IP Weekly Progress -- #10

What I did:

Sunday: (6 hours) Measured, cut, and scored roughly 10 large petal/leaf forms. Started tearing paper for weaving Cliff Sparrow homes.

Monday: (2 hours) Tried to hang some pieces up, practicing installation technicalities. Tried a new technique for nest weaving.

Tuesday: (4 hours) Nest weaving and some research on natural forms similar to nest weaving. Looking at unique pieces made from nature.

Wednesday: (1 hour) Finished “weaving” cliff sparrow homes and folded petal forms.

Thursday: (6 hours) Built a “roof” with chicken wire to help support future installations and hung pieces from it. Tried hanging forms around to see how I wanted to create my “experience.”

Process:

My techniques are improving and I’m starting to identify different qualities of paper out there. Ultimately trying to find the paper that suits me the best is the 100 lb bright white paper – but right now I’m conserving them while I wait to order a new batch of them. I’ve been finding scraps of paper all over the art school so my artistic abilities are not hindered by the lack of paper. I’m getting close to a point where I’ll be pumping out work once I have a better visual of this “paper” world.

What I accomplished/discovered/encountered:

After doing some sketching this week, I discovered a whole new way to sell my installation in a new light. I’m starting to finally think of the “why” factor and how I can incorporate it with the installation. I will design large-scale abstractions of plants and animals and install them in an enclosed space, like a corner or a small room, to create an experience for the viewer. These abstractions will be sculpted with large sheets of white paper using scoring, cutting, and advanced folding techniques. My audience will walk into a paper world made entirely from my imagination. To recreate a sense of wonder that has been lost my installation will be interactive like a life size pop-up book you can open and explore.

The reason I want to pursue a subject of nature is because I want to establish a lost connection with mankind and the natural world. Rather than just create an experience I want to go further and have people be able to interact and make an experience for themselves. The project is for me to gain an understanding of how flora and fauna function together in the world through constructing my own paper world while for the audience is to look at the world I’ve created and look at my work in awe. Plants and animals look similar – deep-sea creatures like jellyfish, coral, and sea anemones resemble plants and by combining creatures we see people can look at my abstractions as a way of identifying the elements creatures they may or may not recognize. All living creatures have symbiotic relationships between each other even when we don’t know it. Within many of the paper pieces will be equipped with small LED lights to represent bioluminosity found in deep-sea creatures which use their natural lighting to attract, lure, or hide.

In December I will have small paper folded drafts of flora/fauna forms completed. There will be a mini model of the entire space and what I plan of make for a good idea of scale for the IP consultation and myself to visualize the use of space in the gallery. By January I will convert these drafts into finalized life size forms with large sheets of paper and test lights inside of them to figure the use of power required for each piece. By March I will have all the paper sculptures finished and ready to install by the beginning of April. This installation will take a significant amount of space, requires an area where light can be controlled, and has no windows. With my LED lights in a dark space they will have a glow to “lure” and “attract” like deep-sea creatures. Chances are I will have to start looking into places – but I’m considering WORK gallery downstairs as a great place. I do not think my installation would do well in Slusser because of how congested the room tends to look with everyone’s work trying to fit in one place. Though an off-site gallery space would be nice. I wonder what the process of getting a gallery space is ..

What I think I should do next:

Continue to make and install!