Week 6: Jill & Rosemary

Jill

Hello All, 

It’s October, my favorite time of year. All Hollows’ Eve is just around the corner and the snow flies here in Alaska as I write this blog. 

I love gothic horror. I love those most notable stories of Dracula, Frankenstein, and the works of Edgar Allan Poe. I enjoy the architecture, literary romanticism, and the landscapes. Also, the fog. Can’t forget the fog! What I really dig about these stories is exploring what we fear in ourselves and in nature. In developing the screenplay, I wonder how can we create a darker atmosphere in the story, one that examines our fears about human impact on the environment and exploitation of resources? Food for thought as we develop our project. 

This week we discussed ways to get the story off the page and produce something interactive, like what kind of event could we create that would promote discussion about art and science? There are lots of great resources at our respective universities, so that seems like a great place to start. We could hold a reader’s theatre event with a talk back portion or an interactive art exhibit, maybe joined together? 

In December, I will lead a presentation on our project at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in New Orleans. This presentation is part of a larger Art and Science Community at AGU. The presentation will be in an interactive digital format so we will need to start working on what elements we can incorporate into the presentation.  

Looking forward to our next work session. 

Until next week! 
-Jill 

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Rosemary

Speculative Elk
This week I have been developing a speculative elk-like creature. Jill and I have been attempting to re-focus on a dark fantasy world. The sketches show the beginnings of a more horrific creature. Existing in the hot springs, we have speculated that it would have a mineral build-up of travertine, much like a whale gathers barnacles, giving the impression that it is a very ancient creature.

Drawing as inquiry: rough initial sketches for a dark fantasy elk-like creature with Travertine ‘growths’

Travertine

Travertine patterns and colours (photo by Trung Hoang)

Stromatolite

Stromatolite patterns and colours (photo by James St. John)

Closing Thoughts
Next week I will be looking further into different travertine formations and travertine builders such as certain species of algae and mosses. This will aid me in finalising the way the travertine has built-up on the elk-like creature.