The hardest part of this project is/was coming up with how the cards would function as a simulation with game mechanics and real-life references, while still being easy to understand. If I made it too realistic and complicated, not only would it be hard/next to impossible to play, but I probably wouldn’t have enough time to make it for this project. At first I really just wanted to create a trading card game with similar mechanics to how real-world art auctions and markets work. Of course, it’s hard to turn a capitalist concept that deals with currency into a game with equal trading. Moreover, I felt like creating a game out of the art market would have been interesting but might lose some of the meaning that I was trying to show. So instead, I figured that building a simulation might work better, not only to convey my ideas but also to be more of a performance piece. And a bit fun too! 🙂
Planning
I was trying to come up with a way to communicate and explain what the art market is and how it works and how I think it’s corrupt and strange. I figured some kind of simulation- some way that you could experience the art market on a smaller scale. I thought of Pokémon, sports trading cards, and D&D spell-casting cards first and drew preliminary ideas from those types of games and trading cards. I wanted to create some kind of tradable deck of artworks from across the ages and genres. Then I ran into the trouble of making it function as more than just some pretty cards.
I looked through some different card games that had mechanics and things that I liked. I knew I needed a value for each card, a way for the cards to appreciate in value, info on each card, a category of art, and a way to reward collections of certain cards. In order to show my kind of “thesis” for this project, I also needed a way for the value of a piece to suddenly appreciate or depreciate in value, and a way for each player or participant to keep track of points/in-game money.
Obviously, that’s a lot of moving parts, and at one point I did realize that this was more of a game development than an art project, but that’s okay, I still think that it is the best way for me to express my ideas about the art market effectively.
Research
I tried my best to take what I could from these videos and triangulate data since obviously some of these are a little more clickbaity than others. From each of these videos and sources, I took notes and wrote out thoughts about some major points.
Unit 3’s project is entirely self-directed and very much an inquiry project. we could make whatever we wanted in whatever medium about whatever topic, which made this project both freedom and also stressful. It took me a while to figure out what direction I wanted to go in for this.
The whole idea of temporal art is that it only exists in a limited space and time. This can be expressed through performance arts, sequential imagery, a variety of mediums, film, music, and lots more. For example, Van Gogh was not a performance artist, but when his paintings are animated and projected onto the walls of a darkened gallery it becomes experiential and performative in nature, thus becoming temporal art.
From the Beyond Van Gogh: Immersive Experience show.
Preface
This was such an interesting piece to make. I hit a lot of roadblocks and hiccups in the plan, and I do feel a need to explain my mistakes and point out my failures before anyone else does, but this whole piece is about being myself and loving what I do despite external opinions that I’ve internalized. So I will talk about hiccups, but not mistakes (which is going to be super hard for me).
Personal Story:
When I began being self-conscious of my body, dance was a very hard thing to stick with. I’ve danced since I was 2 years old, but only really fell back in love with it in the last few years. The number of unspoken rules and ideas around what a dancer should look like, act like, and move like is oppressive to what should be an expressive and explorative art form/sport (it’s both, dance can be two things at once). Being forced to dance in a skin-tight leotard is so exposing and I think is not a good thing for young kids- especially AFAB (assigned female at birth) kids to experience. Dancing in front of a mirror can also be dangerous to one’s image. My personal experiences in dance really made me dislike the ways my body bent and folded as I moved. I didn’t realize until I switched dance studios to one that didn’t have mandatory uniforms how small I was making myself. I would shrink to the back of the room, stay silent, take up as little space as possible, and overall: I didn’t trust myself. My confidence was 0, and it took a lot of effort and practice to find myself. It’s funny because I do take pride in my dancing and I do think I’m good at it, but the idea of owning that made me feel like I was being selfish and self-centered, even though I wasn’t, and I think that insecurity and timidness lead to me not being able to ask for solos or ask to go on pointe with confidence. It also likely made other people think I was shy and didn’t want to be featured. I struggled with disordered eating and anxiety attacks for a long time, and I still struggle with anxiety and panic today. When I switched studios, almost immediately, I realized that ballet class was never going to give me the confidence and validation I sought. The new studio was super understanding of my anxiety and panic disorders, which really helped me to feel comfortable in the space. They also would cheer dancers on as they danced. There was minimal misdirected anger towards the dancers, and we were treated as equal artists in the creation of the dances. The switch caused me to really deconstruct the societal opinions I had internalized about myself and my body. The year-end performance took place outside due to COVID restrictions, on a black rubber-like floor set up in someone’s big backyard. It was 30-40 degrees outside every single day, and we performed and filmed for two days. Everyone who didn’t wear shoes for their numbers was getting their feet burned on the searing hot floor as the sun beat down on us and melted out makeup. One person even got minor heatstroke. It was a rough performance, but for me, worth every second. I didn’t believe in my dancing truly until that day. I had a moment in my solo where I stopped briefly and then exploded with movement, and as I did, everyone who was there screamed and cheered, and it was one of the most important moments of my life because I suddenly felt so loved and beautiful. It was a defining moment for me and my confidence, and even though I still don’t always feel comfortable in my corporeal form, I did, I have, and I will again.
Process
I knew I wanted to do something to do with dance and its impact on my life. I had a bunch of different ideas for how I wanted to explore that and different things I wanted to say. I decided that the “dancer’s body” was something I wanted to talk about. I wanted to be less serious and more expressive, and hopefully, I conveyed a sense of evolution and personal expression leading to release.
I started out by drawing some designs for costumes that I could tear apart or deconstruct in a performative way. Then I decided that lace would be a good idea- not only is it very delicate and easy to destroy, but it’s also deeply connected to the ballet world in my mind. I went to the thrift store and found some tear-able looking lace drapes and table runners to cut up, and I cut up little pieces of the lace to glue to my face as well.
I really wanted to explore the idea of needing to deconstruct yourself to find yourself and start back again. To shed past ideas and negative opinions that I’ve internalized and applied to myself. To really find out what I was made of and who I was/wanted to be, I needed to completely forget everything from before. Perhaps not forget, but let go of. Put down. Shed. It’s almost like a metamorphosis because I really needed to deconstruct and reconstruct myself and my opinions of myself.
I’ve never gone on pointe so I often feel a bit like I missed out or am currently missing out on the classic ballets that I loved as a child. Don Quixote, Swan Lake, and lots of other iconic ballets I’ve never danced. I always fantasized about dancing the role of Kitri. After gathering some pieces from these ballets, I mixed them together in a sort of discordant melody using Garageband with the main song, “The Calling” underneath repeating its intro quietly.
I chose the song “The Calling” by The Amazing Devil because I just love the song so much. I know it inside out and you can even see me mouthing some of the lyrics while I’m dancing. It makes me feel powerful and like I can get through my anxious and insecure moments.
The costume and makeup consisted of the following:
Tan jazz shoes, a black basic leotard, a long white “skirt” tied around my waist, a hand-made white bodice tied with thread to the leotard, a white lace curtain tied around my neck and shoulders with holes cut in it for my arms, small pieces of white lace glued to my face and chest with dance costume-to-skin glue. My hair had to be glued down with the same stuff because I (a seasoned dancer) forgot bobby pins :p. White eyeliner under and over my eyes,
I then, intelligently, decided that I needed some white in my hair, and proceeded to drag ACRYLIC PAINT INTO MY HAIR. 🙂
I went in to do my studio monitor job on Saturday and had only one chance to film this. Not only did I have a time limit (10 am-4 pm), but I also only had one costume that I had to rip up during the dance. After procrastinating on my makeup and setting up for about 2 hours, I finally just set up the cameras and pressed play on the music. I started off a bit nervous, knowing that the entire project depended on this one run-through, but after a verse and a chorus, I started to get into a flow. I actually think that the parts where I was thinking less were the best parts. I was also trying to keep a certain pace with the ripping of the costume so that I wouldn’t be completely naked before the song was even over. Unfortunately, some pieces of my costume were easier to take off than others. I was able to (sort of) edit the most awkward parts and maintain the flow of the one-take filming. The cameras never stopped, this was all one take, so any true problems had to be cut around with different angles, carefully edited out, or just gotten over on my part. Editing this was probably the hardest part. It took about two days, but the worst was having to watch myself over and over again. Without even meaning to, I started noticing certain choices I didn’t like and criticizing myself. It was an interesting experience, and it made me uncomfortable to confront it and try to not focus on the could-would-shoulds. Even though the dance was all improvised on the spot, I still found myself being too hard on myself.
After filming, I spent about 2 days editing each angle together and trying to make it look seamless. I think if I was to do this project differently now, I would put one of the cameras further to the right of me and also tape on the floor the lines of sight for each camera so that I didn’t stray out of frame. I considered getting a friend or family member to come in and help the film with a hand-held camera and move around a bit more, but now I think that the stationary cameras lend to the idea of perceived perfection in dance.
Overall, I loved the process of this, but I think in the future if I were to do any more performance pieces I would either get someone else to edit them or just do them live and one-time-only.
The purpose of this project was to use found objects and combine them to create a visual narrative.
There were three iterations of the final piece. First, I had considered leaving it the way it was after I had glued everything on but not painted it. The skull was white and the sandy gravel in the grooves looked a little out of place considering how pristine the rest of the head was. The eye sockets I covered with silvery reflective foil, which again, didn’t quite fit the new narrative, and lastly, the ladybugs were too bright. Though I really liked the red colouring and how it broke up the viewing of an otherwise neutral colour-schemed work, they needed to be darker so as not to distract too much.
Then I painted the skull. I tried a few different techniques of application and mixture, eventually settling on a transparent dirt-brown shade applied with a wide brush. I liked how the paint was able to just stain the plastic enough to give it some age, and also catch in grooves and corners to give the illusion of grime buildup.
The last step I took before being completely finished with the piece was adding fresh flowers, sticks, and leaves to it. I placed chrysanthemums and mint leaves and blossoms from my garden in a few places over the skull and experimented with having sticks and vines coming out of the holes where the horns would have been. Though I didn’t keep the sticks in, you can see them in a few photos.
Of course, the final pictures were taken outside in front of my ivy wall, which I think was also a part of the work. It would have been weird for me to photograph it on just a plain white background, and it might have made the piece more confusing.
So first, I had three ideas in my sketchbook:
1: a figure/creature made of what looked like plastic human bones melted together and then outfitted in human clothes and human accessories photographed in normal human places – a consideration of what we think is “human” and what makes us “human” vs other creatures.
2: two ends of a picture frame connected by a hand-stitched tapestry of different paper, canvas, fabric, etc. all melding together to create one giant fold-out piece- exploring connectedness through art and how framing can sometimes limit what we create.
3: A framed painting hanging on a tree with a branch stuck through it like it’s grown through the painting and someone has stitched the tearing canvas back together- commentary on nature vs art (is there really much of a distinction), human insistence on belonging and being a part of something even when its clear the fit isn’t right.
Obviously, I did none of those things and instead started making a paper mache mold of my hand just to see where that went. After making that, I put it aside because I had a new idea: making a chest plate armor out of cardboard circles. Then about halfway through constructing that, I decided I didn’t want to do it anymore and just started gluing things to a plastic skull I had taken the horns out of for a different project. Once I started gluing and painting things together on that, I started creating the narrative.
It was originally just a pretty shallow story about long-lost dragons and the skull was the last dragon of the middle ages, rotting and giving life to the next creatures to inhabit its bones. But after I started gluing the little foil petals onto the paper mache hand, the narrative expanded to that of the relationship between humanity and nature. This character, sort of personifying the human species, starts to see what we’ve done to the environment and its animals. They then fear themselves and shield the world from their touch by wearing armor. The unfortunate irony of this is of course that after all this time being separated from nature, letting our fear separate us further disconnects us and prevents us from fixing anything. To fix things we need to learn about them and become close again.
Lab 02: Mash-Up
Brainstorming pages in my sketchbookMash-Up 1: Inner Child on Trial for Crimes Against Societal NormsMash-Up 2: Mina’s Soliloquy
Mina is a character I accidentally created for my painting class, based on an assignment. Mina is an alien from a planet where colour is shunned. Everyone who lives on their home planet has grey skin and hair, and the landscape is also greyscaled. They bruise blue though, which culturally makes the colour blue, and by extension, all colours, a sign of conflict and unrest, and is therefore shunned. Mina moved to Earth for art school, and when they discovered all the colour here, they fell in love with it. Mina struggles with their love for colour, and the internal fear of it from their home planet. So this piece is kind of what I think Mina would make if they had this assignment.
Describe the object (colour size, material, handmade, manufactured, origin, etc.): Size 8, leather, elastic, polyester, black, tarnished and old, worn down rubber, made by Bloch, mens wide, split sole.
What is the intended function of the object? These are jazz dance shoes, intended to be worn while dancing modern jazz and contemporary jazz, as well as a number of other styles.
What is the cultural context of the object? Bloch has been making dance apparel since 1932. They make quality dance shoes of various varieties, including pointe shoes, a wide variety of ballet and jazz shoe designs, and shoes for dance teachers. Bloch has been a well-known name in the world of dance for a long time, and are a good catch-all for any dancer, new or old, who is looking for shoes.
Do you have a personal connection to the object? (ie. does the object conjure a memory, symbol, or reaction for you on a personal level?) These are my old jazz shoes from when I danced at Studio G Dance Academy. For the past 2 years, I danced with Vireo School of Performing Arts, and didn’t need to wear jazz shoes, so this pair hold memories from my old school. I’ve danced since I was 2 years old, and always in the same building that Studio G is in now. I’ve gone through at least a dozen pairs of shoes as I outgrew them, and have never taken a year without jazz, so this particular shoe was very important. I have another old pair that are even more well-worn, seeing me through two years of over 10 classes total, but they are a little too special to use for this project :). This pair have clearly seen their fair share of the dance floor though. I’ve always worn the same brand and style of jazz shoe, save the first few years when I’d wear lace-ups or ballet shoes. The style is super comfortable and I’ve never gotten blisters in them- it is extremely rare for a dancer to have clean, un-blistered feet.
Name the ways the object can be manipulated (ie. broken, warped, filled, burned, stitched, etc.):
stitched
deconstructed
deconstructed and put back together
painted
altered to look like a pointe shoe (cuz I was never allowed to go onto pointe and I’m still a little salty about it)
Mental Associations 1: Name three things or elements that have a commonality or similarity to the object.
dance floor ballet shoes feet / toes
Mental Associations 2: Name three things or elements that are opposite or in contrast to this object.
Name the object: Jennifer (A pair of handmade peach earrings)
Describe the object (colour, size, material, handmade, manufactured, origin, etc.): Bright orange polymer clay from Michael’s, muddied in some areas by a dark green. The dark green polymer clay was used for the single leaf atop each peach. The hardware looks gold, but really copper or brass. The earrings were handmade by me, and are about 2cm in diameter, plus the hardware. The material used was soft and malleable before baking, but after baking it hardened.
What is the intended function of the object? The earrings are meant to be worn, threaded through a piercing one might have on their ear to dangle. They are meant to add pizzazz to an outfit.
What is the cultural context of the object? Peaches themselves are reminiscent of warm-climates, summers, and juicy fruits. Modern clay earrings like these are very common amongst the queer community, especially queer artists and crafters. Large and unusual earrings have become a staple of feminine queer culture, especially lesbian and bi identity aesthetic.
Do you have a personal connection to the object? (ie. does the object conjure a memory, symbol, or reaction for you on a personal level?) Well, I made them! There was a time last year and the year before when I was obsessed with making clay earrings like these. I’d spend days at a time, feverishly working on different designs, mostly fruit and pride flags. I still have most of them, and have organized all the pairs and incomplete pieces into boxes in my bedroom. Someday I hope to sell them, but for now it’s fun just to have them. The peaches were some of the first designs I made, along with strawberries and apples.
Name the ways the object can be manipulated (ie. broken, warped, filled, burned, stitched, etc.): Though the polymer clay has hardened, this type of clay can be added to and re-baked as many times as you’d like. Add clay Add drawings and designs to them Stick them in a canvas and paint around them to create a picture Cut them up and re bake into new peaches with different colours and the pieces of the old ones Cut them up and make into something completely new with the old pieces Draw a little face on them and make into characters – mold little bodies too!
Mental Associations 1: Name three things or elements that have a commonality or similarity to the object.
Summer Oranges Okanagan
Mental Associations 2: Name three things or elements that are opposite or in contrast to this object.
Describe the object (colour size, material, handmade, manufactured, origin, etc.):
Black headphones, painted over the earpieces with blue DollarStore paint, a smily face with a tear carved in one side. Soft and hard plastic, felt inside the earpieces, puffy ear covers, long cord, sideways plug that kinda looks like a gun.
What is the intended function of the object?
Headphones are used for a listening experience with less outside noise. They can be plugged into a computer and some phones to listen to music and other sound independently- that is, without playing it out loud.
What is the cultural context of the object?
Lots of people use earbuds, but headphones are slightly different. They are popular amongst gamers, DJs, and are an oft-used tool for autistic people to block out some external stimulation. Headphones and earbuds alike are often regarded as a sign of disrespect, especially in classroom settings, when in fact, they can aid students in completing work and staying focused. Headphones are much more noticeable than earbuds, making them more of a statement piece when adding to an outfit or wardrobe. They are also commonly used by music producers and musicians due to their noise-cancelling features and full-sounding speakers.
Do you have a personal connection to the object? (ie. does the object conjure a memory, symbol, or reaction for you on a personal level?)
This pair of headphones were ones I got back in grade 8 for a music editing class I was taking. At the time, I wanted everything I had to be teal or light blue. My bedroom walls were blue, my backpack was blue, everything. So to continue the theme, I painted the sides of my headphones blue too. My friend who sat next to me in music editing class carved in the face drawing on one side one day, and I’ve never painted over it.
Name the ways the object can be manipulated (ie. broken, warped, filled, burned, stitched, etc.):
broken
melted
painted
deconstructed
Mental Associations 1: Name three things or elements that have a commonality or similarity to the object.
music
videogames
earbuds
Mental Associations 2: Name three things or elements that are opposite or in contrast to this object.
Describe the object (colour size, material, handmade, manufactured, origin, etc.):
Blue, whit, black and grey, paper, ink, manufactured, ~ 6 inches, created in the USA.
What is the intended function of the object?
This book was intended to be read, however, it was changed before I bought it second hand. Though it was initially a story, the previous owner had taken it upon themselves to censor every curse word and rude word in the book by crossing them out with black pen and writing in a more appropriate synonym. This changed the story into telling a slightly different and more “appropriate” story.
What is the cultural context of the object?
This book is the final part in a series of four. The story is so good and I loved it so much. It’s inspired a community of people who also like the book to create things about it. There are a few talented artists that I’ve seen make fan art from the book, lots of memes, and fan videos. The series have made an impact on the book world, especially the slightly strange side of the book world.
Do you have a personal connection to the object? (ie. does the object conjure a memory, symbol, or reaction for you on a personal level?)
I loved this series and this last book was so exciting! It read like a movie and I often remember scenes from it like pictures or camera shots in my head. It conjures false memories that I’ve fabricated from the words, and I can almost watch it back whenever I want without reading it again. The way the author writes is so beautiful and expressive, and it not only paints a picture of the setting, but also the atmosphere, and the characters become real people. However. This particular copy of this book makes me laugh a little whenever I look in its pages, because I find all these laughable attempts to censor the beautiful piece of art that it is with a black ballpoint pen. Whoever had this copy before me was clearly a little uptight!
Name the ways the object can be manipulated (ie. broken, warped, filled, burned, stitched, etc.):
torn
burned
painted
cut up
re-binded
Mental Associations 1: Name three things or elements that have a commonality or similarity to the object.
library Mid-eastern usa autumn
Mental Associations 2: Name three things or elements that are opposite or in contrast to this object.
Describe the object (colour size, material, handmade, manufactured, origin, etc.):
Funky design, black, green dollar signs, cotton, polyester
What is the intended function of the object?
To be worn upon one’s foot, traditionally within a shoe, to keep warm and prevent blisters.
What is the cultural context of the object?
No shoes in the house: you should always wear socks, or bare feet, but no shoes. However, there are a lot of places, especially in the USA, where it is considered culturally “okay” to wear shoes inside. Alternatively, in many places in East Asia, it is culturally acceptable to actually provide indoor shoes for your guests so that they can change their shoes when they enter your home.
During the World Wars, especially the first world war, care packages for soldiers would include durable, warm, hand-knitted socks to help prevent trench-foot, and provide comfort and a sense of home.
This particular sock has dollar signs all over it. Crazy, wacky, patterned socks have become increasingly popular recently.
There are lots of myths surrounding Brownies; little mystical people, almost like fairies but bigger and without wings. Brownies are helpful little creatures who will sneak into your house, and if they like you, they will do dishes, fold laundry, and wash floors while you’re not looking. But, if they don’t like you, or you are rude to them, they will turn into Hobgoblins and start to cause chaos. For example, Hobgoblins will steal your socks and hide them in a nest somewhere. If you find their nest, you’ll find all sorts of missing items that you may have forgotten about. To stop them, leave out a bowl of sweet milk, and trinkets for them. Bonus points if you write them an apology note.
Do you have a personal connection to the object? (ie. does the object conjure a memory, symbol, or reaction for you on a personal level?)
This sock was from my family’s Annual Sock Exchange. A play on the stock exchange, our family has done this trade for years, always on Christmas Eve. Over the year, we gather pairs of (new and unused) socks that others in the family might like and wear, and then at Christmas we put them all in a red sack and pass it around in a circle to everyone. Each person pulls out one pair at a time, and then we can all trade each other for different socks.
Name the ways the object can be manipulated (ie. broken, warped, filled, burned, stitched, etc.):
cut
worn out (naturally but sped up, like rubbing it on concrete or something)
filled with concrete and model
stitched
Mental Associations 1: Name three things or elements that have a commonality or similarity to the object.
shoes feet movement
Mental Associations 2: Name three things or elements that are opposite or in contrast to this object.
I want to explore the concept of nature’s protection of itself. Creating armor inspired by nature, perhaps for a personified version of a natural flora or fauna.
In my research, I looked at native species to British Columbia and specifically the Pacific Coast, because BC is a big place with a LOT of different mini environments and climates that determine what nature lives there. I focused on species that I’ve personally seen in the wild before, and how they protect themselves against human attacks, external attacks, and internal attacks (like blight or rot).
Photo-Only researchMy own drawings inspired by photo-only research
A Mixture of Frailties 2004 1400 Household Gloves turned Inside Out Calico Tailors Dummy (private collection)Stalker 2021 sliced fallow deer antlers canvas tailors dummyGathering site-specific installation Tatton Park Mansion 2019 silk velvet, reclaimed military barbed wireIcarus 2012 Ostrich Feathers Bird Netting Flight Harness Copper Wire (private collection) WWF commissioned a collection of works from leading artists, designers and architects for Pandamonium in Hyde Park. The pieces were intended to inspire awareness of WWF’s breadth of work. Curated by Artwise, each artist contributed a piece of wearable sculpture or performance. The Pandamonium collection included fashion, textile, interaction, millinery and music. The works were auctioned during an open air catwalk show to raise funds and highlight the work of the WWF. artwisecurators pandamonium Videos WWF Pandamonium – Susie MacMurray 2012 WWF- Pandemonium in Hyde Park 2012Site Specific Installation Southwark Cathedral, London, Lent 2018 Butterfly netting
I really like Susie MacMurray’s work- her installations are invasive in such an interesting way, and her wearable works are inspiring to me. I’ve been interested in fashion design for years, so wearable art and designs are right up my alley.
I’ve been collecting acrylic paint peels for a year and a half now, so I have a bunch of circles of dried acrylic paint sitting in my desk at home. I’ve been brainstorming some ways that I could use them for an art piece, and suddenly I thought- what if I made a coat with them? MacMurray’s work has inspired me to explore that idea further and possibly use it as a project for this class, or maybe next year’s.
For these projects, we had to learn how to build a 3D model from a base shape or plane in Meshmixer. I’ve never done 3D computer-generated modeling, so this was exciting to troubleshoot and figure out even though it was challenging. I made a few tests while messing around and exploring the program. I tried to make toast with a spread on it, a landscape thingy, and a goose before settling on the two designs that I used for this unit.
the inspiration
For the wood project, I made a cute chubby bear that I thought my sister would love as a Christmas present. I figured that I could use the access to the woodshop to my advantage and create something for school that I could also give to someone as a gift. The bear was pretty straightforward and really helped me to understand the process of what it was exactly that we were doing. I didn’t want to make anything too complicated for my first try, so I started with a sphere in MeshMixer and made changes from there to limit structural issues. It was really fun to be in the woodshop and cutting things out with the bandsaw- I forgot how much I love doing that! I’m not sure what it is about it, but cutting shapes into and out of wood is such a relaxing and fun experience for me and I think I’ll have to integrate that into my own personal art as well. After I had cut out all my pieces, putting them together was fairly simple, and I used a wood glue paste from home which helped it to dry faster and also allow for easier deconstruction if I messed up anything along the way. I took photos of my little bear, and then later painted him white before giving him to my sister as an early Christmas gift. She really likes him! His name is Bernard. (more like BEARnard haha)
The second project was Persimmon the Chicken! Another more whimsical and cutesy design thought slightly more complicated. Persimmon has a bit more detail in her shape than Bernard, so the shapes I got back from the laser cutter were very interesting and each one was unique. This also made it easier to put together because I forgot to film the guide from Slicer and just brought the pieces home and went for it. Going off of my memory from the 3D MeshMixer model actually turned out pretty fine, and I didn’t have many problems with finding the right pieces for assembly. However. The assembly itself was super difficult because as most students experienced, something went a little wonky in the calculations of the cardboard’s thickness. This meant that with every piece that I interlocked into place, the base piece became increasingly stressed and bent until eventually, I couldn’t put any more pieces in. An easy way to (sort of) fix this problem, was to just use a box cutter or mat knife and cut the slots wider on each piece. I didn’t have much time to finish doing all of this extra cutting carefully and for each piece, so I ended up just pulling a few of the interlocking pieces straight out to make more room. Everything fit together well and Persimmon is a robust chicken, despite her few missing or altered bits. We also decided during critiques that she eats butterflies and books and lays persimmons instead of eggs.
Research
Wearable Tech by Ponoko and Adafruit
I’ve always loved the idea of functional art and being able to build something or otherwise create something that you can wear/use/consume in an artistic way. These little superhero light power sources are a perfect example of putting creativity and technology together in an exciting way. And the best part is that these companies have made this tech accessible to the public! And once you have the pieces and guide to build, you can add as much flair and pizzazz to these as you want.
Parametric Furniture by Oleg Sokoro
These pieces immediately interested me because they reminded me of my clay pieces from the last* unit. The sharp contrast against beige-coloured material was something I was drawn to as well. I really love how it folds over upon itself and is less like a sculpture and more like a carving in a way. It’s like this was carved from a giant round tree with little cuts taken out of it. I find that carving makes a piece feel more whole since you’re only taking away little by little from something that was whole at one point, whereas sculpting is like you’re adding things to make it whole. I think by “whole” I mean “complete”.
Horst Kiechle’s papercraft anatomical torso
This last artist I found was not on the provided list, but I found him through personal research for these projects anyways. I love papercraft, and my dad and I used to make origami all the time when I was little, so I’ve gotten pretty decent at it over the years. I’ve always thought that making my own origami or papercraft designs would be pretty cool, especially since I discovered that you can do it using programs like Slicer and MeshMixer. Kiechle’s torso was built with removable organs so that he could teach human biology to kids in the Fiji Islands. The patterns take over 700 steps, but the pdfs and instructions are available for free to download from Kiechle’s website. I printed off the heart a while ago but have yet to try it.
Clay Habitats
clay habitat completed
I really enjoyed this project- I love working in clay so much! And I also love the design I chose to do for my piece. Carving the varying depths of curves and line is such a therapeutic and meditative process for me (though it is ridiculously messy!).
I made this piece in three sections; each one was constructed from a cylinder that I cut randomly down one side and pulled apart to reconstruct. My favourite section was the first one I made, pictured below farthest to the right. It just came together really intuitively and easily, and I found myself trying to emulate the same process in the other two even though it was unrepeatable.
I do think that they turned out kind of resembling tree bark, which is part of the reason I painted them in blue tones. I was aiming for a cast taken from the inside of a termite’s burrows in a tree, or of those little sea worms and tide impressions on sand.
A total of three forms. I spent hours carving these as carefully as I could. It was actually very meditative and reminded me of how much I love explorative clayworks! I used a clay carving tool and an X-acto knife and tried to make it seem like a woody texture but maybe underwater? More akin to sand when it’s been washed into those patterns by the waves. I also wanted to emulate some kind of calcification effect on some parts where the clay cuts in and out of itself like shelves. I think the sort of creature that might live here would be one capable of making these carvings in any type of material. Probably have a strong pair of front appendages and maybe a beak or strong mouth of some kind to chew through whatever material it is presented with to make its home out of. Almost like a termite or woodpecker.
Kiki Smith’s art is beautifully haunting to me- she explores the human body in ways I’ve never really seen before, and yet they seem like such relatable concepts. Her integration of paper into fine arts is awesome and she’s able to make really stunning pieces with such minimalist materials. She’s made some really powerful work and it honestly just blows my mind a little to look at even just photographs of it. I’d love to see what these sculptures look like in low lighting or spotlights maybe. It would highlight the contours and negative spaces really nicely and make them read differently than they do in full studio lighting.
Makoto Komatsu
Some of Makoto Komatsu’s works are great examples of functional art. Making something “everyday” into art, and making art out of something “everyday”. I love the exploration and experimentation of texture, crinkles, and otherwise. Each piece has a personality and though some were slip cast and can therefore be made identically, again and again, they hold a certain level of personality with each design.
The Flat-Bottom Paper Bag
Final plaster bag
The plaster seemed to dry ridiculously fast, so maybe I mixed it incorrectly. But I’m actually not as upset with the results as I thought I might be. As I was applying the plaster I thought it was way too thick and the bag wouldn’t give the effect I was looking for, but it gave me an entirely new effect that I actually quite like. I think it’ll look cool when I paint it, but it also looks very mode and minimalist like this.
Wire bag
I tried leaving one seam open on this bag just to see how it would affect the way I found a form with it. It did make it more difficult, in some aspects to curl and bend the wire the way I wanted to, but it also provided something I couldn’t control as well as with a stiff bag, and thus it bent and curled in ways I didn’t know it would and created new forms and shapes I hadn’t planned but liked a lot.
Paper bag studies
I practiced a few forms with the paper bags before and after trying my wire bags, and it was interesting to note how the different materials were able to be manipulated. The paper was actually what I found to be the hardest to control and bend to my will. It seems a little too elastic to stay in one place, especially being so lightweight, any shift in weight distribution would make it fall over and ruin my form. But it was fun to experiment nonetheless!
