Gilgamesh

These two pieces at once impressed me with their huge scale and the quality of their construction. The statue of Gilgamesh is seemingly constructed of scrap metal in strange shapes that you wouldn't normally think of to constitute the human body. The mixture of graphic designs created on in the manifestation of the body add greatly to the expressiveness of the work as a whole.

The Orc statue is equally impressive in the crazy level of detail that simply brings it to life in all its hulking brutality. The fact that is even standing seems to me a miracle.

Orc

Water Privatization Political Cartoons

Weightless

Similar to the falling piece, this piece is surprisingly full of motion and vitality.
The level of detail is astounding and even without the title "Weightless" I was immediately struck with such a feeling from the piece itself.

Cardboard Farie

This piece immediately struck me as a great exercise in both realism and testing the limits of the medium. The entire farie is constructed from cardboard. It's really lifelike and it's really amazing to me that the sculptor managed to construct the hair in this fashion without destroying other hair strands.

These pieces stand out as some of the strongest installation-style sculptures I have seen. I think that inclusion of the human form in places it generally shouldn't be inherently adds a certain mood to the piece.

I think it would be really interesting to see how people react to seeing these included in a normal sidewalk or other public place. What would happen in their minds in the split second they hesitate as they first see one of these?

"falling"

This sculpture does a great job of capturing the action of falling. From my experience, capturing motion in sculpture has been pretty difficult. One of the other things this piece does well is to remain structurally stable even though it is hanging over empty space. Constructing the piece out of metal probably helps.

"Dancer"

I find this piece inspirational. Though I would never guess that it is supposed to be a dancer without the title "Dancer," I think this aspect of the sculpture is interesting. Relying on the title allows for both free association before the viewer sees it, and also serves to specify exactly what the sculptor wants to convey.

Project 4 (Group Project) 2

We've added a few more details to our previous ideas about our project. We plan on putting some personal images on the boxes, and this is to reflect the individuality of each one of the boxes. We might also use cardboard that already has images on it, and we might also make some more powerful images on the center boxes.

Working with the cardboard is really interesting, I never would have thought you could do so much with it. Ripping it seems to create the most engaging lines in my opinion. Putting the boxes together without using any adhesive was really difficult, and easy when I used hot glue. We've all taken different approaches to making the boxes, so they're all going to turn out really different, which is great for our themes.

Even though each of us is making thirteen boxes in total, I'm a little worried that the individuality and uniqueness of each of the boxes will make them too different in size. This might sacrifice the conical shape of the whole thing, but that might not be such a bad trade. There are certainly enough powerful aspects to the piece that it might not necessarily need to be packed with every metaphor we can think of.

Project 4 (Group Project)

I think we've come up some good ideas for our group project. As a group, we spent a really long time discussing how to best combine our thoughts and the ideas which were prevalent in the 3rd project. We spent a lot more time talking and deciding what we really wanted to do to very specific aspects. Even though it took a while to get everyone to agree on a very specific project, I think it will benefit us in the end. Whatever time we lost in discussing detail is certainly worth the addition those details add to the project. We're going to have to use a lot of boxes, but the project should turn out pretty nice.


Our idea for the project is to have a bunch of stacks of boxes. The boxes will be smaller and smaller closer to the top of stacks, crating a sort of conical shape. These will almost be a microcosm for the overall project, which arranges the stacks of boxes in a conical manner. There will be one stack of boxes 5 tall in the middle, with a ring of four around stacks around it that will be 3 boxes tall. Around that will be a circle of six stacks 3 boxes tall. The idea of having the boxes in a circle most is closely related to the theme of my third project, which focuses on the circularity of things and the natural recycling process.

We plan on connecting the boxes to both reflect the theme of family and the connectedness of my last project. This should also help the viewer's eye perceive the circles we are trying to create with the formation of the boxes. All the boxes on the outside towers will be open toward the inside, and the middle tower will be open to all sides. This aspect reflects the connectedness of family.

Project 3 Reflection 3

The use of fishing line and wax as connection devices for my sculpture turned out to be a really fortuitous addition to my project. At first I tried to use the wax to keep my project from collapsing, but it just wouldn't work with the physics of the piece. It did, however, work really as a simple but powerful addition to the image. The melting and dripping wax adds a sort of sense of heat to the image, reinforcing the image of ash at the bottom of the piece.

The fishing line adds new metaphor and reinforces the metaphors already present in the piece. The new metaphor introduced by the fishing line is the metaphor of the invisible puppet strings that bind and move us all. Its cool that these strings are actually invisible from more than a few feet away. It also reinforces the metaphor of connectedness present throughout the various aspects of the piece, even if you can't see where the connections lead.

Project 3 Reflection 2

Working with the materials to create the image in my head and in my sketchbook was really difficult. In my sketchbook I didn't have to worry about the physics of my art. I just had to keep it on the page. But when dealing with 3 dimensions, I had to completely rethink my creation strategies, adapting to the limits of the physicality of the rocks. The form I had became more and more minimal as I went on, because I really wanted to focus on the weight of the image and the negative space. I really wanted a lot of weight to be put on the arm, and doing the sculpture in rock was perfect for this, but adding rocks to the other side would have added to much weight to the entire image. So I subtracted rocks from the other side, which allowed the imagination the viewer to take over from the cues I have given to see the rocks as a human figure. From that point the viewer can use her imagination to fill in the negative space with what she imagines the human figure would be doing in that space. This is a really cool effect, as it creates a sort of mist in the image's negative space, which is appropriate for the graveyard, smoke of smouldering ashes, or the metaphorical mist of creation, undefined over a long period of time.

Project 3 Reflection

The idea behind this project was a sort of reincarnation. When I drew my original sketch I was thinking that, at least from a scientific point of view, everyone is reincarnated. When you die, your body decomposes and eventually even molecules are decomposed and recomposed, recombining to make new things.
I wanted to use the rocks in correlation with the human form to show that in the end everything is made of the same stuff, and even rocks and people have a lot in common. The form was originally designed to be coming out of a hole in the board, representing a grave. But in the absence of a saw, I had to rethink how I wanted to portray the grave. Making it more abstract worked out really well in the end, as it still has the basic shape and overtones of a grave, but also looks like ash. Using the painted rocks as ash works really well to, as it multiplies the implications of the metaphor. The figure is rising from both the grave and from the ashes, which are rock, which means there is both a human and rock rising from rock, creating multiple levels of circularity and recycling of ideas and materials.

Second Project Reflection 2

I'm not a big fan of the Crayola model magic. I'm not very good at sculpting with clay, as I found out in my Ceramics class last semester, and the model magic is really difficult to work with. It stretches, tears, and flops around too much for my liking, but I think it worked really well for this project. For the image I needed to create, it was probably one of the best media that I could have used.

The sagging of the model magic worked beautifully in capturing the feeling inherent in the image I wanted to construct. I really wanted to capture the feelings of despair and the visceral melting of the situation of many of the homeless. At the same time I really wanted to capture the bench as "home." So, having it curve in with the weight of the person captures both the sagging of sorrow and the strangeness of trying to find comfort in the bench. It's almost as if the bench has a personality of its own, and is trying to accommodate and comfort the person, to try to take some of the burden, the vast weight, from off the sitter's heart. I really thought that a simplified version of my sketchbook idea would be the best way to go on this project. The simplicity allows the pure visceral to shock the viewer, with minimal distraction. The simplicity also reflects the lifestyle of the homeless , and the minimalism that their life must take.
Another aspect of this piece that I like is the proportions. The person seems to be shrinking into himself, shriveled and bent beneath the weight of his situation. At the same time the bench appears to grow in the eye, flaring at the sides in a comforting and even protective embrace. But at the same time, very little of the figure is actually attached or toughing the bench, indicating that officially the person does not own this bench and the ties that tie their symbolism together are ephemeral or at least ethereal in nature, and are harshly opposed by the laws of society.

Second Project Reflection

In the conceptual stages of this project I was thinking about different conceptions about what a home is, and how each person thinks of different things when they think of the word 'home.' One thing that really captured my attention in my sketches was the thought about homeless people. How would being homeless, I asked myself, change how I perceive the word 'home'? Home usually equals a house in my mind, but how would this change if I had no possessions to base a materialistic view upon? Would I adopt new views of what constitutes my home? Would my surroundings become my home? Would my concept of home broaden or shrink?

This concentration of mine on the homeless mindset was probably fueled by my recent trip to Washington D.C. I traveled there as part of the Denison Service Orientation, working in soup kitchens and food pantries around the DC area. Talking with and interacting with people in these environments and in this context really changed my perspective on the whole subject. Before I went I would have called these people "homeless people," but I think of them now as "people who are homeless." I think of them as people first defining them by their humanity before I define them by their situation. It's not necessarily a disambiguation that needs to be made in the way its phrased, but I think it's important to keep in mind when considering them.

First Project Reflection 2

There are a few things I think I would change if I did another project in branches/twigs. I think the first thing I would try would be to try being less literal and more figurative with my choices in my creation. One thing I would like to try in this area is to try some minimalism. I think it would be cool to try combining this with use of the wire as media rather than a connective utility. Like this:

First Project Reflection

This project was interesting to work on. Using wood rather than the materials I am used to working with like pen, paper, and paint, really changed my perspective on what I was doing . The first aspect of working with wood was the simple fact that I was working in 3-D sculpture. I've worked in 3 dimensions before, but very little, and it really forced me to reconsider how I view my creation. I had to consider the fact that it could be seen from many angles, and therefore could not merely copy what had been drawn in my sketchbook. The introduction of another dimension to my work meant that I had to re-envision the negative space in my work in a spatial context. There were also new aspects of movement, mainly adding another vector for movement to occur in.
Working in wood straight from the tree is very different from other media. Certain lines are more difficult to create in wood rather than in pen or pencil. It's really difficult to bend branches to the shapes I wanted them to be , but I think the effects of using branches and twigs more than compensate for the lack of realism. In fact, they offer a completely new view of the subject and can really add to the meaning even if the subject is unrecognizable for what it is. I think my shopping cart was just recognizable enough to be effective with very little context.

Annotated Bibliography

Vandana Shiva. Water wars: pollution, profits and privatization.

This book discusses the privatization of water and specifically focuses on water privatization in India. It should provide a good understanding of exactly what water privatization is, as well as give me a good perspective from the business and other standpoints.

Against the current : privatization, water markets, and the state in Chile

I think this book should give me more insight into Chile’s water issues as discussed in The Corporation. It should provide perhaps a good description of how Chileans specifically respond to and express themselves about water privatization. Maybe I can use many of the themes and expressions the Chileans used as a basis for creating my own expressions on thee issue.

Miller, Debra A. ed. Will the world run out of fresh water?

This book discusses the issue of running a linear system on a finite planet, an issue mentioned in The Story of Stuff. This issue adds another facet to the privatization issue, and will probably bring privatization more to the forefront of news in coming years. It should certainly add depth to my understanding of the situation as a whole.

Saxon, Reed. Associated Press AP.

This image shows a California Mayor with a bottle of discolored tap water that was brought to him by a city resident. Water in CA is becoming scare, and increasingly farmers are selling their water supplies to cities and farms in the south than growing crops.

“Water for all, or for profit?” BBC News.

This article discusses the effects of privatization in Ghana, and the export of water to neighboring South Africa. This article should help putting together a better worldview of water privatization. Also, since the article was published online, BBC News allowed for people from all over the world to respond, which shows the varying views from people all around the world expressed by themselves.

“Water privatisation gains support.” BBC News.

Adding to a worldwide perspective on the topic, this article discusses Scotland’s response to water privatization. Interestingly, it seems different to the general worldwide view on privatization, and also discusses the benefits of both water in the public sector and in the private sector.

“Genetic patents pose potent problem.” BBC News.

Addressing genetic patenting, this article goes into specifics about practical issues and ethical issues of modifying genes. It brings into clearer focus the views on intellectual property and will hopefully help me in developing my own ideas concerning the matter.

Harriet, Irwin. “Design & Patent for House.” 1869.

This image, along with the Chanute drawing, reminded me a lot of the patenting of genetic code by private companies. I think it would be really cool to use both of these images as a basis for creating blueprints of organisms, and somehow use this to send a message.

Chanute, Octave. “Patent drawing, Soaring Machine of Octave Chanute.” 1897.

This image, along with the Irwin drawing, reminded me a lot of the patenting of genetic code by private companies. I think it would be really cool to use both of these images as a basis for creating blueprints of organisms, and somehow use this to send a message.

Johns, Jasper. “Device.” 1961-1962.

This painting is an abstract expressionist painting of a riot. It caught my eye after I read about riots in Chile over water privatization. It’s interesting to see how many different ways there are of conveying meaning through the concrete and the more abstract.

Rockman, Alexis. “Tropical hazards.” 1999.

This painting is pretty clearly described by its title. It reminded me of the vectors and viruses rising into Nairobi in An Inconvenient Truth. It could be the basis for sending a message about what will happen to cities like Nairobi if the global climate changes dramatically.

Diamanda. “Plague Mass: Were You a Witness.” 1992.

In a similar vein as Alexis Rockman’s “Tropical hazards,” this photo expresses ideas about the AIDs epidemic. It should be a good resource in expressing the consequences of global warming.

Intellectual property and information wealth : issues and practices in the digital age. Peter K. Yu, ed.

This book should prove useful in providing good background on intellectual property, including the ethics and practices currently in place. It also has some illustrations that may be inspiring.

Dangl, Benjamin. The price of fire : resource wars and social movements in Bolivia.

The unrest in Bolivia in response to water privatization was something that caught my eye in the background information we’ve already covered. I hope that more information on the specifics as well as the illustrations provided in the book will help inspire me.

Vaughn, Jacqueline. Conflicts over natural resources : a reference handbook.

This book should provide a broad view of my specific topics as well as related topics. This might provide openings into other ideas and inspiration.

Photos- Shopping Cart

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