"Swimming Waste"
Medium: Aluminum Cans, Cardboard, Oil, and Plastic Bottle Size: Date: April 2016 Inspired by Leo Sewell, my intentions for my piece were to bring about awareness to the problem of waste in our fresh water lakes and ocean. I wanted to create a piece that produced a statement that something needed to be done. This piece is a continuation of my UWM piece only the focus of this one is on the trash being dumped into our bodies of water rather than how people don't recycle. I wanted to demonstrate what lives were being affected by our waste by making them out of it. |
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Planning
I began my planning process by producing several sketches of possible Organic vs Industrial pieces. I was unsure of how I wanted to interpret the theme. At times I wanted to produce an organic piece out of industrial items whereas at other times I wanted to create an industrial piece out of organic items. After reviewing my sketches I found that it was easier for me to come up with ideas for creating something organic out of industrial materials. Regardless, I still did not have a solid foundation as how to approach the project. Then I looked back at my UWM piece and saw that it could be considered organic vs industrial in a way and thought perhaps I could create a continuation of my UWM theme. My message in my mixed media piece was to recycle in order to prevent recyclables from ending up in landfills and taking the place of plants and flowers that could be glowing there. Therefore I decided that I could perhaps create a continuation of this but instead of focusing on landfills I'd focus on our bodies of water. I didn't know how to incorporate the ocean or lakes into my piece however until I saw Leo Sewell's work where I realized I could incorporate the wildlife affected by the pollution of the oceans. |
Artistic Inspiration Leo Sewell is an American "found object" artist. He creates sculptures out of what others consider to be junk and useless. Hi assemblages can be found across numerous museums. The reason why I was inspired by Sewell was due to his subject matter. The majority of his work is animals made from recycled materials. This inspired me to think about the wildlife affected by our water pollution and immediately I thought about fish. Fish are among the animals most affected by our water pollution which I can relate to as the number of fish found in lake Michigan has decreased over the years as it has become more and more polluted. Sewell inspired me to create an assemblage of a fish from found objects found in our polluted waters. Research and Photo Citation: http://www.leosewell.net/artwork.php?which=46 |
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Process
I began by washing out old Coke cans and then cutting out rectangular pieces from them. Once I had cut out rectangles, I began to cut out what would become the fins of the fish. For the tail I cut out two identical fins and hot glued them onto the cap of the bottle. I then hot glued the two fins together. Once I had done this I continued to make the next set of fins repeating the same process. I cut out triangular shaped fins which would rest at the sides of the bottle as the side fins of the fish. I then glued them on as well. Then I finished creating the sins by cutting out one more pair of fins, one for the top and one for the bottom. Once hot glued onto the body, I continued my project by working on the head of the fish. For the head I utilized a piece of cardboard which I cut out in somewhat of a rounded off triangle like shape. I made another similar triangle, one for each side on the bottle which together would make the head. I then used a knife to cut in a set of gills onto each side of the head. Then using buttons, I made a pair of eyes. Finally I added a hook onto the mouth of the fish and created a stand for it using half a coke can. Overall I felt I was successful in the project however it was challenging to use hot glue and an aluminum can as the hot glue does not stick well onto the cans. |