UWM Hybrid Heroes - Through the Cracks
Title : Through the Cracks
Medium : Cardboard, hot glue, white glue Date : February 2022 Exhibition Text :
This work was created for a project with UWM called Hybrid Heroes, where we create a wearable piece that creates a hybrid or alter ego for ourselves. My intention was to explore the idea of strength being broken down from the inside out. To do this, I was inspired by old buildings that are reclaimed by nature. I used cardboard and paper bags, looking at the work of Yuken Teruya and the way he creates intricately cut scenes of nature.
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Inspiration :
My inspiration for this piece was the Japanese artist Yuken Teruya. The materials he use are primarily common paper objects, such as paper towel rolls, monopoly money, or paper bags. With this paper, he cuts them into very detailed and intricate patterns and designs. When looking through his pieces, I found that the meanings behind each one are just as thought out as each shape he cuts out. One that stood out to me is called, "Minding My Own Business," (bottom right) and is made from newspapers covering a Magnitude 9 earthquake in 2011, and the damage it had done to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Using cover photos from the papers, Teruya cut sprouting plants that appeared to grow from the paper. Doing this represented letting life flourish and go on, even after such a tragic accident. Reading about this piece struck me, as I wanted to convey a similar meaning through my own work. I wanted to take away from this piece and convey the idea of growth and improvement, even when faced against something that seems stronger. Another more visual aspect of Teruya's work that I was inspired by was the intricacy and attention to detail within the works themselves. He creates very small and specific cuts to the paper and pulls the pieces apart with tweezers. I also really love how he takes recycled paper that would normally be thrown away, and turning into something beautiful. This is something that I tried to show in my own piece as well, as all my materials were taken from the trash and recycling instead of purchasing materials that are brand new. Overall, I am inspired by Teruya's meaning and symbolism, attention to detail, and use of recycled materials.
Planning :
I went through a lot of back and forth while coming up with sketches and planning for this piece. One thing I really wanted to show is the idea of abandoned cities or houses that are taken over by nature. I love seeing photos of old buildings and how plants will essentially break down and destroy them, with vines ripping through cracks in the walls. In the beginning, I wanted to stray away from a physical building. To do this, I sketched a piece of armor, and then showed it overgrown with plants, destroyed and decaying. In this, I wanted to allude to the idea of strength being broken down by something as simple as flowers and leaves. Although I liked the idea as a while, I wanted it to be more obvious and have myself become more of a "hybrid," as the project name suggests. My next plan was to create a city that sort of wrapped around be, with big buildings, bridges, and roads. There would be vines hanging between them and roots growing out from the ground. I actually really liked this one, but I couldn't find a practical way to make it sturdy and sound, so I continued on with the idea of physical buildings into my next and final sketch. In this one, I planned to create a house that would sit on my head like a hat, and was very clean and simple, making it look as boring as possible. From here, I would basically destroy it, cutting cracks into the walls and forming vines and plants growing out of it. I also wanted it to interact with the rest of my body, so I played around with different ways the plants could be growing around me. The plan was to create vines out of paper bags, and have them wrapping around my arms and down my body in the same way ivy or overgrown roots climb up the side of buildings.
Process :
BUILDING THE HOUSE
The first step I took toward completing this project was creating the house. To start this, I came up with a sketch of what the house would look like. I based it roughly off of Victorian style houses, but only kept the most basic elements. After this, I drew out a pattern for the wall pieces as a starting point. Although I didn't use any exact measurements or scale, I did my best to make it somewhat accurate to the final piece. Now that I knew what pieces I needed to put the walls together, I started to cut them out. I measured as I went, eventually making all the cutouts the right size and able to fit together. After this, I cut out the windows so that I wouldn't need to once they were put together and in house form. Once all the pieces were fully cut out, I started to hot glue them together, using a hand square to make sure the angles were all even and fit together. The next thing I needed to do was add the roof. To do this, I measured the diagonal section where the roof would be, and then added an inch or so on each side, so that there would be overhang. I cut these pieces out, and then glued them onto their respective places. There were a couple of weird shaped walls and roofs, so this just took a little bit of trial and error to achieve, but I eventually got it fully assembled.
The first step I took toward completing this project was creating the house. To start this, I came up with a sketch of what the house would look like. I based it roughly off of Victorian style houses, but only kept the most basic elements. After this, I drew out a pattern for the wall pieces as a starting point. Although I didn't use any exact measurements or scale, I did my best to make it somewhat accurate to the final piece. Now that I knew what pieces I needed to put the walls together, I started to cut them out. I measured as I went, eventually making all the cutouts the right size and able to fit together. After this, I cut out the windows so that I wouldn't need to once they were put together and in house form. Once all the pieces were fully cut out, I started to hot glue them together, using a hand square to make sure the angles were all even and fit together. The next thing I needed to do was add the roof. To do this, I measured the diagonal section where the roof would be, and then added an inch or so on each side, so that there would be overhang. I cut these pieces out, and then glued them onto their respective places. There were a couple of weird shaped walls and roofs, so this just took a little bit of trial and error to achieve, but I eventually got it fully assembled.
"AGING" THE HOUSE
In order the make the house appear older, I wanted to come up with different methods to make it look worn down and reclaimed by nature. One of the first things I did in order to achieve this was taking a pair of scissors and just slashing down the sides of the walls and roof. This created an effect that mimicked cracks, and just general wear and tear. Another thing I did was cutting out shapes into the cardboard with a craft knife, and then peeling off only the top layer. Doing this revealed the inner texture of the cardboard, and looked kind of like when paint peels of or chucks of the roof deteriorate. I also used a spray bottle to spray water onto some parts of it, then would rub away until the top layer would scrape away, but this didn't end up being very noticable.
In order the make the house appear older, I wanted to come up with different methods to make it look worn down and reclaimed by nature. One of the first things I did in order to achieve this was taking a pair of scissors and just slashing down the sides of the walls and roof. This created an effect that mimicked cracks, and just general wear and tear. Another thing I did was cutting out shapes into the cardboard with a craft knife, and then peeling off only the top layer. Doing this revealed the inner texture of the cardboard, and looked kind of like when paint peels of or chucks of the roof deteriorate. I also used a spray bottle to spray water onto some parts of it, then would rub away until the top layer would scrape away, but this didn't end up being very noticable.
IVY AND FLOWERS
To create the ivy and flowers that were on the house, I played around with a lot of different techniques. I looked a lot at Teruya's work, paying attention to how he cut the paper to make such intricate details. I ended up making the flowers by drawing on the general shape of a flower on the backside of colored cardboard boxes, and cut them out. I would then fold up the petals to make it more 3-D, and I glued them to the inside of the windows, attaching them by the middle of the flower. In the front side of the house, I also added some of the flowers trailing out of the windows to make it look more like they were growing out of them. The ivy vines were a little bit trickier than just cutting out flowers and gluing them on. I used a similar technique to how I made the roots, but on a much smaller scale. I had a cardboard box that was pretty much all bright green, so I used this to create the ivy. I first peeled the green paper off of the cardboard, and cut it into super thin strips. I forded and twisted these until they were more like a cord. I glued them onto the house, making them look as natural and dynamic as possible. I wanted to make sure it didn't look too uniform or static. I made sure that they grew around the house, focusing specifically on the front and roof pieces, as they are what you see the most. Once I glued the vines on, I started on the leaves. I took the same green cardboard paper stuff, and cut out at least a hundred or so leaves. To make them relatively the same size, I cut out more strips of paper and then made them all that tall. After a while of cutting out leaves, I began gluing them on. This was by far the most tedious part of the process, as I had to glue each leaf on individually. I didn't really follow any specific pattern, just trying to fill the space evenly and make it look interesting. |
MAKING THE ROOTS
To make the roots, I tried a lot of different methods before I found one that worked well for what I needed. What ended up being the easiest was cutting paper bags up into long strips and then crumpling them up to add a more natural looking texture. I would then roll the paper tightly into something that resembled a very thick cord, and used hot glue to secure it in place. I also made sure to make one end of the tube more open, and one much tighter so I could fit the cord pieces together more easily once I wanted to add them onto each other. The idea was to have one main root coming out of the door of the house, and then split into two that would wrap around one of my arms and one of my legs. To do this, I attached a bunch of the cord pieces together, and then glued it onto the inside of the door temporarily. This way, it was secure while I measured how long I needed the roots to be and were they should split. In order to add on the second root, I just glued one end of a second cord to the main one, wrapping the end around it to be more secure. After messing around with placement and length for a couple minutes, I marked where I wanted each root branch to end. I made a loop at the end of each so that they would be able to be secured to my body and wrap around me without much structure needed.
To make the roots, I tried a lot of different methods before I found one that worked well for what I needed. What ended up being the easiest was cutting paper bags up into long strips and then crumpling them up to add a more natural looking texture. I would then roll the paper tightly into something that resembled a very thick cord, and used hot glue to secure it in place. I also made sure to make one end of the tube more open, and one much tighter so I could fit the cord pieces together more easily once I wanted to add them onto each other. The idea was to have one main root coming out of the door of the house, and then split into two that would wrap around one of my arms and one of my legs. To do this, I attached a bunch of the cord pieces together, and then glued it onto the inside of the door temporarily. This way, it was secure while I measured how long I needed the roots to be and were they should split. In order to add on the second root, I just glued one end of a second cord to the main one, wrapping the end around it to be more secure. After messing around with placement and length for a couple minutes, I marked where I wanted each root branch to end. I made a loop at the end of each so that they would be able to be secured to my body and wrap around me without much structure needed.
Experimentation :
This process required a lot of experimentation, especially in the creation of the roots. I was basing the design off of paper bag handles, which are paper would up very tightly into a cord. I wanted to mimic this, but on a larger scale to make thinker, more sturdy roots to wrap around me. The first experiment I did was to find what method of winding the paper bags would work the best. I initially tried mixing water and glue together, and then dipping cut up strips of the paper bags into them. Once they were covered in the glue mixture, I twisted them until they were in the general shape I was looking for. I let them dry, but found that they would unwind quite a bit as they dried. I didn't have anything strong enough to clamp them into position, so this method was off the table. The next test I did was dipping the paper in water until it was soaked, and then into the glue. I thought it might thin out the glue or something and cause it to dry better, but the results were pretty much the same. I also dipped some of the paper bag strips into water, and wrung them out and let them dry like that in order to create an interesting texture. Once they were dry, I rolled them up into the cord shapes and used hot glue to put them in place. This worked pretty well, but I found that I could get a similar texture by just crumpling the bag and then rolling it up, not having to put it in water and wait for it to dry. The method I ended up with was cutting the paper bags into stripes, crumpling them, rolling them tightly, and then using hot glue to secure it. I also found it looked more interesting when I twisted the cords, making it look more like something in nature, like the roots I was attempting to show.
Critique :
For the critique, I will be comparing my own piece to the three by Yuken Teruya above.
Similarities May Include :
- The meaning behind the pieces. In Teruya's piece, "Minding my Own Business," he is inspired by the idea of life flourishing after a destructive earthquake. In my piece, I focused on the idea of regrowth after a difficult time in life.
- The use of intricate details cut out of materials. In my own piece, I cut many leaves out of the paper peeled of off cardboard, and glued it onto the house and vines in a more detailed way. In Teruya's piece, leaves and trees are cut out and pulled away from the paper it is cut out of.
- The medium and materials used to create pieces. In Teruya's piece as well as my own, recycled materials are used to make the final products. I used cardboard and paper bags, while Teruya uses newsprint, toilet paper rolls, and paper. All of these products are paper materials, and come from previously used items, such as boxes and old newspapers.
Differences May Include :
- The attachment of the components. Teruya creates his pieces from only one sheet of paper, toilet paper roll, etc, and then pulls the pieces apart. He doesn't use any type of glue or tape, and they are just attached the material they were cut from. In my piece, I used different materials and assembled them by gluing them together.
- The base structure. Instead of having one base piece as the main structure and cutting the designs out of that, like Teruya does, I created the house to use as a base structure.
Reflection :
Throughout this process, I acquired and refined skills that help with working with a more 3-d medium, as opposed to something like painting or digital art. Instead of just being able to sketch something and then paint it, I had to problem solve and figure out how to make something into a physical, wearable object. I came up with different techniques that helped me with what I needed, such as finding an efficient way to create the roots that wrap around me. I developed as an artist, as I found myself more and more able to visualize in space and figure out how to create a 3-d object, which is not something I'm very used to. My inspiration for this project was Yuken Teruya, a Japanese artist who creates detailed sculptures made of recycled materials, such as cardboard, paper, and newsprint. My piece connects to his art, as I also used only recycled cardboard and paper bags, and cut out lots of small details to add to the product. The biggest challenge I came across while creating this piece was finding a way to make my sketch into a reality, especially when creating the base house. I've never really made a sculpture to this scale and with materials that required me to measure and put together pieces in a precise way, so I had to put a lot of thought into my technique. This project ties into previously learned exercises and concepts, as I had to build a similar box structure in the industrial design project. Though this one is more complicated and required more planning, I was able to pull bits and pieces from the work I made for that project previously. My favorite part of this piece is by far the vines along the side of the house. They took me a really long time, but I'm glad I didn't rush them. Taking my time helped me to pay attention to the details and where each individual leaf would go. My least favorite part was probably the roots. It was a tedious process, and I didn't love the outcome. I found that they were very prone to ripping, so this made it very difficult to wear and work on. In conclusion, I hope people can see this work and understand the meaning behind it, as well as appreciate the technique and just how it looks.
ACT Questions :
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
Using Yuken Teruya as inspiration, I focused on small, intricate details to portray the idea of regrowth after destruction. I also replicated his use of recycled material to create something new.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Even in the darkest and most tragic times, there is beauty to be found in the smallest things.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Sometimes the best way to recover from a traumatizing event is to find the positive, and see that there is a sense of peace in moving on.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
Teruya focused on the idea of life flourishing after disaster, in this case, after a destructive earthquake.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The use of small details contrasted against big shapes creates a more interesting silhouette and a more complex, compelling piece.
Using Yuken Teruya as inspiration, I focused on small, intricate details to portray the idea of regrowth after destruction. I also replicated his use of recycled material to create something new.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Even in the darkest and most tragic times, there is beauty to be found in the smallest things.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Sometimes the best way to recover from a traumatizing event is to find the positive, and see that there is a sense of peace in moving on.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
Teruya focused on the idea of life flourishing after disaster, in this case, after a destructive earthquake.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The use of small details contrasted against big shapes creates a more interesting silhouette and a more complex, compelling piece.
Citations (in MLA Format)
https://www.sugarhillmuseum.org/yuken-teruya
https://dorotheenilsson.com/yuken-teruya/
http://www.yukenteruyastudio.com/projects-1/minding-my-own-business.html
https://dorotheenilsson.com/yuken-teruya/
http://www.yukenteruyastudio.com/projects-1/minding-my-own-business.html