Celia Armand Smith MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2017

Foregrounding

It’s 2017. Drumpf is President, Brexit is dividing Europe, and laundry needs to be sorted and groceries need to be bought. It’s all getting a bit much and it’s time for a break. The purpose of this project is not to tune out the noise of the world completely but to excuse yourself momentarily. To merely lower the volume for a couple of minutes so that you can engage with self, surroundings, community, and creativity. After that, by all means, get back to the noise.

Foregrounding is a creative facilitation tool. A generative system of making. I am proposing that if we look beyond what is right in front of us, we can gain respite and a sense of joy and wonder. This project allows for everyday-ness and background-ness to intersect with normal behaviours and traits by briefly suspending the foreground and creating a breathing space — a gap or a hiatus — that enables us to engage with what is beyond our focus. This can then be apprehended as a medium. The success of this project lies in making visible what is already there, not hidden, but lying on the surface.

The background, in relation to this project, provides sensory context in any situation. It is everywhere. The foreground, on the other hand is the noise that catches your immediate attention. Foregrounding is a system that encourages the participant to look to the background and use it as a stimulus for creative endeavours. The ideas behind this project lie in the use of instructions, chance, absurdity and failure, and play as medium. Foregrounding is the practice of bringing the background into the foreground, if only for a moment.

Through written and pictorial guides outlining the fundamentals of the system, physical testing, and production of products, I am demonstrating that Foregrounding can work on many levels. What started out as an exploration of constraints for myself, turned into a system that can work for anybody, anywhere. A system of making that could harness the creativity stored up in all of us. Look up from what you are doing, find a detail in the unobvious, record it, make something new and share. A simple way to break through the noise of the world and gain respite.

Holli Dougan MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2022

Elena Ferry MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2022

Robert Maciel MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2022

Caitlyn Taber MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2023

Joyce Campbell MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2023

Jiliann Wierenga MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2023

Sean Redwod MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2023

Evvan Chmielewski MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2023

Linda Heidvogel MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2020

Andrew Newell MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2020

Sofya Radelet MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2020

Stephanie Sun MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2020

Jeffrey Aldrich MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2021

Cydni Carter Lopez MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2021

Sam Hicks MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2021

Paul Musial MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2021

Aude Li Sing MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2021

Lina Woodcock MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2021

Katharine Forgan MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2018

Nathan Rice MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2018

Caroline Borucki MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2018

Mel McKinley MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2018

Gina Rios MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2018

Percy Appau MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2018

Michael Rutledge MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2018

Ronna Fujisawa MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2019

Evan Holt ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2011

J. Eric Morales ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2011

Selja Ojanne ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2011

Moayad Lingga MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2016

Anne Aube MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2016

Diane Einsiedler MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2016

Andreas Kindler von Knobloch MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2016

Kelly Peyton MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2016

Laura O'Quin MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2016

William Moss MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2016

Chelsea Snow MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2017

Joe Robinson MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2019

Lilia Hernandez MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2019

Brittany Rudolf MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2019

Molly Ryan MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2019

Jason Rens MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2019

Kei Flores MFA Applied Craft + Design Thesis 2020

David Boekelheide ACD MFA Capstone Spring 2011

Donald Bergstrom MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2016

Lauren Sinner MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2016

Alicia Deblaey MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2016

Phoenix McNamara MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2016

LK James MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2018

Catherine Chidester MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2017

Nicholas Parker MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2015

Jessica Stroia MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2017

Sam Lillard MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2018

Michael Schnitman MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2015

Sarah Brusstar Applied Craft + Design MFA Practicum 2017

Jennifer Viviano MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2017

Taylor Kibby MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2018

Rachel Jones MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2017

Julie Pointer ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2011

Leslie Vigeant ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2011

Matthew Philip Williams ACD MFA Capstone Spring 2011

Celia Armand Smith MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2017

Aaron De Lanty MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2017

Rebecca Gore MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2017

Eliot Park MFA Applied Craft + Design MFA Practicum 2017

Maria Garcia Guerrero MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2017

Diane de Ribaupierre MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2017

Eva Rabin MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2017

May Reid-Marr MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2017

Amanda Brennan-Melbostad ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2012

Killeen Hanson ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2012

Laura Allcorn ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2011

Rachel Cox ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2011

Anne Crumpacker ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2011

Ali Gradischer ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2011

Eric Trine MFA Practicum Spring 2013

Shannon Hauff MFA Practicum Spring 2013

Zachary Pollock ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2013

Coren Rau ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2013

Amy Conway ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2013

Kyla Mucci ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2013

Natalya Locke ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2013

Rachel McKenna MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2015

James Rouse MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2015

Bukola Koiki MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2015

Tyler Peterson MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2015

Jennifer Cooke MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2015

Samantha Estrella MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2015

Reese Bowes MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2015

Ryan Newson MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2015

Jadene Fourman MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2015

Lange Wei MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2014

Ximena Bedoya ACD MFA Practicum 2014

Emily Wyant MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2014

Brian Hutsebout MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2014

Caitlin Sweet MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2014

Edward Key MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2014

Joey Edwards ACD MFA Practicum 2014

Leah Brottman MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2014

Sheri Earnhart ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2012

Kathryn Bradshaw ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2012

Karl Ramentol ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2012

Swapna Ketcham ACD MFA MFA Practicum Spring 2012

C. Larrisa Hammond ACD MFA Practicum 2012

Jody Dunphy ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2012

Meghan Chalmers-McDonald MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2014

Alisha Sullivan MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2014

Sarah Davis MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2014

Theresa Arrison ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2013

Francesco Cupolo ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2013

Meghan Morris ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2013

Heather Bromer ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2012

Jacob Tietze ACD MFA Capstone Spring 2012

Amber Roelfs ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2012

Andrew Lonnquist ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2012

William Rueck ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2012

Jason Lee Starin ACD MFA Practicum Spring 2011