BTS: Conceptualizing a pitch using the dreamy visual history of Black Mountain College ⛰️
⛰️🎨👩🎨
High Thought is an intimate infusion of (high) thoughts that are a mixture of frivolous and (sometimes) profound if I’m lucky. Written with consideration for those interested in the creative process, art in general, or personal peek behind the curtain into a particularly chaotic brain room.
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Conceptualizing “Foundation Year “
One of the things I did recently is go back and look at the pitch deck I made for the Foundation Year editorial I concepted, pitched, and eventually shot for CAP 74024 exactly two years ago.
I live very close to where I went to college and so I’m constantly reminded of my time there and the friends I made. I think some of my happiest days of my life were spent in my darkroom there, printing at night and on the weekends when I could have the place to myself. Even back then, it was such a nice reprieve from my phone, not being able to use it in the dark for fear it would expose the paper. The closest thing I’ve had to a real meditation practice and I was 19, 20, 21 years old. I miss those days sometimes...not the school or the homework but the time to think only about pictures and trying to learn how I like to take them, what makes a good picture to me. I was very self-serious then but I put in a lot of time and that was valuable to me...to fall in LOVE with pictures, sometimes even my own.
Before all of that, though, we had to go through a Foundation Year of fundamentals: nude figure drawing, painting, sculpture, etc. I wanted to pitch a styled story (styled by Herin Choi) that highlighted the most quintessential art school scenes from my romanticized, fictionalized, sometimes fever dream perspective.
In art history, we learned about Black Mountain College, which was was an experimental college founded in 1933 in North Carolina and was a teaching home people like Josef Albers and John Cage for a time.
Pitching the idea to CAP 74024
I used photos of BMC as references in my pitch because not only are they beautiful and playful and generally just good photos, but it was so well-documented photographically considering the College only existed from 1933 to 1957.
Once the idea got the green light from CAP, I scouted and chose Brooklyn College for our home to shoot in. I liked the look of Brooklyn College because it hadn’t been overly revamped and the art buildings looked like they still belonged in the 20th century. A lot of the New York-based ‘Art with a capital A’ Art Schools have been renovated recently to favor digital classrooms and more glass and metal. They’re frankly sterile and hideous! Brooklyn College even had lecture halls that reminded me of the ones I took art history classes in at Pratt with the creaky wooden seats with lots and lots of initials and etchings that, you can imagine, were actually quite good.
Not all of the inspo came from Black Mountain College. Some of it came from the long history of imagery depicting the instruction of fine art fundamentals and settings throughout the years:
Naturally, I wanted to switch out the usual trope of a woman being the model and focal point. I wanted a hot man up there instead and Noah did great.
These were also references:
As usual, I am either always perched up high or on the ground:
This big freaky paintbrush thing didn’t make the cut because the magazine wanted to go with a more serious, sexy route…
Too bad, I love it:
Anyway,
The rest of the project is here. I wanted to show a little of my process because, to me, sometimes that’s just as much if not more interesting than the final result. : )
( Etc. etc. etc. )
Suggestion box - TYSM!!!
Thank you so much to those of your who left some very very very helpful feedback! It was so insightful and also reassuring. Thank you so much for taking the time - I appreciate ya’ll. : )
Have a good week, freaks! 😈
Cait 🌸
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Love seeing this part of the process! Thanks for sharing 💙