America's Garbage Cans

Photography, Web Design

2011

I wanted a unique form of documentation for my 2002 road trip. Frowning upon the convention of posing in front of state border signs, I found that garbage cans were an interesting opportunity. Garbage cans, while serving a common function, vary in form. This collective quality allowed me to capture the diversity of America and still maintain a consistent subject. Memorials, buildings, city streets, parks, rest stops, bathrooms. All serve as a stage for garbage cans.

Website utilizes full-screen Flash navigation and resizable, full-bleed photography, regardless of user’s browser dimensions.

Date / 2006
Entity / Personal
View / Website

I wanted a unique form of documentation for my 2002 road trip. Frowning upon the convention of posing in front of state border signs, I found that garbage cans were an interesting opportunity. Garbage cans, while serving a common function, vary in form. This collective quality allowed me to capture the diversity of America and still maintain a consistent subject. Memorials, buildings, city streets, parks, rest stops, bathrooms. All serve as a stage for garbage cans.

Website utilizes full-screen Flash navigation and resizable, full-bleed photography, regardless of user’s browser dimensions.

Center for Creative Solutions Workshop

The Brattleboro Workshop was structured as an interdisciplinary “design studio” to explore and describe ways to change Brattleboro’s relationship to its waterfront. Workshop participants were the core of the design team, and included graphic designers, a sociology student, a planner, a shop owner and visual artist, architects and a painter. Guest critics joined the team to introduce new methods to engage communities.

Goals for the workshop included: communicate the opportunities of the riverfront site to the people of Brattleboro, provide tools for measured decision making about the long-term use of the site, and create a platform for discussion about the future of the site. The workshop culminated in the exhibition “Renewing the Riverfront” which opened at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center.

Exhibition Design, Urbanism

2011
Cambridgeport Group

With The Cambridgeport Group, I wanted to create an urban planning consultancy that partnered Eloi Collective with highway and urban transportation engineers. While actively seeking out projects of opportunity, the principal goal is twofold: create actionable plans for non-profit and community organizations, and present findings to city and state officials.

For the inaugural project, a civil engineer and I surveyed Boylston Street in Boston, and developed a plan and cost analysis for the installation of a bicycle lane. Engineering plans drawn by Michael Scarola.

Engineering, Philanthropy, Urbanism

2011
Eloi Collective

Based on my interests in sustainability, human behavior, and communication, I founded my small, collaborative studio, Eloi Collective, to create a platform for both personal and commercial work. I make products that are produced using small, local vendors and work with clients who are interested in supporting sustainable and collective movements.

5% of each product’s sales are donated to a relevant non-profit or charity organization. My intent is to align the philosophy of the product with an actionable response and further offset the product’s production.

Design

2011
Hamilton College Energy Conservation

Hamilton College is becoming a leader in the green campus movement by renovating old buildings for energy efficiency and implementing more sustainable systems in new construction. However, the challenge in maximizing conservation lies in the behavior of students, faculty, and staff, not just infrastructure improvements.

I worked with the Head of Buildings and Grounds at Hamilton College to discuss patterns of on-campus behavior, motivational factors, and potential institutional programs that would initiate a paradigm shift in energy consumption. Lucid Technologies provided one cost-effective solution: provide real-time data via an online application that could be utilized by campus groups for competitions, contests, and other campus events.

Consulting

2011
Blackalicious’ Alphabet Aerobics

Originally produced for an introductory animation class, Blackalicious’ Alphabet Aerobics offered an opportunity to explore a variety of creative executions using typography, image, and video. The video was later selected by Gift of Gab’s label, Gifstribution, as the de facto video for Alphabet Aerobics.

Official selection for the 2010 Oulu Music Video Festival.

Animation, Motion Graphics

2011
Maine Summer Institute

The Summer Institute in Graphic Design is a seasonal program that consists of multiple, week long classes and workshops led by a variety of industry leaders. I attended three sessions, working with Michael Rock and Susan Sellers, Lorraine Wild, and Melle Hammer.

The final project for Lorraine Wild’s session asked students to explore the role of image in storytelling. I chose to produce a book using randomly selected images placed in random order to test the linear quality of storytelling.

Crafts, Visual Arts

2011
BFA Exhibition Poster

All graduating BFA students are required to participate in a yearly exhibition showing their senior projects. As an individualized major, I was given the opportunity to design a poster that announced the show and served as a mailer.

Graphic Design

2011