Student name: Ashley Hamilton

The Inka article was very interesting in my opinion. I really enjoyed reading about the ways in which the Inca people took such care to preserve the natural “feeling” of the earth. They completed this task by building structures from natural elements (rock) found occurring naturally near the site. The structures, while far from perfect, had well-made, sturdy walls while still blending quite well with the surrounding environment. Of more importance, the Inka people put a huge amount of thought into “integrating” their architecture into the landscape. This was accomplished by making an area of rock that was textured like the ground but elevated against the side of the building. A quote which explains it well, on page 503 of the article, states, “The integrated rock outcrop occupies the boundary, the threshold, between what the Inka perceived as ordered and unordered spaces, a fact that has heretofore remained unexplored in the scholarship on Inka visual culture.” This quote says that the Inka people divided their surroundings into “ordered” and “unordered” areas. Obviously, the ordered area would be the architecture, the part that needed human assistance in order to be formed into the order in which it stands. On the other hand, unordered things would be those that occur naturally and have not had human intervention in their location or placement. I really like the idea of this combination which the Inka have established. I would like to integrate the idea of “a natural system” into my next project… so we’ll see how that turns out!

Working with the textures of animal skin has actually given me a lot of new thoughts about systems for the next project. I would like to create a piece that alters space alone (once installed) without needing any extra supporting objects (such as pedestals or shelves). I have been trying to work on a smaller scale simply because of the medium, but I think an installation piece would be a great option for this project since it would in essence BE architecture. I haven’t exactly decided on anything yet, but I have been considering the idea of enlarging animal print so that it would take up a 4’ by 4’ area of space (approximately?) in the crit space… probably in a corner. I think I would have the print thin around the edges to look like it is growing out of the floor, possibly even moving up onto the walls. I’m not sure how I’d go about keeping the pieces flat during firing because of warping and shrinkage, but overall this is my idea so far! Let me know what you think!!