UWM Axiomatic Object
Title: Stacking problems
Size: N/A Medium: Cardboard Completed: January 2023 |
- Exhibition Text -This sculpture of 3 Jarrito bottle caps stacked on top of each other represents generational trauma, specifically from Hispanic households. The bottle caps themselves represent the trauma, having them stacked on each other shows how the Trauma stacks on each other with each generation.
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- Inspiration -
While looking for inspirations for this projects I specifically wanted someone who works with cardboard. That's when I stumbled across Chris Gilmour, popularly known for his sculptures made of cardboard. Chris Gilmour creates everyday objects of all sizes fully out of cardboard. In all of his work you can see that every detail can directly be seen in the original object. Chris Gilmour's keen eye for detail makes his work stand out.
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"Flat 500" by Chris Gilmour
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-Planning-
When I was first coming up with ideas for my project it really took a long time, I already knew what theme I wanted to focus on but needed to find something to connect with it. My theme was about generational trauma, specifically within Hispanic households. I was really trying my hardest to find an object that I would really like and something that I felt a connection with. When It finally hit me, I wanted to do a soda bottle but not any soda bottle specifically a Jarrito bottle. It was one of my favorite sodas and its something that I could connect to my Mexican heritage. I started my planning with simple planning, deciding around how big I would want and how I would modify the bottle in little ways. I then went on to take more specific measurements and multiplying them by three. After a little bit I started to think about it more, the bottle didn't 100 percent connect to my theme the way I wanted it to, so I went back to brainstorming keeping the bottle in mind. I then came up with the conclusion to make bottle caps.
Once I came up with the idea of a bottle cap I needed to make sure it fit with my theme. After affirming that the bottle caps would perfectly fit into my theme I started to work on the outline and measurements. I didn't want to make the bottle caps too big since I would be making more than one. I decided since the bottle cap is 1 inch big in diameter I would multiply it by 10. I decided that I would make 3 bottle caps to represent the 3 generations in my family that I know. After some research I was able to find 3 different older designs of the bottle caps and decided that I would use them.
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-Process-
The First thing that I thought of was the design on the different bottle caps. I decided that I would cut out the shapes and outline of the design and place it on top of the cap. Now the I know how I'll be doing the designs I have to figure out how I'll be making the circle itself. I went into the kitchen looking at pots and pans but they ended up being too big I looked around and found some plates. Turns out that these plates were the perfect size, I took one and used it as an outline for my circles. Once I drew on all the circles I began to cut them all out, I end up with 6 circles in total having 2 for each bottle cap I plan to make. I decided to make 2 for each bottle cap so I could have one circle be the base layer and the other was for the design.
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After cutting out all the circles needed for all bottle caps i moved on to making the sides. I cut out long pieces of cardboard, all of them being 2.5in wide. I had all the sides be 2.5in because the original size length of a bottle cap is 0.25in so I just simply multiples that by 10 to get 2.5in. since none of my cardboard was long enough to fully wrap around the circles I needed to cut multiple parts and stick them together using hot glue to get the right size.
Now having all my sides cut out I go back to the circle to work on the edge. On a real bottle cap the side of the circle part is curved so I need to do the same swell. First I wet the sides of the card board in order to work with it easier, I don't put too much water in order not to ruin the cardboard totally.
After I do that I go back to the side parts and bend them as well. Just like the circles I use a little bit of water to make it easier to work with. I do this so it gains a curve in order to be able to glue it on without much hassle.
After I do that I go back to the side parts and bend them as well. Just like the circles I use a little bit of water to make it easier to work with. I do this so it gains a curve in order to be able to glue it on without much hassle.
Now that I have all my parts prepend and ready to go I go in and start gluing the side parts to the top of the slightly curved part of the circle. I went really slow during this part since I wanted to make sure all the parts were on the same level, I also had to make sure I was really careful with the hot glue gun since one wrong move could portability ruin the entire thing for me. Finally after a long time I finally fished all 3 bottle caps.
Next thing that I have to work on is the little indents on the side of the bottle cap. When making the first indent I didn't do as much measuring like I did with the other parts. After a While I found the perfect size for one indent and I used the one and traced it on other card board to get the same size for all of them. I did some estimated around how many I'll be using for each cap. I assumed 11 so I made a total of 33 in total.
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Once I finished all the indents and glued them on I went on and worked on the logos. I simply drew the design on the a piece of cardboard then cut it out.
-Critique-
Differences-
In Chris Gilmour's work he stays true to real life size while I enlarged my project. Chris Gilmour also stayed true to the real object while I didn't because I had to make the logo. |
Similarity-
In both of these projects you can see only cardboard was being used. Using card board to make an object in real life. |
-Reflection-
The project has been very different from everything i've ever done before in my life. I've never really worked much with cardboard, so having to make an entire sculpture with just cardboard was scary. After a while i was able to get used to it, working with cardboard was frustrating but wasn't as terrible as I had first predicted. I personally thought working with cardboard was hard because cardboard isn't fragie so you need to be a bit rougher with it but not too rough because it could still get ruined easily. In the end I would definitely say that this was the hardest project I've worked on, but i still am regretful that I was able to work on this. This project taught me how important it is to work with materials outside of your comfort zone. This project also taught me an important lesson on time management.
-ACT Questions-
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
You can clearly see that like my inspiration I stuck with as much detail from the original object.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I Made generalizations about Hispanic family's and how it effects people.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
My central idea was on Mexican heritage and how it can connect to someone.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made inferences on why and how artists make their work.
You can clearly see that like my inspiration I stuck with as much detail from the original object.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I Made generalizations about Hispanic family's and how it effects people.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
My central idea was on Mexican heritage and how it can connect to someone.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made inferences on why and how artists make their work.
-Citations-
Gilmour, Chris. “Chris Gilmour Artworks.” Chris Gilmour, http://www.chrisgilmour.com/.