Today I have been adding color to some of the dogs I've drawn so far. I am not really a fan of color though, I like the look of the dogs when they are just line drawings. Also, I realized today when I began trying to add color that I may have made more work for myself. When I did the first drawings of each dog, I used the pencil tool and drew line by line which if I wanted to just change the color of the line it would be easy, but when it comes to adding full color, that is not working out. So I am having to basically re-drawing the dogs and use the line drawings to add the detailing. 

I've been working on drawing several different breeds of dogs over the past few days. This is a screenshot of the French Bull Dog I have been working on for the past two hours tonight. 

Feedback

Last night I had a conversation with a photo & art education graduate from Montserrat. I spoke to her about my seminar topic and showed her the photos I've taken so far asking for some advice and feedback. She suggested drawing the images of the dogs myself because I would run into an issue with every photograph having a different quality and lighting as well as not working out well if they were printed at a large scale. The photos I have taken so far won't go to waste though, they will come in use when needing photo references for body positions and the like.

I've just spent a few hours experimenting with drawing some dogs trying to  figure out what style I want the dogs to be drawn in.

Working out poster text

Ideas for poster line text and photos.
ABUSE
(Show no humans. Allude to physical abuse and emotional abuse.)
1. It’s lonely at the top. (dog left outside, in yard?)
2. My kennel isn’t a babysitter. (dog in a kennel)
3. Unknown message. (a dog and a dog house, have dog “cut out” of image, add dotted line around shape of dog)


BREEDISM
(Show pure bred “power breeds” or "bully breeds"- Pit bull, Rottweiler, Chow Chow, Doberman)
1. Who’s the guiltiest of them all?
2. What’s the verdict?
3. We the jury find…
4. Who’s to blame?
5. One in the same

Or no words ~
1. a large X on a German Shepherd’s face and a check mark on a Golden Retriever’s face - approving a dog based on breed
2. Large red K, idea of the scarlet letter. Pit bull has a K for killer.
3. Third one unknown right now.
4. Unknown.

COMPANIONSHIP
1. Animal first. Companion second.
2. My name doesn’t make me.
3. Table for two.
4. Unknown.

—————————
Book to accompany poster.

For each set of photos there will be a book that goes with it, sort of a “here’s more info…” type deal. There will be three books. The covers of the book with be one of the photos from each campaign. Book will include an opening paragraph by me, then a few (probably five) articles to follow showing different points of view on the subject matter.
These are two paragraphs I’ve been trying to work out as the opening paragraph of each book
Abuse opening paragraphThere are different types of abuse when it comes to owning a pet. There, of course, if physical abuse but there is also emotional abuse. Dogs, just like human beings, need sunlight, exercise and fresh air. What is the purpose of owning a dog when you have a full time job that requires most of your attention? What about giving a pet the full attention it deserves? After all, a kennel isn’t a babysitter.
Companionship Paragraph
All too often we seem to forget that out beloved pet is an animal at heart. We can dress them in clothing, call them our “babies” and treat them another family member but this doesn’t change their true nature. They are an animal first and a companion second.


None of these are completed ideas. This is just to show a process of figuring out tag lines or body copy of posters and also a book to accompany those posters.

Quick update from the weekend

This weekend I came across the Animal Planet show called Killer Aliens. This is the basis of the show:


Welcome to ground zero in America for invasive species: Florida. The Sunshine State is being overrun by lethal Burmese pythons, feral hogs, Nile monitor lizards, and Gambian rats the size of cats - all non-native species that have been imported by humans. These foreign invaders are wreaking havoc on the ecosystem and natural species are being thwarted. With no natural predators, their populations continue to spread rapidly throughout the state, spreading disease, destroying vegetation and crops, preying on native species and in the worst cases harming humans. It's a race against time to fight this ecosystem nightmare. The front lines are expanding, and no one knows where they are headed next.    

Continuation of fur spheres

I've been working on putting together the fur spheres I wrote about in the previous entry. Originally I was going to create the spheres from wire and newspaper. The first newspaper and then wire spheres I created proved not to be sturdy enough. I decided to use foam balls instead but due to prices I had to change the size I had originally wanted to have (the largest one foot wide foam ball was $20 each and I would have needed 5 of them which just wasn't do-able).

John let me borrow two books of his, the first one being The Postmodern Animal (c. 2000) by Steve Baker. It explores how animal imagery has been used in recent and contemporary art and performance, and in postmodern philosophy and literature, to shape ideas about identity and creativity. I have not had a chance to actually read it, but I spent some time looking at the photos in the book. One of them (shown below) caught my attention. It is Tar and Feathers (1996) by Mark Dion, tree, wooden base, tar, feathers, various taxidermic animals. This photo has me thinking of different purposes for my fur spheres. Originally I was creating this just to hang from the ceiling and each sphere represents a different number of animals euthanized in Merced County, CA. I think when it is complete I will hang it outside, from a tree, and take a photo once a week of the condition of the spheres. The idea behind this would be the fact that some people leave their pets/animals out on the street to fend for themselves. I would in turn be leaving these spheres to "fend" for themselves with the elements. 

The second book is People, Property, or Pets? by Hauser, Cushman and Kamem from the Harvard Law School library. It's made up of articles discussing pets as property, animal ethics and legal status, animal's rights, moral and practical problems, and animal testing. I have read one of the articles so far and I am very intrigued by everything in this book because it's focusing on laws and rules. 


Lindsey made the suggestion of looking into familiars. That thought had never crossed my mind and I was really excited when it was brought up. I have read through wikipedia pages connected to the "familiars" one and have read through most of them. I find it really interesting so I looked up some discussion boards pertaining to this. I didn't find anything interesting on any of them. Mostly people just talking about (in my opinion) close bonds with pets that they take as spiritual. But I am going to keep on reading and searching this topic. 

An update from the end of summer: I had sent out several e-mails to organizations and animal controls through out Massachusetts. The majority received no response back. I was not able to get a hold of the information I was looking for. This led to me taking a step back and looking at subjects with a wider scope. From doing broader research I came across several interesting topics such as several states taking into consideration including pets in temporary restraining orders and I was also introduced to http://www.coolinfographics.com which is very interesting to me and has helped me start thinking of ways to display information. 

The semester so far: I am working on a side project right now. I am trying to construct structures and sculptures while having them correspond to the information I have so far. My first project is going to be constructing three different sized spheres covered in fur, each representing a specific number of animals euthanized in Merced County, CA for the year of 2009. 

I will also be listing links I have come across during my research, or stumble on through clicking through various sites and blogs. They may not have anything to do with my seminar research but the links will be of something that interested me, this being the first one:  http://colormekatie.blogspot.com/

I received a reply from ARL Boston... They do in fact keep records but they are not sure if they can release them to the public. I'm e-mailing the shelter manager today to ask more about getting these records.

I sent an e-mail to the ARL Boston tonight asking if they keep records.
Keeping my fingers crossed!

(e-mail which I sent):

Hello!

My name is Jennifer O’Brien. I was wondering if there is a chance the ARL keeps records of animals the shelters take in, such as where the animal was originally from and why they were taken into the shelter (such as a family just couldn’t care for them anymore, or someone found them on the street). I’m collecting information for my college seminar project. I’m trying to do research as to why certain areas of a town would have more abandoned animals than another part of town. I contacted several animal control offices but apparently they don’t keep track of calls they receive/respond to, who knew! SO now I’m trying to get information from local shelters and rescue leagues.

So, any information you could provide me with would be REALLY REEAALLLYYY appreciated! I know you have bigger and more important matters to attend to, but I’m just trying to do some in depth research into abandoned animals and possible causes.

Thank you SO much for your time!

-Jennifer O’Brien

My tasks for this summer regarding my senior design seminar project has been to collect the data I need and to accompany an animal control officer for one of their shifts so I could get first hand experience with what I would be researching.

I have borrowed several books from the library regarding Edward Tufte. I am completely amazed by the maps and graphs he has created.

My first city of which I was going to research was Chelsea, Massachusetts. I have spent a month chasing around an animal control officer with no returned phone calls or e-mails. After running into him in person and explaining once again what I was looking for, he informed that that animal control does not keep logs of calls they receieve or what they respond to. (Would it have been that hard to reply to the e-mails saying that?)I find it hard to believe that there are no records on what they do, because for all their employers knows they could be sitting on their butts all day ignoring calls.

I am going to attempt to get in contact with another city's animal control department to see if this is the way every animal control is run. While I am doing this I am going to be contacting several animal rescue leagues to see if they possibly have records of where their animals came from and if there are call logs. I believe this may be a better option because seeing as many animal rescue leagues are run by donations I would think they need to keep tabs on everything... or at least I hope so!

Seminar Proposal

Jennifer O’Brien
Spring 2010
Seminar Proposal

Originally for my senior seminar project I wanted to focus on abandonment issues surrounding animals in shelters and rescue leagues with the possibility of expanding the abandonment to include buildings and people. I was going to photograph abandoned animals and find out their background and what brought them to that particular shelter. Through discussing this I realized that I would become bored with this idea within two months. So I am going to go deeper than just the idea of “Help these animals out”.

I am going to pick a few surrounding towns and research their animal control department. I am going to attempt to get access to files or documents they have regarding calls they receive, what type of animal the call is for, and what area of the town they get the most calls from. I want to delve into the demographics of each individual area. Is it possible that more calls come in for strays in the poorer parts of town due to limitations on money? I only thought of this concept yesterday so I have not done much in-depth research for designers and artists although one designer has been mentioned to me- Edward Tufte. I searched through his website but it only includes very small imagery so I could not get a good look at it, but I have requested several of his books as a starting point for my researching graphs and maps.

I am thinking of combining all of the information I collect into a map or graph of some sort. I am normally very bad with understanding graphs or creating graphs, so this seminar project will help me with better understanding them seeing as I will be creating them. Maybe after I have made a few preliminary graphs or maps I will think of a way to take the presentation in a different direction. I became inspired to go with mapping out information or creating time lines through my final project for Design Stories. I collected information for two hours in front of a bar and compiled all of this information into a timeline. Everything was organized and separated so there was no confusion as to what the viewer was being presented with. I got the idea to do this from the designer Nicholas Felton. He documents his entire year through note taking and creates an annual report of his life for that past year.

Ideally I would like my final piece to be a book containing all of the information I have gathered and the maps or graphs I will create. I plan to spend my summer collecting all the information for several different towns. I’m thinking of even possibly trying to set something up so I can accompany an Animal Control officer for a day so I can have an actual experience of the information I am collecting.