Inventory/On Tokens Response & On Longing Quotes

On Longing:
"The body is the primary mode of perceiving scale."
"Capacity of objects serve as traces of authentic experience."
"The souvenir reduces the public, the monumental, the 3-demensinal into the miniature that which can be enveloped by the body.
"Nostalgia cannot be sustained without loss."
"To have a souvenir of the exotic is to possess both a specimen and a trophy"

Tokens Response:
Tokens was quite heartbreaking. To read about children being given up by mothers and left with tokens--mementos--and the promise of return...often without return...it was saddening. The tokens varied in size, shape and purpose. But all held meaning. All held memories. All held promise. But often, the promise laid broken, the children leaving the hospital at which their mother's abandoned them. It is amazing how much meaning can be held by a small object, but if one does not know the meaning, does its worth diminish? If one holds one half of a shared locket, no knowledge of who holds the other but aware of its existence, does the meaning still remain? Tokens brings all these things in question and reveals the solemn value of mementos to those often without the memory of their significance.

Memento

Assignment:

-Make a non-representational sculpture of a memory. For example, a person, place or event. Use no more than three materials.  You may deconstruct and manipulate materials.You can use the same material repeatedly.

-Be aware of the materials you select, methods used to construct and the juxtaposition of the materials. For instance, is it significant for you to weld, stitch, weave or tie any of the materials?

-Remember you are working in three-dimension so be sure to take the time to walk around your piece and/or work on a banning wheel so you can turn piece while working.

-Final solution should be able to fit in the palms of your hands (or two hands).

-****Important - Do not replicate an object. Rather, use elements and principles of design to communicate and/or symbolize the memory.

-Consider line direction. Is your memory taller than you? Could stacking or a tower like construction communicate height? Vast, therefore allowing for a horizontal presentation. Is the landscape (if you have one) of your memory closed in? Open with no boundaries?

Objective:

Gain an awareness of how materials, processes and the elements and principles of art and design can be used to visually communicate significant meaning.

Memento Notes:
Mementos are tangible memories. Sometimes we are not sure why we keep things but they hold memories all the same. They are a constant reminder of a place we saw or a person we knew or feelings we felt. They keep the dead tangible for we fear to forget them. They collect memories or hold emotions. And sometimes, we need to let them go.

Complete:

Metamorphisis Response

“Metamorphosis” is quite disturbing when one pauses to think about the novella. Gregor, a travelling salesman supporting his family by being the only source of income, simply wakes up one morning as a giant, man-sized cockroach. It all goes downhill from there. I found myself with a distinct dislike for his family and their mistreatment of Gregor, not because they fear him as a big bug, but because they are resentful that they need to work. The selfishness of his family and their mistreatment of him simply grew worse and worse, until they forgot about him and moved on with their lives, leaving Gregor to die from a rotten apple lodged in his back.

This story makes one question one big thing: Why does Gregor never question his being a roach? 

There is a possibly that this is an allusion to the treatment of the mentality handicapped. After all, if Gregor dissolved from a functioning member of society into a socially maladaptive individual incapable of taking care of himself or his family, then it explains his own acceptance of the situation. He is not really a bug. He simply thinks himself a bug or his being a bug is symbolic of what he family sees. A handicapped grown man who used to be industrious is someone who his family could resent, or see as vermin. And his degradation and abandonment and later death is all accepted by the family as the only reasonable end for a man they could no longer recognize.

Switcheroo Response

There is always the lingering question of identity. “Who am I?” Personally, I never like the question. Because in a way, we are who we pretend to be. To be ourselves is to reveal our most fragile side. To be ourselves is to shed the constraints of society and expectation, to drop the filter which we use to guard our words. We can “choose” to be anyone, anything. But that choice is a mask. It is easy to fool others into thinking our mask is reality. Sherman demonstrates this in her work, showing how she could change her apparent identity to the point that no one could recognize her or place her absolute identity. No one knew who the real “Cindy Sherman” was, because she changed so much.

Elements and Principles of 3-D Design

Assignment:
-Using limited materials, make four, small scale sculptures.
-Each sculpture emphasizes an element or principle of art and design.  Choose four terms from the list below.
-Do not use materials to simply “attach”. Use materials  for their inherent qualities.  The required materials are BALSA WOOD, MASK TAPE (can be any width), ELMERS YELLOW WOOD GLUE, STRAIGHT PINS (avoid colored tips on pins, T-Pins are okay), CLEAR TAPE (use packing tape).

-You do not have to use all materials for each sculpture.  You do need to make sure evidence of all materials appears across all four sculptures.

-Do not represent conventional imagery and symbols.
-Do not use text.
-Do not treat the wood as a two-dimensional plane.  For instance, you make marks and add shapes to the back and front of the wood.  Make sure each sculpture is three-dimensional - work should demonstrate length, height and depth.
-Each sculpture should be no larger than the size of your hand, approx.
-Consider forms that successfully use the interior and exterior.
-Label each sculpture with your name and the term.
-Do not discard your work after it is graded. At the end of the semester, you will be drawing all work you complete in this class.

Select four terms from the following list:
Focal Point
Texture
Pattern
Scale (contrast between large and small within one sculpture)
Repetition
Pattern
Rhythm

Materials:
Balsa wood (Cut balsa wood with a utility knife.  DO NOT use an Exacto - the blades are too thin and can snap).
Mask tape (any width)
Clear tape (use packing tape)
Straight pins (do not use colored pin tips, T-pins are okay)
Elmers Yellow Wood glue (the yellow color is an inherent quality of this material and can be used as a design element) - line, shape, color, texture).
*Remember, evidence of all materials must appear across all four sculptures.

Some ideas on how to manipulate the materials:
Twist
Shred
Fold
Roll
Dice
Layer/stack
Thread (sew or string together)
Braid
Scratch
Pierce
Chop
Slice
Bend (metal pins will bend and thin balsa wood will bend if soaked in water)
Roll tape, stick rolled shapes together to form another shape
The clear tape offers opportunity to layer other shapes/textures inbetween layers of tape.

What to put on the blog:
1. Images of your work in process.
2. Any notes or sketches that you did for this assignment (optional).
3. Professional images of each sculpture - at least two different shots for each one. Photograph separately.
4. A description for each sculpture.  Discuss your intentions, process and reflect on your final solution.
5. Three drawings (we will be doing the drawings in class at the end of the semester -so keep your work safe).

In-Process:

Complete:

 The first sculpture encompasses the element of Rhythm. I wanted repeating, similar shapes which interlocked. I was heavily inspired by my childhood toys, particularly Lincoln Logs. 

 This second piece is Texture. I approached this as Pattern initially, the focal point...but the piece transformed on its own.

 The third piece is Pattern. I wet equal length pieces of balsa and bent them to create a curve and splits in the wood. Then I used pins to hold them together...I wanted a bridge shape.

 My fourth sculpture is Focal Point.I wanted to stick to basic shapes and play with the idea of balance. This sculpture was intended to look off balance yet remain stable.

Masked Idenity

Assignment:

Through the making of a sculptural head piece and imagery, compose a visual narrative that offers clues to your identity without showing your face. Or you can interpret the term "masked identity" in another way and make sculpture and imagery that conceals your identity.

Use materials that emulate skin and skeleton (trace paper and wire) to construct a head piece.

The constructed head piece needs to cover your face, head and shoulders.

Once the form is complete, video or photograph yourself (or someone else) wearing the form.

Imagery should be meaningful and demonstrate a narrative.

Consider all formal and conceptual components when staging photo/video.

The final solution for this assignment is photography or video.

Upload/post on your class blog.

Objective:

Development of an idea that challenges student to conceive and execute in multiple processes.

Develop visual work with content and meaning significant to the student.

Materials:

Wire, wire cutters, safety glasses, tracing paper, gel medium, brushes, cup with water. 

In-Process Work:

Complete:

Final Composition(s):

Statement:

The masked identity assignment was the most enjoyable and self-expressive project thus far. It allowed me to visually define who I am. I decided to create a dragon mask to represent fantasy, an element of creative idea which holds a great deal of meaning to me. We all imagine wishful things or create wondrous impossibilities within our minds which we desire to make real. For me, the fantasy was quite literally, Fantasy. I lost myself very young in far off worlds held between the pages of a book or within my own mind. Magic, dragons and great quests were but only a few things that held appeal. Soon, that appeal turned into a desire to create, to shape a world beyond imagination. I wanted to write. And so I did…And so I do. The dragon mask represents the fantasy both imagined and kept in the written word. My earliest flights of fantasy, so to speak, were about dragons. My favorite books growing up and still to this day, often include dragons. The dragon to me is a complex and fascinating creature. It can be as small as a flow petal or as large as mountains, some whisper natural magic and others are all forceful strength, but at heart, all are powerful. All have adapted to the world in which contains them. And so I made a dragon mask. 

And so I feel it represents me.

And so, many of my final pictures play on my own vulnerability hidden behind the mask of something stronger…something imagined. A strength found in fantasy.