Ashley 3rd Project Idea

 

Here is my sketch for my idea, I really liked the idea of having some elegant shapes as well as incorporating tension. I really want to look into using chicken wire and plaster gauze for some of the shape and then use needle felting. I think that using velvet fabric to cover the plaster gauze and then blending it into the needle felting would be really cool. I want to use either deep red or deep green for the colors. This will hang on the wall. I want to find a really cool hook to hang it on the wall with. 

I looked up John Newman and looked at some of his work. I recognized his work from last semester so I'll have to remember his name from now on because I really liked his work. 

Joshua Trembly Project 3

 My found object is a 6 sided silver box with red upholstery and decorative patterns. It's small and fits in the palm of one's hand. My plan is to use it to house a small figure, probably made out of sculpey, and my favorite idea so far is to house a little monkey figure in it.

These are just a few ideas of what action the monkey will be performing. He is meant to be a monkey "servant", so I would like for him to be offering a gift in one hand and maybe holding fruit in the other. I like the idea of him having a spring or wire lower half and an animal body. I could either make the box so that he springs out when it's opened, or leave it open all of the time. The red upholstery I will probably ditch and replace with blue or yellow, and the lid I would like to line with a needle felted blue and yellow pattern. 

One difficulty I foresee is that I will be done with this pretty early. I'm starting with this concept, but have also thought about making something to "hold" the found object with the monkey figure, like a small beautiful man. I could add him to my growing character collection :). Or, I could make something like a platform for the box to sit on. These concepts I need to go back to the drawing board for.

One thing worth noting is that the designs on the box resemble "angel" figures--they're people with wings--so I want to make sure whatever I add to the box fits its current aesthetic. I think if the monkey is crafted well it will fit the aesthetic.

Virgil:3rd Idea SOFT and Hard

 As I have pondered what to do with this last project I started to think a bit more abstractly while still trying to think about my portfolio. 

Idea:

When given the funnel and the prompt, I couldn't get my mind off of something industrial. Then I started to think about silks and the threads that spiders(particularly the funnel web spider) us to make there homes. I came up with this idea of insects being caught in a mass of thread that when funneled down twists into a sort of quilt made of the thread and the bugs that got caught will be woven or Sewn into this sheet of fabric. 

Idea 2

Right now, I'm just leaning into this piece and just gonna work with whatever comes to mind. Taking full creative license and just trying to have fun with this last piece. I am pretty set on the idea of having  2 funnels mirror one another, much like an hour glass would having the center being disconnected as the soft fibers flood into the negative area.  I have also been playing around with the idea of some sort of brightly colored sphere being placed in the center of the two fuzzy funnels as if it is being drowned out by the incoming fuzz.

Clara Project 3

 

Megan Brown Project 3 Ideas

 I picked up two pieces for this project: one green vase and one small glass flower (?). I thought both of these pieces had very organic forms that I could play with, and low and beheld; I had so many ideas! I need help deciding which one to do. All of these sketches have shapes that I've been craving to play with, so I am struggling with which one I want to work with. 

#1 is relatively simple, and if I went with it, I would want to add a crazy texture or perhaps embroidery onto the tentacle(?) form. I would want to make sure the two tentacles on the "mouth" of the vase looked like they went down into the vase and were not connected. 

#2 Has a sort of hollow cage made out of soft material with nylon or some kind of transparent netting in between the supporting pillars. Inside I would like to create a soft fuzzy form that moves and flits about inside the cage. 

#3 Is inspired by an alien plant that catches passerby bugs/animals on the "tongue" and processes them down to the lower part of the carnivorous plant where it is digested, and the energy is used to grow the roots at the base.

#4 is also Inspired by an alien plant, but this one is more elegant and decorative than dangerous and predatory. 

My final sketch is using the second piece I picked up. I am picturing a tongue traveling all the way down the transparent tube the stem is made of. This tongue would be spiky and rough like a cat's, and sitting on it  would be some sort of tasty-looking berries/alien orbs (but they will look scrumptious!) 

Jessica Brennan Project 3

 For my third and final piece, I chose these Blue Amerbol tubes. Edison patented in order to compete with other cylindrical records in the early 20th century. These tubes were marketed as indestructible, compared to their black wax counterparts that would shatter after a couple of uses. Their cores are made from plaster and the outside coating is made of celluloid which is a plastic derived from plants. These tubes typically had popular songs of the time but special editions would have instructions for all sorts of household hobbies or music advertized as "cultured" like operas and orchestral arrangments. The length of a song on these records could be between 2 minutes or 4 and a half. Even though these tubes are virtually indestructible, their sound quality is horrendous compared to the black wax cylinders. they were only produced between the years 1912 and 1929 due to the competition and popularity of flat records and disks. 

My first idea is to create an almost visual representation of the sound quality of these tubes. The vertical tube represents how music is "captured" onto the celluloid tubes from being a pure sound that is then made physical. I was thinking that this piece would be 13" inches tall in height and I wanted to try to stiffen some sheer fabric in this undulating form mimicking a fluid. I would want to hand dye the gradient into it first before constructing this form. Underneath the two tubes I would put a series of black fibers almost like a puddle underneath to represent how some essence of the music is lost in the recording. Finally, I want to construct a part of a phonograph out of reused and found fabrics, sheet music, etc. I want this piece to be incomplete and only reference the old technology for listening to these records. I think the best approach would be to quilt my pieces together and then cut out pattern pieces and use boning for the seams and structure. I can also starch the fabric between each rib. The pieces that would make up my phonograph shape would only be 7" in length. 

My inspirations include Lee Bontcou and her style of re-using canvas and copper wire to create a rough-hewn aesthetic. I also was looking at the use of boning from the artist Elaine Louie in the slide show

Lee Bontecou, Untitled, 1966

Project 3 Ideas_Lindsay Stewart

 I was recently researching the symbolic use of “light” in art and writing and came across this article, it had some really beautiful insights on the topic. The article focussed on its use in Jewish religious text. Some notes I took from it were:

• "Why has light been such a favorite symbol of God? Perhaps because light itself cannot be seen. We become aware of its presence when it enables us to see other things. Similarly, we cannot see God, but we become aware of God's presence when we see the beauty of the world, when we experience love and the goodness of our fellow human beings" (Eitz Hayim Commentary, p. 503). 

• "A candle of God is the soul of man" (Proverbs 20:27)

• “In this wintry season of darkness, we recognize both God's role and our own human efforts in bringing light into the world.”

• Our lights(souls) can Enlighten & Enliven our surroundings

As I ruminated on the concept of our souls being a light, I felt like it directly related to a series I am working on called, “Women of Understanding”. The idea of this series to highlight female figures along with the wisdom/strength/power they carry. After reading this I thought, “what is brought into view from the “light" of the women I’m influenced by?” Some ideas were (including symbols I would use to represent then): 

1. Loving home
2. Life - fruit trees
3. Beauty
4. Hope/peace…color green
5. Science…some implement from astronomy…Telescope? Celestial map?
6. Spiritual nature/strength...illustrate this through symbolic use of the color blue
7. Healing 
8. power/strength...use wings…ancient iconography used wings as a symbol of both power and protection
9. Perseverance - desert flower 
10. Industry - Beehive

I happened to pick up a lamp base at our trip to Bart’s and I thought what if instead of using it to emanate literal light, it could instead emanate symbols of the various things we are able to “see” because of the light the “Women of Understanding” themselves emanate?

This lamp would be made of the found base, cast paper flora, a cast paper celestial map, cast paper beehive, and fabric color elements. 

In a dream world I would curate a show with this topic and invite a myriad of artists to contribute. I imagine the work ranging from 2-d, 3-d, and the written word. Potentially a lamp like the one I am making could tie all the different works together.

Some inspirational photos

The female astronomers' research at Harvard allowed us to map the sky and learn that the universe is ever expanding 

Bees wings as a guide the casting 

My grandmother is the first figure I highlighted in this series

Project #3 Ideas Fernando

 

For this piece I want to incorparate my boat into a 2Dimensional portrait. The portrait will be made up of yarn shown in the fourth image down. I will have the giant octopus from the scene pull in the physical 3Dimensional found object toy boat. I will create the illusion of the Kraken pulling the boat into the "portrait". I will sculpt half the boat with yarn as if it is getting pulled into the piece. As for the giant octopus I will be creating felt tentacles to give that the illusion of 3Dimensional tentacles coming from the portrait. 

Project #3 Ideas

 Since for my last piece, I made a chaneque from the Aztec religion, I figured that for this piece I should explore something closer to me. I want to demonstrate my faith as a Catholic. Not as believing, but how I perceive Jesus. For my found object, I'm using two small glass goblets both depicting baby Jesus being held by an angel. I want to fill one with red liquid (or at least what looks like red liquid) to symbolize the blood of christ and have blood (felt) pouring from the sides, while the other cup will have wings (fabric) and water. These dual cups will represent Christ's divinity. 

Not only does this show the responsibility of Jesus, but it demonstrates his too halves: fully God and fully Jesus. Jesus is the gentler half of God, the God who embraces what it is to be human and understands what it is to sin. Jesus forgives humanity, and saves them as a kind divine being. I drew him in the center, between his role as God and his ultimate sacrifice. He contemplates himself. God is never unsure of anything, so he need not contemplate, but Jesus does because I contemplate what he is, and what he means to me. I am uncertain of his existence, and therefore my image of Jesus is just as uncertain. 

The two cups represent the split nature of the piece - an existing Jesus and a lack of him. In one cup, he is risen, and in the other, he dies permanently. Jesus, his robe (fabric) flowing across the platform and dividing the two sides/natures, looks across at his blood (and death). Th audience does not know what he is thinking - is he mournful, fearful, accepting? I'm not going to felt him a face. 

Blue is a color representing tranquility and peace. I want to have a peaceful ocean scene with low-hanging clouds to his back. On the other side there will be gore (perhaps felted) showing a mortal Jesus. Though Jesus sits in the middle (fully God and fully human) he looks and reflects his human side as I too come to doubt his divinity. No doubt, he is a prophet. Yet, did he rise? He is also quite docile, which demonstrates my own religious outlook. 

I also found some really pretty paintings at the flea market an although I'm not sure I might replace the gore with these red patterns on the mortal side. The fragile flowers would have the same effect as the marred flesh - something impermanent and fragile (delicate). It's really two opposite directions. We'll see.

I'll make the platform out of wood since I like the way paint looks on wood (plus it's sturdy)
, and I'm not stuck on the rectangle. I feel like I could make it a cross or something, but that feels excessive and might distract from the message I'm trying to get across.

Maybe a circle or some ovaloid thing.