shape before me in every moment that passes, wonderment and something greater than confidence or inspiration fills and fires me up.

Julia Lundman not sure. i only know that I DO, it’s all i do –I think painting/drawing/sculpting, MAKING is a language of the brain. i prefer visual stimulus more than other ways of thinking and responding. even as a small kid it was easier for me to understand things once they were drawn out rather than talked about. i come from a very large artistic family, also, so perhaps it was my environment/nurture rather than nature.…

Artist Helena Hötzl In our moments when we paint or at least mine:))) I can empty myself and fill myself…..its more like a meditation moment for me….my moment of finding myself, painting people that I met and just see whats going on in my life in another perspective:))) I love my painting moments….when I look now at older pictures I can see what time in my life I had my divorce or other things…it´s all there in the picture…..what I did have in my mind during those moments……I also paint because I notice that other people like my art…some women find themselves in my art…..:)))))That is the biggest happiness…when people likes my art…that is what makes me live this artist life…..:))))

Karen Kaapcke Each and every painting (possibly excepting commissions) is a gesture of meaning-making (my version of the ol’ art-school ‘mark making’ idiom), which of course is over as soon as the painting is ‘done’, and so onto the next one. I started painting during my MA work in Philosophy, almost as a desperate course of action when I kept on bumping up against what seemed to be the futility of language to articulate just about anything really important. (we’re not talking writer’s block here, I was actually writing a ton but it was all rubbish). It is really important to note that this is for me a way of answering questions in a way that keeps the questions very appropriately alive, so I am daily wondering why I paint and daily finding only a very temporary answer in paint.

Gary Bourdon It brings me pleasure and although the final product is usually much less than I hoped for / worked for…….it brings a feeling of accomplishment which I apparently need in my life.

Kim Vanderhoek Because I love the mystery. I love going through the process and finding out how the story ends – did it end in a tragic mess or a triumphant jewel filled with color and light?

Brenda-Lynn Hunt When I paint I step into another world of colour and beauty, I let myself be free and I amaze myself constantly… when I pick up my brushes my mind focuses and all else drops away, hours pass as if they are seconds. … I tend to fall in love each and every time with what I am working on. It is not only an expression of what I am thinking or feeling it is a sense that what I am painting is an extension of myself and no better feeling can express that. I am lost without painting and cannot wait to throw myself back into the mix .. each colour how it works together fascinates me .. love painting will never ever stop.

Steven DaLuzI share many of the reasons mentioned by artists here. As someone said, “I can’t NOT paint.” It’s like a primal need. There is something magical about taking pigments, manipulating them on a surface, to create something that has little practical value other than its ability to make someone feel something…to make them think…to ask a question…to experience a moment of joy…to wonder. For me, the pleasure is in the journey–the dance I savor with the painting itself as it takes form.

Interactive Art & possible scenario....

A possibility I think worth pursuing with our Artists Concept could be an interactive installation similar to those included below, the tool becomes a means of communication between strangers.  A way of connecting people who don't even know each other in a way outside of standard communication, beyond the barriers of language and conversation.  The status could simply be a recognition of another human being.... a distant contact and a shared experience...

Milk and Tales: Hidden Love Song

Mixing Colours & Playing with Paint

A potential for this concept could surround children or even the teaching of art - perhaps in a gallery context or online to remote locations?  I love that kids use their fingers... that even if other tools are provided, they still get in their with their fingers... the feel of the paint and the mixing of the colours be hand to create new ones... even the creation of paintings of their hands....

List of Gestures

Although some gestures, such as the ubiquitous act of pointing, differ little from one place to another, most gestures do not have invariable or universal meanings but connote specific meanings in particular cultures. A single emblematic gesture can have very different significance in different cultural contexts, ranging from complimentary to highly offensive.

A comprehensive Wikipedia list... List of Gestures

From "Air Quotes" to the "Vulcan Salute"... Who knew we had so many?

Swimming in a sea of Norman essays...

I am only half way through this one but it is definitely worth sharing....
gestural_interfaces:_a_step_backwards_in_usability

"The new applications for gestural control in smart cellphones (notably the iPhone and the Android) and the coming arrival of larger screen devices built upon gestural operating systems (starting with Apple's iPad) promise even more opportunities for well-intended developers to screw things up."

There are several important fundamental principles of interaction design that are completely independent of technology:

·       Visibility (also called perceived affordances or signifiers)

·       Feedback

·       Consistency (also known as standards)

·       Non-destructive operations (hence the importance of undo)

·       Discoverability: All operations can be discovered by systematic exploration of menus

·       Scalability. The operation should work on all screen sizes, small and large.

·       Reliability. Operations should work. Period. And events should not happen randomly.


...and another (I could be here all day...) natural_user_interfaces_are_not_natural

Essays by Donald Norman

Donald Norman: Design as Communication

The designer's model, the system image, and the user's model. For people to use a product successfully, they must have the same mental model (the user's model) as that of the designer (the designer's model). But the designer only talks to the user via the product itself, so the entire communication must take place through the "system image": the information conveyed by the physical product itself.

"It is common to think of interaction between a person and technology as communicating with the technology... the real communication is between designer and person, where the technology is the medium. Once designs are thought of as shared communication and technologies as media, the entire design philosophy changes radically, but in a positive and constructive way."

And another on emotional_design_people_and_things

"...Our studies lead us to suspect that just as we might be able to classify products along three dimensions of attractiveness (visceral), functional and usable (behavioral) and high in prestige (reflective), we can also classify people along these dimensions. Visceral level people will be strongly biased toward appearance, behavioral people towards function, usability, and how much the feel in control during use. And Reflective level people (who would seldom admit to be one), are heavily biased by brand name, by prestige, and by the value a product brings to their self-image – hence the sale of high-priced whiskey, watches,, automobiles, and home furnishings...Products differ in their appeal on the three design dimensions, but so too do people and situations"

Week Seven: Communication through art

Week Six...Understanding Hobbies

There are ALL SORTS of hobbies....

 

Within the readings so far a few notable thoughts have stood out....

Hobbies are as varied as people and often reflect their personalities. What is important is that it be leisurely for and of interest to the individual. A sense of control is important; people have to feel as though they're making their own decisions, says Tinsley. (That's one reason why it's important for children to choose their own hobby). And, Tinsley says, it has to be intrinsically interesting. Howard E.A. Tinsley, professor emeritus of psychology at Southern Illinois University and author of Psychological Benefits of Leisure Participation

You have to have a certain amount of aptitude for it, yet also get some challenge from it. David Schlenoff, a psychologist for the Baltimore County Public Schools

Complete Absorption - "flow." It's a state total absorption in what you're doing. You're free of self-consciousness. Whatever your hobby is becomes an end in itself and when you're in that state of "flow," you're enjoying yourself.   Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

That's what many hobbyists give as the reason they do something, says Tinsley. They all say they enjoy it, get pleasure from it, that it's something they choose to do because they simply like it. Science can't really explain this "like," Peter Price, a professor of internal medicine, physiology and biophysics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

Week Six... Concept Evaluation

We are now moving into the next phase of the semester project and working within our groups to realise a concept. As mentioned in Week One, the project has three dimesions - Object, Scenario & Behaviour.  We analysed our three concepts to undertand their possibilities and potential in relation to these dimensions and have decided to go ahead with Dharawan's concept.  Its basic premise is an interaction between two users through gestural movements related to a hobby. The initial concept involved two paint brushes - where the motions and movements of using one could somehow be replicated by the other, communicating the act of painting to a friend and encouraging their involvement in the hobby.

The concept could be interpreted in many ways and I wanted to to become more meaningful somehow, but that was an assumption by me that the hobby itself wasn't meaningful enough.  So I have endeavoured to do a bit of research into the midset of a hobbyist, and the benefits & consequences of hobbies.