Desireé Mack

Senior Art

            This first quarter my senior art class we talked about recycling objects to make artwork. Looking at discarded things and seeing the beauty in them. I am inspired by nature and the changes that it goes through so I decided to create a piece with that in mind. Walking through the streets of Philadelphia trudging through the leaves I got my idea. The leaves sprout and are beautiful and through the year so many changes happen to them and then they fall from trees and die.  At this point in my life I am going through so many changes, not all of them bring me happiness. With this piece of work I wanted to show that there is beauty in change even though you may not see it at first.

            For this piece I gathered leaves from outside and sewed them together and with a needle and thread. At first I was going to create a blanket, then a bag but the leaves started to form a shape of their own so listened to what they wanted to be shaped into and made it so.  The most important part of creating this piece was remembering to be delicate with the materials because they could crumble at any moment, just like the decisions we make in life.

             A lot of artists say the best work is of a tortured artist. To me that means when you go through things in life that are not exactly the highlight of your life use it as inspiration to create something beautiful that allows you to release some of the stress and emotion you are feeling. That is what my work will start  show in the future.  

            My project came about as I was sitting in a book room surrounded by, obviously, books. In a fit of temper I picked up the Encyclopaedia Britannica and chucked it at the opposing wall. As it slid to the ground the pages made a very delicate and interesting curl. I had seen pictures of other artists who had taken books and twisted and carved at the pages to make interesting wave patterns. I took inspiration and began tearing the pages out and curling them. The shapes and lines of the type were endlessly attractive and from there I built one loop on top of another. Fastened to a wooden rod the pages hung, reminiscent of water droplets.

            The project is not finished, to be honest. The form is lacking all of it’s body and the flow of the piece is not completely controlled. However, from what there is, the shapes, depth and interaction of all of the separate parts of this larger sculpture give an interesting feeling. There is a juxtaposition of hanging squared lines and weighted curved droplets that makes the sculpture almost whimsical.

            I can’t say that I’m incredibly proud of it. There was very little preparation and the inspiration was rash and almost ill-advised. I like the idea of what I wanted to do but the presentation of the idea left something to be desired. As I looked at it I nit-picked each flaw that I saw and attempted to remedy it with more paper loops. That caused the whole thing to become a little overwhelming and messy. I also feel that, given more time and a little more care, the project will turn out to be alright. It’s just not done yet.

            I know that my piece is not quite finished because when I look at it I imagine more and I can visualize more dimension and movement. Now, technically, all art work is a continual state of creation but there is an evident sense of incompletion. I want to add more volume in a couple places and include strips of paper that hang from the bottoms and edges in order to give the downward pulling motion a little more delicacy.

            Basically, I’m gonna finish it soon, but what I have now is pretty chill.

November 5, 2010

Artist Statement

There are situations in this world that people are not aware of. The affect of plastic bottle caps in our environments is one of them. For this art project art was just a way to raise awareness in this situation.

I do this art because it is one of the most compelling ways to communicate you expressions or situations to people. Even if you feel as though you aren’t the best artist, there shouldn’t be a reason that you are afraid to show people how you feel. Art is a creative way out of stress or anger. There might be times when people judge your creativity but it isn’t your job to focus on the negativity. Let them observe your work. I don’t think there is something called constructive criticism towards artwork because it’s how you feel.  Even people who don’t have an admiration for art can be affected positively by it. I wouldn’t doubt that it happens everyday.

This bottle cap project that we have done in art class has exposed to me how badly the world is negatively affected because bottle caps aren’t being recycled. After realizing the how bad are environments are being affected by this, I have made a more conscious effort to play my art in recycling bottle caps. It’s very evident by how we all could make a difference if we pay attention to what’s happening around us. There are so many ways that students in school illustrated the plastic bottle cap effect. There were many creative projects made out of bottles caps and other types of plastic.

Instead of recycling, people do things like throw there not only plastic by all of their trash anywhere such as oceans or even on our own street. In art class I was able to see how badly plastic has ruined animal species in the ocean. Sea animals such as fish eat the plastic that we throw in the ocean. Without even caring about what these fish have consumed, we catch these fish and eat them ourselves. Now we have plastic in our bodies and no one even notices. Other animals also eat the plastic and they end up dying from the lasting effect from having plastic in them or they suffocate from plastic such as bags.

            My project was a poster trying to communicate with the school community to recycle their plastic. I really wasn’t looking for people to be wowed by what they saw in my project. I believe that there are very creative projects that people have made but their projects do not speak to people in terms of motivating them to make an actual change. I started off pretty ruff doing this project because I was so focused on how I could wow people and make them want to look at my poster first. Being as though I am not always that fond of my artwork, it was hard for me to except a project that I didn’t think was 100% perfect when it came to design. The poster that I have now was not the on that intended of showing but because of some difficult I had to make an entire new poster. I hope that my poster is worth a look and it makes people want make a difference.

Artist Statement

The work that I do is to challenge myself. I mostly dive into projects headfirst and gradually discover what I am capable of. My attitude towards my art is similar to my personality. I am impulsive and as a result things either work out- or they don’t. Moreover, I am not scared to ask for help or to explore different aspects of art.

I make decisions based on beauty and sensibility. I am not the most experienced artist, so there is no ‘one’ technique I tend to sway towards. I use what I can to get the deed done. If I know I want to paint, I use paint and a brush; there is no need to complicate things.

Through this project, I wanted to demonstrate originality and act on inspiration. Although my work is nowhere near spectacular as Colleen Moore’s fairy castle, the thought of creating a dollhouse out of recyclables was pleasing. Trying to restrict my materials was challenging. I made the dollhouse furniture out of recyclable materials such as packaging bubble wrap, cardboard, and old gift-wrap and paper. Furthermore, I experimented with architecture throughout this project. I found it challenging to find ways to hold the dollhouse structure stable.

.:Artist Statement:.

In our senior art class, we were exploring the topic of recycling and the environment, primarily focusing our attention on bottle caps. For my project I choose to make flowers out of bottle caps. Unlike plastic bottle caps, beer-bottle caps can be recycled. Beer-bottle caps are made from steel, as evidenced by their attraction to magnets, and steel is a recyclable material. I wanted to make flowers out of the bottle caps, because quite frankly I think real flowers are a waste of money-they’re beautiful for about a week and then they die. So this bottle cap flowers last for as long as you want. You won’t feel bad about throwing them out either because they can be recycled. My dad helped me with the cutting and flattening of the bottle caps, because he didn't want me working with power tools...but I glued and tied the red bottle caps on the big flower and the medium one.

The pictures above are the less flattering pictures that I first took of my art project. When I started to get such good feedback and complements on the pictures from my classmates and Mrs. Hull, I decided that I should take an individual picture of each flower, since they're all different.
I picked a black background, because I've always loved photographs like that. I think that when the background is black, and there is a flash on the camera the it brings out the subject in a really pretty way.

For our first project we collected bottle caps and we also made posters asking people to collect bottle caps. We collected bottle caps to give to a artist Aurora who does bottle cap art. She created many structures using plastic bottles and there caps. That to me is a way of making people aware of the plastic problem that is now plaguing our world and it shows people how they can do something with there plastic besides simply throwing them away. Which brings me to my project, I like doing things that make people aware and may eventually cause them to get involved with helping, or making things that simple make them think deeper into different things. 

For my project I created a globe and in the water section of the world I put bottle caps in it to show how the plastic is going into our ocean. I then put animals around it with them saying little things asking humans to stop all the plastic littering and explaining how it is effecting them. To do this I used a ball, paper mâche, paint, glue, bottle caps, pencils, a box, and paper. I paper mâcheed the ball once the paper mâche dried I drew shapes to show where the land is, I then painted the ball green and blue. I got a box and painted the box black, the box is being used as a platform for the ball to rest in and that is where I placed the animals. Once the paint on the ball dried I glued the bottle caps on but only where the water is. 

I really hope that when people see my project they will take into consideration the effect plastic is having on our world and on us in general. Because our individual actions are effecting our world as a  whole. I hope that this will inspire people to take action and get together and find other uses for the plastic that we have in this world because it isn't going anywhere and we have to live with it forever. 

"Is this water sanitary? It looks questionable to me..."

AJ Carter

10-26-10

Art: Statement

            The problem that we as a whole planet are having is bottle caps not being destroyed properly. So they get into the ocean where fish eat them and then what ever eats the fish also gets the plastic. Then that plastic gets into us so we’re kind of half plastic.

The art that I’m making out of these bottle caps is a castle. It will be a play set for my nephew.  I figured that since we cant get rid of the plastic for years on end I would do something with it. So I figured a kid plays with toys none stop so why not turn them into toys for now. That way they can be used for something that is useful. Not just through away and eaten by some sort of animal, which then we eat.  

All I had to do was get a lay out for the bottle caps. So what I did first was make sketches. By doing that I figured out how I wanted to do my landscape for the castle first. Then I took a piece of cardboard and laid it down and drawled where I was going to place the caps.

Now I haven’t completely finished it yet but it’s a work in progress. I should have it fully done by Christmas. So it would make for a very nice Christmas present.

In perfect time, it’s also a good present because it help the earth and him.