Project II: Serial Planes

Phase A: Altered Books

For this phase of the project we used books to create new and unique forms.

Rather than have sketches for this unique medium, I decided to play around with the pages of my book and develop a plan in that way.

Phase B: Serial Planes Using White Foam Board

For my primary sketches I made these small models:

I chose the model on the left, and even began to construct the large scale sculpture. However, part of the way through I became di

ssatisfied with how the project was turning out. Rather than go through with a project I did not like, I decided to go back to the drawing board with the entire thing.

I saw this image on the internet and became inspired by it. Not so much the shapes, but the movement of the piece. I knew then I wanted to create something that had movement.

Phase A and Phase B of this project both equally taught me things. In phase A I realized how to look at something as ordinary as a book and turn it into a whole new sculptural element. Phase A was both challenging and fun. I really enjoyed making something new out of something ordinary. However, there were some limitations on what a person could do with a book. The spine has to be left in, in order for not all of the pages to fall out. Some students even left the book cover as apart of their project. Overall, I really liked the outcome of my altered book. I like the organic shapes of it. To me it looks like a starfish and I like that aspect of it.

In phase B of the project, I ran into many more challenges. I quickly realized how difficult it was to cut the white foam board crisply. I was personally cutting many circles to achieve my design and it was difficult to make a perfectly smooth circle. Overall, I am really pleased with the end product. Despite the difficulties I think my piece is successful. To take my final images of the project, I used very dramatic lighting to showcase the design elements of the piece.

The two phases of the project were very different. With phase A, we were only able to use thin pages of a book. Folding and bending techniques had to be used just to create some volume. In phase B, it was much easier to create volume with the thickness of the white foam board. However, the white foam board was very plain and pure white. It was a challenge to create interest with all one color. Where with the book pages of text or pictures could be used to create interest.

Anything But The Box

RICHARD SERRA:

Richard Serra constructs large installations out of steel, he likes making his pieces interactive, the installation shown above is one of Serra's pieces, he encourages his viewers to walk around and into his art, it causes the viewer to rethink materials, the way Serra has steal bend almost seems impossible to do

DORIS SALCEDO:

Doris Salcedo uses her art in a politically charged manner, she likes to take everyday objects and turn them inside out in order to evoke a nostalgic feeling in the viewer, my personal favorite installation of hers was where she took shoes and displayed them. The simple image a shoe really impacted me in a big way, i was left feeling lonely, which I think was her intended message of displaying these forgotten shoes

ANYTHING BUT THE BOX:

The problem presented was the deconstruct and reconstruct a box of our choosing

I approached the problem by taking the box apart and sort of playing around with the materials that made up the box. This way I could see how the materials moved and which ways they would easily go or not easily go.

From this project I learned that materials don't always behave how you expect them to. Upon embarking in the project I quickly learned how messy and hot a glue gun is. It also became apparent how flimsy cardboard can be. It is wise to always expect the unexpected.

“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

My personal understanding of creativity is captured in the quote above. Being creative, to me, can be as simple as looking up at the clouds and seeing an elephant or a rabbit rather than just puffs in the sky. Creativity comes with looking at everyday things in a new light. It is seeing something in the ordinary that no one has seen before. Someone doesn't need to be a so called artist to be creative. I believe it is as simple as picking out your clothes for a day or adding that extra ingredient to a recipe.

The reason I chose a creative career is I love producing my own unique things. Whether it be a new drawing, painting or photograph. Whatever I produce with my own hands can not be replicated by anyone else. Creating is my personal expression of myself and my imagination, no one else.