LAB 01: Object Analysis WORKSHEET 

Complete 1 worksheet for each object (all worksheets are in this document). You may respond to the questions below with text and/or images.

Object #1

• Name the object:

Beer Can

• Describe the object (size, colour, material, handmade, manufactured, etc.):

Made of aluminum, discoloured mostly yellow Coors beer can, about 5 inches long in it’s crumpled shape. Mass manufactured.

• What is the intended function(s) of the object:

To carry bear. To be a social lubricant. To be one of many cans of beer or other forms of alcohol which signify an ability to consume large amounts of liquid poison.

• What is the cultural context of the object?

(What era was it made? Is there a geographical connection? Is there a connection to gender, class, or a culture? Is the object taboo, a banal everyday item, or sacred, etc?)

Its a contemporary era beverage attached to North American culture. It can be found as a common and cheap  “Canadian” or “American” alcoholic beverage. I would say it’s associated with middle aged men, lower class, and more rural culture. To those who are higher class or live in cities where there is a strong culture of smaller batch niche beers of arguably greater quality, this would be considered more taboo to drink.

• Do you have a personal connection to the object?

(Does the object conjure a memory, symbol, or reaction for you on a personal level?)

I used to drink a lot when I was a teenager and in my 20s. Almost two years ago I stoped drinking for health reasons. Coors was something I would commonly see my dad drinking. I found this empty crumpled can on the beach while I was enjoying the pristine beauty of the place I was in.

• Name the ways the object can be manipulated? (Broken, wrapped, filled, burned, stitched, etc.)

It can be crumbled, torn into smaller strips of aluminum, charred, and wrapped, or painted.

• Mental Associations 1: Name three (3) things/elements that have a commonality or similarity to this object.

Pubs, dads, trucks.

•  Mental Associations 2: Name three (3) things/elements that are opposite or in contrast to this object.

Craft breweries, ballets, authentic connection.

Object #2

• Name the object:

Tim Hortons cup

• Describe the object (size, colour, material, handmade, manufactured, etc.):

Manufactured, red and white, paper with plastic lining for waterproofing, approx 9 inches tall and 4 inches in diameter at top.

• What is the intended function(s) of the object:

To carry hot beverages, to be a symbol of Canadian identity, and when full, to be a comfort on a cold day.

• What is the cultural context of the object?

(What era was it made? Is there a geographical connection? Is there a connection to gender, class, or a culture? Is the object taboo, a banal everyday item, or sacred, etc?)

Contemporary era (within last 100 years) Tim Hortons as a business has been a symbol of Canadian identity, despite the fact that it is no longer a Canadian company. It’s considered a lower class, coffee company as it produces fast, convenient food and beverages, in an unpersonalised way.

• Do you have a personal connection to the object?

(Does the object conjure a memory, symbol, or reaction for you on a personal level?)

I used to love drinking Tim Hortons drinks as a teenager/in my 20s. When the company sold out and lost their patent on the coffee beans they used and made them famous, the quality/taste was greatly reduced. Recently the UN published a report that stated Tim Hortons was a company among a rising trend of Canadian businesses (or companies located in Canada) that were considered to be enacting contemporary slavery by the means in which they pay, treat, and blackmail their staff into working for them. Often threatening deportation if staff go public with the poor wages and conditions.

• Name the ways the object can be manipulated? (Broken, wrapped, filled, burned, stitched, etc.)

Ripped, crumpled, painted, burned, stitched, filled, wrapped.

• Mental Associations 1: Name three (3) things/elements that have a commonality or similarity to this object.

Coffee, tea, hockey

•  Mental Associations 2: Name three (3) things/elements that are opposite or in contrast to this object.

Paris, old growth forests, saunas

Object #3

• Name the object:

Starbucks cup

• Describe the object (size, colour, material, handmade, manufactured, etc.):

White with green logo, image of a woman/mermaid with two tails as the logo and a star overhead, about 10 inches tall and 4 inches in diameter. Manufactured.

• What is the intended function(s) of the object:

To hold hot beverages, to be a symbol of relative esteem. To be a comfort when filled with a hot beverage on a cold day.

• What is the cultural context of the object?

(What era was it made? Is there a geographical connection? Is there a connection to gender, class, or a culture? Is the object taboo, a banal everyday item, or sacred, etc?)

Starbucks is considered local to Seattle but became a massive company that is now well known and can be found around the world. It’s known to be a higher class coffee shop with often expensive drinks. It’s beverages change with the seasons and with other popular trends. It is slightly more personalized as often staff will write the name of the customer on the cups. I imagine its more associated with women. Its common place and can often be found at meetings or in corporate settings due to its mass production and association with higher quality “fast food” style coffee.

• Do you have a personal connection to the object?

(Does the object conjure a memory, symbol, or reaction for you on a personal level?)

When I was a teenager I justed to spend ever lunch hour walking down a busy street in victoria, about a 10-15 min walk, to spend most of my allowance on a fancy drink. The look and esteem of holding a starbucks cup, and more so often holding the cup, was associated with higher status and capital given the drinks were often $5-$10. As I grew older I disassociated with the brand and its mass production and dominance of the market. Now, I prefer more locally owned boutique coffee shops where I can source the quality of coffee and the know my barista.

• Name the ways the object can be manipulated? (Broken, wrapped, filled, burned, stitched, etc.)

Ripped, crumpled, painted, burned, stitched, filled, wrapped.

• Mental Associations 1: Name three (3) things/elements that have a commonality or similarity to this object.

Pumpkins, Halloween, vanilla

•  Mental Associations 2: Name three (3) things/elements that are opposite or in contrast to this object.

Trailer parks, Local businesses, activism

Object #4

• Name the object:

Laniard (TedX Victoria)

• Describe the object (size, colour, material, handmade, manufactured, etc.):

Black fabric, long, with writing that is red and white stating “TedX Victoria”. Metal connection point/ clasp at the end to attached to a name tag or key chain. 

• What is the intended function(s) of the object:

To attached a name tag or key around the neck.

• What is the cultural context of the object?

(What era was it made? Is there a geographical connection? Is there a connection to gender, class, or a culture? Is the object taboo, a banal everyday item, or sacred, etc?)

Contemporary, globally used at corporate functions and events, No gender association, often branded with event name and sponsors.

• Do you have a personal connection to the object?

(Does the object conjure a memory, symbol, or reaction for you on a personal level?)

I got this laniard at a Ted Talk, my first in person ted talk, I’ve ever attended. It was a one year anniversary event I went to with my boyfriend at the time. I use it to keep track of my keys.

• Name the ways the object can be manipulated? (Broken, wrapped, filled, burned, stitched, etc.)

Cut, wrapped, burned, sticked, painted.

• Mental Associations 1: Name three (3) things/elements that have a commonality or similarity to this object.

Corporate events, speakers, intellectual persuits

•  Mental Associations 2: Name three (3) things/elements that are opposite or in contrast to this object.

Trailer parks, Macdonalds, rivers

Object #5

• Name the object:

Dead bumble bee

• Describe the object (size, colour, material, handmade, manufactured, etc.):

1 cm x 2 cm x 1 cm, fuzzy black and yellow, organic, small, delicate/fragile, legs are a bit sticky

• What is the intended function(s) of the object:

To be a living creature with inherent value. To live in a colony as part of a society. To pollinate plants among many other incredible ecosystem functions unknown to me!

• What is the cultural context of the object?

(What era was it made? Is there a geographical connection? Is there a connection to gender, class, or a culture? Is the object taboo, a banal everyday item, or sacred, etc?)

Short lifespan but has been around since the era of flowering plants (assumption) in the Jurassic period. Often a symbol of healthy fertile farmlands. No gender association. Becoming more rare. Could also be associated with naturalistic or more environmentally inclined or food inclined communities.

• Do you have a personal connection to the object?

(Does the object conjure a memory, symbol, or reaction for you on a personal level?)

About a year and a half ago I attended a meadow making course, designed to help local people create and restore native meadow ecosystems. Learning about bees and pollinators, especially native bees, was an important part of the course.

• Name the ways the object can be manipulated? (Broken, wrapped, filled, burned, stitched, etc.)

Crushed, wrapped, burned

• Mental Associations 1: Name three (3) things/elements that have a commonality or similarity to this object.

Honey, honeycombes, flowers

•  Mental Associations 2: Name three (3) things/elements that are opposite or in contrast to this object.

Industrial revolution, Pesticides, outer space

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Mash Up Brainstorm

Mash Up Objects

Mash Up Narrative Stories

The itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again
As she climbed up to the light, she lost her sight of friends
Entangled in the web of community threads
The web became the trap, false stories in the end.

Growing up I always felt a sense of separation from the world around me. Never seemed to truly fit in. Friends didn’t feel genuine. Most of life seemed like wearing a masque – just trying to fit in. Then, in grade 11, I took the class “Comparative Civilizations” where I was exposed to the works of Plato and Aristotle. For some reason, their questions around the meaning of life and suffering made me feel like I wasn’t alone. It gave me a sense of relief. For the first time I felt a sense of closeness with others through s questioning ideas. I began to associate the sharing of ideas with a sense of belonging, and community.

The best laid plans fail. Better to embrace the messiness of it all. Breath deep and smile at the wisdom imparted.

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Assemblage Project Brainstorm

Idea 1: Crushed can connection

Concept idea: drawing on the work of Pat Perry for inspiration where in his painting he has an image of two humans looking at a peacock covering their faces with large cutout signs of human faces. Drawing on this theme of representing humans with objects, I would create two humans in conversation, perhaps sitting at a table, but their shapes would be made of crushed cans. Leaving space to see through the forms to create a sense of hollowness in the imagery. This would show the way that this society way of building connection is hollow and doesn’t truly represent the humans engaging one another, but rather an image of the person. To incorporate another object of “assemblage” they could be holding an object?

Idea 2: Tim Hortons cup – disposable people

• Inspiration: UN Report on modern slavery
• Engagement idea: place art outside Tim Hortons with petition
• Concept:
  • Idea 1: Create Tim Hortons disposable cup overflowing with molasses, with objects of value becoming stuck in the overflowing sticky dark substance. representations/symbols of humans/humanity, human rights, inclusivity etc.
  • Idea 2: Create a large human form (at least twice the size of an actual human) out of paper cups. Drawing inspiration from Tara Donavan, use every day object to create larger than life representation of another image. In this case, the red and white cup of the Tim Hortons in the shape of a human being shackled/in bondage. Communicating the ways we are creating slavery through late stage capitalistic approaches and disposing of the humans, like the disposable cup

Idea 3: Web of connection: exploring context for community

• Concept:
  • Exploring what community means in our modern society. How do we build authentic connection in artificial environments. How do build trust and connection and a sense of shared identity in a way that is authentic, in a world that is wrought with inauthenticity.
  • Starting with the frame of a embroidery hoop, start to create a spiders web that then extends beyond the frame of the hoop and grows into the surrounding space. Using fabrics woven from symbols that represent connection like brand name clothing, lanyards from conference events like TedX, shoe laces, and other woven materials that can be deconstructed to make an entanglement of webbing. Within this webbing, objects representing self, personhood and authetic relating are entangled within the web, caught up and separated in space through the context of the web in which is it is held

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Artist Research – Tara Donavan

Research Project: Tara Donavan

1. Where were they born? Where did they grow up? Where do they live now? Where did they study art? Or are they self-taught?
   • Born in 1969 in Queens, NY, Donovan received her BFA from the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington D.C. and her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. (source: https://www.artnet.com/artists/tara-donovan/)
2. What kind of art do they make?
   • a contemporary American artist best known for her site-specific installations. Employing disposable materials such as Scotch tape, toothpicks, drinking straws, and Styrofoam cups, she creates forms resembling biological masses. “It is not like I’m trying to simulate nature. It’s more of a mimicking of the way of nature, the way things actually grow,” the artist’s said. (source: https://www.artnet.com/artists/tara-donovan/)

‘Untitled (Plastic Cups)’ is photographed at Jupiter Artland, a sculptural garden and art gallery close to Edinburgh.

1. What are the formal aspects of their work (size, colour, materials, texture, value, composition, genre, style, etc)?
   • Composed of 500,000 plastic cups
   • Stacking cups in varying heights to create geographical landscape taking up a large portion of the gallery space
   • Plastic cups are white and translucent and neatly arranged into a rectangular border shape drawing the eye to the top of the cups where the varying depths of stacked cups mimc mountains and valleys, flowing water, or cloud cover.
   • The repetition of the simple one-type of cup emphasized the shape and scale
   • Taking up a large portion of the room, the structure creates a sense of mass, from an object that is nearly massless until holding a liquid. In this way she’s taken an object that holds liquid and has turned it into a representation of liquid, perhaps in the shape of a cloud (vapour) or the waves of a body of water.
2. How do these formal aspects affect how you “read” the artwork?
   • I see a juxtaposition of a disposable or “throw away” cup into an object of value and significants (weather patterns, water, land)
   • I see the juxtaposition of something transparent and hollow into something that is massive and substantial
   • These juxtapositions make the viewer (myself) consider how the repetition of an object, and the careful consideration of that object can transforms its meaning and significance. I’m also struck thought of so many cups being discarded and through the knowledge that many throw-away objects find their ways into bodies of water as pollutants, I imagine the artist is drawing attention to the impact that has on our environment.
3. What materials and methods might they be using to make these works?
   • She’s stacking the cups at various heights to create a realistic geographical form.
   • I imagine she mights be using a software program to measure the heights of a desired subject mater and then taking the measurements of the cups she might be able to mathematically equate the number of cups.
   • I image she might also set down a grid to match the digital image and calculation into the physical space of the room to help with the construction of the body of the work.
4. What emotions does the work elicit for you?
   • I feel a sense of awe and wonder
   • A sense of airy, lightness
5. What ideas does the work cultivate, or questions does the work ask you to consider?
   • How can I flip the meaning of an object i.e. from empty to full, from something that holds to something that is held, from something that is disposable to something that is essential
6. Is there anything about this artist’s work that interests you? What and why? If not, can you articulate why that is? What is missing for you?
   • I am interested in the impact of utilizing common objects and creating new meaning through repetition.
   • I’m also impressed by the sense of scale and beauty that she can elicit from otherwise mundane and smaller objects
   • Normally I’m attracted to works that utilizing colour and have a range of diversity in the works, but Tara Donavan is found another way to entice the eye through her choice of subject matter and assemblage.
7. Is there anything about this artist’s work that you can carry over into your own art practice? What in particular?
   • I’d like to incorporate the repetition and play with scale

https://www.artnet.com/artists/tara-donovan/)

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Oblique Strategies – by Ash

1. Change the scale
2. Repeat an element of the work. Do it again.
3. Stop and write a poem about the work (so far)

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Appropriation Video

• Appropriation: artists using pre-existing objects.
  • Borrowing, copying and altering images and/or objects that already exist
  • “visual sampling”
  • Existed throughout art history and in music, fashion, tv, film, advertising
  • art is “mimesis” – Mimesis is the process of imitation or mimicry
• plato defined art as an imitation of the visible world
• Copying is a useful way of training. Students are often encouraged to do so.
• Mimicry can also be used as a tool to encourage the ready to notice the differences

Recontextualization:

• To appropriate is to take possession of something
• Appropriate artists what the view to recognize the images they copy
• They hope the viewer will bring all of their associations with the image/object
• The deliberate “borrowing” of an image for a new context is called “recontextualisation.

Appropriate: to make or make use without authority or right: about originality/stealing, ownership, and originality

Surrealism: shocking or challenging peoples existing ideas of an object

Dadaism: uses satire to open social dialogue on politics of the time

Cultural Appropriation:

• taking over of creative or artistic forms, themes, or practices by one cultural group from another
• Does not include sharing of culture
• often reflects. a racialised power imbalance between two cultures and connotes cultural exploitation and dominance
• Disregards the sacred meanings and stories associated with those practices or items that are taken. It separates people, their history, lived experience and cultural symbols.

Cultural jamming: is a tactic to disrupt media culture and mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. Also referred to as “subvertising” satirizing media and branding. Eg. Coke Salish by Sonny Assu okay because it is a marginalized group utilizing imagery from a big corporation? and satirical? could coca cola not sue for that?

Mash Up : an end product that integrates elements from two or more sources

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Assemblage Project Work in Process

Adjusting scale and expectations: as I worked to gather my materials to start construction of my project, I realized that building a human-scale figure fully equip with tim hortons cups is perhaps a bit overzealous. Plus, the idea of having it ready to stage outside, potentially in the rain, added another layer to my concerns. How would it be weather proof? How could I ensure the structural integrity. After several meetings with Jeff as we explored different materials I could use (tie rods, chicken wire, aluminum mesh) I came to the conclusion that going small would perhaps result in a better project. I wondered if instead of building a form from scratch, I could use a mannequin. I searched marketplace and found this half faced form for $10.

Building form: After considering my discussion with Jeff on how to create form with metal materials, I decided some good old fashioned paper and packing tape and paper mache might be the most realistic. I began building out the form using packing tape an newsprint paper from recyclable drawing sketches to complete the rest of the head.

I had the idea that the mache form needed to separate from the mannequin, but I hadn’t worked with paper mache since elementary school so I watched probably 6 of videos on YouTube and asked Perplexity AI how to keep it easy to separate my form from the mannequin. The solution was plastic wrap. I watched other videos on how to make a paper mache clay with drywall joint compound and even adding cement to make it waterproof, but decided I’d keep that in mind for a future project. Plus, I seriously considered the health impacts of using drywall paste with my bare hands and un-ventilated bachelor suite.

Completion of paper mache: After 5 layers, several podcasts, and my Friday night, I had completed my form. While layering I took notes from ideas that came up. This is when I had the idea of using the UN Special report as the paper mache skin for my structure. I also noticed that using the paper mache strips in certain directions created interesting lines on my form. For example, I could create a collar, hair, and even emphasize the eyes and contours of the face.

How to incorporate the cup: I wasn’t sure just yet, so I decided to play with the scale: I did some brainstorming here (captured in images above) with the cup on the head, and a super large cup. I was worried the cup on the head might make it look like a hat and look more like fashion than what I was trying to communicate. So, I decided to go with scale. I spoke with Jeff on how to create a larger cup, one that would be larger than the mannequin head, he recommended using a garbage can! At first I thought that was a great idea, I could chain the head by the collar to the garbage can cup and it would be dripping with meaning. But after deeper reflection, I worried about how associating Canada with a garbage bin might be offensive and how I was going to source and paint a garbage bin, after my landlady said I couldn’t use hers. So back to the drawing board.

Calling a friend: It was important to me that the work has a social impact, one that inspires people to take action, instead of harming anyone. As I reflected on my project a growing knot occured to me. Was I effectively calling a group of racialized people slaves? How do they feel about that? Is it appropriate that I make this statement as a priveleged white woman? Was I going too far? These felt like important questions to me, so I decided to share my idea with my roommate who is an immigrant from Columbia. It garnered a fantastic conversation and while she said the concept did make her uncomfortable, she felt that she’d learned a lot from our conversation already and encouraged me to go forward with it. I appreciated that feedback but she was only one person, so I decided to reach out to my friend Luis who is more politically active, I knew he’d have a more nuanced perspective on the idea. We spoke the next morning on the phone and I shared my concept idea. I told him about the chains, the collar, the UN report and my most recent idea: a glimmer of hope, and the Tim Hortons cup that started it all. He encouraged me to go forward. He said it was important white people raise these conversations too and that the use of Tim Hortons was perfect since it’s often a huge source of pride to drink and go to Tim Hortons as newly landed immigrants.

Lobotomy part 1: Part of my considerations also had me wondering was how I could add some lightness to the piece. Even with my friends’ blessings it was still heavy content. I wanted to reflect the hope that immigrants have when choosing to come to Canada. I decided to see if I could quite literally add light to the areas behind the eyes, as a “glimmer of hope”, the light within that keeps people working hard, despite the risks and the abuse. At first I thought I could add this from the back of the head, but then realized that there was too much stuffing and it would be more efficient to go from the front.

Lobotomy part 2: After cutting open the eyes with a flap, that the 5 layers of paper were too thick to show the light through. So, I’d need to re-paper mache that area with a thiner layer to allow the light to come through. Plus, the lights I ended up buying were not remote operated, so I needed to wait to seal the eye final eye until I could be sure that I could turn on the lights without it running out of battery before the critique.

Staging: In the meantime, I could still decide on what to do with cups and how to tie it in. So I played with repetition and stacking, drawing inspiration from Tara Donavan. At this point, I’d been collecting Tim Hortons cups for a while, and I’d even posted on the Comox Valley Neighbours Facebook page to see if anyone had any cups they could donate and one lady had 12! I thought about stacking them like a pyramid, a commentary on capitalism, or like bars – like being inprisioned. And settled on a bit of both, creating bar-like structures with the biggest cups on the top (like the big corporations or the rich).

Collar detail: Jeff and I spoke about the collar a while back and I set up a time to work on this. I decided I wanted to have the collar removable, to represent that the collar can be removed, with the right action. used a piece of thin sheet metal, measured it, and drileld wholes in it, used some nuts and bolts, and part of a locker lock. It came together beautifully! Now for perhaps the most important part: the lock and key! I had a pencil case in mind, painted it white as a primer, then we also drilled holes in that and then shaved it into a wide slit so I could attach it to collar.

Organic: I figured that the white paper of the UN report would feel a bit off. I wanted it to look more organic, like skin. So, I did some research online to see how I might be able to accomplish that and decided on a coffee wash! I made a fresh batch of paper mache with coffee instead of hot water and got the effect above. It looked a bit un-even, so I tried to add more coffee but it mostly looked translucent. So, I added a brown wash with some acrylic. It still doesn’t have the exact look I was hoping for, but it would have to do. I want to note here that reading, printing, and selecting the words from the UN report and news articles to go on the paper mache brought up a lot of emotions for me. It made me feel sick to read again and again that people were being abused in such ways. Everything in my body tells me its wrong to treat people this way and I need to do something about it.

Petition set up: and that something was through political pressure. That’s my conditioning anyway. From the beginning I wanted to incorporate a petition, so now I had some considerations to make. Was there an existing petition out there I could add to? Should I start a house of commons petition? If so, I’d need 500 petition signatures to have my petition read aloud in the house of commons. Who would read it? What politician would sponsor it? So, I did some research. I couldn’t find a petition that was active that was robust enough. I wanted the petition to enact ALL the recommendations set forth in the UN report, not just one stop-gap solution that doesn’t address the systemic issues. So, I did research on how to set up my own mycommons.ca petition, researched who the minister/critique of citizenship and immigration on a federal level, emailed my local MP and Jenny Kwan, and asked her to be the MP sponsor for my petition. She emailed me back a very thorough letter which inspired some of the wording for my petition. Then I needed 5 people to say they’d support my petition to allow it to be active, so I reached out to 9 people to be safe and submitted my petition in the format the House of Common requires for such things. Petition e-5167 was approved and now I’m just waiting for it to be translated to french and published online! I also made some print versions so I could have something in class in case it wasn’t ready in time.

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Assemblage final project

“The United Nations Spilled the Beans”

Intention statement:

The intention of this piece is to draw attention to, and action on Canada’s abuse of migrant workers as outlined in the recent United Nations report on “contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences”. According to the Report written by Tomoya Obokata, received reports of migrant workers in Canada experiencing physical abuse, wage theft, threats of deportation for asserting their rights, overcrowded and undignified housing, debt bondage, lack of measures to report abuses without risk of losing their status, lack of affordable health care, lack of adequate PPE, and inter-jurisdictional neglect.

I chose to paper mache the UN report to the skin of the model along with subsequent newspaper articles about the report, to create a new opportunity for viewers to “read the news” in a way that may be more enticing and evoke emotion and action. The collar around the neck of the model represents our bondage to big corporations, and those who are abusing human rights.

I chose to use the Tim Hortons cup in this piece because it is an emblem of our nationhood – with its red and white cup and markings of the maple leaf – and a symbol of hope to many who immigrate to Canada to work or live in a country that is fair and free of the human rights abuses. The irony is that these abuses occur here too, and that Tim Hortons is guilty of these abuses. However, unlike in other countries we operate under a functioning democracy that allows residents to speak out against these atrocities and make positive changes.

For that reason, attached to the collar, disguised as a lock, is a pencil sharpener with the key to free ourselves from the bondage of the power imbalance that leads to contemporary forms of slavery. The key is a pencil, ready to use on a nearby petition.

Watching the videos online about touch and hand holding really struck me the power of the connection of two people who are closely connected. Especially that of partners and the inability to distinguish between pain/shock from one partner or the other when examining the brain. I think this speaks volumes to the concept of compassion. The etymology of the word “compassion” comes from the latin route translating to “com” or “communal” and “passion” or “suffering”. I think that that is the beauty of relationships, we are able to share in the joys and the suffering and in doing so we are able to balance, like a scale, the intensities of life.

For this project I knew I wanted to do the special handshake that me and my partner have. One the second date with my partner, we made a very strange promise to one another. I’m not sure where it came from, but we promised each other that if one of us dies first that we would haunt the other. We went to pinky promise, and then organically, we held the pinkies and touched thumbs.

Then later, we were having one of our first more “hard” conversations, and I told him about John and Julie Gottman’s research on lasting relationships. They found that those partners that had utilized what they called “bids for connection” lasted longer. A “bid for connection” is a sign to the other partner, especially when they are in an argument or feelings are tense, that they remain connected with them. These bids for connection can defuse the tension and remind each other about the love and compassion at the centre of the relationship. As my partner and I reflected on this, we wondered what would be our agreed upon “bid for connection”. We quickly decided that it would be our organic pink promise with thumbs touching that we came up with on our second date.

I wanted to do create a 3D model of this handshake, as a reminder of our connection and commitment to one another. However, when it came time for the pour, our hands wouldn’t fit, at bucket angle, without our hands touching the edge of the bucket. So, we quickly got creative and decided to do a rose shaped embrace.

This semester I chose roses and snakes as my subject matter of choice. Rose embrace felt like a way we could connect to that symbol of love, Denis’ favourite flower, passion, and connection. My partner has been a big part of this semester for me. We met on new years, and by the end of the semester we are living together. So it felt important that this project include him.

I really enjoyed the texture and detail portrayed through the alginate and hydrocal material. I’d like to continue to work with this material for that reason. What I didn’t like about the material was the waste. The alginate was all wasted. So I did some research, with the help of ChatGPT on some alternatives that are less wasteful and this is what I found:

🌿 More Sustainable Alternatives to Alginate

1. Reusable Silicone Molds

• Material: Skin-safe platinum-cure silicone (like Smooth-On’s Body Double or EcoFlex).
• Pros: Can be reused many times, captures excellent detail, totally skin-safe.
• Cons: Initial cost is higher, and you usually still need a container or base mold to hold it.

✨ Best for artists who want to do multiple casts or variations from the same mold.

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2. Gelatin-Based Mold Material

• Material: Food-grade gelatin mixed with glycerin and water.
• Pros: Skin-safe, biodegradable, can be remelted and reused a few times.
• Cons: Less detailed than alginate, sensitive to heat/humidity.

🍮 Feels a bit like edible art science. Might be a fun experimental route!

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3. Agar-Agar Casting Gel

• Material: Seaweed-derived, often used in food.
• Pros: Vegan, biodegradable, skin-safe, can be remelted a few times like gelatin.
• Cons: Like gelatin, it doesn’t capture detail quite as well as alginate or silicone.

🌱 Good for eco-conscious artists who don’t mind some texture loss.

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4. Compostable Alginates (Experimental/Pro-Level)

Some artists and labs are experimenting with DIY alginate-like mixtures using materials like:

• Kelp powder
• Cornstarch
• Bentonite clay

These are very DIY and often require trial-and-error but could be part of a project that’s more process-focused or experimental.

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♻️ Reducing Waste with Alginate

If you still want to work with alginate sometimes:

• Use the smallest mold container possible.
• Reuse support materials like containers or stabilizers.
• Compost any leftover alginate (some brands are more biodegradable than others—check labels).

3D Print

For this project I wanted to keep the work fairly straight forward since I knew that a majority of my time would be focused on my metal work project – the reason I signed up for this course! So, I decided that I would reuse and refine my polycam scan from laster semester: “joyouse flare”. However, the Angela was sure to clarify that she wanted a full model to be staged for photography and the group exhibition, so I needed to add a bottom half to my scan which was from the waste up. She mentioned I could be emerging from something. So I reflected on this and came up with the idea of emerging from a box. This “ASH in a box” idea felt aligned for me, because this model was originally about overcoming my mental blocks and mindset. And, like most “jack in a box” they come out joyous and playful. So I decided to explore this idea further.

At the time of working on this project I was exploring next steps in my schooling and career and was very excited to discover and expressive arts therapy program. However, my best option to following this pathway was to follow up on my father’s commitment to support me financially in pursuing a masters program. However, after broaching the subject with him I realised a diploma in expressive arts therapy was not aligned with his vision for my academic and career potential. It was a frustrating few days, feeling the pinch of the patriarchy and the power that it has over my future. I decided to use this project as an opportunity to express and manifest my breaking free from that confinement. So, I added the face of an unidentified male.

While designing the model I really liked the tree supports that were created. It added another element to the design that felt connected to nature. It seemed powerful. But unfortunately during the printing process the technitian removed the tree supports and the result were the 3D model printing above.

After priming the model I felt a bit stuck on what to do for the painting. I thought about the box being like a black box. Mysterious, difficult to define, much like the patriarchy. But what about the lid, and the top of the box that I’m emerging from?

I reflected on this some more and thought about the women breaking through the glass ceiling. The sky above like a beacon of opportunity, of light. And the invisible glass somehow always keeping them from reach. Well not here!

Photographing this model brought a whole new element to this project that was unexpected. Exploring the environment and looking for settings that would align with my work. I decided that since I’m breaking free, I would choose a location that was one of my favourites: Miracle beach provincial park. I found that the charcol, the muddy swamp, the dark caverns below the roots made for dark places to emerge from. The trees tops, the blue sky, the meadows, and the mossy greens made beautiful places to emerge into. It made me reflect on the balance of dark and light in our natural environment and the importance of that struggle and balance.

Metalworking – Making a Monster

I knew right from the beginning of this project what I wanted to create. My idea came to me when I was travelling in Uganda in December. I saw an image of a Pheonix made of cardboard at the bar of the Hostel we were staying at. I had an idea of making a larger than life wing, so that someone could take refuge underneath it. I wanted to make a nook, like the sort of space a child would go when it was hiding or any sort of small cozy place. It would be big enough for one maybe two people to go, but the idea was that you’d feel safe and held. It would be called “under my wing”.

I remember telling my idea to the bartender, we mused about how we could do it. There are lots of spaces made of sheet metal in Uganda. So, using sheet metal was an easy conclusion. I knew that I wanted it to feel cosy on the inside, but hard and protective on the outside. So maybe metal on the outside and cardboard or felt on the inside?

One thing was for certain, I need to first learn how to work with metal, and start with a project that was smaller and more managable for my first try. My first iteration would be a proptotype of sorts, so I could learn about what materials would be best and how to assemble it.

I looked up so imaes of wings, different feather shapes and then decided I would make a frame. I asked for advice from a more experienced metal worker in the program and he recommeneded I layer the feathers like roofing shingles; starting from the bottom and working my way to the top.

First I started by sanding some steel rods that Jeff gave me. I hand standed with steel wool it and used a vice to hold the rods in place while I sanded it with a strap of sand paper. When the rod was nice and shiny, we cut the steel rods to an appoximate sized based on a sketch I’d done on the cement. I measured the sketch with some rope, and then measured the rope to get an approximate length of the wing. I did this for all 3 sides of the wing. Then I bent them, welded them together, and measured more supports for the inside of the whing where I could attached the feathers. I used the bench grinder to soften the edges of the rods to avoid any dangerously sharp edges while I was doing the measuring, bending and and joining.

Once I’d completed the frame, I moved onto the feathers. I got a big piece of sheet metal from Jeff. Sanded it down, then used soap stone to draw out my feather shapes based on my research for different feather sizes. Then I laser cut them to size. As I was doing this all, I realized I had a lot of feathers, and really a wing is made up of many feathers. So perhaps this sheltering wing that I was trying to make wasn’t about the protective force of one being, but many. What if each feather represented another person in my life who had helped or protected me in some way?

That idea felt true to me. So I decided that I could name the person on the feather. I would engrave their names with a dremmel. But while I was dremelling the first name, my mom’s name, I wondered about engraving a design on the top side of the feather too. I played around with the design and immediately loved it. I knew I wanted make the centre line of the feather somehow, and I’d found that using the dremel to engrave the line was effective. What I didn’t know was that adding each additional line and adding curves and spirals too it would look so beautiful and feel so medatative as well. So I decided I’d do so with each feather.

This took the majority of time! There were proabably 40 feathers or so on this single wing. At the start it was slow. But after trying a few different dremmel bits and getting lots of practice, I was able to do the wings quite quickly by the end of it.

After Jeff saw me using my hands and gravity to try and hold the feather in place to get any idea of the look and how many feathers I would need, he suggested using magnets to hold the feathers in place. He found some and that worked super effective.

At this point i was really enjoying the process and I started wondering about other local artists and where I might be able to do more metal work after the class finished. I looked up a few art studios and makers spaces but none of them offered metal working spaces. Then I wondering about connected with a local artist who might be willing to share his space and perhaps be the mentor I was looking to replicate with the project. My favourite local artist discovered was Lowe Tide Design. His bird is pictured below. I sent him an email through his website but never head back. But I followed him on social media. I’ll reach out again and see if there is an opportunity to check out his workshop later!

I went back a few times to make more feathers and continue to dreamel the design and the names on each one. Eventually I was able to start welding the feathers to the frame. I tack welded each and tried my best to layer the feathers so that they wouldn’t show the connecting points. After doing a layer or two, I’d flip the wing and tack weld the back to add additional connection points. The last weld at the top of the wing showed the welding points because there was nothing on top to hide the connection points. I tried to smooth the edges but this was proving difficult with the dremmel bits. Angela and Jeff suggested putting something protective on the edge to avoid anyone getting poked from the display. So I went and bought some pipe insulator from Home Depot. In the photo below the yellow stick tape still shows the connection point. I didn’t remove it because I wanted to see if I could paint it to make it look nicer.

For the display I bought 1/16 steel wire and used some clamps to create loops either end. Then I used S hooks to connect the wing to the metal frame that is attached to a pully system from the ceiling. Fortunately this was already in place so all I had to focus on was the connecting points. With some help measure and holding the wing I was able to do this in about 2 hours. Then I took a stool home and spray painted it place so It could be in the display. Here people can sit under the wing, or rest the wing on their shoulder and feel it’s weight.

Below pictured are some other great ideas and works made by classmates for this project!

Research Project – Unit 1

Yuki Nakamura

I like these examples from Yuki Nakamura as inspiration for our ceramic frame project. Both of them provide a lot of texture and communicate a landscape idea. While both of them would need to be flattened for the unit 1 project, I think that the 3D shapes would still communicate in the 3D form. I’d like to explore using these in my project.

I like the way that the following piece by Yuki Nakamura utilizes a simple shape. I’ve been noticing how much I’ve been drawn to a specific form – a snake – and this is a reminder that sometimes simple can still provide an incredibly beautiful.

Chrostopher Locke (cast/altered familiars/editions of multiples)

What I like about Christopher Locke’s work is the humorous presentation. This idea of using the descriptions as a way to. add humour to the design is a fun concept. This approach changes the tone of how I read the work. The subject matter now seems like a commentary on the how ridiculously fast our technological field is advancing,

Mischer’Traxler

Curiosity Cloud: I like the Mischer’Traxler’s idea of documenting the natural world and bringing it into modern spaces. Somehow the contrast of organic objects, like insects, incased in glass bulbs both shows the preciousness of the insects and a sense of of separation from the natural world and the human world – which was once natural. I like the idea of separation and closeness and the repetition of the glass bulbs.

Micher’Taxlers’ reversed volumes: a collection of bowls that captures the imprint
of real fruits or vegetables, is a practical, colourful and celebratory of the foods that form us. I love the idea of imprinting foods. I wonder if I could apply this method to create a human form, furthering this concept as food being an essential building block to human life: you are what you eat! So eat well!

Sharon Pazner (familiars/altered/casting – related material (cement)

Sharon Pazner’s work below brings simple objects to life. The heart and the gears feel potent. I’m reading it as a commentary on the way that hearts (and minds) change with time. simply connecting two familiar but perhaps contrasting (metal gears with organic heart) creates a curiosity that leads to storytelling. Then there are the houses. The middle image of the house connected by nails brings me to an interpretation of the housing crisis and the way our houses are barely holding the space needed for our families. Something that could be warm and comforting like a home, split by the cold rusty nails is powerful. Then there are the housing with the nails. This reminds me of Baba Jaga. The gesture like stance and provided by the nails and the stuck legs in cement create interest. They look percarious and yet at the same time stuck!

Katharina Fritsch

The following works by Katharina Fritsch draw me in from their colour and size. For Torso, the colour is not on the subject, but the background. This is a reminder as well that the context can emphasize the work. Think outside the box! The rats on the otherhand are interesting because of their size – what would life be like if we took a small being like a mouse and made them larger than life. Also the gesture and stance in relation to others tells a story. I like this example of repetitive objects because here we can see how the repetition and relation to one another tells a story.

• cris tufiño
• DANCING AT THE END OF THE WORLD
•  PRESS
• Mike Goodlett
• https://www.jmkac.org/exhibition/2016/escape-routes/mike-goodlett.html
• Genesis Belanger
• https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-20-female-artists-pushing-sculpture-forward
• Dan Lam
• Beautiful and Bizarre Neon Sculptures – Fubiz Media
•  Dan Lam
•  google search: contemporary art sculptural casts everyday objects
• Christina y Efren (concept drawings and maquettes – click left right)
• http://www.cero9.com/project/tower-in-las-vegas/
•  David Umemoto (cast/modular/familiar/concept iteration drawings) 
• Concrete Modular Cities by David Umemoto 
• Wolfgang stiller (hybridized utilitarian object/tool)
• https://www.designboom.com/art/matchstick-men-by-wolfgang-stiller/
• Art installation illustrates the harsh impact of burnout syndrome: Matchstick men by German artist Wolfgang Stiller – DZine Trip
• Home – Wolfgang Stiller
• Kaolin – Tov Tenga (referencing functional forms) 
• http://kaolin.se/tove-tenga/

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Technical Exercise – World Within, Space Between

This technical exersize had a lot of steps:

1. first we chose our selected piece and cleaned it up ensuring there was no guck from the last use
2. Then we used moulding clay to soften and seal the edges to ensure that not hydrocal plaster would drip through the connecting edges and distroy the form
3. Then we hot glue gunned the frame to the wooden board
4. Then we measured out about 2 inches from the frame and marked the line.
5. Then we took pieces of wood jeff cut and glued those in place, sealed the edges with more hot glue
6. Then we used a non-stick substance on the wood and frame so that the hydrocal would easily separate from the edges.
7. Then we mixed and poured the hydrocal and let it cure
8. After creating out plaster mold of the frame, we could now use it to make clay multiples
9. From here we could get more creative with what clay imprint we could use to make our frames.

I ripped clay, I made coils, and I imprinted the clay with an old earing to make the flowers. I layed the ripped clay to make a rose form. Then we painting the clay with glazes appropriate for this type of firing. We Raku fired the clay using appropriate PPE and adult supervision.

After cooling and cleaning the pieces after the Raku firing, we saw a lot of variation in each piece. It was intereing to see how reduction and oxydation created so much difference in the colours of the glazes. My coil fire frame broke, but my other frames held to one piece.

I wanted my frames to be like the 4 directions: air, fire, earth and water. The clear frame was air, the south the rose, the west the spiral water, and the north the field of many flowers like our ancestors before us.

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Studio Project 1: Common + Curious: Sum of Their Parts

Early ideation and research: During this phase of the project I had only my theme that I’d decided on for the semester: snakes and roses. I wasn’t sure on what the project even was, let alone what model I would build for the project. So, I started looking at snake anatomy, and reflecting on the shapes of them. I thought about buying a fake snake online that I could use for my model and went to different thrift shops to find a model I could use. I shared my idea of the rose and the snake and sketched out a few different options. I researched symbolism of the snake and the rose and looked at different cultures that come from my own heritage to get ideas; slavic, celtic, german, dutch. Eventually I discussed some of my research with my teacher, Angela, and she asked me what snakes mean to me and if I have any childhood associations with them. I told her, yes! As a child I used to pick snakes up from the small patch of natural space across from my house. There, I could almost always find a garter snake and I would pick them up and hold them, even placing them on my arms and in my sleeves. I likes the feeling of the snake on my skin. It was a welcome connection with nature. So, she suggested I build on that idea and work with a snake on skin. We talked about the idea of having the snake coil up my arm and how we might make that work with my project. We would need joinery and to plan to make the snake in pieces and at a half spiral so that it could connect and move up my arm. I left class that day feeling inspired. But, the more I thought about it, the more difficult it seemed. I would have to get the angels and the joinery right, and I wasn’t sure how I would get it to stay on my moving arm. Would the hydrocal plaster be strong enough for a park of my body that moves so much? So, for the next class I decided to explore another option.

In the picture below you can see another option I explored. It was for an idea that I’ve had in my mind since December. The idea was titled “under my wing” and the idea was to make a shield of pod where someone could sit and feel sheltered in a warm and caring place. I wanted it to be like an arm and a feather coming together and do multiples of it then have them all connected to make a wing like form. But when I presented this idea to Angela, she suggested I go back to my original idea. She said the barbie arm and wing idea would be too fragile and thin for the restrictions of this project. An idea to perhaps use for another project down the road.

So I continued my search for a snake model and I ended up buying some rubber snakes on amazon. While I waited for them to arrive, I went to Value Village and I saw a braided choker and wondered if I could use this as a model for my project. Ultimately I decided to leave it, but it did give me the idea to transform the snake coiling up my arm to coiling around my neck. To do that, I’d need the snake to create a full circle, like a necklace. So I thought of the Ouro Boris, the snake eating it’s tail, and began doing research on this mythical creature.

The Ouro-Boris symbolized the cycles of life, death and rebrith, and the movement of the waters in the nile and the sun around the earth. It goes back as 1300 BC Egypt and has been used in many cultures to discuss transformation, yin-yang, chaos and balance, and eternity. This symbolism resonated with me and the more I did the project the more I reflected on what the snake symbolizes for me. I did a shamanic journey class and in this class I connected with snake energy and explored this question further. I realised that the snake is about the sensual and the sexual and that this movement and contact with the earth is a part of the cyclical nature of life. It felt that the more I connected with the snake the more I realized that this part of myself was awakening.

Ideation and model creation: Having decided on my subject matter, I was still faced with the issue of creating a model that would work with the restrictions of the materials. Not really understanding the process, those restrictions were still a bit foggy to me. I realized that having a model to pbring to class would help me explain my idea to Jeff and Angela, so I took some clay from my ceramics class and used it to design my Ouro-Boris. I created a semi circle, thinking that the back two pieces would be quarter circles that joined together with jewelry joinery so that the model could get on an off my neck. I modeled the snake around my own neck. Unfortunately, the semi-circle wouldn’t work for removing the model from the rubber mold, so we needed to make the snake into 4 parts and then glue them together at the mouth-eating-tail part of the collar. You can see I struggled with understanding why this was, but ultimately I cut pieces on paper to get an idea. We played with the snake eating tail in 4 places, but landed on just two places and that the two halves would be joined together.

Model design + rubber mold: Below you can see the process of finalizing the model for the project. I wanted to incorporate the rose, so I decided to make the scales look like rose petals. Flowers are temporary, and so too are the scales of snakes. They look fairly similar and worked visually for my idea. I modelled the ouro-boris in the two types of available modeling clay and then even had some fun cutting and coiling pieces into little roses that didn’t end of getting incorporated, but it was good to see how easy it was to work with this material to create rose-like flowers. Something to consider for a future project.

Another consideration for my model was the angle at which I would be pouring the hydrocal to ensure that there would be no bubbles. The mouth and curvature of the snake and tail head could cause air to get trapped while pouring, so Jeff and Angela suggested adding a bit of extral space to the bottom of the mold to get a straighter pour. After doing this, I pressed them into the wood board and then did my first layer. Unforuntately, pressing the model into the board wasn’t secure enough and on my second layering of the rubber the models detached. This was extremely stressful and we needed to act quick to avoid wasting the model and the expensive rubber layer. We screwed in one end of the snake to the board, and the other end I just held it place until the rubber dried enough to glue it in place to the board. Crisis averted!

Mother mold and pouring with joinery: Because of the shape of my object, it it was going to be difficult to remove the snake from the mold, which meant I’d need to cut the rubber mold to remove the hydrocal plaster object. That meant a mother model would be needed to ensure that the object would be held in place for subsequent pours. Later I even ended using a bit of tape to keep the rubber nice and tight along the seem (see below). After my first few pours I added the jewelry joinery and had to have that delicately placed so as to ensure it didn’t go too deep/too shallow or too close to the edges of the inside of the snake body so as to create any weaknesses while wearing the collar. So, I used wire to keep the joinery centered and at the appropriate depth while the hydrocal plaster dried.

The collar fits! Next I needed to glue the tail into the mouth of the snake. I used an apoxy from Industrial plastics after doing some research online on what might work and chatting with Jeff. There is a delicate balance with the application to ensure that the glue doesn’t drip ad create a mark that I can’t paint over, while still applying enough that the two pieces will remain secure.

Other Classmates Work

I did have an opportunity to look at some of my classmates works. I photographed some of the materials below. I like Kathy’s use of multiple materials and test painting to add wings to her democracy unicorns. Gabbi’s corn was very interesting speckle effect with the remnants of the blue corn in the mold. Denise’s amorphous shapes were very interesting. They look like otherworldly craters! Even more images below show the fascinating works of my classmates thus far.

Artist Research – Plywood, Cardboard, and Bamboo Art

3D-Art-Design-Artist-Research-U3

Process Blog

Initial Design

When I started this project I was really struggling to keep up the work, manage stress, and stay connected to my creativity. I was feeling angry that the project was a “2 year” program when five courses at a time felt unmanagable. So I decided to communicate that.

I chose to make one hand holding up the apple – a symbol of pleasing the teacher, or in this case the institution of education to get good grades. While in the other hand I would hold onto the paintbrush – a symbol of my creativity and the reason I chose to come to school in the first place.

I decided to make myself sitting down for this imagery and focusing on the area above the torso so I could get a “closed” object image and to focus in on the gesture. Here you can see the imagery taking with polycam. Big shoutout to Yuen Ting for helping with this photo. It turned out great.

By the time I started working on the second image, for my cardboard piece, I had decided that while I couldn’t control my workload, I could control my attitude and that the stress I was feeling was very much something that was my own experience. So, I wanted to express an overcoming of the stress and the pressure through adjusting my own experience to the program – accepting, letting go, and celebrating the victory over my own self. So for the second image I chose an exhaulted hands in the air “victory” pose. As you can see it was harder to keep my hands totally still in the air for this one. Shout out to Yeun Ting for all your help on this one too!

Meshmixer & Slicer

Because of the quality of image for the plywood model, I had very little editing to do on mesh mixer. Help from Tyler and Angela went a long way for this digital design, learning to slice and smooth the image.

For the carboard model, I struggled a lot with the hands. I decided to cut off the arms and add new ones that I found in the mesh mixer. Then I needed to “reflect” the arm so that it was the same shape and size, and delete the reflection so I only had one arm on each side. This took a while to figure out and I definitely turned to a few tutorials to find information. That said, I will admit I did not make as much time as I could of watching tutorials. I think if I was planning to make more edits to my images, watching the tutorials would have been more use. For example, if I planned to swap out more body parts and use more online images then this would have motivated me to watch more videos.

Once I got my images on slicer, it was pretty easy for the stacking piece of the plywood. The interlocking piece of the cardboard was much harder. At first, I wanted to just stack the cardboard, but I thought interlocking would save me time in the assembly. Also, I was interested to see what this process would be like. So, I decided to try the interlocking for the cardboard. Unfortunately, I regret that decision for several reasons I’ll elaborate on in the “cardboard assembly section below”.

Cutting Plywood

two 2-hour sessions and lots of cold fingers. That said, I really loved the cutting process. Getting to use power tools and learning this new process was so rewarding. It was like a meditative practice and afterwards I felt a sort of after-vibe similar to the way I do when participating in mantras.

Assembly – Plywood

The assembly was the best part of the project because it was done as a team. Doing it while I was in Tofino with my friends made it into a fun 3D puzzle. Many hands truly made light work as we worked together, deliberated, and helped line up all the pieces. That said, I totally forgot that I had taking screenshots of the plywood which would have been a huge help with assembly. The fact that it was a group effort and it turned out imperfect makes it even more meaningful to me.

Strangely, I decided to go to Tofino on the last weekend before the end of classes. It was a trip that I booked a month ago for my friends birthday. I decided to bring my plywood because I thought my friend might want to help since she is an incredible artist. I was right! She loved the puzzle of the 3D model. We took it a step further by inviting all my friends to participated and in the end 6 people contributed to the final assembly of the project.

These are the steps we took:

• lay out the pieces in numbered order
• Hand sand any remaining pieces of carbon lining on the pieces
• Begin to stack the obvious pieces to make hand off easier
• Mastermind Sadie assembled the pieces while another person handed the sticky connections and another handing the next piece

Unexpected challenges

There was one piece that wasn’t numbered and it in the end we discovered it was a duplicate. As you can see from the second to last image above, there is a slice that looks like is missing from my back. That one sent us on a real tissy and it wasn’t until we had assembled the whole thing that we realized it was a duplicate. Fortunately, because we didn’t use wood glue, we could go back and remove that piece.

There were also a few smaller pieces that were kind of confusing on the model. Like the tiny sliver of the arm or a small piece of the toque on my head. This was hard to conceptualize so they still sort of look out of place. At least to me. I think if we had a screen recording of the assembly it would help us figure out the alignment of these smaller objects.

Cardboard assembly

So the assembly for the cardboard didn’t really work out for several reasons:

• The video recording I took of the assembly process was not captured at a good angle. Meaning many of the cardboard pieces were nearly indistinguishable on the screen. Primarily which “tooth” of the carboard was sliding in was a major issue which lead to a domino effect of errors down the road.
• Blueprint imaging didn’t match the lazer cut cardboard pieces. I’m not sure why, but likely to make the best use of space, some of the pieces on my blue print were re-arrached on the cardboard cut outs. This added another layer of complexity and room for human error during the assembly process since the video recording for assembly didn’t match the cut outs I had in person.
• Video recording started to assembly pieces in a non-sequential order. I found while watching the video recording that the video would start to assembly a piece of the arm in mid air, then later connect this to the body. I was really confused why it wouldnt just build one piece that interlocked with the next so that I could keep the pieces in order and aligned. This also made it difficult to figure out what went where especially with the compounding issues from the aforementioned errors.

Due to theses issues, lining up the cardboard interlocking pieces was extremely challenging. I found myself trying to push the pieces into place, the cardboard buckled and I likely put in the wrong pieces in the wrong slots which led to a domino effect of problems. Eventually, I decided I would not be carrying on with the project. Lesson learned through failure this time.

Final piece – cardboard

Decisions

• Glue vs double sides sticky foamy: While assembling the m
• putting objects in hands or not: for my plywood piece I had the idea to put a paintbrush and an apple in each of my hands, but I chose not to include these objects in my polycam scan. This is because I was worried that it wouldn’t translate and then confuse the eye when looking at the form. I was also worried these objects were too small and would look like extended appendages. Finally, I thought it would be funner to add these objects in the end, so that they could also be inter-changable, depending on what it felt like I was “holding up” or “holding on” to as time goes on. This makes the model more engaging.
• Hair or no hair in model: On my plywood model I tucked my hair in my toque, but for my cardboard I let my hair down. The effect was much better with the hair tucked in because the outline of the head was more visible. With the hare, the head becomes more for a triangular shape. While you can still see it’s human, it’s much more interested to look at the distinguishable finish of the rounded head and toque shape.
• Sanding the edges more – I wanted to make a more smooth effect, but didn’t get the effect I was looking for with the power sander. I used a medium and a light sandpaper to soften the edges and remove the carbon copy black lines. This satisfied my desire for smoother edges, but next time I might explore using a drummel sander to get a more rounded finish.

Lessons learned (pre-critique)

Plywood

• take video of the assembly, and an screenshot of the final image to compare as the project is being assembled
• Use tape/stickies during assemblage, and go back with glue as desired
• Simplify the assembly by using vertical or horizontal stacking lines – especially for a first attempt
• Consider laser cutting instead of bandsaw during time restraints
• Leave time for sanding for a smoothed edge finish
• Assembly with friends to increase level of joy

Cardboard:

• Take a video recording of the assembly from multiple vantage points
• Use fewer interlocking pieces to simplify the assembly process
• use vertical or horizontal lines for first projects to simplify – or just stack the cardboard
• Assembly with friends to increase level of joy

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Peer Reflection | Post-Presentation Reflection + Documentation:

• How did different students interpret the same brief?
  • One student created life-size models (Nim), others used images of stuffed animals, toys or their own body, while others used images made from digital renders such as those available from Meshmixer, or created from scratch on Blender.
  • Other students focused more on the ways of building and attaching the pieces. Some students sanding the artwork at the end to create a more smooth finish, or used paint or wood finishing or even tape or stickers for embelishments. While other students used dowels creatively to make the artworks more engaging (Cary’s moveable slices, or Virginia’s solid “top” figure). Other students, such as myself, used tape or felt strips to add a sense of movement to their artwork. Yeun Ting used the felt strips to allow the legs to move, whereas I used foamy double sided tape to give some organic movement to the form.
• What common threads or techniques emerged across the group?
  • People using photographs of themselves or their own figures was a common theme. In addition, images of stuffed animals also seemed to be a common thread.
• What unique solutions stood out?
  • Utilization of the dowel to both create movement in the pieces (spinning around the dowel in the Carys’ piece, and keep the figure completely solid in Virginia’s piece.
  • Creating the hammerhead shark from scratch in Blender was another unique solution. This was the object didn’t need to be scanned and allowed for greater diversity in what object might be created.
  • Creating a life sized plywood (Nim).
  • I also really enjoyed Sarah’s artwork (the dancer pictured below). What I liked about this piece is the shape and position of the figure. I think she was able to come up with some really creative solutions to issues with a stabilized photo by wrapping her arms around her body. I also really liked that she intentionally made the lines move the same direction of her body’s form to add a sense of movement to the piece.
• How did observing others’ work influence your own thinking?
  • I learned that simplier is sometimes better. At first, while creating my piece, I thought that more is better in terms of cardboard cut out layers. The reason I believed this is because using more pieces would allow for a more complete or accurate representation of the model. But after viewing the pieces of classmates who had fewer cardboard cut out pieces, I really liked the strong lines and more open for interpretation and sense of “lightness” that came from using fewer interlocking cardboard pieces.

Self Assessment: Learning Outcomes & Reflection Prompts

1. Create:
   • Learning Outcome: Integrate research and new ideas into your work.
   • Prompt: How did research or inspiration from artists, designers, or movements shape your project? What ideas informed your creative decisions?
     • When I was deciding what artwork to create for this project I looked at the examples offered by the teacher in the assignment in addition to the artists that I researched (Warren King and Paul Baden) and quickly noticed that the most interesting subjects, for me, were figures of the human body. I also saw a student’s work of a figure with a head and it’s face was sliced to appear like it was melting into the table top surface. I really liked this effect of creating interesting cuts of the figure. This influenced me to create a figure leaning forward that was sliced at the waste line.
2. Develop:
   • Learning Outcome: Expand your skills by using new tools or techniques.
   • Prompt: Did you experiment with new tools (e.g., software, hand tools)? How did learning these tools help you improve your project?
     • This whole process was new for me. From using Polycam to creating a 3D image, to editing that image in MeshMixer, to then slicing it, using power tools to cut and sand, and assempbing the pieces. Every step was new and I appreciated that the process was cut down into steps and ample time was given during class. It also gave me a sneak peak into processes that I can utilize for my new job, which is very exciting to be able to apply this artwork method into a paid position.
     • In addition, learning to use the band saw and scroll saw allowed me to have more confidence and ideation in other classes. As a result of this project I was inspired to do a plywood artwork for my Creative Process class.
3. Expand:
   • Learning Outcome: Take creative or technical risks.
   • Prompt: Did you try something unfamiliar or experimental? How did taking this risk impact the final outcome?
     • Utilizing the sticky foam pieces was unfamiliar and experimental. In fact, everything we did in this project was unfamiliar and experimental. But the foamy pieces were definitely the most unique part of my process and gave a really interesting “breathable” effect to the torso of the figure. I really appreciated this element because it gave the artwork movement, in addition to some flexibility to make alterations during the assembly process.
4. Problem-Solve:
   • Learning Outcome: Identify challenges and find creative solutions.
   • Prompt: What challenges did you face, and how did you overcome them? Were there any problem-solving strategies that worked particularly well?
     • Challenge I faced during this project was mostly around the assembly process, but also during the creation of the meshmixer image for the cardboard project. Challenges faced during assemblage were addressed by recruiting friends to help me put together the plywood structure. This both made the assembly more fun and a bonding experience. I will definitely remember to incorporate more friends and fun into my artwork! For the cardboard, it wasn’t so enjoyable, and problem solving looking more like acceptance. A partly assembled artwork still looked interesting given the nature of this project, and it also connected me back to my story and connection with my artistic practice. For me, my artwork is more about therapy and not allowing artwork to be a source of stress or anxiety, but a place for expression. So, this work really reflects that intention because instead of stressing to create some idea of a finished product, I following my values and honoured myself where I was at. I feel proud of that and therefore I feel proud of my artwork because it represents that self care.
     • To address my challenged with blurry arms in the cardboard image, I had to get creative no Meshmixer. I used a left arm graphic image, copied it, reflected it, deleted the original, and then slimmed down the arm and attached it to my form to be able to make 2 replicas of arms on each side of the body.
5. Collaborate & Reflect:
   • Learning Outcome: Use research, feedback and self-reflection to improve your work.
   • Prompt: How did research, feedback, and your own self-reflection lead to revisions?
     What specific changes did you make to improve your project?
     • Listening to Angela share with other students what makes the best forms such as wearing tight clothing and wearing the hair up helped me make decisions during my plywood structure polycam photo. That said, I am very much a “learn it the hard way” or “learn it from your own experience” kind of person, so I pushed this boundary for my cardboard project and instead let my hair down and had my arms floating for this revision. I definitely struggled to stabilize my arms for the image and this lead to the creative problem solving aforementioned. In addition, I found out for myself that the hair up creates for a more clear silhouetted figure!
     • For future projects, my takeaways from seeing my peer’s artwork are to start with more simple slice directions and innovate during assemblage – Carys and Virginia’s projects; and/or to start with more simple designs (eg. a tooth instead of a figure) and increase frequency to create interest in accumulation (multipe teeth).
6. Communicate:
   • Learning Outcome: Identify and reflect on connections made in your work.
   • Prompt: As you worked on your project, what connections did you make between ideas, techniques, or materials? Did new approaches or unexpected relationships emerge as your project evolved? How did these connections influence your creative process?
     • Most of the connections I made were in retrospect. For example, I realized that taking a video of the assemblage of my plywood sculpture would have been helpful. In addition, I learned that taking multiple angles for the interlocking cardboard assemblage could have saved me a lot of grief. Also, numbering the cardboard pieces, like I did for my plywood sculpture, might also have served me during the assembly process. With more time, I would have taken the cardboard assembly process over to a friends house to make this portion of the project more fun and connective, like I did with my plywood structure.

Paper Bag Photos

Reflection

When I first started to play with the bag I was very careful and calculated with my folds. I knew that once the bag became crumpled it would be impossible to get back to the smooth surface from which it came.

Encouraged by prompts from the teacher to follow natural gestures like folds and twists and standing straight up, I started there. First the stand, then the fold, then the fold and twist. After moving through these variation, I wasn’t quite sure what to do next. My brain was certainly in analytical mode and I was running into a bit of a block.

I looked around the class and saw that people were just having at-her! Ripping and crumpling. Then I remembered what Angela said, “try not to think about it, be intuitive, play!” So I decided to follow my classmates and flattened the folded twisted shape.

Then came the vagina. I wanted to play with the concept of a bag being a place to hold something. So I had the bag holding another part of itself, the sailboat, then the hand. I had the idea for the hand emerging from the bag after the presentation of examples in class. But the rest was just an exploration and flow.

Once I started to stitch the bag I had to start making decisions. And it started with “what colour stiches do I use? White or something less visible?” I weighed me options. If it was white it would have high contrast with the black mesh. It would have to be something that is intended to be seen. It would emphasize the edges. If it was dark, I could perhaps focus more on the shape of the bag. I thought about “emphasize the edges” and remembered what I learned studying permaculture “edge is where the growth is”. The “Edge Effect” is the 10th permaculture principle and the concept that describes how there is a greater diversity of life in the region where the edges two adjacent ecosystems overlap, such as land/water, or forest/grassland. At the edge of two overlapping ecosystems, you can find species from both of these ecosystems, as well as unique species that aren’t found in either ecosystem but are specially adapted to the conditions of the transition zone between the two edges.

I liked it. There was definitely space for creativity here. So I decided to go with the white stitches.

Process Blog

After stitching the bag I got pretty sick and was fortunate enough to have a couple of days off of school. Thursday I stayed in bed all day and watched Sabrina the Teenage Witch and looked for materials I had at home to create the “edge effect”. As you can see the “prototype” image above, the pipe cleaner was what was handy. While the pipe cleaner was workable and easily threaded through the bag, the florescent colours and pastic look left much to be desired. The following week I showed my bag to Angela, feeling unsure where to go next. She recommended using a more organic material. “Like what?” I asked. She recommended moss. So I spent the rest of the class researching how to process moss.

I learned that moss can be kept alive or can be treated to keep it’s colour and form but be essentially dead. The former required more work but both could be used in art projects. I also learned that there is an organic moss glue that is made by a company in the USA. It was only $35 dollars, but twice that much in shipping costs. So that idea was out. I looked at how to make organic glues and saw a recipe that was very close to paper mache, but worried about it’s adhesive ability to a mesh bag. I also learned that there is a type of moss spore you can buy that can be sprayed on called “moss graffiti”. That sounded pretty cool. I love the idea of writing words with most and then taking care of it so that it grows into a living installation. I’ll have to remember that for a future project. In the meantime, I decided to take an easier route and found a youtube channel that instructed on how to collect moss and dry it for floral arrangements. It was quite simple and required drying the moss for later use. That seemed like the most direct route.

I decided to get started at collecting the moss and upon my walk in the woods near my house I found some beautiful fern leaves and bright fallen maple leaves. I would also need something to weigh the bag down while I decorated the mesh bag and took some rocks as well. Then I brought it all home and began to dry the moss. (Pictured above).

As I dried the moss and studied my objects I realized just how incredible nature is at creating edge. The moss, arguably the best at doing so. Both the moss living on the edge of trees and rocks, it collects water and houses insects that thrive. Mosses survive on the thin layer of water and dirt that gathers on the surfaces of the rocks and trees as well as the light that cascades onto surfaces. This is the epitomy of “edge effect” and I witnessed how else it cultivates edge while I dried it. I saw many wood bugs and other unknown insects scurry away and I captured them with glass to set them free outdoors.

But the maple leaf and the fern were no exception to the incredible design of nature. They too were covered in edges and I thought about how these many edges helped in creating greater folds and surface area for capturing light, wind, and beneficial insects or bird. Nature really is the best designer.

As I considered my materials and took photos of my bag I realized I already had some really beautiful dried flowers and plant matter in a dried bouquet sitting on my desk. I decided that along with some sticks found on the walk to the car could also add to the edgy scene being constructed on my bag, so I brought them with me for the assemblage.

I took my chosen materials and arranged them on the bag before glueing with hot glue. I decided hot glue would work fine and would be easy to pick off should I decide to compost my artwork following the end of the project. Content with the results, I moved onto the plaster bag.

After spending so much time thinking about the mesh bag, I started to feel a little blank about the plaster bag. There were so many directions I could take it. One think I new for certain was that I wanted the top of the bag to be cut like triangles to imitate the way a traditional paper bag looks. I plastered the bag and pondered weather I would smooth it out or leave the textured finish. I decided on the texture as that looked more organic.

As I pondered my next step I examined my bag and noticed that the gloves I had been wearing while plastering left a decorative print on the bag. I considered this. While it didn’t exactly fit in with my theme, it did leave an interesting mark. I thought about other interesting marks that could be made with the plaster, perhaps a shoe-mark or a paper towel? I decided that could be explored further in a future design.

I knew one thing for certain, I didn’t want the stark white uniform plaster colour. I wondered if I should paint decorative designs on the bag like nature scenes, or if I should sponge it with different textures and make it more abstract. I reflected on it with a fellow classmate and decided a nature stencil might leave a more natural looking effect. I asked Jeff how to prep the plaster for painting and he said any paint medium would do. That night I prepped the bag with my medium.

I remembered a video I saw on Instagram of an artist taking a stick, drenching it in paint, and then slapping the stick on the canvas to give a print with a gesture like effect. I wondered if I could do something similar with ferns and twigs and acrylic paint. So I thought I’d start by painting the fern leaves a deep green colour but I hesitated stamping the fern on the plastered bag. If it didn’t work, there might be no going back. The green would be on there forever. I tested it out on the newsprint I had, but saw very little identifiable marks come onto the paper. I thought about if I could do it on the plaster, and figured I could try and paint over it in another colour if I needed. So I took the freshly painted fern and stamped it carefully onto the bag. It looked nothing like a fern. I examined the shape of the fern and wondered if I tried the other side if it would work better. Nope.

So I took a sponge and rubbed the green paint around the entire bag. It left a fairly faint green. I thought about what it might look like to make a gradient. The earth’s surface is an edge, and that’s where we see the most life. Perhaps I could make it greener near the bottom to reflect this sense of vitality. I took a paint bursh and thickened the paint near the bottom of the bag. Then I decided to move onto seeing if I could slap the stick on the plaster to create a stamp effect.

I considered my subject. I would need a lot of paint to douse the stick in to give it the effect I needed. Also, my surface was uneven, would it even work? What colour should I do it in? I pondered and decided to use a more reliable method – a stencil. I dug in my paint drawer for a colour I could stencil on top and found a deep earthy brown. Perfect. I tried a stencil on the canvas drop sheet and liked the powdered and faint effect of the stencilled tree branch. It looked ghostly and faint. It reminded me of the ghostly screen print of Marilyn Monroe in Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych. I had been studying that painting for my Art History class and thought the effect could allude to this same idea – trees were harvested, and died, for the making of this bag. It was perfect. So, I set out to stencil the bag and with that, completed the work.

Above you can see the finished bag for my Mesh Bag project. Each side is slightly different showing a variety of materials: twigs, rocks, leaves, ferns, stones, dried flower, a dead bee, dried berries and more. It’s a chaotic and busy tapestry held together in a subtle pattern the way nature does.

Here is the final design for the Plaster Bag. You can see the ghostly images of the branches from a tree stencilled onto the bag. Fading green undertones reflect the vitality that this bag may have once experienced when it was in it’s tree form. The deep brown is reflective of the place from once the bag came – the earth – and where it will return if composted responsibly.

Peer Feedback

I deeply enjoyed seeing the diversity of projects presented by my classmates. From a more classical representation of the project, to more “outside the bag” interpretations like a mask, a handbag or a spirit form. It was great to see how creative people were with the assignment, and at the same time how the more traditional designs drew me into the finer elements of design, such as shape, line, and texture. This simplicity added to a level of detail and beauty that were enjoyable to see and discuss.

While working with plaster for the first time, and struggling to keep the form and the mess at bay, I was deeply impressed with the folds that my classmates were about to capture in the plaster. Whether making a mouth, or fabric like folds, or straight rigid lines, I was impressed by the relative skill of my classmates (relative to me at the very least). In particular, the cornucopia pictured about as “classmate 5” was particularly impressive. To create such a thin yet solid white open structure was impressive. I’m curious, how did she do that?

A common thread I saw was the use of colour and materials other than plaster and the mesh bags. Whether using coloured yarn, or embroidery thread, leaves, paint, or even aluminum wire, it was interesting to see how these elements added diversity to the work.

These observations have influenced me by reminding me of how valuable it is to work together on a new subject matter. I wish that I had participated in creating my paster bag with my classmates so I could see their approaches and glean their wisdom since there techniques were very impressive. It also reminded me about another element of art that I feel I often forget – sound. The plaster bags that were open (like mine) versus those that we closed had a different sound. The closed bags gave a drum-like sound to it that was very enjoyable to the ear. I’m interested in seeing how I might be able to make more considerations for sound in my installations and designs.

Self Assessment

Create:

• Learning Outcome: Integrate research and new ideas into your work.
• Prompt: How did research or inspiration from artists, designers, or movements shape your project? What ideas informed your creative decisions?

Research conducted in my art history class of the ghostly “Marilyn Diptych” influenced my final work. The faded overlay of spray paint over sponge with stencils left a haunting image of the final piece. In addition, the research of the other plaster artists and movements inspired the return to nature of this piece. In my ideation phase of the project I thought about the brown paper bag as a boundary: the hand breaking free of the bag as the legs extend beyond the bag in ASPENCROW or the way the Murakami Saburo breaks through the paper wall; a container for holding food, in my case I chose the banana as a recognizable shape; the bag like skin: in my case I chose the vagina, but this idea was drawn from inspiration by Wilmer Wilson’s installation “From my Paper Bag Coloured Heart”, and a tool for self regulation (breathing in/out). These ideas were drawn from the lecture in class. However in the end, playing with the paper bag and beginning my process is what lead to the creation of my own idea: “the edge effect”.

Develop:

• Learning Outcome: Expand your skills by using new tools or techniques.
• Prompt: Did you experiment with new tools (e.g., software, hand tools)? How did learning these tools help you improve your project?

I did experiment with new tools! The plaster was know, the mesh was new, the stitching is a fairly unfamiliar process. But in addition to all of that I also used natural materials as stencils and as materials for assemblage in my piece. In applying the plaster for the first time, I learned how quickly it turns from liquid to thicksotropic state and how each of these can be applied to create different techniques. For example, starting in the more liquid phase through to the thick state helped me cover a lot of the surface area of my bag, then I used left over wet plaster bandage to fill in any missing areas. After this first application, I learned that the thick state would be better to create the ridging on the plaster bag and I made a smaller batch of plaster to get that effect.

Expand:

• Learning Outcome: Take creative or technical risks.
• Prompt: Did you try something unfamiliar or experimental? How did taking this risk impact the final outcome?

I’d never worked with moss before as a material for artwork. Furthermore, harvesting moss fresh from nature was outside of my experience. Drying and cleaning it and then gluing it to the bag gave a warm spongy look to the piece that beautifully contrasted with the black mesh bag. I’d say it rather worked. On the other hand, trying to stamp the fern on the bag didn’t take as nicely. Fortunately, I was able to salvage the green paint on the plastered bag for my other experimental application: the stick stencil with spray paint. This provided a rather satisfying overlay of colour. On the other hand, trying to use the pipe cleaners on my mesh bag didn’t turn out, and I ended up removing them from the design.

Problem-Solve:

• Learning Outcome: Identify challenges and find creative solutions.
• Prompt: What challenges did you face, and how did you overcome them? Were there any problem-solving strategies that worked particularly well?

I was very grateful to have the help of Sam, who was the student monitor on Saturday. Nim was also in the studio when I plastered my bag and the two of them helped me determine how to use the plaster for the first time. One mistake I made was not filling my bag before plastering it, and so it caved into itself rather conveniently. It still stood up but had a ripple that looked more like a flimsy bag – much more organic and realistic. In addition turning to input from Angela when I went was struggling with the pipe cleaners. Overall, turning to my peers and teachers for feedback was the most helpful throughout the problem solving process.

Collaborate & Reflect:

• Learning Outcome: Use research, feedback and self-reflection to improve your work.
• Prompt: How did research, feedback, and your own self-reflection lead to revisions?
  What specific changes did you make to improve your project?

Building upon what I shared above, collaboration and feedback were an essential part of this project. The input on the pipecleaners, the idea for the moss and more natural materials, the help with using plaster for the first time, and the research on how to harvest moss were all instrumental in bringing the work all together. Perhaps most importantly, the support helped keep me calm and engaged. Taking five courses is extremely overwhelming and when trying so many new things it can be very anxiety inducing to work on a timeline. The support from my teachers and classmates really helped me to feel supported and get to the finish line.

Communicate:

• Learning Outcome: Identify and reflect on connections made in your work.
• Prompt: As you worked on your project, what connections did you make between ideas, techniques, or materials? Did new approaches or unexpected relationships emerge as your project evolved? How did these connections influence your creative process?

Yes! While I was working with the plaster I noticed the different textures that could be created with the material. The idea of incorporating this more deliberately was something I considered, and incorporated. For example, leaving the texture of the plaster to provide a more organic look. Other ideas I decided to save for future projects (like a the shoe-print idea). Another unexpected relationship included the use of the overlay of paint and the stencilling of natural materials – to mimic natural design. Originally, I thought of painting the diversity of ecosystems on the bag, but after admiring the way nature naturally creates edge (no paintbrush required), I was inspired to stamp, and then ultimately stencil the branches onto the plaster. Another element that emerged during the process was the idea to use the “edge” of the bag as the inspiration. This came about while stitching the mesh.

Week 1

Without much instruction, but lots of examples, we got right to work creating our 3D wire object in class. First, we were assigned to draw the image to get familar with it. By bringing the 3D object into a 2D form, then back to 3D, we could get a better understanding of the object.

Drawing the measuring tape certainly did help me become more intimate with the object. I don’t think I have ever looked so closely at a measuring tape. It gained a newfound respect for this tool I’ve used many times. The instructor seemed impressed that one measuring tape could contain 29 feet. She noted that the building we were in was only 100 ft. long. In other words, nearly a third of length of the school was contained in one small container. She was right. That was impressive! The question was, how best to represent this quality of the measuring tape in the wire project.

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After spending a considerable amount of time drawing, it was time to begin practicing with the wire. When I did, I naturally approached it by creating two 2D shapes (the sides of the measuring tape container) and then connect them together with the 18 gauge wire making the object 3D. Working with this new material proved to be challenging and the wire did not seem to be co-operating. It was difficult to get straight lines with very little technical skill.

After receiving from feedback from the teacher, I decided to take a different approach by making switch back wire lines and then weaving them together to create the tape portion of the measuring tape. This definitely provided more structure that the 2D shapes, but it still did not create the clean lines that I was looking for. Naturally, I blamed the problem on the wire, instead of my own ignorance. Shortly after reflecting on this in our debriefs at the end of the day, I looked back to see a classmate pulling on the wire to make a straight line. I remembered that she shared she had worked with wire before and realized that maybe the problem was not the wire, but my lack of knowledge and skill. This was what was leading to more “wobbly” looking shapes, not the gauge of the wire.

That night, I went home and sat with my frustration from the project. The project felt challenging and had brought me against an edge. Fortunately, edges are where growth emerges. So, instead of letting my discontent grow, I searched for ways I might alter my approach. I began to wonder if instead of fighting to make the wire straight, I needed to make the wires more curved. So, I thought of coiling the wire into a flat circular shape to make the sides of the measuring tape casing. I would try that at my next opportunity.

I also reflected on the structure of the class that day. We didn’t receive any technical training on how to work with the wire, only examples of different artists and students. I wondered if the real assignment was not to make a perfect and beautiful 3D object from 18 gauge wire, but instead to creatively problem solve and produce a decent finished project. At this point, a decent finished project seemed like the best I could hope for.

What if instead of the superficial outcome of a beautiful 3D object, the goal was actually to find joy of the experience of creating. Isn’t that one of life’s greatest goals? Experience a problem, challenge, or edge and remain completely in love with the exploration of the task at hand. To be curious to different approaches and techniques. To ask questions, look at what others may be doing, reflect, and perhaps most importantly to observe where I may be getting in my own way. This seemed like the deeper intention of the project. One that excited me a lot more than producing a metal measuring tape.

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The next opportunity I had to try my coil idea was a few days later and I pulled out my wire and went for it. The tighter I rolled the coil the more it seemed to stay in the shape that I place it. The more loose the coils, the more likely they were to move in different space and direction.  

Unfortunately, once the coil became a certain size, it was difficult to use the pliers, so at that point, I switched to curving the wire with my hands. It looked like my hands produced a looser and less consistent wire. However, when I attempting to do the same on other side of the measuring tape, I was able to find a way to continue using the pliers for the entire coil. This is seemed to create a more tightly contained circular coil. But, when I laid the two coils next to each other, they seemed almost exactly the same. I wonder what other ways in life I delude myself into thinking that one approach is better than another when in reality they produce the same results.

I decided to try and flatten the some of the outer coils to create the bottom or underside of the measuring tape, giving it a flatter surface to stand on. I’m not sure if I like the outcome because the wires now seem too close in those areas where I flatted the wire. If I planned to do this before I finished cutting the wire, I may have left a larger diameter of the larges outer coils to avoid the smooshed appearance. As usual, hindsight is 20-20.

I had one really great idea to utilize, a cone shape to create the coils and wrap the wire tightly around the cone. However, I do not have a cone of the correct shape. This made me wonder how much the success of an artist is contingent on having the right tools.

Whether that is true or not, I still felt like I was missing some important technical knowledge on how to work with wire. I wonder if I did more research on the material that I am working with that I could discover new techniques and approaches to try and create the outcome that I desired. This feels much more left brained; analytical structured, researched, calculated. Why do I feel resistance towards that approach? Is it because so much of my life feels structured? Am I waiting for permission to be more right brained? Is there not a middle way? 

I wonder how much we do that in society: create an outcome and then struggle to find a process that will help us deliver on an outcome, instead of having a specific process and then become completely emerged in the process. I wonder what the benefits and drawbacks are of each approach. I definitely have a lot of experience with starting with a desired outcome and then searching for the right approach, but not as much experience with being completed emerged in process with little need for a specific outcome. Perhaps that is what art is about for many people: an opportunity to play around with the materials until an artwork emerges. I imagine it might be for some, but definitely not for all.

Next I’ll try watching YouTube video for technical training on working with wire.

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Week 2

Week 2 started off with an incredible discovery. As I was going to put out my recycling on the street curb, I noticed a golden metal wire in the bin from an old note book that I had pulled apart to recycle. The piece was perfect for the “tape” part of the measuring tape! I pulled it out of the bin and studied the gauge and shape and made a few small adjustments to open the rings so they created more of a U shape similar to the measuring tape.

Now, I needed a way to connect the two ends end of the outer casing of the wire together, so I used the 2D line object from week 1. This left an “open shell” look to the measuring tape, but at least it now had structure. I decided to use the same pattern from the found golden binder wire in the image above, for the to complete the casing of the measuring tape. This was the first time in the piece where I was adjoining more than one piece together. I found it challenging, but looked to examples in the room for how others approached this. I noticed that coiling one wire around another seemed to provide significant structure. So I gave that a trie and it held well! I enjoyed the look of one wire coiled around the other. The curvature gave it a wild yet methodic look.

Perfect! Now I had my enclosed casing and the curvature on the sides and along the top of the casing repeated the pattern of the measuring tape to create consistency. The spirals on the side mimic the movement of the tape as it is spiralled and stored within the casing. Now, to attach the golden tape!

As a final touch I wanted to add the button on top of the measuring tape. This felt important to me because this is the apparatus that allows for the tape to enter or release from the casing. I wanted to to be able to move slightly to mimic the true object. I decided to leave the bottom of the measuring tape open. The reason is because there is already a lot going on in the shape and I didn’t want the bottom to detract from the coils on the sides, the tape, or the button on top. Plus the structure seemed to stand sturdy without a bottom side to the casing so I thought I wouldn’t test my luck by adding more material that might destabilize the object when sitting upright.

And there you have it! The final piece. I considered spray painting the piece so it was all one colour, but I decided to leave the tape portion gold to draw attention to the length of the tape since that was a key element of the piece. I love the way the long tape has a bit of a mind of it’s own, which is similar to how the measuring tape works when it’s long and extended. When I look at it, I also see the face of a fly with its long tongue and big eyes. Perhaps that will be a future iteration of this piece! I also really enjoy how wily and organic it looks. At the start of the project I was worried about the wire and it’s non co-operative nature and how that might work against the straight rigid lines of the mechanical object. In the end though, I think the squiggly lines of the pre-coiled wire gives it charm and makes it look more alive and more interesting.

I also completed my sketch drawing of the object after completing the artwork. I understand that may not have been the intention of the drawing but I noticed when I drew these new renditions my hand felt freer. Perhaps because I had already been studying the object for so long, the pencil flowed more confidently across the page.

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UNIT 1 Research Assignment: 3D Line Applications in Art + Design

Google Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hN8kqcfHukLQT8Tz8eRN2BYTH3KjYRSDpUAFBUNsM9k/edit?usp=sharing

FIN-130_U1_Research-Assign_2024

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Wire Heart Process Blog

My project began with research on the heart. I started with looking at images online after googling “anatomical heart”. I made a rough sketch of the heart to get an idea for the shape and major arteries that make the form of the heart. Then I researched the dimensions. I looked at a couple of applications that Angela recommended, but there wasn’t anything on there for the heart. I also signed out the book in the library she recommended, but there was only one image in the book of the heart and it was not a very detailed image (albeit it was beautiful should all of the capillaries surrounding the heart in different colours).

After doing the research of the shape and size I decided to see how that would relate to the space within the rib cage. This lead to me drawing out the heart size in relation to the rib cage (see third image below) as well as looking at the skeleton in the class to get an idea of the space within the chest. One website said that the heart is roughly the size of a fist, and that became a good reference as I build my structure. You can also see in the third picture, that I numbered the ribs so I could get an idea where behind the rips the heart lays. You can see that its partly hidden by the sternum. This is when I spoke to Shaylin who was working on the chest, I wanted to see if she could leave the chest partially open to make space for the heart to appear to be emerging for the chest. She said she could probably do that and then we discussed the idea of the heart being passed to the other skeleton, since there would be only one heart, but two skeletons. This could mean that the heart is in the hand and could also mean that the size of the hear didn’t matter as much. I decided I’d speak to the morning class to see if they liked this concept as well.

After investigated the form, size, and the placement, I began to play with the wire material and quickly found that it was much more malleable and forgiving than the last project. I enjoyed curling it around my finger and reflected on how visually stimulating the circular shapes were from my last wire project and decided to see if I could work with this shape throughout the entire piece. So I went with it. You can see I started with the shape of the Aorta and then began to widen into the rest of the heart shape. Unfortunately, this where I started to run into a challenge. The circles became larger and well, the heart isn’t exactly a circular shape. After struggling with this for a while, until I kept with my original idea but worked to make them into circles of different shape and direction in the quadrants of the ventricles of the heart.

And this is what I got. It was messy. and I didn’t like it. It needed something to hold it together, both physically and with form. This is when I thought of David Olivera from my research project and wondered if I could create an outline, like a drawing and make the shape of the heart more clear as well.

So I went with it. And unfortunately, it didn’t really work on my first try, the wire was too thin and flexible and the the ventricles kept bouncing out – literally. So I started by creating some binding between the ventricles to hold them in place, then moved to strengthening the outline of the heart by twisting them together. This was effective! And so the outlining began.

I have to admit though, I did have a helper during this process, a very snuggly therapy kitty who doubles as a great back drop. After bringing the hear to class and placing it in the hand and the chest, I decided to add this coloured small wire, again drawing inspiration from Oliveira and also my other classmates to incorporated smaller wire, I made the colouring and gave it that pop! I love it 🙂

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Post Presentation Reflection

What common threads or techniques emerged across the group: It seems like in the presentation more students caught onto the spiral technique to try and make a sense of volume.

What unique solutions stood out: These three pieces stood out to me but each of them for different reasons. The hand incorporated more movement and implied lines with the spiral edges of the fingers. It gave it a sense of gesture, like the sculpture was reaching out. The spiral at the centre also gave it a story and movement. Something is happening here!

The Skull is craftfull designed. I’m impressed by the structural lines mixed with the lines that fill in the space. Everything seems so carefully thought out and spaced. Then the circles in the centre draw the eye in… literally.

Finally this leg! Its so unlike the rest. The lines within the structure are so decorative, the look almost random but the pattern makes you realize that this is not the case. It looks like someone had a lot of fun with this. Again, a spiral in the centre of the bone is something different but still just very beautiful to the eye. It inspires me!

How did observing others’ work influence your own thinking: while creating my piece I saw this approach of creating smaller scrunched wire as the “filling” of the bone. It created a sense of volume that I emulated in my piece but with coloured wire on the inside of the heart. Next time I work with wire, I’d like to play more with the the wild, gesture-like wire above, and the spirally playful wires in the leg bone above.

Personal Creative Reflection

1. Create:
   • Learning Outcome: Integrate research and new ideas into your work.
   • Prompt: How did research or inspiration from artists, designers, or movements shape your project? What ideas informed your creative decisions?
     • Daniel Olivera’s work: I drew inspiration from Oliveira’s work by using smaller wire and colourful wire to incorporate more volume and to make elements stand out (heart against the wire skeleton). I also used the outline of of the heart like a 2-D drawing to both create structure and a more finished looking piece.
2. Develop:
   • Learning Outcome: Expand your skills by using new tools or techniques.
   • Prompt: Did you experiment with new tools (e.g., software, hand tools)? How did learning these tools help you improve your project?
     • With the first wire project I tried using smaller jewelry plyers and the larger pliers available in class. I preferred the smaller wires to help with creating the smaller life-sized project.
     • I also explored resources on youtube on how to straighten the wire and creating loops for binding.
     • In addition, examining the examples at the front of the class to see how shapes could come together with a spiraling effect while creating more line density to create emphasis on the form of the object.
3. Expand:
   • Learning Outcome: Take creative or technical risks.
   • Prompt: Did you try something unfamiliar or experimental? How did taking this risk impact the final outcome?
     • With the wire heart, I decided to take a risk by creating my entire project with spirals. This was effective in creating a sense of volume, but was difficult to create a solid structure that held together. It required layering of spirals and taking separate pieces together to create the overall shape, since I wasn’t able to effectively make one large spiral object with one piece of wire. There was a moment where I asked myself “is this going to work” but instead of starting over, I looked for technical solutions and was able to bind the shape together with linages and a larger outline of the of the entire shape – holding it all together.
4. Problem-Solve:
   • Learning Outcome: Identify challenges and find creative solutions.
   • Prompt: What challenges did you face, and how did you overcome them? Were there any problem-solving strategies that worked particularly well?
     • This was my first time working with wire and the 18 gauge steel wire was difficult to work with. As I communicated in my process blog, my largest obstacle was my mental approach to the project. The ah-ha moment was when I realized the purpose of the project was really to creative problem solve, to be curious and exploratory, not necessarily create a perfect 3D sculpture. This allowed me to be more forgiving for myself, and instead of focus my energy on criticizing myself or the project assignment, I could direct my efforts on finding solutions. This feels like an invaluable lesson I hope to continue to bring to my other projects throughout the Art Diploma program.
5. Collaborate & Reflect:
   • Learning Outcome: Use research, feedback and self-reflection to improve your work.
   • Prompt: How did research, feedback, and your own self-reflection lead to revisions?
     What specific changes did you make to improve your project?
     • Feedback in the class with the movement created by the spiral, from the first project was incorporated into the heart in the second project using spiral shapes to create sense of volume, bounce, and pleasing to the eye. This discovery in the first project, and encouragement from the class on this element, highly influenced my second piece.
6. Communicate:
   • Learning Outcome: Identify and reflect on connections made in your work.
   • Prompt: As you worked on your project, what connections did you make between ideas, techniques, or materials? Did new approaches or unexpected relationships emerge as your project evolved? How did these connections influence your creative process?
     • Yes! Binding one object to the other using small circular bindings and then twisting them to tighten could be applied to both wire structures. In addition, when observing the 18 gauge wire project from previous classes I took inspiration on the spiral bindings to creating the spiralled wire outline used in my heart