Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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Description
For my creative project, I began an art press that produces small-run vinyl records and artist's books. Initially, the venture began as a means to circumvent record pressing facilities as a vinyl record-cutting service. By the end of this project, the focus shifted to encompass more visual art products than just vinyl records. The project began with vinyl records because I saw a need in the market; in the past decade, the industry has grown dramatically, but the dozen record pressing plants in the country cannot keep up with the demand. Because record pressing companies prioritize large orders, it is difficult for many small bands and independent record labels to produce work on this medium. This is due to the long lead times, high prices, and large minimum order sizes. I located a man in Germany, who invented a machine that makes high-quality, lathe-cut records. I named the project Blushing Soup, as homage to my father, who passed during my first semester of college. It is through his passing that I was able to secure funds to pursue this venture. I brought on a partner, who was more familiar with art and audio recording than myself. In the summer of 2015, we met with this inventor to learn how to use his machine. By October of 2015, a machine of our own had arrived. In early November, Blushing Soup won a grant from the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. During this time, we released two vinyl records for local bands. For a culminating project, I coordinated a Record Store Day compilation album consisting of six bands featuring. After securing all of the music, the machine started having problems, which forced me to cancel this release. Recognizing the delicacy of the machine, prompted a shift in the aim of Blushing Soup. During this process, I started learning printmaking processes, and I realized that Blushing Soup could function as more than a record cutting service; we could be an art press. In the last few month of this project, I started making artist's books. By the end of April 2016, Blushing Soup will have released vinyl records for two bands, as well as produced four handmade books. This creative project centered around the process of creating art through lathe cutting and printmaking; the objective was not to maximize profits but rather refocus the consumption of art (in a sustainable practice).
ContributorsStringer, Shelby Manning (Author) / Essig, Linda (Thesis director) / Peck, Sidnee (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This Creative Project contains a short movie that is comprised of interviews with various business owners and entrepreneurs based in Arizona. The purpose of this project was originally to explore "how businesses finance their initial venture" but quickly evolved into open-ended interviews. Originally, one of the listed goals for the project was to ensure that the movie be entertaining for the viewer. In order to gain the richest experience, it was decided that at least 8-10 entrepreneurs be interviewed for a 25 minute video. Since the creator of the video had no prior videography experience, it was assumed to be feasible \u2014 but in order to maintain the integrity of the interviews, and in order to provide the viewer with a better background, the format was changed to a 44 minute movie with 5 featured businesses, though more than 30 businesses were considered. It became clear that the diversity of available interviewees and the complexity of the businesses and financing methods made it impractical to feature such a technical topic in the movie. Balancing the entertainment value of the film and its functional, educational purpose proved to be one of the challenges for the completion of the project. Each interview stands alone its own right, but it's highly recommended that the viewer watch the entire feature. The businesses are featured in the following order: DryClean U.S., Jeffrey Rivera (sole-proprietor), Arizona Hops and Vines, Rune Wines, and The Duquesne House Inn and Gardens. The viewer will find that the businesses featured include both service-based businesses and product-based businesses. In all, over 300 hours of planning, filming, writing, and video-editing contributed to successful completion of this project.
ContributorsElliott, Spencer William (Author) / Trujillo, Rhett (Thesis director) / Peck, Sidnee (Committee member) / Department of Management and Entrepreneurship (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05