Project number 1 was called “10 Ways of Looking at a Piece of Paper”. We were assigned a poem to read by Wallace Stevens called “13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”. The poem was broken up into thirteen stanzas, each describing thirteen different scenes and ways of looking at a blackbird. We were then asked what does the blackbird represents then we uploaded a discussion post to icollege. This first part of the assignment was used to open your eyes to seeing one thing in many different ways. Doing this part of the assignment opened the mind up to seeing past conventional and literal meaning. We then made ten different sculptures out of paper, photographed them, and then created a VoiceThread explaining our work and process.
In the beginning I was a little stumped on how I would create ten different sculptures using something as simple as a piece of paper. My first sculpture I made was a soda can ring with trash interwoven through it. My approach was literal at first, but as the assignment went on, I got more experimental and discovered new techniques and ways of using the paper. With each sculpture, I tried to do something different than the last. My favorite ended up being the paper mold sculptures that I made. It made me realize that paper has many different uses, textures, and ways of being used. I loved seeing how other students in the class used their paper. Some used similar techniques, while others did things I didn’t even think of.
I think I had a pretty good understanding of the assignment. I knew the poem mentioned earlier was assigned to read for a reason. I used the general idea of the poem as my approach to the assignment and tried to make my sculptures ten different ways. I learned that there are so many ways of using paper and discovered new techniques and uses. In the future I will consider paper as an option when making a sculpture. It is such an accessible and versatile medium and that’s what I really enjoyed about this project.
I don’t think I entirely achieved my personal goal of pushing the medium and doing something different with it every time. After seeing other students work, I thought I lacked creativity on some works but during the assignment I was having a little difficulty coming up with something new every time. This assignment was a good was of learning a new skill. I am totally focused on drawing and have been for years so this class is a good way learn something new.