Gaia's Everlong is meant to portray the immortal qualities of the Earth, regardless of its carefree inhabitants. This work was influenced by Claes Oldenburg's "Spoonbridge and Cherry", as well as Monami Ohno's "G-Shock". Certain components from each piece, such as the larger-than-life architecture and the use of cardboard, were main areas of inspiration for my piece. The primary material of the work, cardboard, was found, although two other materials were purchased.
Inspiration
Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg Claes Oldenburg's sculpture, "Spoonbridge and Cherry", is an enormous sculpture located in Minneapolis. The sculpture contains many unique components, not just its size. For example, only three colors are used in the sculpture, which is relatively uncommon for modern sculpture; typically, many different colors are used in the expression. Additionally, Oldenburg took an everyday object, enlarged it, and used it to demonstrate a particular artistic meaning; in this case, Oldenburg wanted to comment on the sculpture garden's stagnancy. The way the artwork is configured causes the viewer's eyes to trail from the cherry, down to the base of the spoon, and then up across the handle of the spoon. There is a sense of serenity in the work, as though the spoon is unbothered and unaffected by the world around it. The main techniques that Oldenburg used to express the meaning in his piece are enlargement and contrast, both aspects that I plan to integrate into my own personal piece, inspired by Oldenburg's work.
G-Shock by Monami Ohno Many of Monami Ohno's most prevalent works utilize cardboard as the main material. Similar to Oldenburg, Ohno takes everyday objects and enlarges them for the purpose of simple human enjoyment. The most noticeable aspect of Ohno's work, besides the use of cardboard, is the monochromatic theme of the piece. In contrast to Oldeburg, there is no use of artificial coloring. This is an aspect of Ohno's work that I plan to integrate into my piece. While my object does have a specific black, white, and gray color theme, I plan to only use the color brown that is consistent with the cardboard that I will be using to build my design. In Ohno's work, the entire purpose of the piece is to emphasize the sense of normality that seeing an everyday object enhanced to new dimensions provokes. Therefore, my first reaction to the piece was to question the reasoning behind the selection of a watch for this particular piece of Ohno's. Additionally, Ohno used a precise X-acto knife in order to achieve the smooth edges of the watch; said technique is something that I will be utilizing in my piece during the construction process.
Planning
I began my first planning page by sketching out the ideas I have for the UWM in-progress critique. Our class was visited by a professor who has been overseeing Reagan kids doing this project for a number of years. I decided to sketch out the object that I was using for my project: a record player. I was instructed to create several different perspectives of my object, so I drew one from the side from a higher perspective, one from the other side from a lower perspective, and one from an aerial perspective. I feel as though drawing out the different perspectives of my object really helped me to visualize all the different components that I would have to construct later on in my process. Around my main drawing of the record player, I made a few annotations regarding the size of the record player as well as the type of cardboard that I planned on using. Also, I decided to write down my basic idea, and then give a brief explanation as to the meaning behind my idea.
As instructed by my teacher in class, I created my background for the idea. I started with my ideation; stating my main idea and briefly describing the techniques that I planned on using during the building portion of my process. I believe that this part of my planning process allowed me to identify the goals I had for this project while also remaining realistic in my expectations. For example, I wanted to create something that would be able to move and spin: in my case, that would be the cardboard vinyl. However, I also knew that it would be difficult to create that particular mechanism when the only material I could use besides an X-acto knife and a hot glue gun, was cardboard. After I described my ideation, I gave a quick explanation of my idea. I wanted my record player, namely the vinyl portion, to represent the world spinning on a never-ending track. I mainly took inspiration from the issue of climate change when I came up with my explanation. Although the issue of climate change is urgent, and humanity has limited time, regardless of whether our species overcomes this particular challenge, the Earth will go on without us. After that, I gave background as to how the object of a record player connected to my life. I personally own a record player, so I have the physical object that I can study when taking the measurements for my project.
Finally, on my last planning page, I took the measurements for the record player and began to plan the construction aspect of my piece. I gathered a measuring tape and a notebook, and recorded the measurements for all of the sides of the record player. Once I wrote them down, I brainstormed how big I wanted the enlargement to be. Initially, I had planned on doubling the original size of the record player for my cardboard replica. However, after contemplating that for some while, I began to think more logistically. I realized that if I wanted to transport my piece in the future effectively, then I would have to reduce the size of it. Therefore, I decided on enlarging the record player 1.5 times. That way, I meet the requirements and I also can transport my piece more effectively. I discussed this process on my page, and then at the bottom I wrote down the measurements for enlargement. Overall, I think that this final page was the most helpful in furthering the progression of my piece.
Process
First, I began with referencing the measurements that had been enlarged by 1.5 times the original size of the record player. I gathered my cardboard, as much as I could fit into my workspace, and began drawing out the lines that I would be cutting along with the X-Acto knife. These lines increased my level of precision exponentially. I started to cut along the lines, creating the shapes for the base of the record player. Once I finished cutting out the sides, I gathered large pieces of cardboard for the bottom and the top of the base. I then took my hot glue gun and glued the various cardboard pieces together to create the finished base of my piece. I felt it was most important to start with the base of the record player as it's the biggest portion of the record player. Additionally, I felt it would be easier to build up as I went through the process, so that I wasn't going to be gluing everything together last minute.
Once I finished the base of the record player, I cut out the platform's sides. Due to the small shape of the platform, and the fact that I was only enlarging the record player by 1.5, the measurements for the platform were small. The sides were only one inch in height, despite the length being 16 inches. Once I finished cutting out the strips for the sides of the cardboard, I cut out the top, which was just a rectangular box, measured 16 by 12 inches. I proceeded to glue the sides to the base of the record player, and then glued the top of the platform onto the sides. Once I finished with this process, I had the entirety of the large portions of my project done. All I had left were the small details, as well as constructing the actual record.
After hot-gluing the base and the platform together, I began to construct the actual record and the circular base that it sits on. As I was enlarging every component of the original object, I had to find the height of the circular base of the record player, and then double that. I found it to be around .75 inches long, so I made the enlargement 1 inch. I cut out two circles of the same size, glued them together, and then peeled off small strips of pliable cardboard and covered the jagged insides of the cardboard circles with it. I then took another small piece of pliable cardboard and rolled it into a pin for the actual record to go through. Once I finished that process, I created an actual record by cutting out another cardboard circle, and cutting a hole in the middle. Finally, I added small details; the volume dial, the arm of the record player, and the spinner.
Experimentation
One of the things I had to experiment with was replicating the precise measurements of the record player. In order to make my recreation as accurate as possible, I had to find the perimeter of the circular shape of the actual record, as well as the circular platform that it sits on. I found the radius of the record to be 6 inches, and the radius of the platform that it sits on to be 7 inches. After taking the radius of each circle, I then found the perimeter using some previous knowledge from sophomore year geometry. I measured the perimeter of both circles onto separate pieces of cardboard, and then proceeded to cut out each circle. I was very happy with this particular aspect of the experimentation process, simply because I was able to use previous knowledge to solve the problem of measuring a circle with a high degree of accuracy.
I repeated the experimental technique of finding the radius' of my circles during the process of creating some of the smaller details of my record player. I found the radius of the small dials on the record player, and used the mathematical equation for finding the perimeter of a circle in order to recreate the dials for my replica.
Once I finished creating the circles using the mathematical technique of accuracy, I began the other part of my experimental process. Initially, I was pondering on how to replicate some of the more intricate details of the record player, such as the spike that goes through the middle of the record platform. I was also confused on how I could make the sides of my project look cleaner. I proceeded to experiment with pieces of pliable cardboard. I peeled strips of cardboard away from the ribbed insides of the material, and found that they were extremely bendy and flexible. Using this new material, I wrapped the sides of my circles with it, in order to hide some of the more jagged edges that I had created using my X-Acto knife.
This technique proved to be particularly helpful, and I used it to create the spear that goes through the middle of the record when it's placed on the platform, as well as the arm of the record player. I was particularly with this part of the experimental process, as I was able to innovate and come up with a technique that really helped my project appear more clean and complete. This step was very important to the finished look of my piece.
Critique
Spoonbridge and Cherry by Oldenburg
Gaia's Everlong (my work)
G-Shock by Ohno
Differences One of the main differences between my piece and my artists of inspiration's pieces is the subject matter. While Oldenburg enlarged a spoon and cherry, and Ohno enlarged a wrist watch, I chose to enlarge a record player. This was purely an artistic choice; Oldenburg and Ohno both seemingly chose their objects for less prominent reasons, while I chose my object based on a much deeper meaning. I wanted to focus on the hidden meaning in my piece regarding the Earth, while Oldenburg and Ohno decided to focus on the enlargement aspect itself, and the meaning behind it. Additionally, the most significant difference between my piece and Oldenburg's piece is the lack of the use of color in my piece. Oldenburg decided to use a sienna white sculpting material for his piece, and then decided to paint the cherry red and green; I decided to abandon any color completely, as an artistic choice as well as a requirement. I felt that including any color in my piece would distract from the message that I was trying to send. Alternatively, one of the main differences between Ohno's piece and my piece is Ohno's high level of detail. There are many small, individual aspects of Ohno's piece that are extremely detailed, such as the outer workings of the clock. I added a significant amount of detail in my piece, but my work doesn't have the same attention to detail that Ohno presents in her work.
Similarities One of the most obvious similarities between Oldenburg's piece, Ohno's piece, and my piece is the medium. All three works involve some kind of sculpting medium, that was used to create our enlargements. Additionally, all three pieces took an everyday object, and used the principle of scale in order to replicate and enlarge the aforementioned objetcs to create some sort of deeper meaning. In terms of individual similarities, one of the biggest similarities between Ohno's piece and my piece is the use of cardboard as the primary construction material. Another prominent similarity is the use of line in our pieces. Ohno utilizes a line in her design of the wrist watch, particularly in the construction of the outer workings of the watch. I decided to use the line when constructing my base for the record player, as well as in the arm of the record player. One of the main similarities between my piece and Oldenburg's piece is the use of balance. Oldenburg focused on balance when making the artistic decision to have the cherry balance on the spoon; I referenced the principle of balance when I decided to have the main area of focus (the actual record) to be balanced on the base of the record player. All of the aforementioned techniques were aspects of my inspiration's artistic process that I referenced in my own individual design process.
Reflection
I think this project was very important for me as an artist to further my skills in sculpting. Prior to this piece, I had only experimented with sculpting in the more traditional medium, clay. I had never used a hard, un-malleable material to create an art piece. Therefore, this whole process was largely experimental for me. Additionally, I had never replicated a real life object before outside of the painting medium. Having an object that I could reference at any time of the day while creating my replica was extremely helpful throughout the process. Occasionally, there would be small details on the record player that I neglected to draw attention to during my planning phase. Once I realized that there were additional aspects to the object that I had been missing, I was able to visit the reference object myself and observe. Additionally, I feel as though my inspiration was very important to my process as a whole. I was able to replicate specific aspects from both Oldenburg's work and Ohno's work; the enlargement aspect, the use of the material of cardboard, the use of line and balance, etc. One of the biggest challenges I encountered during my process was simply the size of the piece. I was unprepared to transport my piece once I had finished the process. Thankfully, I had thought ahead of this issue during my planning phase, as I had reduced the planned size from 2 times as large as the original object's size to 1.5 times the original object's size. Additionally, another problem I encountered was the rate at which the hot gun dried after applying it. I had a very small time frame to both apply the glue to the base and then attach the piece of cardboard. I had to adjust the speed of my work once I realized how small the time frame was. Overall, I would say that my least favorite part of the whole process was attempting to get the measurements 100% correct, so that my replica would be as accurate as it could be. However, despite that negative aspect of my piece, I'm satisfied with the way it turned out, and the way the entire process of the piece went. I hope that others view my project as a representation of the Earth's resistance, despite the damage that humanity has caused to it.
ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork? My artists of inspiration were Claes Oldenburg and Monami Ohno. I utilized Oldenburg's technique of the enlargement of an everyday object and Ohno's technical aspect of utilizing cardboard as the main material.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration? Regardless of how dire the global warming situation gets, the Earth will persevere with or without humanity. That simplicity of ever-constant change can be found in the most normal of objects.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration? I've discovered that sculptures can be created through many different mediums, such as cardboard. I had been unaware of that particular medium before I began this project.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research? The Earth will persevere without humanity's help, just as it did before we evolved into humans.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research? The most artistic aspect of sculpting, in my opinion, is the level of precision that is demonstrated in the final product of a piece. Whether it's done with an X-acto knife, which is what I used, or a blade meant for another medium, such as clay.
Citations (MLA Format)
“Spoonbridge and Cherry.” Walkerart.org, walkerart.org/collections/artworks/spoonbridge-and-cherry.
“Monami Ohno Carves out Cardboards to Form Astonishing Intricate Sculptures.” Designboom | Architecture & Design Magazine, 19 Oct. 2021, www.designboom.com/art/monami-ohno-cardboards-astonishing-intricate-sculptures-10-19-2021/.