Final: 3D Planes Cardboard Project “Boundary”

Brainstorming for this project proved to be extremely difficult for me. I felt constrained and unimaginative, creating simple 3D geometric shapes. I tried to think “out of the box” (no pun intended) but I ended up with a bunch of cubes. I decided instead of forcing myself to think of something totally new, I would just roll with what I had and try to make a cube as interesting as possible. Soon the idea hatched to make a cube inside a cube seeming to float in mid-air. So I sketched a plan and went to work.

I wasn’t prepared for the amount of math I had set myself up for. Because I was making each edge of the square its own 3 dimensional rectangle, I had to make some edges shorter than others. After measuring and counting how many sizes of each side I would need for each square, I got to cutting.

Even after checking and rechecking my math, I still managed to write down the wrong number. Instead of making eight 36” boxes to fit with the four 48” boxes to create the big outer box, I accidently made eight 24” boxes. This resulted in a rectangle shape instead of the perfect cube I was going for. Instead of throwing the eight boxes out, I decided to just reduce the 48” boxes down to 36” so the 24” boxes would be the right size to complete the cube.

The next problem I faced was the paper tape I had bought. It was strong enough to bind the smaller box rectangles together, but it was not binding the individual rectangles together to create the entire box. I ended up using almost an entire roll of masking tape to support the box, then covered it in paper tape. Because I am spray painting it black, I will need to cover every edge and open area with tape.

For my last few steps, I need to cover both cubes with the spray paint as well as hang the smaller cube within the bigger cube using clear fishing line I bought.

My original idea was to hang this entire piece from the ceiling to give the whole thing a really weightless feel to go along with the floating cube on the inside, but my plan B is to find a nice, elevated spot outside where  people can get a good view of the floating cube inside of it.

 

My piece is titled Boundaries. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, boundary is defined by the following:

bound·ary

noun \ˈbau̇n-d(ə-)rē\

: something (such as a river, a fence, or an imaginary line) that shows where an area ends and another area begins

: a point or limit that indicates where two things become different

boundaries : unofficial rules about what should not be done : limits that define acceptable behavior

I feel this piece applies to the definitions above because of the material and context within the design. Boundaries have a lot to do with area, as does planes and the use of flat cardboard. Cubes have a very defiant area, but is confused in this piece because of the inner cube. Is this piece all one cube with implied lines, or are they separate cubes? “Unofficial rules about what should and should not be done” can be applied to the concept of physics within the boundaries of the piece. It is not normal or typical behavior for something to appear to defy gravity, therefore it exceeds the boundaries of acceptable behavior.

“Boundaries”

Plaster Project: Non-representational with Void

I do not like wire. I can’t seem to get it to cooperate. I don’t know if it is because I’m not patient enough or if it because I just haven’t had much practice with it, but making a wire frame for my piece was the most difficult part. I went through several different frames to increase the size and try to adjust my techniques, but in the end… I really just prayed that the plaster would do most of the work. I guess one positive thing I could say about the wire was that it created a biomorphic, unsymmetrical kind of appearance which gave my final piece a very interesting shape. I decided my voids would be shown through the spaces between the “legs.” Though most people designed theirs to be more like a “hole” through their piece, I was thinking more about negative space and how it shapes the sculpture as a whole. Void, defined by google, is an unfulfilled space. So I also incorporated a small dip in the center of my piece to evoke the feeling of emptiness. Most people commented on how or what they would fill the space with.

Though wire doesn’t seem to be my thing, plaster was a totally different story. I loved the entire process! Learning how to make the right amount of plaster at the right consistency kept my attention and forced me to really focus on how I was going to smooth this thing out. I found a couple different strategies. First, I discovered if I started out with thin plaster, I could quickly dunk my burlap in and make a general “skin” around the wire frame. Then as it hardened, I just dove my hands into the bucket and started piling it on. After one layer of burlap and many layers of plaster, I eventually covered the entire piece. Though it wasn’t the prettiest, I at least had the entire thing molded out and covered.

My final step was to smooth it out. I knew I wanted it to be smooth, though near the end of the process I started considering other texture ideas. I used a rasp to smooth out the big chunks. After carving away at it for a while, I made my own personal plaster mixture that was SUPER thin. This filled in some of the cracks I over-grated and helped smooth out any little imperfection. After doing this about three or four times, I let my piece dry over the weekend. Then before bringing it to class, I gave it a finally sanding to get it as smooth as possible. Though there were a few spots I could have smoothed out a little more, I think my final piece was pretty good! I was really pleased with the outcome and am interested in making another! I also may try hanging it on a wall; maybe making similar pieces of different sizes and shapes and displaying them all together… like little amoebas clustered together.

[New final photo coming soon!]

Ceramics: Final Stage

 

Before going to class on the first day of our ceramics project, I had read an article about elephants and how they can mourn and comfort each other during a death. This stuck to me because of how many people I have lost in the past few years and how I still feel lost on how to mourn and get over the loss. I have lost my grandpa, my first dog, my good friend, and other relatives all within the past two years. When I look at this elephant, I will not think of just them but know that one day I will look back on their memory and not be sad anymore. I want to learn from the grieving process of the elephants and remember that it is all a part of life.

Though I ended up going through multiple elephants until achieving this final piece, I am happy with my results. I worked very hard on getting the realistic skeletal structure of the elephant’s face to come through as well as the wrinkles and the natural flow of the ears. After making the first one, it was got easier and easier to remake them. I chose to stain my piece with wood polish, and then smudge white acrylic paint over the tusks for a worn, ivory look.

 

As for my vessel, this one came to me as I was creating it. I originally made the tree trunk to be a container for the elephant to sit on, but decided I would keep the elephant a separate piece and go a different route. I then began to build a nest, not sure what I was going to put inside. After layering bits of clay to form the nest, I then debated about whether or not I should put a bird or a few eggs. Then I realized those weren’t my only options… I could put anything in there I want. I relate this piece to myself because often times people who first meet me tell me I am not what they expected me to be like at all… so in order to portray that I filled the nest with cube-shaped eggs. One is cracked and coming out of it one will be surprised to find a fried egg leaking out onto the outer edges of the nest.

 

 

Flawless (Photography and Graphics by Kendra Carper)

 

 

“Line” Design Project: Construction Day

So after frantically trying to gather all my materials, I finally began and nearly finished creating my art piece! This work is totally interactive and the pipes slide in and out so anyone can create their own version. In the photo below, it is missing one tube because it cracked. It will soon be replaced and the entire box will be filled. It was a long, cold day in my garage but with some help from my dad, I completed the construction! Now all I have to do is clean it up and decide on whether I should paint or stain it tomorrow.

Though the design is somewhat simple, making this piece took a lot more consideration than I originally thought. Because I had rendered it out on SolidWorks, it was already scaled out. But because I was using a 1/8 circular saw blade, the loss of 1/8 of material had to be taken into account for the measurements of all of the cuts I made. So if a plank was supposed to be 11.5 inches, I had to add .125 when I measured, knowing that the .125 would be removed in the cutting process. I also had to take into consideration that I did not want the pipes TOO tightly packed so they could easily slide around one another, so I left a small space inside the frame (meaning I made the bottom and top horizontal pieces of wood a tad bit longer than necessary.)  Since it had to fit six pipes across, I measured the diameter of the pipes, multiplied by six, added .125 for material loss, and another small fraction for the extra space.

Another measurement I made included the exact diameter and length of each pipe because though they were supposed to all be the same, there are always going to be some small variation in size. Because my smallest pipe was  almost a half inch smaller than all of the other ones, I had to base our final cut length of pipe off of the smallest pipe.  I only had enough pipes to make the EXACT amount of tubes, so it was crucial I use the pipes in the most efficient way.

(Almost) Finished Piece

Materials

Safety First!

Full Length Pipes and Circular Saw

Pipes

Wood Planks

Cutting the Pipes

The Wooden Frame

Constructing the Wooden Frame

Math

Measuring Pipes

Nils Udo (Research)

Nils Udo is a Bavarian artist that has been working with nature as his main inspiration since 1972. Though he originally began by painting nature, Nils Udo eventually turned to creating site-specific pieces using natural materials. His artworks have appeared all over the world, including Europe, Japan, Israel, India and Mexico.

“By elevating the natural space to a work of art, I had opened myself to reality, to the liveliness of nature – I had overcome the gap between art and life. The roundabout way of two-dimensional abstraction in painting had been overcome. Henceforth my pictures were no longer painted, but planted, watered, mowed, or fenced.”

Bindweed flowers held in their journey on a stream by a stick dam. Reunion, Indian Ocean, 1990

He works on site using found berries, leaves, sticks, the movement of water, and the growth of plants. Each piece is in response to the landscape and materials he finds around him. Nil Udo uses many different ways to create line, whether it be the materials he uses, the placement, or implied lines.

Lava flames–flowers & lava flow, Reunion, IndiaNest in red clay, Clemson College, 2005

Dune Edge: pampas grass, sand, wind –Namibia, 2001STONE-TIME-MAN:  quartzite monolith weighing about 150 tons, fir trunks blown over in storm, Forest Sculpture trail, Wittgenstein-Sauerland, Bad Berleberg, Germany, 2001Robinia Leaf Swing: robinia leaf halved, ash twigs, Valle de Sella, Italy,1992

Willow Nest: pollarded willow, hay, fern stalks, poppy petals, Marchiennes Forest, France, 1994

Nils Udo talks about the rhythm of nature in his art, which correlates with his use of line, circles, and patterns.

The Nest: earth, stones, silver birch, grass; Lineberg Heath,Germany, 1978

“I associated my existence with the cycles of nature, with the circulation of life. Henceforth my life and work proceeded under the guidance and in keeping with the rhythms of nature. Sensations are omnipresent. I just need to pick them up and release them from their anonymity. Utopias are under every rock, on every leaf, behind every tree, in the clouds and in the wind. The sun’s course on the days of equinox; the tiny habitat of a beetle on a lime leaf; the pointed maple’s red fire; the scent of herbs in a wooded gorge; a frog’s croak in the duckweed; the primrose’s perfume on the banks of a mountain creek; animal traces in the snow; the remaining trajectory of a bird darting through the woods; a gust of wind in a tree; the dancing of light on leaves; the endlessly complex relationship of branch to branch, twig to twig, leaf to leaf.”

Waterhouse: spruce trunks, birch branches, willow switches and sod on tidal flats– Waddensee mudflats, Holland, 1982

I find Nils Udo’s work to be very inspirational. His techniques and statements about his own work show there are a lot more to site-specific art and installations than just the final piece. It takes a lot of pre-planning and patience to reach his final goals. While his use of line and volume is apparent, Udo’s work is influential to more than just my next project (based on lines.) His reflections and explanations about his work show how every part of the work was planned out and given meaning. He also has a varied use of media and was able to transition from painting to earth sculptures on a much larger scale. His transformation is something he is very aware of, and has documented not only the change within his art, but within his mind as he views the world.

http://www.morning-earth.org/ARTISTNATURALISTS/AN_Nils_Udo.html