Project One: Anything but a Box

Notes on Artist Videos:

American Artist: Richard Serro

He studied relationships of interesting elements at that time for inspiration. This enables an artist to view the world as a way of communication with your surroundings. His works were interactive with viewers physically and emotionally and engaged them in large scale structures.

Columbian Artist: Doris Salcedo

She believed that a surface of a piece of art must prevail over everything else, to call attention to subtle details to engage the viewer. She brings back the past in subtle ways in her work to express a larger message that speaks louder than her work itself.

Reaction Paper:

Creativity:

My favorite quote about creativity is one I researched on my own. It was said by Rita Mae Brown. "Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work." I feel like this is so true because every time I start a project I am always unsure of myself, but when I don't stick with my original idea or let someone else talk me out of it and change a little part of it, it never comes out the way I intended to. I have learned to trust my creativity and I know wherever it leads me is in a good direction.

Creativity means a few things to me. It first is the creation of something unheard of, using old and new ideas to solve a problem. It is also the process of coming up with the ideas and relationship to oneself while doing so. Finally, creativity is the outcome that is sometimes unexpected but is something that expresses yourself and is a physical piece of art you can share with everyone.

I chose to go into a career that requires creativity because I want to change the way someone looks at something. For instance, I want to take a space and make a person in a home to say "Wow, I would have never thought of this and it looks and works great." I want to create the "wow factor" that changes someone's day to day life from my ideas and the works of others, mixing the old and new. My name does not need to be credited, or known all over the world, but I want to use my creativity to make a change in someone's life for the better, and open them to a new world of possibilities, hopefully spreading my creativity in the future. I know I can pursue this dream through the creativity of my interior design.

Project One:When I first read the project description, I was excited but unsure how to handle the challenge before me. The concept seemed simple; create something out of a box that wasn’t a box. The challenge was to use every last piece of the box to make the art that was unique. I at first thought of a lot of little objects I could create, like a shoe, or a flower, but nothing seemed to connect to me as a person or could possibly use the entire shoe box that lay before me. I defined the assignment’s problem as literally, “thinking outside the box.” I not only had to design a three dimensional object to look real, but to use every last piece of cardboard to do so; nothing more, nothing less.

My inspiration for creating an electric guitar came from the fact I have played guitar for almost seven years, and I always wanted a hot pink guitar (the color of my box). I took this opportunity to put a feminine twist on an instrument usually associated with a man, showing girls can rock out just as a hard. Everything then fell into place. I knew a guitar alone would not consume the whole box, so I needed to add its accessories, such as an amplifier, a neck strap, and guitar stand. In order to play, these are needed so it only made sense to include them as well. Following the curvature of the guitar seemed to be a challenge at first because the cardboard did not bend well. However, if I cut it thin enough, it began to bend, making the guitar curve and not rigid became easier and looked more realistic. After making the overall shape of the guitar, amp, and stand, I added details to them with the scraps to make them more lifelike and made the guitar look ready to play. I was very pleased with the final outcome of my project.

I learned a few things from this project. First, I learned when first faced with a project, don’t panic, and try to visualize a solution by brainstorming. While doing so, add a little of yourself to the process, because once it’s finished, it is more affective when the artist can see him/herself in it as well. Secondly, I learned to pay attention to detail. It made my project more effective and used the rest of my cardboard up very quickly. Finally, I learned that the design process is not always an easy one. Once I had my idea set, I thought assembling the guitar would be the easy part. That was not true however. Planning it out just right to use the right about of cardboard, spending seven or eight hours outside of class on it, trial and error to make the pieces balance, and using all the elements of design such as color and shape was actually the hardest part. But because I put myself into the project, it made it more enjoyable to work on, and the final outcome was much better than I ever expected.