Title: Sewing Together a Story Medium: Cardboard and Glue Completion date: January 2023 Exhibition Text: This is a piece inspired by Chris Gilmour. It was done to learn more about creating art through reusable materials, and finding meaning in what the materials are. The artwork represents shallow fabrications of a personality and story, showing how many people could just be displaying surface level emotions, much like myself. One of the most notable parts of this piece is that the essentials to keep it working aren't present, things like a needle, a cord, and the foot to guide. Further pushing the idea of poorly crafted and fake emotions and personalities. |
Inspiration
For this work, I was inspired by Chris Gilmour, a visual artist who creates intricate sculptures from cardboard. The material he uses adds meaning to his work in a way that most wouldn't, he uses that fact that people often dispose of cardboard with little care to represent impermanence and transience. It is also symbolic of consumerism and materialism for obvious reasons, but I really wanted to lean into the alternative meanings as I found they they could easily relate to my life and choices.
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Vespa Rally
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I chose to turn this into a reflection of how I fabricate different versions of myself and emotions to better fit in, and how they disappear shortly after I am left alone. To further convey this, the sewing machine is broken, it doesn't have a foot to guide a needle, it doesn't have a needle, and it doesn't have a cord, it still has all of the other mechanisms, and it could work if those three essential parts were present. This is symbolic of how I can fabricate these personalities and emotions, but they aren't extremely effective, and aren't meant to be permanent, showing just how surface level they are, much like the sewing machine made.
Olivetti Lettera 22
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I also chose Gilmour because many of his works are life sized, which is what I was hoping to do as well. I feel that when something is created as a replica of something else, making it life sized makes it feel less comical, and thus more impactful, depending on the object. It also makes the intricate designs and pieces seem more delicate, and provides more of a challenge to the creator and can ground them through the delicate work with limited, yet reusable resources.
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Planning, Experimentation, and Process
Planning and Experimentation:
My planning began when I was initially introduced to the project and got to learn what we would be doing for the next month or more. We were told possible artists to use as inspiration, when we need to present what we were going to do, when the project was due, the rules and expectations, and how to present our ideas. This was all presented through a set of slides that we have had access to throughout our time with the project. |
We were initially introduced to other projects that were similar to the current one we were doing, so that we could see examples of what we could create and how intricate the objects should be. Many of these were student projects from the past, but there were also projects created by well known artists such as Claes Olldenburg and Coosje Bruggen.
From there, we were given our objectives, which were to explore new materials, the connect materials and meaning, to explore ways to combine and unify disparate source materials, and to effectively convey content. After this, we go over possible strategies and what would work best for our project. This allowed us to strategize how we were going to display our plan as well as how we wanted to execute it.
The biggest thing that was stressed to us was how we were planning on displaying our idea to one of the teachers who was going to guide and critique us. When coming up with an idea, we had to keep in mind that we have to already have the object we are going to make, and must have drawings of our object by December 7th. Our sketches had to show three main different displays of the object, a front view, a side view, and a view from above. This shows that we are well acquitted with our object, and have a thorough understanding of what would need to be included when making the object. |
There isn't much experimentation to be talked about in this project. The most notable part of the experimentation is the size of the project. I was originally thinking of making the sewing machine about twice the size or 1.5 times the size, but when presenting it, it was suggested to keep it as a 1:1 ratio, to which I agreed and decided to go with.
I was also considering doing a much easier option for the project, something along the lines of making a stack of books, but I decided that I wanted something a little more challenging and went with the broken sewing machine. I also felt the sewing machine was a better representation of me, as I had recently been spending a lot more time with it and doing more sewing projects.
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Process:
As stated earlier, the first step of this project was being introduced to it so we could get a good understanding of what we needed to do. From there, I went on to choose what object I was going to recreate and sketched it out from different angles and presented it to an adult who would be critiquing. Together, we decided that making the cardboard copy would be better if it was a 1:1 ratio.
Once I had a plan, it was time for me to start measuring my sewing machine and writing down the necessary lengths, widths and heights so I could be be prepared to sketch the shapes out on the cardboard and cut it out. To do this, I used a softer measuring tape so I could get around rounder corners and tight spaces. I did try to use a regular 12" ruler as much as I could, just because I like how it's easy to keep a straight edge, but there were plenty of times that it just wasn't the right fit for the space.
As I measured, I would trace it out onto the cardboard and cut it. Initially I was trying to use an exact-o knife, but I found that the one that I had made the edges a little messy, and took more time than a regular pair of scissors. Because of this, I usually chose to use the scissors then if I needed the knife for smaller pieces I would switch to that. |
The first thing that I chose to make was the base of the sewing machine, so that the rest of it would have a place to sit when I wasn't working on it. When doing it, I never realized how many layers would have to be included to make it look as close as possible. First, I had to create the basic shape, then I wrapped it in paper, then I added cardboard shapes on to give it more depth and allude to a similar shape on my actual sewing machine.
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I repeated that step to create the general shape for any large parts in the project. From there, I began making all of the smaller details of the structure. I broke each detail down into simple shapes, cut those shapes out, then trimmed and defined them from there. After that, it was simply a matter of hot gluing, where I only burned myself every two seconds. |
Finally, I glued the two largest pieces together and decided that my project was complete!
Reflection
I learned a lot from this project. I put off starting it for a long time, so I learned just how long it was really going to take in comparison to what I was expecting, I learned how thin human flash can be when held against a hot glue gun for 5 seconds, and I also learned how intricate, yet, simple cardboard can really be. I enjoyed the project a lot but I made an unbelievable amount of mistakes that I had committed to too much before it was too late. The biggest mistake being that I made the sewing machine reversed by accident, this made it so hard for me create details facing the right way, and there were several times where I failed miserably and couldn't fix the mistake. Overall, I enjoyed the project, but it was extremely difficult, and it turned out a lot worse than I had hoped. If I were to do this again, I would choose to do something a little simpler for my first try on cardboard sculptures. |
Critique
Olivetti Lettera 22
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In comparison to Chris Gilmour's work, my project seems quite simple, almost to the point that it kind of looks comical. Mine has many mistakes and large, clear elements of cardboard, whereas, Gilmour has extremely small details and it's hard to even tell what medium he's using, despite it's clear color. I'm not really happy with how it turned out, I feel that if I worked a little harder and have some better cutting utensils, then I would probably have a much better and more similar design that would express Gilmour's work without saying anything.
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Original piece
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ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
I chose to be inspired by Chris Gilmore, who usually makes life-size or smaller sculptures. This encourages me to make a life-sized piece, and without this decision, the project would be much more difficult and would likely result in \many more paper cuts.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
My artist's approach to my topic was never discussed. He didn't have a lot of information on him, but the materials he uses provide some context into his opinions and outlooks. Through this, we can tell that he was making things and displayed them to show their impermanence. It is because of this that I believe that he would find my inspiration intriguing and would likely connect with it well.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I found that people often waste what could still be seen as important. I also learned about general waste and how people choose to put their waste up on a pedestal as if it is going to become something amazing that changed their lives.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The main idea behind this work was the creation of false personalities. It's mostly about how I automatically try to change myself to fit in, but it's all surface level, and nothing is in depth enough to actually become a permanent part of me.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I often had to infer how Gilmour chose his art, why he uses cardboard, why they're important to him, and well as other information such as measurements. I am certain that there are still pieces and/wedges that are a little too big or a little too small. This is mostly because I didn't have complete mobility.
I chose to be inspired by Chris Gilmore, who usually makes life-size or smaller sculptures. This encourages me to make a life-sized piece, and without this decision, the project would be much more difficult and would likely result in \many more paper cuts.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
My artist's approach to my topic was never discussed. He didn't have a lot of information on him, but the materials he uses provide some context into his opinions and outlooks. Through this, we can tell that he was making things and displayed them to show their impermanence. It is because of this that I believe that he would find my inspiration intriguing and would likely connect with it well.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I found that people often waste what could still be seen as important. I also learned about general waste and how people choose to put their waste up on a pedestal as if it is going to become something amazing that changed their lives.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The main idea behind this work was the creation of false personalities. It's mostly about how I automatically try to change myself to fit in, but it's all surface level, and nothing is in depth enough to actually become a permanent part of me.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I often had to infer how Gilmour chose his art, why he uses cardboard, why they're important to him, and well as other information such as measurements. I am certain that there are still pieces and/wedges that are a little too big or a little too small. This is mostly because I didn't have complete mobility.
Citations
- “Chris Gilmour Artworks.” Chris Gilmour. Accessed January 19, 2023. http://www.chrisgilmour.com/.
- L, Chris. “Chris Gilmour Makes Realistic Sculptures out of Cardboard.” PlayJunkie. Playjunkie, January 28, 2020. https://playjunkie.com/chris-gilmour-makes-realistic-sculptures-out-of-cardboard/.
- L, Chris. “Chris Gilmour Makes Realistic Sculptures out of Cardboard.” PlayJunkie. Playjunkie, January 28, 2020. https://playjunkie.com/chris-gilmour-makes-realistic-sculptures-out-of-cardboard/.