Floating Architecture

In Process Documentation

Floating Architecture

Medium: Cardboard, Masking tape, White foam board, Hot Glue, Black tape, staples

Dimensions: 18 x 13 x 26 in

Influential Time Periods: Prehistoric and Post Modern 

Artist Statement:

For this project I choose to use elements and principles found in Prehistoric and Post Modern architecture pieces. The overall form of my piece reflects the geometric and prism qualities found in Post Modern Architecture. I wanted to emphasize repetition in my piece and did so through the linear pattern on triangular pieces that made up the main body of the piece. Prehistoric architecture pieces are made up of raw and natural materials and I wanted to emphasize this as well in my piece. I did so my leaving the cardboard exposed and unpainted to create this visual effect. The diagonal sides of the piece draw the viewers attention to the different pointed cylinder parts, that vary in size, to create a unified appearance. The pointed top of the piece draws the viewers attention both upward and downward toward the main body of the structure. Together, these two periods complement each other with their formal qualities and common theme around unity, repetition, and emphasis. 

Influential Image Sources

https://themeaningofwater.com/2016/06/07/how-quantum-physics-is-saving-us-from-post-modernism/
http://www.dingle-peninsula.ie/attractions-on-the-dingle-peninsula-co-kerry/outdoor-attractions/item/star-wars-filming-locations-ireland-ceann-sibeal-ballyferriter.html
http://www.brickeagle.com/2016/08/building-plastic-world/

On Longing

"The body is the primary mode of perceiving scale."-Susan Stewart, On Longing

After I graduated High School, that summer, my family and I took a three week trip to France. On this particular night, 4th of July, we spent laying down on the iconic green fields in front of the Eiffel tower. To finally have the time to experience the area and the shocking size of the tower was worth it, despite being asked to buy a small souvenir or have our picture taken for a costly amount every five minutes.

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"Capacity of objects, to serve as traces of authentic experiences."- Susan Stewart, On Longing

During the summer of 2017, I got to visit one of my most dearest friends in Fort Myers, Florida. Our friendship started and lasted throughout elementary school but then she moved away. Little did we know, after we had grown up and faced some pretty hard challenges, we rekindled our friendship after I shockingly heard that she had returned to St. Augustine six years later. We both needed each other in that time in our lives and I will always cherish our time together. Flash back to today, we are still miles away but, I will remember getting to visit her that summer and finding this shell on one of the beaches that tourist fly from all around the world to find.

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"The souvenir reduces the public, the monumental, and the three-dimensional, into the miniature, that which can be enveloped by the body."-Susan Stewart, On Longing

 I have never known anyone to have so many objects that possessed and brought so much joy to a human, than to the person pictured above. The items were ordinary objects, old records, torn books, succulents, and polaroid pictures. Every time one of the items were touched or used is was as if the person was holding a single puzzle piece to their identity. 

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"To have a souvenir of the exotic, is to posses both a specimen and a trophy."-Susan Stewart, On Longing

 After hurricane Irma went through Florida, thousands of large whole shells were displaced on the beach. I spent long mornings riding my bike and timing it with the tides so I would have the better odds of finding shells. One morning while inspecting a shell, I was surprised to find a lifeless tiny crab attached to the side of a large broken shell. The crab was the best find of the day. 

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"The nostalgic input of the hand made in a (plastic world)."- Susan Stewart, On Longing

 One of my most prized possessions, is a 20 pound coil vase that I made during my junior year of high school. It was agonizing to wait for the kilns temperature to settle before getting to see the final product. When holding the vase for the first time it was still very warm and the sensation of holding and seeing a whole months hard work for the first time was, well, it was overwhelming.

Soap Carving

In Process Documentation

Animal Soap Carving

Medium: High Quality Soap

Dimensions: 4.5 x 1.5 x 2.5 in

Balsa Wood Small Sculptures

In Process Documentation

Balsa Wood Small Sculptures

Title: Symmetry

Medium: Balsa wood, glue, masking tape, paper

Dimensions: 10 x 10 x 15 in

Title: Rhythm

Mediums: Paper, balsa wood, nails

Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 9.5 in

Masking Tape Shoes

In Progress Documentation 

Title: Masking Tape Shoes

Material: Masking Tape

Dimensions: 10 x 4 x 2.5 in

Touch Assignment: Professional Touchers

 Touch Assignment

Sensory Blocks

Cotton, Twine, Beads, and Wood

Professional Touchers

"Touch is so powerful a healer that we go to professional touchers (doctors, hairdressers, masseuses, dancing instructors, cosmeticians, barbers, gynecologists, chiropodists, tailors, back manipulators, prostitutes and manicurists), and frequent emporiums of touch -discotheques, shoeshine stands, mud baths. Illness usually sends us to a doctor, but often we go just to be fussed over and touched."

-Diane Ackerman

Personal Statement

The practice of Art Therapy correlates with the power of touch and the human longing for touch. Together using both the application of the physical touch of humans and objects with guided help, an individual can find healing through the practice. I wanted to create a physical object that can be held completely in one hand. Each sensory block has a different texture. The first is smooth, then the second is rough, and the third is smooth with the addition of depth. This work can also be similar to what is known as a stress relief ball. The sensory blocks would be ideal when working with children and great for educational purposes in classrooms and nursery schools.

Touch Assignment: First Touches

Touch Assignment

A Touch Sensory Board

Beads and String

 First Touches

"Touch is a sensory system, the influence of which is hard to isolate or eliminate. Scientist can study people who are blind to learn more about vision, and people who are deaf or anosmic to learn more about hearing or smell, but this is virtually impossible to do with touch." 

-Diane Ackerman

Personal Statement

The significance of touch at the beginning stages of development and life is that it affects how an individual will continue to grow and develop. I wanted to create a sensory board that reflected the phenomena of touch that can be used for educational purposes. I used different beads and strings to demonstrate line, an Element of Art, and the different types of line that can be taught by using the touch sensory board. The different types of line demonstrated are long, short, wavy, broken, angled, swirled, horizontal, vertical, curved, diagonal, and parallel.