This week, each group presented their final projects. I had planned to present with my group on our project about bread during our usual class time on Tuesday, but due to the last-minute change of plans to present all the projects related to food during the Fiat Lux class that afternoon, I was unfortunately not able to attend the presentations because I had already made plans and would not have been able to make it in time anyway.

This week was overall pretty fun and insightful! For our first class on Tuesday, our class went to the UCLA Meteorite Gallery in the Geology Building on the UCLA campus. Before going into the gallery, we stopped by a classroom where a Ph.D Geology student, Valeria, was preparing for a class about topography.

During the first class of this week, we worked in our individual groups to continue working on our projects. For our final project about bread, I have been continuing to do research on rice bread and rice grains, specifically on the fermentation process of rice bread when it bakes, or lack thereof (rice does not have any gluten, which is an essential component of how regular wheat bread ferment). 

During the first class of this week, we worked in our individual groups to continue working on our projects. For our final project about bread, I have been continuing to do research on rice bread and rice grains, specifically on the fermentation process of rice bread when it bakes, or lack thereof (rice does not have any gluten, which is an essential component of how regular wheat bread ferment). 

This week, my group and I finalized our project concept and how we would like to proceed with documenting our final project. Our focus is finding the relationship and connection between different types of bread that use different kinds of grain. For our project, the three of us each chose a different kind of grain to focus on for the rest of the quarter.

Presentation Slides Link: Bread - DMA 160 Proposal - W23

This week, Maryam Razi came to class as a guest lecturer to talk about the design of the Hox Zodiac project. Maryam’s process in designing the typeface for the project was inspired by the organic shape and silhouette of bones. Learning about Maryam’s process and seeing their working file in Adobe Illustrator was an insightful look into their design process. The way they laid out everything on their artboard almost looked like word map, in my opinion.

We began the week with a guest lecture from Dr. Walter Gekelman, who gave us an overview of plasma and magnetism. At some point, he brought in ferrofluids, a jet-black substance that is quite mesmerizing when it is drawn to a magnet. When the magnet gets close to the ferrofluids, it creates a liquid spike that reveals the magnetic field lines around the magnet. 

For the first class this week, we were tasked to bring bread to class to learn how bread is made. I baked and brought Crescent Rolls from Trader Joe’s, which contained wheat flour, water, palm oil, cane sugar, baking powder, salt, sunflower oil, and xanthan gum. 

My sketches, writings, and jottings from our drawing exercise.