Found/Made Objects

We were asked to build an object in which we used found objects, but also put some of our own work into it, making it hard to tell what was found and what we made. After doing some thinking, I figured that anything 'found' would first have to be abandoned and left behind in order for one to find it. I did some research and found that there are over 20,000 abandoned properties in the Philadelphia County area. I still cant seem to fathom how in a major city, especially one with such a large homeless population, can have so many abandoned properties. One's home is (in most cases) their biggest investment, yet so many people have made a decision to just leave that behind for whatever reason. I took an early leave from one class to go to one of the many and easily visible abandoned buildings in the north Philadelphia area. I found a string of buildings along some old train tracks that have all been abandoned. I chose to do my piece on one of these buildings, using the building as my found object, and play off of how easily a sprawling business' identity can be erased. I used two friends, Jenna and Jess, as my sculpture piece. I told them to cover their faces with scarves as I took photos of them. I then edited the photos to look like they were old and framed them, cracking the glass on two of the frames. I wanted the photos in the frames to look unclear of where they may have been found. Overall, I think this was my best piece during the class, probably because I was able to incorporate my favorite medium of photography into the project, something I am already familiar with.

Tool Assignment

For this assignment, we were asked to create a tool out of metal. I chose to recreate the Hylian Shield from the Zelda video games, as a birthday gift for my room mate. The construction of the shield was difficult, because I have never used metal as a medium before. The shield was very hard to cut out because of it's thickness, which also didn't allow me to curve the shield as I had hoped. I used the forge to bend a rod into a handle shape and welded it into place. I feel that the best part of this piece is the paint job. I used stencils to paint the decoration onto the surface of the metal. I also attatched cut metal pieces onto the shield using epoxy, so I didnt damage the paint with welds. We had also run out of sheet metal, so the border of the shield had to be made with a roll of thin guaged sheet metal, which was very annoying to work with. If I were to rework this piece, I would replace the border with a real sheet metal and hopefully find a way to work the shield into a curved shape.

Found Object Photo Study

STAPLES

Going along with the sculptures of fake rooms/landscapes and then photographed to create an illusion, are these staple cityscapes made by Peter Root.

http://ubersuper.com/low-rise-by-peter-root/

Convenient Catapults

The following video is an infomercial that I made using Chelsea's male/female backscratchers. The alternate use that I found for them was that they make very very good catapults.

Infomercial for Convenient Catapults from chip colson on Vimeo.

Chinatown

This video was made while finding another use for Chelsea's male and female backscratchers.

Chinatown from chip colson on Vimeo.

Finished Photos of Set

Photo of a Created Space

For this assignment, we were required to build a set of any size, shape, or form, and display the final portion of the project as a photograph. I went through many different sketches and ideas before coming up with my final idea of a ghostly figure in an abandoned house setting. Having most of my 2D work be drawings of characters and such, I decided to actually try and sculpt one of them out of a 3D material. I chose to sculpt my character out of Super Sculpy which I found to be a very forgiving and easy material to work with, which is great because I changed my mind often about the shape and form of the final character. I ended up choosing a ghostly character which has a detached and free floating head. For the actual set, I used illustration board for the floor and walls. I printed large, hi-res textures that I was able to find on the internet to use as the floor and walls. Using hot glue, I put the illustration board together to make two walls and the floor, creating a corner of a room. After painting my character black, I was uncertain on how to attach the character to the room to give him a floating effect, like that of a ghost. I decided to use dowell rods to attach him to the walls. This was the trickiest part however, because I did not know that the weight of the character would weigh down the dowell rods so much. I was forced to use absurd amounts of hot glue to get the dowell rods to not sag as much. This was a problem for me because the angle of the photograph for the final portion of the project had to be altered from my original idea so that the dowell rods and the hot glue weren't seen in the end photo. I used found broken glass to sprinkle on the floor to create an abandoned building effect and I used early morning light to light the set. Overall I am very satisfied with the way this project turned out and I hope that I have the free time to do another one similar, but this time use what I learned from my mistakes.

Replica of a Replica Assignment

For this assignment, we were asked to replicate a replica that another student had created. I was given Mia's replica of 10 cigarettes. The originals were made with computer paper filled with leaves, and tissues and glue for the filters. Some parts were also painted. For my replica, I used most of the same materials, except for the filters, which are real cigarette filters found in a box in my basement. I took leaves in from the street and grinded them up so I could roll them into the computer paper. I was having trouble with the leaves falling out the end of the cigarettes, so I used a dab of glue in the end of the cigarette, which did not work. I resorted to pinching the ends so the leaves didn't fall out. I used Sobo glue to attach the rolled computer paper and leaves to the filter. Overall, I think that the cigarettes look like cigarettes, but my craft was a little bit weak because of the small scale and possibly because of the unfamiliarity of materials used.

Replica Sculpture

For our assignment, we were asked to create a replica of an object that we own. I chose a small, bendable Gumby action figure. I chose this object because it is one of the oldest toys I own from my childhood. I decided to make my own playdough to create this replica, so I could bring the childish feel of the toy into my replica, but the playdough was not sturdy enough to hold its shape. I then decided to try my luck at carving Gumby's shape out of a green bar of Lever soap. I feel that the sculpture went well at first, as I have never done a reductive sculpture before, let alone a reductive sculpture out of a bar of soap. Once little details had to be added, I started having problems. I tried to keep Gumby only one piece, but piece piece and limb by limb he started falling apart. I had to come up with a method of holding him together. I am unfamiliar with how different adhesives and soap hold up together. I resorted to using tiny pieces of paperclips to hold Gumby's arms and legs on, with a little bit of Sobo glue for extra strength. Because of the size of the bar of soap, I had to scale down Gumby's size to about 1/3 of the original size. The facial features are cut paper held with Sobo glue.

Final Project Inspiration

andrew souders made me do it.

Proposal for Final

For my final project I would like to take the song "Great Gig In The Sky" by Pink Floyd and put a still picture montage together to it. I was actually inspired by another video that uses the song to show the end of the world. The song is about how death is inevitable and everyone has to face it sometime in their life. What's interesting though is that the song is mostly instrumental other than a few lines of dialogue in the beginning. I am not 100% sure what I am doing for the photo montage but it is going to be something along the lines of not being able to avoid death and how we cope with death of loved ones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zvCUmeoHpw

Flowers (of the future)

Scanned Landscape

materials used include: found paper and labels to random items, kneaded eraser, balloons.

city bird

city bird, havent you heard?
hasnt anybody told you?
these city blocks cant hold you.
your place is in the sky, how can i show you?

city bird, havent you heard of the boundlessness of your freedom?
you neglect your wings like you dont need them.

city bird, maybe these hands that feed you, need you.
maybe you understand that, city bird.

boredom strangles the life from the printed page.

• I chose this creative advertisement because the text seems to wave due to the optical illusion used to create the text.

• I also chose this creative tour poster that of montreal used to advertise their lollapalooza post show. the text used is given the effect that it is on the side of an old building. it is an interesting placement for text within an advertisement.

city bird, haven't you heard,
hasn't anybody told you?
these city blocks can't hold you,
your place is in the sky, how can I show you?

city bird, haven't you learned
of the boundlessness of your freedom?
the sky is your blue kingdom,
you neglect your wings like you don't need them.

city bird, maybe these hands that feed you, need you.
maybe you understand that, city bird.

hAy l00k. I made a picture 0f myself. itz lyke PiCaSsO.

Hay guys. L00k wat i made.