Sager Designs and UW Madison Internship

Thought I should give everybody an update as to what I've been up to all semester - part of the requirement for graduation at Edgewood is for students to get in the community experience interning somewhere within their field. The class I choose to do the internship through is my Eco Design and Architecture class. My teacher was able to get me an internship working with Leslie Sager, and the UW Madison interior design students who were busy all year working on an installation piece for the Design MMoCA show. This biennial show is set up for architects and interior designers to show off their graphic, fashion, and industrial talents while also incorporating eco-friendly aspects into the show. All the participants of the show had to select a permanent piece of art from the museum to work with and get inspiration from, and from here construct their exhibit. 

Leslie's class decided on the etching 'Abstraction, Belief, Desire' by Pat Steir. Our installation needed to be no larger than 8'x9' and we used cardboard and recycled plastic bags. I sat in with the students through several class periods, going through stages of 'design thinking' and building prototypes of the final project. The students had to create a relief shelter with the critiera I stated above. We had to think about all the things that would be necessary for someone living in the shelter; these shelters would be constructed to sit within a larger structure much like the dome in New Orleans when hurricane Katrina happened. The survivors would need to feel a sense of belonging and home in a place where there is none, a place for privacy but also a place for community; and these were some of the aspects of design thinking that we went through.

The final installation of the project was erected just this last week at the museum and i'm proud to be able to see it and know that I played a small role in this awesome project. Feel free to take a look at the link for the MMoCA website > http://mmoca.org/events/designmmoca/index.php and view the slideshow, or hey! you can just go see it for yourself! It's open until May 6th. Otherwise here are several pictures of the process i've taken throughout the semester.