IP Weekly Progress -- #5

What I Did:

Saturday: (4 hours) Took a class on paper making supported by Hollanders at Out of Hands Papermaking Studio. Experimented with textures and application of color to the pulp.

Sunday: (5 hours) Touched up the relief sculpture and finished blocking 3D form of Chameleon. Finished mold of relief sculpture and set to dry for the evening.

Monday: (2 hours) Mixed together pulp and cotton linter to make a successful casting of paper pulp!

Tuesday: (5 hours) Started on tree armatures to experiment and think about combining two styles of paper sculpture I enjoy. One tree is a clay sculpture to be casted into a mold (360 degree 3D form) and one tree will be made of only strips of wet and dry paper.

Wednesday: (2 hours) Started folding wet strips of paper on one armature to figure out technique.

Thursday: (5 hours) Started blocking clay on wire armature and continued to dissect the process of wet-folding. Played with quilling techniques inspired by Yulia Brodskaya’s papergraphics. Sketched some fictional organic forms like fruit and leaves.

Process:

Compared to last week I managed to top myself in productivity. I’m incredibly pleased with my efforts towards IP. Before I get ahead of myself I don’t want to move too fast though – because I want to set aside time on the final installation on top of my experimentation phase – but these last too weeks I have felt a wave of nostalgia about my project. I'm getting better at not wasting time because I love my work as a paper crafter/sculptor/engineer/maker too much to!

What I accomplished/discovered/encountered:

To start, I thought I would share this TED video with speaker Robert Lang, who discusses the evolution of origami from paper cranes, toys, cootie catchers and has become an art form using math, engineering and a lot of thought. http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_lang_folds_way_new_origami.html

My project definitely is evolving every week – and I’m becoming a lot more excited with its process. The final piece will require a lot of time and commitment, but in many ways I feel I am fortunate enough to be excited and aware of my project’s work load this early in the year. On Tuesday I had been trying to move forward on my pulp sculptures by making oil clay sculptures and wet-fold sculptures, but I was at a stand still as to how to combine the two processes together due to no consistency on how each form presents itself through physical aesthetics and touch (Pulp is soft to the touch and a little fuzzy. Wet-fold is still the original paper shape and has a smooth and slick surface).

On Thursday I started the morning working on the tree armatures. After talking to Hannah today, an idea was proposed that I should create an experience or a place sharing how I view the world with others so they may have the same nostalgia I feel for natural hidden places. Instead of following through with the relief paper pulp sculpture – I can make this piece a lot more meaningful and a way to connect with the audience by having my project interact with them. I’m falling in love with the whimsicality of the “papercraft” movement where artists and designers engineer paper together to fashion every day objects or illustrative shapes into comical beings. These whimsical pieces are beings of another world, specifically a paper world where everything is cleverly crafted and funny! I looked at my tree armatures and no longer are they an experiment of what I was going to do, but now an afterthought of my former IP idea.

During the break I went for a run from my house on E. Kingsley to the Art school to reset my mind on my project. As I left my house, outside the Kerrytown neighborhood I began to see the world in a new light. I found hidden spaces under the bridge on Glen Ave and began to think of my IP Project and the possibilities I can explore with it. Near the end of my run I noticed places that I wanted to explore on campus off the road (Such as the woods behind Fuller Park). I found a Willow tree (Along the side of Bonisteel Rd) and sat under it to sketch as an inspirational source for my installation. Every day I past this place for the last 3 ½ years, but have yet to notice this willow tree until today. The way the leaves swooped down and gathered made a “secret” space. This provoked some thought I had about how to maximize the power of paper as my medium. Instead of focusing on literal forms of animals and plants, I want to extract the textures, shapes, patterns, and entities of animals and plants and combine them into a unique space. This would show a connection with mankind and the natural world surrounding us. . It will be a tribute dedicated to biodiversity as a creative and artistic display of flora and fauna that come together as one.

What I think I should do next:

For the rest of the semester I made a schedule where I will be finishing my “experimentation” process – I’m going to finish my Wet-Fold/Mold Trees and make geometric shapes using transparent paper and lighting them with natural and LED light. I would also like to try a multiples experiment and make strings of a common shape and hang it along my window.