Organic vs Industrial
Artistic Inspiration
My inspiration is wire sculpture and illustration artist Elizabeth Berrien. This contemporary wire sculptor is a master at creating fluid, lace like work. These seemingly thin wire pieces are actually sturdy and resilient. Elizabeth Berrien uses mostly animals as subjects for these non-traditional wire sculptures. Her sculptures are said to be like a hybrid between lace-making and engineering.
She begins her sculpture work by twisting single stands of wire together. Adding more and more wire, she follows patterns of muscle, bone, and feathers to create her animals. Her work is supposed to demonstrate a three dimensional line drawing. I wanted to use this same principle in my art work.
Berrien had become so popular that this contemporary sculptor artist was asked by many galleries to have one-woman shows. Her work is collected all around the world. It is displayed in museums, galleries, private homes, zoos, parks, corporate settings, and even Disney world. This really shows how her work attracts diverse cultures and ideas.
I am using Berries work as inspiration for my wire lungs piece because I liked the rough oneness of her work. I also wanted my piece to resemble a three dimensional line drawing like Berries work does. I like the concept of making a drawing out of wire and I think that this will really give me a challenge. Trying to create a 3-D line drawing is different than just creating a sculpture because you have to consider the shape of lines and the way that the wire flows.
She begins her sculpture work by twisting single stands of wire together. Adding more and more wire, she follows patterns of muscle, bone, and feathers to create her animals. Her work is supposed to demonstrate a three dimensional line drawing. I wanted to use this same principle in my art work.
Berrien had become so popular that this contemporary sculptor artist was asked by many galleries to have one-woman shows. Her work is collected all around the world. It is displayed in museums, galleries, private homes, zoos, parks, corporate settings, and even Disney world. This really shows how her work attracts diverse cultures and ideas.
I am using Berries work as inspiration for my wire lungs piece because I liked the rough oneness of her work. I also wanted my piece to resemble a three dimensional line drawing like Berries work does. I like the concept of making a drawing out of wire and I think that this will really give me a challenge. Trying to create a 3-D line drawing is different than just creating a sculpture because you have to consider the shape of lines and the way that the wire flows.
Planning
It took me a long time to think of ideas for Organic vs Industrial. The original prompt said to create something organic out of industrial materials or something industrial out of organic materials. I knew that I wanted to do something with the human body. I wanted to play with the idea of materialism and technology. I find it interesting that even though the human population is always increasing, we are finding robots and machines to replace jobs, and covering emotion with materialism. I also think that as we get more modern and progress more and more, we are losing the raw and organic portion of being alive and caring about things that actually matter. For my first planning sketch, I drew a rib cage. I then drew planning sketches of lungs and of a heart. I am planning on creating these 3-D sculptures with copper wire. I wanted to use wire because I make a lot of jewelry and so this medium is something I like to work with. I decided on using my sketch of the lungs for my final project. I will create lungs because I like how the inability for wire to expand and deflate could be symbolic of breath and human life. Once I create the outside skeleton of the lungs with orange-y cooper wire, I will create the veins to place inside the lung structure with a redder/blue wire.
Process
I started by choosing to create my sculpture with cooper wire. My artistic inspiration uses mostly darker colored wire that is thinner in width. I decided that I wanted to create a simpler effect with skinnier and brighter colored wire.
I stared by wrapping the wire around rounded cylinder objects and trying to bend the wire in circles to make coil-like shapes. Even before i did this, I had to straighten the bunched up wire out into one single straight strand. It took a long time when trying to coil the objects without a cylinder to roll around. It was also a lot harder to get a more perfect circle, and the wire was hard to bend and it had some kinks. To the left is a picture of how the wire looked when I first tried to curl the bigger pieces of wire without aid. Once I got two big coils that were about the same size in length, I tried different ways to attach them. I ended up attaching them by wrapping a smaller wire around both where I wanted the connection. It was hard to get the shape of lungs because they are slanted but also bend as they go down from both sides. I then had to make a smaller coil that went in between both of the bigger lung shapes. This was created by wrapping wire around a pencil (showed to the left). This is supposed to be the trachea, which is attached to the top of the lungs. I created a more sturdy base by stringing small wire through this smaller coil that was in between both big lung sides, and attached to the bottom of the connection and the top of the lungs. To the left is a picture of the detail of the wire wrapping. I did not have a method for decreasing the appearance of of the end of the coils. I did not want them to end so abruptly, but it was hard to connect them with something as both sides of the lungs needed to be in a certain position and needed to be a certain shape. |
Reflection
Overall, I think my sculpture turned out more like ribs than lungs. Even though the shape closely resembles lungs, the wire coiling looks like ribs. This kind of ruins the overall meaning if one thinks that it is ribs. Other than this, I think that I was able to give my meaning and work off of my inspiration. I also think that by adding the veins inside of the lungs, it may have helped to look more like lungs and less like a rib cage.
I wish that I would have been able to use wire to create a more organic shape. This may have helped it to look more like a "line drawing". I would have liked to do this to be able to connect with the meaning of my artistic inspiration more. I think that my artistic inspiration has more free-formed wire, while mine is more standard and right to the point. For example, the lungs use only one continuous stream of the same pattern of wire, while my artistic inspirations work use a rougher texture and have many complex intersecting lines. This makes it more like a 3-D line drawing because all of the lines help to shade the object.
I wish that I would have been able to use wire to create a more organic shape. This may have helped it to look more like a "line drawing". I would have liked to do this to be able to connect with the meaning of my artistic inspiration more. I think that my artistic inspiration has more free-formed wire, while mine is more standard and right to the point. For example, the lungs use only one continuous stream of the same pattern of wire, while my artistic inspirations work use a rougher texture and have many complex intersecting lines. This makes it more like a 3-D line drawing because all of the lines help to shade the object.
Connecting Organic vs Industrial to the ACT
1) How are you able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork?
My artistic inspiration, Elizabeth Berrien, makes lots of sculpture art using wire. One can see the direct correlation between my artistic inspiration and my work through materials used and shape.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
My artistic inspiration aims to make sculptures that look like line drawings. I tried to do that using wire.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I have discovered that mankind is slowing being replaced my materialistic needs and machines.
4) What was the central idea for theme around your inspirational research?
Appreciation and strong delicacy.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I mad the inference that this was a very well known sculpture artist.
My artistic inspiration, Elizabeth Berrien, makes lots of sculpture art using wire. One can see the direct correlation between my artistic inspiration and my work through materials used and shape.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
My artistic inspiration aims to make sculptures that look like line drawings. I tried to do that using wire.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I have discovered that mankind is slowing being replaced my materialistic needs and machines.
4) What was the central idea for theme around your inspirational research?
Appreciation and strong delicacy.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I mad the inference that this was a very well known sculpture artist.
Citations
Elizabeh Berrien. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2017, from http://www.wire-magic.co.uk/g_berrien.html