I have worked to develop a serious presence in my field of research through consistent publication and international exhibition. From 2012 to 2020, I researched and developed a book on the drawings of the 17th century architect Guarino Guarini. The completion of the book required me to learn to read and translate 17th century Italian, learn 17th stereotomy (drawing for the cutting of stone), learn visual programming and learn text based programming. In the Spring of 2018, I took a sabbatical leave to complete the book entitled Animating Guarini: An Orthographic Project. During that time I rented a desk in at an architecture office in China Town from January until August and worked to complete one section of the book. I expanded my skill set to include programming, as I developed a set of animated drawings using the programing language of Python. I now teach the basics of python programming in all of my visualization seminars. I submitted papers to conferences, and used the feedback to further develop the writing in the book. In May of 2018, I began to work with the peer-reviewed publisher, Applied Research and Design, and received helpful feedback from the blind peer review process of their editorial board. The subvention of the book was provided by a $3,500 grant from the School of Architecture and short-term Faculty Development grant in the amount of $650. My application for a regular faculty development grant was rejected. The book was published on July 21st, 2020 and is now available for purchase.
I have worked to establish a consistent and critical voice with my field of knowledge through regular publication. In 2014, one of my drawings entitled Domestic Inversion was selected as the closing image to the architecture journal Log. My research into the relationship between Guarino Guarini’s drawings and computational design was included in the peered review proceedings of the 34th annual conference the Association of Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA). I have had my writings and drawings included in the peer reviewed conference proceedings of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) at the annual meetings of 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019. These essays were critical in both establishing my presence in the field and developing the book Animating Guarini. I received useful feedback and direction at in the peer review comments and presentations. In addition, I published in article articles in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians that used my work with the second year architecture studio to discuss the role of the software Grasshopper in the analysis of historical works of architecture. My drawings have also appeared in the peer reviewed Journal of Architectural Education.
I have established a creative presence in my field through participation in curated exhibitions at the national and international level. In 2014, one of my drawings was selected for inclusion the catalog of the exhibition Uneven Growth at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan. In 2016, I participated in the Los Angeles based group exhibition One Night Stand. In 2017 my drawings were selected for inclusion in a traveling exhibition Drawing Codes, organized by two member of the CCA faculty in San Francisco. The work was exhibited in Los Angles, The University of Michigan, and at Ohio State University. My work was selected for the juried exhibition architecture, architectural, Architecture at the A Plus D museum in Los Angeles and is now part of their Impermanent Collection. In 2019, one of my drawings was selected for inclusion in the peer-reviewed exhibition Drawing for the Design Imaginary at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. The same drawing was later included in the exhibition Drawing Attention At the Zaha Hadid designed Roca Gallery in London. More recently, and due to the pandemic, I shifted to online exhibitions with one of my animations being selected for inclusion in the Diffractive Media Spaces exhibition curated by Media Arts faculty at Alfred University.
I have worked to enter into dialogue with other colleagues by presenting my work at lectures, conferences, and round tables. In 2014, participated in round table discussion at SCI_Arc celebrating the publication of the journal Log 31. In 2016, I participated in the Out There Doing It series of the Los Angeles Forum at the Richard Neutra designed VDL house. In 2018, I was invited to lecture on my research to students at Cal Poly Pomona and LAIAD. These events have been incredibly useful as they have forced me to package my work for a larger public outside of academic conferences.
I developed connections with academics at other institutions and based on my area of research. I have participated in the peer review of faculty for tenure whose work relates to computational design. I was solicited to review a manuscript of book by a faculty member at Cooper Union in New York because of my knowledge of Baroque Architecture and Computational Design. I have attended reviews of student work at local institutions such as USC, UCLA, and Cal Poly Pomona. I have also been invited to participate in reviews at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of New Mexico. In the upcoming years, I would like to expand my relationship with outside institutions and scholars. This will be helpful both in the dissemination of my work but also in the acquisition of new knowledge.
CONCLUSION:
I have worked diligently to fulfill the ideals of the teaching scholar through research, teaching, and service. I have done this by working to integrate these three realms in all of my work. I am looking forward to continuing to develop and grow as an academic, by continuing to pursue my research on the relationship between historical modes of drawings and contemporary digital technique. I see this as a career-long endeavor. I am looking forward to working on new seminars, studios, exhibitions and books on technology and drawing. I have included my sabbatical report, a research portfolio, a portfolio of recent publications, as well as a link to the full pdf of my book.
Peer Reviewed:
2020 Mark Ericson, Animating Guarini: An Orthographic Project (Novato, California: Applied Research and Design, 2020). ISBN# 978-1-943532-74-2
2019 Mark Ericson, “Ordinary Geometry,” in Black Box: Project Proceedings of 107th ACSA Annual Conference Proceedings (Black Box, Pittsburgh, 2019): 457-463.
2018 Mark Ericson, “The Two-Dimensional Orthographic Projection of a Semicircle onto an Epicycle of Cones,” Journal of Architectural Education 72, no. 1 (January 2, 2018),28–29.
2017 Mark Ericson, “Primitive Drawings,” in 105th ACSA Annual Meeting Proceedings, ed. Martha Thorne (Brooklyn says, “Move to Detroit,” Washington, D.C.: Published by ACSA Press, 2017), 76-77.
2016 Mark Ericson, “Nameless Curves,” in Shaping New Knowledges (104th ACSA Annual Meeting, Seattle, 2016), 51–52.
2014 Mark Ericson, “Euclid’s Wedge,” Acadia (Design Agency: Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture, Los Angeles: Riverside Architectural Press, 2014), 125–34.
2014 Mark Ericson, “Reassembling Guarini,” in ACSA 102 Paper Proceedings (Globalizing Architecture., Miami: Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture., 2014).
Edited:
2018 Mark Ericson, “Onto an Epicycle of Cones” Drawing Matter, Drawing of the Week.
https://www.drawingmatter.org/sets/drawing-week/mark-ericson/
2017 Mark Ericson, “Grasshopper Algorithmic Modeling for Rhinoceros 5,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 76, no. 4 (December 2017): 580–83, https://doi.org/10.1525/jsah.2017.76.4.580.
2014 Mark Ericson, “Euclid’s Wedge (Drawing),” in Uneven Growth : Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities, ed. Pedro Gadanho (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2014).
2014 Mark Ericson, “Domestic Inversion,” ed. Dora Epstein Jones and Bryony Roberts, Log, no. 31 (2014): 184.
Much of my research involved time based media. To better represent this, I have included a link to four short animations that could not be included in my pdf portfolio. All of the drawings in Animating Guarini were generated by animations like those shown here.
CONFERENCES
2019 “Ordinary Geometry”
107th Annual ASCA Conference, Pittsburgh, PA
2017 “Primitive Drawings”
105th Annual ASCA Conference, Detroit, Michigan
2016 “Nameless Curves”
104th Annual ASCA Conference, Seattle, Washington
2014 “Euclid’s Wedge”
Acadia Design Agency, USC, Los Angeles, California
2014 “Re-Assembling Guarini”
Globalizing Architecture: 102nd Annual ASCA Conference, Miami, Florida
LECTURES
2018 “On Circles”
Cal Poly Pomona (Invited lecture to 2nd year Undergraduates)
2018 “On Circles”
Woodbury University Fall Lecture Series
2018 “On Circles”
LAIAD Spring Lecture Series
2016 Out There Doing It, LA FORUM October 27th and November 10th
VDL House.
2016 The Drawing Symposium, Woodbury University, Los Angeles, CA
2014 Log 31, New Ancients, Issue Launch
SCI_Arc, Los Angeles, CA
EXHIBITIONS
2020 Drawing Attention
Invited Group Show, Roca Gallery London
2020 Diffractive Media Spaces Online
White Page Gallery Group Show
2019 Drawing for the Design Imaginary
Juried Group Show, Carnegie Museum Pittsburgh, PA
2018 Impermanent Collection Los Angeles, CA
Group show, Architecture and Design Museum
2018 Small Scale Architecture Store Los Angeles, CA
Group show, WUHO Gallery
2018 Open Studio Los Angeles, CA
Maiden LA, Group Show
2017 Drawing Codes Los Angeles, CA
Group show (traveling)
Woodbury University, Ohio State, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan
2017 Architecture: Text, Object, Image Los Angeles, CA
Group show, Architecture and Design Museum
2016 One Night Stand Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA
Group Exhibition
2014 Beyond the Environment Los Angeles, CA
Group Show