I'm working on my art portfolio to apply for Parsons. Any good ideas for this "challenge" project they require?

How about an essay on Fluther? I can’t think of a more innovative and ground-breaking concept than tasking a collective communtiy with a shared information and communication tool.

Jon; Hey has to do an art project. You are talking about a sociological treatise, I think. In fact, I have thought that the development of the Fluther community would make an interesting book, if someone had been keeping good enough notes and had the energy to write it.

Well from my perspective as an artist, I would say that relating life to art and seeing facets of art in life, technology, sociology and on media and communication aelre all relevant to the language and expression of an artist/designer. My wife had many design projects and research assignments while in college that dealt with similar design and conceptual challenges (she attended and graduated from Art Center College of Design in Passdena Ca). I would think that in both fine art and industrial/design arts an important skill to demonstrate (perhaps more of a soft skill) is to be able to abstract influences of your daily life and surroundings an to bring them into context with your artistic vision an expression.

Maybe not exclusively about Fluther, but the concept of social interaction, networking and an “open source” approach to knowledge sharing / data mining are topics I would find fascinating as a designer (I studied multimedia with respect to sound and music composition at Cal Arts)...just a thought.

Jon; those ideas are fascinating although out of my purview. What do you mean by “soft skill” and “open source”? Would what you mention be more suitable for a student project than a part of an art porfolio of a prospective applicant (who now is, I am guessing, about to enter his senior year in high school)?

Expand on what you said, if you have the time and energy. I am in the dark ages where RISD used to ask for a drawing of a bicycle or a pair of boots. Clearly, things have changed.

Can you use photography? If so, on the industrial side, I’d look for interesting architectural elements that one usually doesn’t notice…say the undersides of bridges, the bottom 12 inches of buildings and the like.

The bridge/architecture photography thing is SO overdone. I doubt it would do anything but hurt her portfolio.

how about the street people, or homeless in your area. But buy them lunch or something.

@delirium: You could have a point there. I’m 40 years old and probably not up on the latest…

@Lightly,,,How would heyspnm document that artistically?

What do you feel about your neighborhood or city that you can express through your art? That you think captures its essence to display in your portfolio? That says this is the place that formed me? That is what you need to have in your head when you go out to look for inspiration.

The object of the challenge is to show your creativity and your voice. Get excited about what you want to communicate about where you are in space and time through your art to make these people “see” you and your place.

Good luck.

I’m from Parsons. My last year there in fact. If you’re interested in Communication Design (My major being Communication Design and Technology since they merged the two majors) I strongly suggest doing a project on some of these things which you probably encouter:

Social Networking
Typography and motion graphics
Branding of local businesses
Cellphones (huge in terms of industrial design right now at Parsons)

Study in what you believe, you will find happiness.