Hybrid Heroes
Title: Grounded
Medium: cardboard held together with hot glue and painted with coffee
Completed: March 2021
Grounded is a costume made to transform myself into a tree like being. The purpose was to ground myself, hence the name. Being an anxious person, I tend to overthink and keep my head in the clouds. I wanted to create something that would bring me back to earth. This costume is constructed entirely out of cardboard and hot glue and painted with coffee to darken the trunk and headpiece.
Inspiration
My inspiration is Tree Bark 1 by Marta Grige. She has an entire series of oil paintings focused on the texture of tree bark. Looking at this piece I could start coming up with ideas for how to put together my project to get the texture I wanted. I liked the challenge of taking a painting of tree bark and using it as inspiration for a sculpture containing tree bark. I was especially focused on the shadows which made the texture apparent, I wanted to get those same shadows because that is what would make the texture the most apparent.
Tree Bark 1 by Marta Grige
Planning
From the beginning I knew my goal for this project and that was that I wanted to make myself look like a strong, calm, and put together presence. I wanted to be poised and sturdy. I played with several ideas, including the one shown here, which was a corset. A corset holds the body together the same way I wanted to hold my emotions together. I was stuck on this idea for a while, but then I realized I wanted to make something less like an outfit, I wanted to transform myself into something else. I though of calming things in nature, including fish and the sea. I even considered mermaids, but I landed on trees. Not only are trees a calming presence, but they are also sturdy, reliable structures. They can hold people and animals without much effort. I wanted to be able to hold people the way a tree could.
The most intriguing part of becoming a tree would be the trunk, which would transform my wishy-washy and impulsive self into something more grounded. I sketched out layering ideas for making the trunk, and this is where my inspiration came into play. Here, I played around with layering ideas as well as different ways of holding the pieces together. I landed on hot glue.
In this sketch, I planned the general idea of what I wanted. At first I wanted the branches to serve as a face covering of sorts, but I ended up making them look like a veil and sitting behind my head, not in front.
Process
To start, I cut a big strip of cardboard and measured it around my arms and chest, then glued it in a circle. I wanted the costume to go over my arms as a way of pinning myself down or grounding myself. I then cut out strips of smaller pieces of cardboard. I make sure to cut jagged and squiggly lines to get the texture I was going for. I cut the strips at all different lengths, and left some with flat edges. Overall I wanted every strip to look different and I achieved that goal. After gluing them all around the base strip, I then painted each strip with coffee to darken it.
Next I made the headpiece. I used a similar technique, cutting out uneven strips and gluing them to the main strip that would go around my head. I made the middle the tallest and then gradually shortened the pieces as they went towards the sides. This was different from what I did with the main body piece because with that one I was focused on getting a jagged appearance, where this one was more intentional and neat. This picture to the left is not the final result, but I did not completely surround the headpiece with cardboard. Instead, I made it come to a point at the top and then become smaller. This was because I was going to attach the branches on the back.
Making the branches required a lot of experimentation. twisting dry cardboard was not working, the result was too tense and deliberate. I wanted the branches to be sturdy but awkward looking with texture and differing shapes. I soaked longer cardboard strips in water and then twisted them, because they were more malleable that way. Unfortunately, wet cardboard tends to rip, so I had to re-glue many pieces over again. I would repair broken or weak pieces of the branches by wrapping a smaller piece of cardboard around the area, like a cast. This gave it a lot more texture.
Then I made the small branches that glued to the large ones, where the leaves would be attached. Similarly, I wet the cardboard to make it more malleable. Then I coiled the pieces and glued them into a sturdy stick. The leaves were just shapes I cut from green cardboard. Once the branches were done I attached them to the headpiece. First I just glued them down, then for extra support I covered them with a slim piece of cardboard, making a little holder for the branches to fit into.
Compare and Contrast
Similarities:
- Both pieces center around a tree - Both have a focus on the trunk of the tree - Both pieces incorporate texture in the tree bark |
Differences:
- My piece is a cardboard sculpture made to be worn, Grige's is a painting - Grige's has more color contrast - Grige's is a close up focusing on the tree bark while mine incorporates the trunk, branches, and leaves |
Reflection
I am happy with how this project turned out, but there are many changes I would make if I could. First, I would spend more time dying the trunk and headpiece to better match that of my inspiration. I really liked the colors in Grige's piece and although I did some dying with coffee it didn't quite achieve the effect I wanted. I would also make more leaves to give it more color. I didn't want the focus to be on the leaves which is why I didn't put very many, but now that it is completed I wish I had added more. I also would have added another strip of cardboard to the headpiece to conceal where the branches attach to it, I feel like it looks messy and unfinished without them concealed. I am most proud of how the branches turned out, they were tedious to make but I am happy with the result. I am also surprised at how much I enjoyed this project, sculptures aren't my favorite thing to do in art, but I enjoyed working on this project with music or a movie playing in the background. Overall, I am glad I did this project and although I would change some things I am relatively proud of the result.
ACT Questions
1) Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
Because my inspiration is detail oriented and focused on texture, I was also able to focus my work on texture and details.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Neutral, Grige seems to be focused on the look of her artwork rather than what it means to her, she is very detail oriented.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Grige is not a well known artist. She does not have a significant following on the platforms in which she shares her art, so it appears that she is not yet well known.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I was looking for an artist who focused on texture and who's work brought that focus out because I was focused on the texture of my work as well.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I can conclude that paintings are better way of showing color differences than cardboard sculptures, because Grige's work can show many details having to do with color where mine could not, my options for coloring were limited.
Because my inspiration is detail oriented and focused on texture, I was also able to focus my work on texture and details.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Neutral, Grige seems to be focused on the look of her artwork rather than what it means to her, she is very detail oriented.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Grige is not a well known artist. She does not have a significant following on the platforms in which she shares her art, so it appears that she is not yet well known.
4) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
I was looking for an artist who focused on texture and who's work brought that focus out because I was focused on the texture of my work as well.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I can conclude that paintings are better way of showing color differences than cardboard sculptures, because Grige's work can show many details having to do with color where mine could not, my options for coloring were limited.