Reflection
March 2020
Artist Bio
Abigail (Abby) Murphy is from San Clemente, California and currently attending the University of Denver as a double major in Emergent Digital Practices and Biology, and a minor in Marketing. Abby has traveled through Western Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and Fiji, and plans to continue pursing adventure and living life to the fullest. She is an active member in University of Denver Athletics as a supervisor for intramural sports and the Vice President of Women’s club soccer. Abby is a motivated, outgoing, and positive individual who is passionate about nature and yoga. Abby plans to move to Los Angeles after graduation, as she wants to pursue a career in creative marketing. She is dedicated to becoming an influential individual in innovative design and creative strategy.
Artist Statement
Reflection provides multiple levels of duality: mirrored artworks, and mirroring of self. The two side by side silhouettes mirror each other, but display the figure in different media. The left figure is a projected piece, developed using MAX/MSP and a Logitech BRIO Webcam. As the viewer moves across the sensor , the colors and designs that create the silhouette change colors to mirror the individuals’ clothing colors. The right figure is a physical piece on a black background developed by ironing geometric shapes onto a cotton canvas piece, mirroring the silhouette on the left. The left silhouette is an interactive piece with flowing colors and patterns, engages the viewer by pulling in a small aspect of themselves to mirror the individual in the artwork. The two silhouettes mirror each other to reflect the colors, shapes, and patterns of each piece in different media forms; however, the reflection of the viewer provides individuality and creates a connection between the work and the audience.
Research and Inspiration
Credits (Top Left to Bottom Right) : Linear Perspective by Casey Reas, Untitled 5 by Camille Utterback, Hands On by Karen Lederer, Your Rainbow Panorama by Olafur Eliasson, Xiuquilla / Blue Milk Weed (2017) by Pia Camil, Zero-Day Darling by Petra Cortright
Exhibition
Reflection Statement
March 2020
Reflection is an interactive installation piece that provides multiple levels of duality: mirrored artworks, and mirroring of self. The two side by side silhouettes mirror each other, but display the figure in different media. The left figure is a projected piece, developed using MAX/MSP and a Logitech BRIO Webcam. As the viewer moves across the sensor, the colors and designs that create the silhouette change colors to mirror the individuals’ clothing colors. The right figure is a physical piece on a black background developed by ironing geometric shapes onto a cotton canvas piece, mirroring the silhouette on the left. The left silhouette is an interactive piece with flowing colors and patterns, engages the viewer by pulling in a small aspect of themselves to mirror the individual in the artwork. The two silhouettes mirror each other to reflect the colors, shapes, and patterns of each piece in different media forms; however, the reflection of the viewer provides individuality and creates a connection between the work and the audience.
Reflection was inspired as a piece to compliment a previous independent study project I developed this year in the Marketing department at DU. For that project, I developed a female-centered, brand creative strategy for the company Converse. I wanted to develop a piece that could compliment that campaign as an interactive installation piece that promotes individuality and vibrance. I wanted to combine my skill sets in both Marketing and Emergent Digital Practices to display my knowledge in both fields and prepare for my career in the commercial art environment. As a future installation piece, Reflection would be installed on a larger scale outside of Converse stores in major cities. Instead of female silhouettes, the silhouettes would be on Converse shoes, and the fabric to create the silhouette on the right side of the piece would be Converse shoe fabric.
To create the interactive projected silhouette, I developed a jit.world in MAX/MSP, a 3-D modeled version of the silhouette shape using Blendr, and five different colorful visuals in the form of .mov files using Affinity Designer and PhotoMosh. The 3-D modeled silhouette was imported into the jit.world, and the colorful visual videos were imported and mapped to the 3-D model as a texture. Using a Logitech BRIO webcam, visual data was pulled in for RGB color values based on the selected location in the webcam frame. The RGB data was unpacked and converted to values between 0 and 255, which is the color value range for RGB. By using the full range of color values, I developed if/then statements for each color in the color spectrum: red, orange/yellow, green, light blue, dark blue, brown, white, black, and grey. For example, the if/then statement for the color red is: if ($f1 >= 130) && ($f1 <= 255) && ($f2 >= 0) && ($f2 <=50) && ($f3 >= 0) && ($f3 <= 80) then 1. Once the color data was mapped to play the video that displayed the colors within that range, the patch was then able to pull in data from the webcam and display a video that reflects the shirt or pant color that the individual in the view of the webcam is wearing. The canvas for the projection was developed using: 100% cotton black fabric, 2 2in x 2in wood pieces 4ft in length, 2 2in x 2in wood pieces 5ft in length, 16 2.5in screws, a power drill, a staple gun, two eyelet screws, and black decorative chain link.
The physical piece on the right side of Reflection was created by ironing colorful, patterned fat quarter fabric pieces into the shape of the silhouette on a black fabric background. The physical piece on the right canvas was creating using: an iron, adhesive ironing tape, six various 100% cotton fat quarters (18in x24in), fabric scissors, 100% cotton black fabric, 2 2in x 2in wood pieces 4ft in length, 2 2in x 2in wood pieces 5ft in length, 16 2.5in screws, a power drill, a staple gun, two eyelet screws, and black decorative chain link. To create the silhouette shape, the fabric pieces were cut into various geometric shapes, and the rounded edges to form the silhouette were created by cutting slits in the fabric and ironing the pieces down into rounded edges. The fabric pieces were ironed into flat edged shapes, which were then ironed onto the black background fabric piece. Once the piece was finished, it was attached to the wooden canvas frame.
Creating my final senior capstone piece has been an incredible experience, as I was able to utilize the full range of my skills that I have developed over the past four years as an Emergent Digital Practices student at the University of Denver. My main focus over the course of my studies has been on interactive installation pieces, and I was excited to create a full version of an installation piece, instead of creating a piece that follows with the statement “If I had more time…”. I did run into some bumps along the way, specifically with the challenge of ironing on rounded fabric pieces, constructing the canvas frame, and writing the correct if/then statements to coordinate to each color, but I was able to tackle all difficulties that came my way. Over the course of the project, I went through multiple iterations of the piece with materials, technology for interaction, and alterations in my MAX code. I moved from PVC pipe frame to wooden frame, a Kinect to a Logitech BRIO, and patterned videos for the visual texture displayed in the 3-D modeled silhouette. It was a challenging process, but through collaboration with other peers, constant work, and a dedication to developing a full, interactive piece, I was able to create a work that I am proud to show. Reflection is a reflection of myself, my personal aesthetic, and my goals as an artist in a commercial environment. I believe the creation of my final Capstone piece has allowed me to showcase my full range of skills, and has prepared me to engage with full-scale, commercial projects in my future career. I plan to take all I have learned by creating Reflection, and apply it to my creative, commercial, and personal future.