Erin MacDonald

A visual indication of natural resource consumption in everyday objects, 2003 - In my first semester at UM grad. school, I completed an installation piece as a term project for Environmental Design. What developed as a theme in my analytical research began as an artistic expression, an attempt to align perceptions with actual realities of the environmental impact of goods. The piece resembles the interior of an apartment, with the objects that give a visual indication of the natural resources they consume.

A visual indication of natural resource consumption in everyday objects, 2003 - In my first semester at UM grad. school, I completed an installation piece as a term project for Environmental Design. What developed as a theme in my analytical research began as an artistic expression, an attempt to align perceptions with actual realities of the environmental impact of goods. The piece resembles the interior of an apartment, with the objects that give a visual indication of the natural resources they consume.

Fossil Stained Glass Windows, approx. 17” x 19”, 2001-2002 - The design for the first (upper) window is based on a fossil of a dragonfly. The second (lower) window includes two ammonite fossils in the window. Although difficult to document in a photograph, the sunlight comes through the quartz-filled chambers in the fossill as if they were glass during the day, while at night the intricate shapes of the tiny fossilized shell chambers are revealed.

Beadle, Colored Pencils and Crayons, 1998 - This costume is part of a complete set of costumes I designed for the musical “Sweeny Todd” as a term project for the class “Advanced Costume Design” at Brown University. The inspiration for the clothing and the texture of the sketch came from caricatures drawn during the industrial revolution.

Enlarged detail of a caricature, Charcoal, approx. 17” x 21”, 1998 - I sketched this caricature from the Industrial Revolution before designing costumes for the musical “Sweeny Todd.” Historical research was a major part of the Advanced Costume Design class, and I learned that is an important step in all design projects.

Big Ball, Photograph, 2001 - What is it? A Painting? A digital image? An outake from the footage?