Although I believed I had been aware of the many elements of design in both man-made and organic objects, this project further strengthened my appreciation for the fine details able to be observed in almost everything. Still within my illustrative comfort zone, the next stage of the project required us to acquire two other natural forms and sketch them as observantly as possible. At this stage, I selected a bell pepper and orange due to my heightened awareness of the interesting details available in both objects. Using a knife, I dissected both objects in almost every way possible. I sought to observe my objects at almost every available angle, including how cutting it at various angles affected the patterns they created with their interior. This particular process of cutting my objects in various ways allowed me to consider how this could apply to my everyday life of approaching problems and solutions. Depending on how I approached a problem, reaching the solution could either be very simple or become extensively complex.
Our broad observation of our objects was soon challenged when we were told to select only of our objects and focus on a very specific pattern or structure within it. The sudden shift on focuses was very refreshing for me, as I had become tired of drawing the orange I had also selected at this point. This focus allowed me to realize that the problems I were experiencing at that stage were akin to the problems in my life; I was trying to introduce too many elements into my artwork and life at once. Focusing on my object allowed me to become more sensitive to the details found in very specific aspects of the bell pepper, such as the large chambers and linear lines of seeds. The chambers especially interested me because of how they served the pepper: not only did they provide the pepper with its main form, but it served to house and protect the seeds of the bell pepper itself. I found that within each bell pepper, its chambers were distinctly different and changed into several different shapes when cut at various angles. Bisected horizontally, the chambers of the bell peppers formed four distinct shapes around a diamond center with a star shape in the middle. The symmetry of the whole system was quite beautiful, and allowed me to contemplate on nature's efforts to create organized systems in which to thrive.
After largely studying the structures and patterns within our objects, we were then required to sketch more objects that had forms similar to those we saw in our object. Because I had focused on the chambers in my bell pepper, I attempted to find similar objects with chambers, such as the human heart, tomatoes, durians, and chili peppers. This allowed me to see how nature often echoed forms within objects because of its natural realization of the efficacy of certain structures. Within the tomatoes, I found that the chambers served a similar purpose of protecting the seeds of the vegetable, much like in the bell pepper. However, the chambers in the tomato were not hollow like the in the bell peppers. Instead, I observed this hollowness within the chambers of the human heart, despite them not serving a purpose similar to that of the bell peppers'. The chambers in the human heart served to facilitate blood rather than protect something. After the disparity between the human heart and tomato, I returned to fruits and vegetables and selected the durian and chili peppers, whose chambers served to protect the procreative aspects of the object. Despite being able to find several objects with similar objects, this particular stage frustrated me because I had struggled to think of other things with such observable chambers such as the bell peppers, that were not in the pepper family themselves. This frustration had led me to picking a chili pepper as crutch.
Despite slight frustrations with the sudden vastness of the project once again, we were then allowed to refocus on the main structures of our selected objects. Using line and shading, we were required to begin abstracting our objects, all the while maintaining the conceptual integrity of the depth and line of the object. I experimented with various line patterns inside of the chambers of my bell pepper, but struggled to abstract the shape of the bell pepper itself. All I seemed to be able to do was abstract the forms within the chambers, while forcing them into the perceivable frame of the bell pepper. I allowed this crippling comfort to pervade into the next iteration of the project, which was to create paper sculptures of the abstracted forms. In an attempt to somewhat abstract the frame of the bell pepper, I elevated it on small stands made of poster board. I then used paper in different shades of grey and elevated at different heights in order to create the illusion of depth and draw parallels to the chambers in the bell peppers. Although using colors completely different from the vast array of colors found within bell peppers, the object remained readily identifiable as a bell pepper. This frustrated me greatly, as I had little experiencing in abstracting forms and often worked with easily recognizable objects.
Even with my frustration due to my lack of vast abstraction, I was then able to draw some ideas from some of my previous sketches. In my previous attempts at creating abstract patterns within the bell peppers, I had created a melting form by varying line weight. This gave me the idea creating a painting of chambers with a structure melting out from it. I soon realized that this idea was far too audacious, as I had little experience in painting with heavy paints. Cost constraints soon came into play as I realized that creating this believable melting form out of a framed painting would become overbearing for me. After discarding the framed aspect of the piece, I constructed the wire frame of the melting objects, and cut out various holes within the wire frame in order to fit chambers within the frame. My original idea for the frame was to create the whole melting object, create its chambers out of wire, and then cover the whole frame with some material that would hug the frame and draw emphasis on the chambers. However, after much deliberation over using either plaster or paper mache, I instead opted for cloth due to suggestions. To my dismay, the cloth did not hug the frame as well as I had hoped, and completely obscured all of the arduous work I had put into creating the wire frame. I had also attempted to paint the cloth red in the chambered areas in order to draw emphasis to their depth, but that caused the cloth to look bloody and overall displeasing. This part completely frustrated me and caused me to rethink my project. Instead, I opted for the black cloth to be the backdrop of the wire frame, and have the wires of the chambers to be wrapped in colors to create emphasis and depth.
Before proceeding with wrapping the chamber frames with colored yarn, I had spray painted the frame of the main form black in order to cover the garish and distracting silver of the original wire. I had been originally ambivalent with spray painting the wire due to my fear of it being lost against the black backdrop. I soon realized that without experimentation, I would never progress in the project, and within my life as well. After spray painting the form black, I realized that it created a very subtle and attractive contrast against the black backdrop. I then proceeded to wrap of my frames with colored yarn. This step was particularly frustrating because I realized that it consumed an inordinate amount of time, and caused my arm to become very tired. But through working against my irritation, I realized that if I simply gave up at every obstacle then I would never produce anything of significance within my life. I worked through the irritation at the constantly tangling, fraying, and unraveling yarn in order to bring color to my piece. After completing the wrapping, I then remounted the chambers onto the form, and thus completing my art piece.
By forcing myself out of my comfort zone in terms of materials and processes, I realized that the many principles I apply while creating my art could be related to my life somehow. It caused me to become resilient in the face of displeasure, and that the first iterations of projects may not always be the best or final projects. I had never realized the importance of trial and error before this project, and this will definitely cause me to allow more time and mistakes with myself when creating future artworks.
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