Soap Carving

 

Soap Carving

Materials: Soap, metal pins

Dimensions: (Yellow) 1.25 in. X 3 in. X 2.75 in.

(White) 1.25 in. X 3 in. X 3.5 in.

Process Photos 

Balsa Wood Sculpture WIP

 

Movement and Symmetry

Materials: Wood Skewers, Paper, Hot Glue 

Dimensions: 10.5 in. X 12.25 in. X 9.5 in. 

 

Movement and Symmetry

Materials: Balsa Wood, Hot Glue, Paper

Dimensions: 4.0 in. X 12.75 in. X 4.0 in. 

 

Artist Statement

Movement: For my paper piece, I wanted to create a sense of movement by having the paper flow in a direction. At first, the piece had a more defined shape, but then I started to add strips of papers that would stick out, creating a sense of movement. The shape began to look like its moving upward in a circular motion, like a twister. The wooden skewers keep the shape in the air making it appear that its floating and moving in space.

Symmetry: For the balsa wood piece, I wanted to keep the design identical on both sides. All of the wood pieces are the same size and pattern on each side. Each side also has a sense of space, where the balsa wood pieces were carved out and they netted over with paper so you have to actually look up close to examine the inside of the holes.

Process Photos

 

Masking Tape Shoes

 

Masking Tape Shoes

Materials: Masking Tape, Hot Glue, Prismacolors

Dimensions: 4.5 in. X 6.0 in. X 11.0 in.

Process Photos

 

On Longing

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

For this sentence, I chose a photo I took of my mother standing next to a giant nutcracker when we were visiting the town of Thomasville, Georgia during my winter break. Although having it stand behind the building gives us an idea how big it is, having a person stay next to it gives us the precise idea of how large it is. Usually, when we talk to people about something we saw, we always have to tell the scale of the object and normally we use the human body as the standard size. I always think the reason why we use ourselves for size compare is that its something we all can relate to or something we're familiar with. I think we also tend to be much more in awe when we see or hear about something larger than us. These nutcrackers were the first thing we saw that grabbed our attention when we entered Thomasville, so of course, we had to take a picture of them. My mom had to be next to it to tell later on to others that she found giant nutcrackers.

Sentence two: "Capacity of objects to serve as traces of authentic experience."

-On Longing, Susan Stewart

For sentence two, I chose this photo I took right after my grandmother handed me these bicycle goggles from my great great grandfather. I love collecting objects from the past, from grand paintings to something small like an arrowhead craving. The reason why I chose this photo is that it fits with the sentence's meaning really as this object serves a purpose to be a trace of authentic experience. These goggles were own by my great great grandfather who was a man big into bicycle racing. I personally find a connection with them more because I also love to ride my bike all the time. With this, I feel like I did have found something in common with my great great grandpa now.

Sentence three: "The souvenir reduces the public, the monumental, and the three-dimensional into the miniature, that which can be enveloped by the body."

-On Longing, Susan Stewart

For sentence three, I chose this photo of a display case I took when visiting one of my favorite antique shops around here in St. Augustine. I always found it funny how Florida is represented with a flamingo, even though, flamingos are not a native bird to Florida at all. Anyway, although the flamingo is not some big shot monument or natural wonder, it still serves its purpose to be the miniature souvenir that makes Florida stand out. The Florida flamingo reduces Florida to this one iconic thing that will make you think "oh yeah, this is the time we visited Florida." The purpose of the Florida Flamingo serves the same purpose of any other miniature souvenir, to bring back memories and where it came from.

     

Sentence four: "To have a souvenir of the exotic is to possess both a specimen and a trophy."

-On Longing, Susan Stewart

For sentence four, I chose this photo I have taken of me holding a cleaned up coyote skull I have found. Now a coyote skull is nothing "exotic," to the United States (in fact, they're literally found anywhere), but maybe to someone else not from the United States would find this exotic. Back then and even today, that when we own something we consider "exotic," it will usually be an artifact of something from another culture or species of animal from another far off place. To own something exotic is to own part of a culture or region that we do not know much about. To me, my coyote skull is nothing but another common animal, but to another not from here, it could be considered a treasure, a piece to show off to others that you are able to afford such a unique item that cannot be found anywhere else in your homeland.

Sentence five: "... the nostalgic input of the handmade in a 'plastic world.'"
-On Longing, Susan Stewart

For the final sentence, I chose this photo that my mom had sent me when they were arranging my room to add a wooden floor. (The photo was not altered, this is how it came out when my mother sent me the picture) I was thinking about the word "nostalgic" and "handmade" when I was looking at this picture. In this picture are a lot of childhood items I have collected while growing up. Every once in awhile I'll go through these items for the nostalgic feeling, the feeling of goodness when I look at these objects. Some of them are handmade, while others are reproduction items. But they still hold memories whenever I pick them up. For example, the big white gorilla in the background is just some cheap stuff valentine's gift, but it has meaning to me because it was a gift to me by my grandmother after one of my first times traveling to Wisconsin. It might not be a handmade good, but it still carries memories and that's what I find important to it.