For this project, we essentially drew slips with numbers that corresponded to numbers on a spreadsheet with materials, subjects and artists. You were assigned two materials, two subjects, and one artist. I pulled An Object From A Thrift Shop and Sound as my media and Distraction and Hyper as my subjects. My artist was Gordon Stettinius, who is in fact a local artist who owns a gallery here in Richmond. We were set to the task of creating a piece of art that encompassed all of those things- either directly or indirectly.
I had it both easy and hard- neither of my subject was truly set down, so they could be incorporated along the way. Therefore there was nothing to truly spark my imagination about what I was possibly going to make so I moved on to my subjects and started brainstorming. Distraction and Hyper, to me, go hand in hand, and together they make ADHD. This had me thinking about making some sort of something that tampered with the viewer's vision, tunnel vision, lenses, etc. I was then reminded of a very singular device that has always fascinated me- the lens machine at the optometrist. You sit with your skin against the cool metal back while you choose which lens is better, one or two. The machine has many small knobs and levers on the front that correspond to the lenses. Now I knew there was no way I could ever get my hands on one of those or even possibly build something that complicated but at least I had inspiration.
For some reason I was very taken with the idea of creating a mask because on one previous attempt at mask making I had been pleased. Therefore, I decided to take what I knew and learn during the process. First I built two tapering cylinders to be the eyepieces (they were a real pain to build because I was trying to attach them to a piece of a smashed watch-face), which I then attached to a rounded head. They protruded off the face of the mask and generally made people raise their eyebrows.
From there I had to build a nose and cheeks, to give the eyepieces supportive structure. I actually set the wet papier mache on top of a rounded paper weight that I had on my desk and it gave the mache form. Then I had to build down and make a chin and finish the bottom portion of this mask. This was a part I struggled with, rounding the chin and trying to decide what to do about the ragged paper edges that were left all the was around the mask. I ended up not getting to them and they were unfinished for critique.
This is the most unfinished thing I think I have ever turned in for a critique and I was nervous because it's also way way different from anything I've had critique before. Overall, my classmates were baffled which was what I was expecting because the end product of what I had made baffled me too. My teacher said they best way for my to finish or continue with the mask was to probably do a series of photographs with people wearing it since it would be a conundrum to display and anyway, it would take away some of the surreal quality if it was hung on a gallery wall.
Overall, I was not pleased with the result because I had not spent enough time on my original idea because I had fretted to much over the actual construction of the thing. I hope to finish it and perhaps do a series of photographs one day.
I had it both easy and hard- neither of my subject was truly set down, so they could be incorporated along the way. Therefore there was nothing to truly spark my imagination about what I was possibly going to make so I moved on to my subjects and started brainstorming. Distraction and Hyper, to me, go hand in hand, and together they make ADHD. This had me thinking about making some sort of something that tampered with the viewer's vision, tunnel vision, lenses, etc. I was then reminded of a very singular device that has always fascinated me- the lens machine at the optometrist. You sit with your skin against the cool metal back while you choose which lens is better, one or two. The machine has many small knobs and levers on the front that correspond to the lenses. Now I knew there was no way I could ever get my hands on one of those or even possibly build something that complicated but at least I had inspiration.
For some reason I was very taken with the idea of creating a mask because on one previous attempt at mask making I had been pleased. Therefore, I decided to take what I knew and learn during the process. First I built two tapering cylinders to be the eyepieces (they were a real pain to build because I was trying to attach them to a piece of a smashed watch-face), which I then attached to a rounded head. They protruded off the face of the mask and generally made people raise their eyebrows.
From there I had to build a nose and cheeks, to give the eyepieces supportive structure. I actually set the wet papier mache on top of a rounded paper weight that I had on my desk and it gave the mache form. Then I had to build down and make a chin and finish the bottom portion of this mask. This was a part I struggled with, rounding the chin and trying to decide what to do about the ragged paper edges that were left all the was around the mask. I ended up not getting to them and they were unfinished for critique.
This is the most unfinished thing I think I have ever turned in for a critique and I was nervous because it's also way way different from anything I've had critique before. Overall, my classmates were baffled which was what I was expecting because the end product of what I had made baffled me too. My teacher said they best way for my to finish or continue with the mask was to probably do a series of photographs with people wearing it since it would be a conundrum to display and anyway, it would take away some of the surreal quality if it was hung on a gallery wall.
Overall, I was not pleased with the result because I had not spent enough time on my original idea because I had fretted to much over the actual construction of the thing. I hope to finish it and perhaps do a series of photographs one day.