Experimental Design:
Second Place, Most Creative

Jennifer Thomas
California College of Arts and Crafts

Roadtrip

Artist's Statement: This project is about a roadtrip I took across the country last summer. I crossed 16 states in 8 days. The journey was intense, disorienting, fun, confusing, and exciting. My main objective with this project was to create a piece that could convey the intensity of my road trip to others in a way that they would feel as if they were sharing a part of my experience. A traditional map form was used both for its relation to the subject and for the inherent difficulty and comlexity. The story is revealed as the map is unfolded, and must be located, much like a destination on a map. The colors (orange and black) relate to the road construction encountered and the numerous monarch butterflies spotted. The textures are meant to suggest the feel of endless hours driving across hot asphalt in summertime.

Although this piece was initially constructed by hand, many elements were then scanned into Photoshop® and manipulated, adding color and texture. The images were then arranged using Illustrator allowing me to utilize masks and layers. One side of my map was constructed solely by hand and Xerox copied onto the paper. The other side was manipulated and arranged on the computer using Adobe® programs which allowed me the freedom to achieve handmade quality with the convenience of digital printing and manipulation processes. The main text was typeset into Illustrator®, printed backwards and applied using a LaserJet transfer technique.