Expressive 3-d forms

For this project we had to used balsa wood, tape and glue to create 4 sculptures to represent 4 words we chose from a list. I chose the words hope, chaotic, calm and angry.

The first sculpture I made was Calm. I created a small box out of tape and then filled it with glue. By creating a horizontal line and making my sculpture so low to the ground I created a calming feeling. I wanted the structure to look like a reflecting pool that would appear near a large monument like the one at the Lincoln Memorial or the Taj Mahal, after creating this sculpture I connected the idea of the reflecting pool and the calming feeling pools give me. I have been a swimmer for the last eight years and have spent so much time in pools, being at a pool feels like home for me whether I'm swimming in it, laying next to it or diligently watching over the people swimming while I'm lifeguarding.

The second sculpture I made was Anger. For this one I used three pieces of balsa wood. The first piece was the base and I used another piece that I stuck out of the base the top of which I broke off rather than cut to create a jagged edge to represent anger and to further the representation of anger I made a small piece of wood which I stuck straight out of the second piece which represents violence which can result from anger.

The third sculpture I made was chaos. I decided to use the chaos that most of the students felt when attempting to assemble this project as my inspiration. I took all the materials we were allowed to use for this project and arranged them in the most chaotic way possible. The tape I arranged in little balls, the wood I broke into pieces which I stuck out of the tape, I took the two balls of tape and attached them using the wood and then I dripped glue over the whole thing.

The last sculpture I made was danger. With this one I had a much different approach than the other three. The first three sculptures I had a plan and a clear direction but this last one I had no idea of what I was going to do. I did however know that I liked the little pieces of wood that came off when I scraped my exacto against the edge, so I did that for about a half hour then decided to attach them to a little rectangle of wood. After that I was trying to decide which word it best represented when I looked at my work at eye level rather than look down at it and I realized it looked just like the forest in the beginning of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves so I attached wood to the bottom to raise up my work so everyone would see it from that perspective and I chose danger as my word.