#projectstatement

I am exploring MOVEMENT through water.

My 3 Electives to develop this through are

Sculpture and combined media

Ceramics

Fashion

As part of the fashion elective we first created some quick shapes on paper from these marks which represented our chosen subject of exploration of which mine was water. I created ripples, waves and undulations found when water is moved by any force. These shapes informed how I designed my fashion pieces.

From here when I continued into my sculpture elective I experimented with water and recreating movement which I did in contained spaces, I recorded the movement of water when force and other fluids and objects are introduced to it. This helped me to capture various forms and shapes which informed a continual development of play.

I brought the expression of the re-created movements into my ceramics elective which developed further and more interesting patterns as a basis to work with clay.

In the end I brought together the water element captured in my ceramic pieces which I turned into a standalone sculpture piece tying in textures from my fashion elective.

Electives: Animation, painting and graphic design

In response to movement I have been looking at how there is movement in music, as I believe that music is very energetic and I am a musician who is very interested in the topic.

Initially I began looking at how people can be moved by music emotionally.

I then started exploring the body language of musicians and how they move while playing their instruments.

I created an animation story where the main character plays an instrument which moves the plot forward.

I explored soundwaves and audio patterns which represent the movement of music.

America’s Most Wanted: Fame.

In America, we crave to be like the famous. We want their talent, we want their fans, we want their glory and their lasting legacy. We are obsessed with those more famous than us because we look up to them. We perceive them to be better, stronger, happier, and more successful than us. We view them as the best.

ADAD 1002 Assessment 2 Project Statement

What are we if not for our thoughts? It’s been found that an average human processes 70,000 thoughts in a single day, which counts down to almost a thought per second. This is one of the reasons why the human brain is said to be the most advanced and complex structure in the universe. We grow up believing that we are who we think we are, our thoughts mold us into who we want to be. We are human because we can control out thoughts. But with a glitch in the system, what if we could lost that control?

Intrusive thoughts and anxious impules have long before been considered to be the generic traits of “OCD”, and little do most know of the nature of such thoughts, how it impacts one’s emotions, personality, and overall lifestyle. Intrusive thoughts are obsessive- ever recurring, often mostly un-realisitic, that invoke an unnecessary fear in the mind.  Unless one has experienced a lap of such continuous episodes, they wouldn’t feel the extent of such inner weakness. These thoughts always dwell on the worst of life’s scenarios, and based on our mental reaction ,these thoughts tend to keep coming back every time you would try to rationalize with it. In Assessment 1, I focused on the cyclic continuity between anxious thought and mental reaction. In Assessment 2, I wanted to overview the glitch as a whole.

I continued my exploration and experimentation from assignment 1 with the intention of trying out new sculpting mediums- as I was very interested in visualizing forms creating in 3D. My key goal in this assignment period was to work with new materials like metal wire, molding clay and also to experiment 3D modeling at the Virtual Reality studio. I was mainly inspired by 3 artists: Kate McDowell, Christina Mrozik and Odani Motohiko; each of their styles resonated a beautifully eerie feel influenced by the Dark art and surrealist eras, and this is what inspired me to explore into a more ‘darker’ side of the theme.

In my first experiment, I used bendable copper wire to create a mini sculpture of a brain formed by a snake. I liked visualizing this glitch as a snake – it brought out the eerie feel I was looking for, though I wasn’t sure of my final project at the time. From there on, I went on to recreate this sculpture in Virtual Reality using ‘GravitySpace’. VR modeling was definitely a highlight for me in this assessment. I had not tried it before and I loved experimenting with the various brushes and tools available. My plan of execution at this point was to 3D print a mini sculpture which I could create in VR, by developing my idea from the copper wire sculpture I had made. Due to time constraints and having to allow a two week period to 3D print, I was unable to go ahead with that idea, so this gave me the opportunity to model my own sculpture using modeling clay.

At this point, I had to narrow my focus on concept. My final statement was based on how something we have so much control over, somehow find its way to take control over you and my final project idea was to envision the mind as an imposter – the snake being a perfect symbol of betrayal. My sculpture shows the interaction between mind and self – clay and copper, how the mind begins to gain control and take over. The gradual metallic in-growths on the face suggest this idea of ‘gaining control’. I chose black Molding clay and Copper wire for this sculpture because I felt they both contrasted very well in visual appearance and surface quality. The clay portrayed a sense of solidarity, grounding and control, whereas the copper wire brought on a sense of drama, manipulation and acted as a center of attention in contrast. Ironically, Copper is also said to facilitate mental agility. The figure heard appears to be slightly tilted to the right which creates a very interesting overall balance within the sculpture. I created the copper snake using the ‘snake weave’. If I were to re- do the sculpture, I would have chosen to replace the inner silver cable wires to be copper ones too so the colour stays pure and consistent.

Overall this Assessment was a good journey which allowed me to push past my boundaries a bit more and I’m glad I got to get some hands on experimentation done and recorded. I have never sculpted before and this was definitely a self-learning experience, and I’m pretty happy with my final result!

Bibliography

http://www.human-memory.net/brain_neurons.html

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201303/what-is-consciousness

http://www.darkartandcraft.com/blog/2015/10/28/the-dark-arts-of-japan

https://www.artsy.net/artist/kate-macdowell