Final project
“Stop it and just DO…Don’t worry about cool, make your own uncool. You are not responsible for the world- you are only responsible for your work, so do it. And don’t think that your work has to conform to any idea or flavor. It can be anything you want it to be.” –Sol Lewitt. Creativity and critical thinking are simply tools to make the images you see in your head become a reality. Whether you are commissioned to make a piece of art or you are simply making art for the sake of creating, there must be a process.
It is really hard for me to articulate my thoughts into words. I think in pictures. Most people have a running commentary in their mind but when I close my eyes, all I see are pictures. When I was really little I always dreamed of becoming an artist, whatever that even means. Even right now sitting at my computer I cant quite put into words why I am pursuing a creative career. I want to communicate with people through pictures and words. I want to give people information in a visually compelling and creative way.
The assignment’s problem was to take a box, its volume, mass, and surface area, and morph it into something completely different. The thing that struck me first was that we had to use every part of the box. I knew that I couldn’t just start cutting and work from there; I had to carefully think about how to use the box. I drew out a rough sketch of the box and its parts and then went from there. I researched actual cardboard, I knew it was made out of paper but I wasn’t sure if it was some sort of mixture of other materials to make it so rigid. Once I found out that cardboard is just thick paper, trees came to mind. I knew that I could use the pieces I needed for a trunk and limbs and then use the rest for leaves. I didn’t want to just cut flat leaves, so I tried rolling triangles of paper. The biggest problem I had was actually hot gluing my tree. The cardboard I chose did not stick well with glue. After frantically running around my dorm room and considering starting over with a whole new box, I found some paperclips that could hold the trunk and limbs together while they dried for a longer time. I also learned that hot glue gets used up very fast. And those little strings that get left are possibly the most annoying thing about hot glue. I am happy with my overall project. I think it came out well, and it followed the guidelines. A tree is NOT a box. I also found the critique helpful, and will be removing the white base around my tree trunk.
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I believe for the ones of us who have chosen the path to communicate visually, it would be perhaps because we feel the incompleteness of the word to express our world at certain levels. However, the articulation of thoughts behind your work and the intention to pursue the career you have chosen, are very transparent in this brief reaction paper.
ReplyDeleteOften, what I most appreciate in proposing these process based- documenting blogs, is the fact that they allow another form of dialogue, silent and loud at the same time. It becomes a reflection space for you, and also helps me-and any follower- to learn more about the concepts and thoughts behind your creative process within the same calm space.
Your project, as always, have been carefully thought, researched and beautifully constructed. You have achieved a creative and effective transformation of the mass, shape and structure of the box into a whimsical tree.
I am sorry you have gone through construction problems and that I couldn’t help since if was a complete online-home project! The results were almost magic to see. I was very pleased with the creative commitment of you all.
Art is a process indeed, thinking, researching, deconstruction, reconstructing , critical and creative thinking again..
Your documentation process from sketches to final piece, was presented in a clear and visually engaging narrative.
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