Christine Huang Interview

Hey Christine, for starters what is your concentration and what classes have you taken at Mason Gross?

Christine: I am a painting and design major. I am in advance painting and in Design 3. I’ve been here all four years. Prior to this semester I’ve taken all the classes needed to be in both advance painting and design 3. I am a double majoring.

Wow that seems like a lot, are you an art history minor or major as well?

Christine: No, I actually am an economics minor. I like math and dealing with numbers. In the beginning I started off as a painting major. The design classes I took in High school were very boring. The only things we did were posters and business cards. I didn’t like design at all because I couldn’t touch my work. Everything was on the computer and picking colors was a really weird. They colors were already set, where as in painting you can mix any color.

So looking at your paintings I see you have both abstract paintings and some portraits. Are these the new work you are working on?

Christine: Yes these pieces are new works of art. I wanted to try something new so I decided to strip away all of the color to a bare minimum. The abstract pieces were an experiment. After painting them I messed around with mineral spirits by dripping it on them. I was having a hard time trying to figure out what I wanted to paint. I decided to strip everything and start from the basics. In drawing I like shading having a high contrast in light in dark. For these I used a thin layer of paint then went in with a cloth and took away even more.

 

Now after the last three years what do you like better, painting or design?

Christine: I like design now. I really like making books, identity’s for companies, and interactive things. Design is a puzzle to me, which really intrigues me. In math you have a problem and have to find ways to solve it. I feel like design is same thing.

I see you’ve done an identity for “Paper Jungle.” What were the guidelines to this project?

Christine: In this project we had to find a company where the logo could be changed. In the end we had to have a logo, letterhead, business card.

What is Paper Jungle?

Christine: Paper Jungle writes medical instructions for the back of medicine bottles or boxes. Paper Jungle also helps write clear content for companies websites so the consumer can easily understand the directions.

Out of all the stuff you’ve done I see that you still have your bag project from design I A.

Christine: I feel like this is one of the best things I’ve done in class. It’s a little weak but I really like it a lot. I put a lot of thought into it, which makes it a really fun piece.

Earlier you said that books were your favorite things to make. Are these your two favorite books?

Christine: Yes the first one is by Virginia Heffernan and the title is “Three Short Essays on Technology.” We were given the essays and then had to create a book on it. Her essays were about technology such as tweets, beep sounds, and framing childhood. Basically the book is all interaction. In the book I have a lot of things that flip up and reveal other text. After explaining this part to the class the second time it was viewed no one really focused on the actual text.

I feel that this book has a lot of mixed media. Is this book design referencing any kind of technology?

Christine: Yes, I wanted to make it look like a computer. The first page would be the screen and keyboard. The boxes on the second page are the keys to the keyboard and the scrollbar is what runs down the side.

Yea this book has a lot going on and it lets your eyes move through it very easily. I feel that this book was based off a certain type of book, is that true?

Christine: Yea I am really interested in pop-up books. Again I like interaction and this is an easy way to incorporate interaction into a book. In this book most of the interactions are post-its that I printed on.

The next book that you have, is it also an interactive book?

Christine: Yes, this one was done on the Nuclear Radiation in Fukushima, Japan. This one is about the nuclear plant after it was hit by the tsunami. It was the final project to Design II B.

In the last book did you use someone else’s information and how does this project differ?

Christine: For this project I used a lot of news articles. In the last book you would flip over the post-its to reveal new information. In this one I slit the pages so you could actually store information that wasn’t the type on the page. When watching the news some of the stories may scare people if they don’t have any idea about what the news castor are talking about. I used this extra space to put information that informs the reader on what is going on.

Is this book a day-by-day account?

Christine: Yes it is a day-by-day account. It actually is still going on now so I couldn’t put everything in. I just took information from the first couple days. I wanted it to look like a journal. In a situation like that you never know what will happen next. The idea of journal felt right, because a journal is something one can hold their daily thoughts.

After you graduate where do u see yourself going?

Christine: I want to work for any design company. Finding solutions to different problems are really appealing to me. As for painting, it would be something I do on the side.

I Guess I am in the same boat. I really like photography but I don’t think that I will have much time for it when I get a real job. I would love to pick up painting too. Painting is so relaxing and you can paint on your own time.

Christine: I love the feeling of putting paint on a canvas, but the only thing is sometimes it becomes to abstract for me to grasp. Sometimes I think way to logical, which makes it hard for me to focus on one thing.

Now that we are in thesis do you have any idea on what you going to do?

Christine: As of now I don’t have an idea that will integrate both concentrations, but I have some ideas for both of them.

What are your Design ideas?

Christine: I want to do something interactive that the viewer can take part in. An example could be a life-size chessboard where the viewers can move and interact with the piece.

What about painting?

Christine: For painting I think something dealing with time and process would be cool. Maybe something like Escher where the viewer is really drawn in.

I think you are heading in the right track. Our Design III A is all about interactive design, so I feel that this semester will really help you out with your project.

Christine: Hopefully, I am looking forward to that class. It seems very interesting.

Well, I am really looking forward on the next upcoming weeks to see where you go with this idea. Hopefully you are able to really narrow down on a good Idea.

Christine: Yes, it should be interesting and I am looking forward to your work to.