Museum Art Gallery 4

1. It makes a difference the way that galleries are laid out. This one was so confusing and I got lost so many different times and it ended up taking away from the art. When art galleries make galleries like be logical please otherwise I'm looking at the map more than I am at the art.

2. The use of shadows with 3d art can be really powerful. Thats something now looking back I wish I had tried. It can bring a whole different dimension and perspective to the piece. I remember when Rebecca did her final exam, she played with shadows and the whole class when crazy over it. I think next year it might be something that I might way to play around with as well.

3. Movement!! Though I think this would be really hard to do considering that I know nothing about robotics but the movement of these flowers caught my eye. Like shadows, they can bring a completely new perspective in as the piece ebs and flows into multiple pieces.

4. Art can be subtly political. When you think about political art you often think of like Frida Khalo but art doesn't have to be that explicit to be powerful. This piece was composed of a ton to tiny little photos of plastic bottle but together the artist was able to make it look like waves - a beautiful and powerful depiction of today's environmental scene.

Concentration 11

Problem solving: This was a really hard one to make. I used the massive balloons to make this piece and originally wanted to fill the plaster inside and then pump air into the balloon. It at the beginning looked like it was going to work because I was rotating the balloon so the plaster was covering all over the inside but it eventually ended up cracking. So then I tried pouring it on the outside but the balloon kept slipping so nothing was sticking. I tied a weight to the fastener of the balloon and then it worked. It was a tough piece to do but I think it paid off.

Connections: I think this ties in easily with the rest of my concentration. I like the fact that I didn't make a stand with it because I think it is texturally so interesting. It has a different feel compared to the other 2 pieces I made where I poured the plaster on top. This one almost looks like a crater to me which I kinda like.

Another breadth

Over the break I was hoping to get a piece done so I did. I ran over to Jane's house, took all of her cards, went to the too busy art friend, and bought a glue gun. I decided that I was going to make something awesome. So for whatever reason, I thought back to my cardboard form where I made the two hands and thought that maybe I would like to do something similar because that assignment felt very intuitive for me. So I thought okay I'll make a chest, with a gigantic rip in it and I'll make hands and then I'll make something to go inside of the chest that you could see through the rip. That did not happen. I got frustrated after a while so I made a rip and I made a little person falling. I really like the person I made of out cards and I think there is something there for me to work with for another breadth (maybe using paper). Yep, so thats my piece. I think its okay and if its photographed properly could look really good.

Concentration 8

Connections: This one ties in with the geometric shape triptych. I like it though because it looks like the shapes ground the paster just as much as the plaster grounds the shapes. I think if I do more touch ups I might make one bigger square so it looks a bit more proportionate so the composition is stronger. Overall though I think it ties in easily with my concentration

Problem solving: I'm going to be honest and tell you that I don't remember much about the last 2 weeks before spring break. I think I just followed the same routine as always.

Concentration 7

Connections and stuff: Yep this one ties in pretty well. I think it is the most "bowl" bowl I've made. But I love this bowl. I was really surprised how symetrical and round it came out. I used balloons for this one and made it a lot bigger than I normally do. And I was more careful when cutting it out bc I could tell that it was fragile but also really round so I wanted to make sure it lasted.

Problem Solving: I was trying to make it look like there were circles falling from above but it wasn't working... looking back though I really don't think I had much patience at the time. I'm going to try again soon.

Concentration 6

Connections and stuff: I think this piece marked a new facet to my concentration. The plan is right now to make 2 more pieces (so have a triptic) and that way when I upload it onto the AP board the three stand out together. Just the same, I thought I would do another triptic of the plaster coated on the outside of balloons so you get that weird texture. What I like about this series is that the geometric shapes make a big contrast against the plaster form. I was thinking that for my next one, I could flip a bowl upside down so it looks like the geometric shapes are holding the form up.

Problem solving: I had to make the geometric shapes twice. The first time I made the cubes too big and so they looked disproportionate compared to the plaster form. So I saved the original shape thing and then made smaller cubes so it would look right compared to the form. It took a lunch period to remake and so it took little time for what I think is a good reward.

Concentration 5

Culture: This concentration piece is a bit different than my other pieces - this is more abstract while making it very realistic. The bowls were used to look like egg shells so I really like this piece because it fits in the concentration without being obvious. I think this was an opportunity to do something pop art like. It reminds me of this museum I went to over the summer. The museum had a lot of pieces that looked like perfectly ordinary objects but were made out of weird materials. For example they had a basketball made out of glass. That museum inspired this space.

Problem solving: The bowls were the easy part. I just did the same procedure as I alway do and ended up having two bowls that looked very similar to one another. The yoke was the hard part and took some trial and error. So first I went up to the counselling office to find some crayons - luckily they had a ton so I grabbed a bunch. Then I had to figure out how to make the yoke look the best. So I went and talked to Mr. P and the two of us figured out how to melt the crayons the best way. We just mixed color until we got the most realistic look. So then we poured it onto a piece of wax paper and another on a plastic sheet. We froze both of them so it was easy to work with. Then we tried to melt hot glue sticks in the wok and we poured the melted glue on top of one of the wax blobs and with the other we poured the glue first and then stuck the blob on top. That worked okay but it was hard to control the glue. So then I tried just using a hot glue gun and pumped it out around a new blob of wax and the best gave me the best control.

Concentration 4

Problem Solving:
I approached this piece like I typically do with these plaster bowls. I kind of go in with a limited plan in mind. I knew generally that I wanted this bowl to have more of a seamless feel to it so I let it shape organically in the balloon. Once I filled it with plaster, I pushed in another balloon and filled with up with water. This was a piece that I just kind of cranked out without a whole lot of planning so it was in a way a nice surprise.


Cultural & Connections:
This piece ties in with the rest of my concentration easily because I think this is kind of what you would conventionally think of when you hear "plaster bowls". This may not be the most creative of them all but I mean I think it is a strong enough piece. I think it also ties in with the rest of the concentration nicely because it also continues the continuity of the fragile edges which I think are actually pretty nice and add good texture. What I like about this one in particular is if you look really closely, you can see that there are some tiny holes at the top. I think that makes this piece just a bit more interested and creates its own identity.

Concentration 3

Cultural: I think this piece really connects well with my concentration which is plaster bowls. I like it because it is conventionally unconventional. It doesn't exactly fit in with the rest of the concentration because the concept of the bowl is redefined as I flipped it upside-down. With that said though, I do think that it is tied together stylistically as I used the same sort of method where I coat a balloon on the outside with plaster. Overall I think it is a solid addition to my concentration
Problem solving: I didn't run into a ton of challenges that were unexpected when it came to this piece. Of course, like with all plaster forms, some cracked and broke but I was anticipating that. However, one thing that I run into a lot is that parts of my bowls always break. And as you can see here a large piece broke off of the side. But I didn't try to glue it back on because I feel like it helps you see the light better. Also something that I struggled with was the string. I was almost going to leave it as just a plain thin string on its own but I thought it looked too empty so I tried this friendship bracelet knot that I used to do as a kid but the pattern kept on getting messed up. So instead I took string and braided a line and repeated that three times until I had three braided chains. And then I braided those together so I had a texture but it wasnt overwhelming.