Final Project

Throughout the course, my idea for my final project has evolved based on the lessons and artists I was exposed to. Here, I will share my thought process for my final.

White Light Inspiration:

When I was in high school, I did a project where I demonstrated how white light is created. I learned that the primary colors of light are blue, red, and green. When these light colors converge, they create white light. I wanted to use this idea in my project because I wanted to add an element of science so I could "test" how a STEAM project could take place for my future students.

The Primary Colors of Light

When all of the primary colors converge, they create while light. When converging only two at a time, they create other colors.

Here is a list of the galleries we visited in Chelsea.

Gallery Inspiration:

During my time in Sculpture as Making, our class had the opportunity to visit the galleries in Chelsea. While there, we saw an artist who worked with sculpture and painting. Naturally, I found this artist very interesting because of my background in painting. The artist was John Latham. I was impressed with how he was able to build off of a canvas by attaching books and other found materials. He also took the idea further by painting and layering other materials over the canvas after building on top of it. This process was very appealing because of my familiarity with a canvas. In addition to the concept of white light, I wanted to find a way to include the making process of building on a canvas. I had also thought about using this process of building on a canvas in my painting process to create more texture. If I were to take this further, I would experiment with sculpting figures onto a canvas

My Process:

With these ideas for inspiration, I decided to build off of a canvas with plaster, which would be left white, to demonstrate the effects of the primary colors of light with transparent acrylic sheets. For my final project, I also wanted to utilize as many of the machines as I could so that I could get experience using them.

My first step was to create a design for the acrylic sheet to be cut in. In my sketchbook, I created designs that I thought fit the tone/personality of the color. I would then take a picture of the sketch, import it onto my computer, and trace it with the pen tool on Adobe Illustrator. This is the same technique and process that I used during my first project in class.

My design for green

My design for red

My design for blue

These are the finished laser cut acrylic pieces

After the pieces were cut, I had to think about a way I would set up my demonstration. I had the idea that I could put the designs on moveable stands and then have the viewer use three LED flashlights (one for each acrylic sheet) to shine through the acrylic and onto the canvas. This would create red, green, and blue light, which would allow the viewer to converge the light together and create white on the canvas. I then came up with the idea of customizing the stands with the 3D printer.

These are pictures of the computer program that is read by the 3D printer to create an object:

Here is a video of the 3D printing process of making stands for my acrylic designs:

This is a picture of what the acrylic design looks like in the 3D printed stand

My next task was figuring out how to build off of the canvas. My professor had suggested to me that I create a wire mesh structure, hot glue it in place, and put plaster strips over the top of it. This technique would allow me to precisely shape the canvas the way I wanted to. I would also be able to make it look like there was a tear or hole in my canvas surface since it is easy to manipulate the material.

Below are pictures of my canvas building process:

Once I was finished with covering the canvas, I tested the demonstration. I experimented with different kinds of flashlights, and with the distances of the flashlight to the acrylic sheets to the canvas.

Below are the images of my experiements with light:

Below is a video that compiles some of my experiments and final project:

My Reflections:

By the time I completed this project, I was very proud of myself. I was able to combine my interest in STEAM, painting, sculpture, and new technology. If I were to redo this project, I would have covered the entire canvas with plaster so that the wire was completely secure on the surface. When I was done, the canvas became heavy because of the wire and plaster, which caused the surface to crack a bit. If I were to take this project further, I would make a larger sculpture, maybe out of a different material, and have it free standing. I would also like to have acrylic pieces that were just as large so that people could use their phone flashlights, instead of having to provide them.

Repurposed Mechanical Dog

One day during class, we explored using mechanical materials. We participated in a crash course of circuits and LED lights, and then took apart a mechanical dog. The dog was from the teacher's assistants previous project, and allowed us to change them however we wanted.

My Process:

We were first asked to take the mechanical dog apart. This way, we were able to figure out how it was put together and how we might put it back together. Once I got the hang of taking it apart, I started playing with the materials to see how I can fit the pieces back together in another way. A classmate of mine was not using the head of her dog, so I repurposed it in my own piece. As my project started to evolve, I recognized the heads on either side of the body as a television character from my childhood, Cat Dog. With this in mind, I decided to create my own Cat Dog toy.

Final Product

A still photo of my fully decorated project

My Reflections:

After doing this project, I have gained a new found appreciation for playing and exploring materials. This had been a crucial part of my making process, without time to get to know the materials I was using, I would not have been able to create my final product. Being familiar with your materials and knowing what kind of potential they have is important because without knowing what you can do, how would one know how they can utilize it?

Translating Drawing to Sculpture

One of the smaller projects we did during class was one where we explored drawing materials on various surfaces, and then created a three dimensional sculpture out of the drawings. We worked with watercolor and oil pastels on vinyl, watercolor paper, and on paper of different thicknesses. Each time we were asked to change materials and surfaces, we were told to draw from observation and had a time restraint on how long we were able to spend on that drawing. When the exercise was complete, we chose which drawing we liked best and put it to the side. Then we created a three dimensional sculpture with the rest of the drawings we had.

This is the drawing that I chose to set to the side. It was done on a plastic surface with oil pastels. After layering the material multiple times, I scratched the surface with a plastic knife. I like it because of the visual effects the quick marks make.

Translation in Progress

Shaping the wire armature of my sculpture

This is the sculpture that I made with the rest of my drawings. The top part of it is a water color and pen drawing of a face that I put clear plastic over to create a shine effect. I then poked holes in it and my other drawings to create a wire structure. The body of my piece was created by the watercolor mixing plate I used for all of the drawings.

My Reflections:

The goal of this project was to force two dimensional thinking into three dimensional thinking. This was particularly difficult for me because I have never had to force my artistic thinking so fluidly and quickly. So, while I was translating my drawings into a sculpture, I reverted to a design that was more two dimensional than three dimensional. It had reminded me of my first project in class. I had difficulty seeing something in three dimensions.

The idea of translating something from two dimensions to three dimensions has me reflecting on art education as a whole. For my entire artistic development, I was told by so many teachers that I had to look at the world around me and find a way to put it on a flat page. Then they would teach me how to use tools and techniques to make that flat page look three dimensional. This was the first time where I was told to do the opposite, look at something two dimensional and make it three dimensional. While I struggled with this assignment, I makes me think of how I can change my teaching philosophy to make it more open to other ways of representation in art.

Stop Motion

During my time in Sculpture as Making, I also worked on a collaborative stop motion video. It is typically easier to work on a stop motion video with a partner; one person takes pictures of the subject, while the other is manipulating the subject for each frame. This way, there is a lower chance of making a mistake between pictures. It is also beneficial to have a stable camera to take the pictures with for minimal movement.

Below is the video that my partner and I created, called Gallery Visit:

Our Process:

Since my partner has already done the stop motion process already, I chose to manipulate the figures in our video to get some practice with it. My partner knew that in order for the video to look less choppy and longer, she had to take more than one frame of the subject. So, each time she had to take a photo, she took two or three. She also explained to me that this helped the editing process if one of the photos she took did not look good or if my hand was in it from manipulating the figures.

We chose to use clay and wire because they were the easiest materials to manipulate with the most amount of detail. It was difficult to manipulate with precision when changing the figures positions without moving them too far--in order to make the figures move more smoothly, you have to make small changes so the camera can see the small details.

Lastly, we went through the frames and photos we had. Then we determined what kind of music and sound effects we wanted in the background. We thought that there should be a low song playing in the background while there was some sound effects playing when there was a major change in the video.

My Reflections:

Because my class was only taking place over the course of a few weeks, we did not have a long time to spend on every project. Our stop motion video was created in an afternoon during class. If I were to do it over again, I would have slowed down the process and done a storyboard that included the composition of what I wanted each frame to look like. During our process, we moved the figures based on intuition. I would have also liked to come up with multiple ideas instead of one. I am happy with the story that we told, but I would have liked to explore various kinds of ideas to see how they could have turned out as well.

Mini Sculpture

My first assignment for this course was to create a sculpture that was no more than 12" inches in any dimension. I decided to base my design off of a sketch I did while in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which felt comfortable for me because of my vast experience with two-dimensional art. Considering that it was also my first sculpture for this class, I was not as confident in my skills or the tools that were available to me.

Below are pictures of my process:

My initial thought was to create a wooden version of the design that I had viewed. This meant that I would have to cut, carve, and sand the sculpture out of the wooden block above. After longer deliberation, I thought that it would be too time consuming for a small project and decided to move onto laser cutting the design out of a thinner sheet of wood.

My next thought for my project was to use the laser cutter to follow my design. This felt like a much more comfortable method to complete my project. The machine works by following the design on an Adobe Illustrator file, which is something that I am familiar with because of my background in graphic design. I took a photo of my sketchbook design and imported it onto an Illustrator file to trace with the pen tool. Once it was done, I changed the pen width/stroke to .001 for the laser to trace over.

Blow is a video of the machine laser cutting my design:

This is a picture of my final product.

My Reflections:

At the end of class, we had a group critique. I felt like my project was far behind the skill of the other people in my class. I remember thinking that I should have thought further to figure out how I could make a free standing object. This first project was a good way for me to get introduced to the materials and tools available to me. It was also a way for me to break the ice and realize that I had to work on thinking in terms of three dimensions.