Description: My final turned out pretty similar to my prototype. One of the main differences was the orientation of the boxes. It was actually because of a mistake I had made, but I actually liked the way it turned out. A "happy little accident" I suppose.

I decided to paint each box a different color to signify that each box was a separate piece, not just a box, inside of another box. The black box was meant to be chaos of the outside world. The gray, a mix of the outside chaos and what's happening within. The white was supposed to be the "ideal" person with no problems, but in reality has a lot of outer and inner things going on. If I'm being real though, I like the shadow of the sculpture rather than the sculpture itself.

Critique Notes/Insights: Due to a loss in the family, I wasn't able to make it to my class critique. However, I had other peers come to look at it and they seemed to understand that the bigger box was attacking the smaller boxes. They were a little confused by the smallest box since there wasn't much interaction with the white and gray box. 

If I were ever to do this project again, I think I would play with the size of the boxes. Possibly go on a very large scale like someone in my class had suggested before. I may think about the orientation of the boxes again and see what would be the most interesting to look at. To me this feels pretty orderly for the amount of chaos going on around it. 

Description: This simple square figure is meant to give the viewer a deeper meaning. I wanted to portray three separate environments. The first is a chaotic outside world, which is the biggest, outermost box. The second is one's self which is the next smallest box. I wanted it to seem clean cut compared to the bigger box because we often try to make ourselves seem happy and ok to the outside world. The third and smallest box is meant to represent our inner chaos. Many refer to them as inner demons and I often find them feeling similar to a black void on the inside which is why the box is a solid, black color.

I realized after seeing other designs for sculptures that my project is mainly in the idea of Chaos. After further thought, I discovered the shapes I decided to use seem to give it a peaceful state regardless of the strange things happening on the inside. I used simple shapes in my design because I think of general shapes as safe, structures that I can easily view as balanced. The placement of each box was really just meant to kind of guide the view of the sculpture, in a spiral pattern.

Critique Notes / Insights: There were a lot of people that really liked the design as a whole. Many asked about how big I was going to make my final and I explained that I wanted to go bigger but I didn't want to go too big. Some claimed that they liked how small it was because it made them want to go closer and look, but a few others said that they wanted to see it on a really large scale to make it seem more relatable. I kind of agree. I even had one person say that she thought it would be cool to make it so you could sit inside of the structure. As cool as that sounds, I don't know that I would be able to work that big in the amount of time I have, nor do I have the resources available.

I was also told that I should look into sketching out some ideas to see if I wanted to keep the boxes inside where they were or move them around a little. One person outside of our class critique even suggested maybe creating a sort of pedestal and having the sculpture rest on one of the corners. I really liked that idea but I wasn't sure if I would be able to perfect the look I wanted in this short time for the final. The final thing that people really talked about was the shadows it created. I hadn't thought about the placement and the fact that there were some pretty interesting shadows during my showing were completely unintentional.. which means it may be something I need to experiment more with to see if that's something I want to include in the "story"...

Description: I think of all of my ideas, my second sketch is probably my most interesting to the eye. I believe it portrays the idea of Chaos quite well. The basic structure would simply be three different sized cube frames. Each new frame will be 1/4 size of the previous one. I think the difference in size will make the sculpture feel very balanced. Aside from the size comparisons, I wanted to use different types of fabric to balance out the feel of each different box.

The biggest frame will have string tied from various focal points and go several different directions giving a spontaneous, uneasy feeling. Which frames the chaos in our lives such as the things we can't control that influence us everyday. The medium box will also be only a frame only it will have a very thin fabric stretched on each side of the box. (However, I'm not sure if I want to include where it connects to the bigger frame on the bottom right of one of the sides.) This will represent ourselves and how we appear calm and collected on the outside even though other forces are threatening their way in. The smallest box will be a solid cube, either painted a dark color or covered in a thick fabric and mounted to the top right side of the medium cube on the same side that is exposed from the bigger cube. This box will represent our inner-demons, which seem small in comparison to the out chaos going on around us, but compared to the medium box, it still takes a fair amount of space. 

I look forward to seeing how this will turn out and what changes I'll be making as I find flaws in my plans. I'm still not sure exactly how big I want to have the finished project. That will definitely be something I focus on after I see how the prototype goes. I guess it will also help me clarify what color I want the string and if I want to paint this at all as well.  

Description: For the theme, "War & Peace, Order & Chaos" I was trying to think of something that would identify both within one piece. I decided to go with a balloon to add a sense of happiness since balloons are generally used in celebrations or parties.  However, I used the kabob sticks as an opposite. I wanted this peace to show the inner demons we all have even though we try to keep a calm, fun outer appearance. In some places, the balloon was ripped instead of threatening to stab through the rubber, which I believed to give it a little more meaning. As if we can't always keep our inner demons from coming out to the surface. The rope was meant to resemble how our lives unwind. We never know when it's going to end or when the rope might break, but we keep on living. Yellow wasn't my first choice in color for the sake of the message I was trying to get out, but I believe it added to it a little. Had the balloon been black or red, I don't think this would have been nearly as light feeling or happy even in the midst of the chaos happing underneath.