Axiomatic Project |
Title: Traditional Broom
Size: Height - 59.6 Medium: Cardboard Completion: January 2023 EXHIBITION TEXT
Around the world, brooms come in a variety of shapes and styles. A traditional Asian broom was what I used and what my parents primarily used throughout their childhood. Asian brooms share many characteristics but differ in other ways. Since it is a part of my culture and the style of broom that the majority of my family uses in Thailand, the sculpture is known as the "traditional Karen broom." This was turned into a sculpture because it also represents my culture and how life was in Thailand and where my family grew up in a small village it was difficult to acquire a better broom.
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Inspiration
Artists: Claes Oldenburg
For this project I was really inspired by Claes Oldenburg sculpture. I was really curious about the kinds of sculptures he makes, and many of them were very distinctive and intricate. Given that his sculpture is so flawless and precise, I decided to make mine as intricate as possible. To see the contrast between the original object and the enlarged sculpture, I would like to enlarge my sculpture as well. I was motivated by his ability to enlarge his sculpture. His sculpture makes good use of artistic elements including texture, shape, color, and form. I want to be able to add texture, form, and line work to my artwork because my sculpture requires these elements. Because he was able to infuse strange objects with meanings that don't typically have one, Claes' work impressed me. Two of his sculptures, "Plantoir" and "Big Sweep," greatly influenced me. Big sweep caught my attention when I considered the sculpture I intended to create since it helped me formulate my ideas. I intended to create a sculpture that looked akin Claes sculpture big sweep, using a typical broom that I already owned. Big Sweep was a sculpture that truly caught my attention because of how smooth, clean, and precise it appeared. The sculpture's use of texture was appealing to me. I admired how faithful the sculpture was to its original appearance. I was greatly influenced by how precisely Claes was able to create the sculpture for the piece titled Plantoir. I was inspired to follow his lead because of his ability to recreate the original's shape and appearance accurately. I will be able to determine what and how I'm going to put my sculpture together by examining his work and the original object. Even though Claes's artwork didn't inspire me with the meaning of my piece, I was still inspired by how intricate it is, and I was able to create meaning for my sculpture with the aid of cultural relevance. Claes's sculpture truly helped me with what I wanted to produce for my sculpture.
Planning
For my axiomatic project I chose to make a cardboard sculpture of a traditional broom from my culture, this broom is similar to many other Asian brooms. I chose to make a broom because it is significant to my family and culture. The first part of planning was to sketch out the whole broom, the traditional broom that I currently have is already a little bit big, but it is shorter than me. I am still deciding whether or not to increase the size of the broom for this project. In this sketch I pointed out the original colors and material of the broom. I also added in the measurement, I also included some calculations by multiplying by 2 and 3 to see how big it would be if I had increased the size.
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For the second part of planning I decided to sketch the different parts of the broom and write down the original size. I decided to sketch out how each side of the broom looks. I drew out the different parts of the broom since that way I can figure out what kind of cardboard I need and see how I'm going to make the sculpture. I tried to add as many details as; so I can reference it when I am making the sculpture.
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This is how the traditional Asian broom looks and the original materials of this broom are plastic, wood or bamboo, grass, and thread. This will be the reference I will use to be able to make this cardboard sculpture. This is how the actual broom looks like and as you can see the stick part of the broom is a little thin. The grass part on the bottom is also really thin. Besides the broom I also took a picture of what materials I will use to be able to complete this project. With this reference I will be able to find what kind of cardboard I need and maybe collect cardboard with similar colors to the broom.
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Process/Experiment
For the bottom part → the size was originally 14/16 inch
Here is the increased size
16/20 inches
Here is the increased size
16/20 inches
I made the decision to measure the desired size of each component rather than multiplying it. I used a measuring tape, a colored pencil, and a piece of cardboard for this process. I lined up the broom to measure its original size, which was 26.5 inches, then I wrote the broom's dimensions on a piece of cardboard, and last I took my desired size into consideration. I finally settled on size 37. After taking the measurements, I began to mark a few locations to ensure that I cut only the correct amount of cardboard. It was a really challenging process; cutting through the cardboard and bending it into a cylinder were both challenging. It was difficult to bend, so I tried another cardboard that was thin and simple to bend; this was quite useful. After I finished building the cylinder, I decided to use a hot glue gun to cover it in cardboard paper to give it a smoother appearance.
I also used a hot glue gun when I made the cylinder I decided to increase the size of the broom to see how big it would look if I were to find a similar traditional broom and to see if it would be more comfortable to use a taller broom When I was done making them, I decided to use some colored cardboard boxes I had sitting around to make them look like strings because the bottom of the real brooms is covered in the string, and those brooms had colored string as well. When I finally found cardboard that was precisely the same color as the broom, I made the decision to cut a long, thin piece of cardboard to weave into the bottom portion of the broom. However, before I did so, I began to cut thin pieces in various sizes for the broom because the bamboo grass part of the original broom was of a different size. This is a crucial stage because, as I mentioned, the original sculpture had bamboo grass added to the bottom to help sweep the floor, and I must create one to finish the sculpture. It took me to cut out six layers of cardboard paper, which like I said I cut them into thin strips and hot glued them to the bottom of the broom.
These are the picture of my process
Here is how the final sculpture turned out
Due to its Asian heritage, the sculpture's final name is "Traditional Broom." My nationality and culture are represented by the broom I constructed. This broom's design has a weak but memorable connotation. Since my parents told me when they were younger that they couldn't afford one of those fancier brooms and could only afford these traditional brooms that were hand-crafted. Since I used to usually use this broom to clean my home with my mom and we would always make it enjoyable every time we cleaned, it brings back a lot of memories from when I was small. The traditional broom also symbolizes the hardships my parents had as kids since where they lived there was a lot of poverty. I used to also help my parents make a broom that was similar to this type of broom when I was younger, I mostly helped out my parents with the bottom part with a bamboo grass material. I wasn't able to make the stick part of the broom since they were dangerous for me to help out with because they were made of wood material. |
I struggled a lot when I had to hot glue the cardboard pieces together to make the stick portion of the broom because at one time the cardboard wouldn't stick together, so I had to keep switching out the hot glue sticks. It took me many tries, but once I was done with hot gluing the stick part I decided I decided to make the top part, which I had then attached to the top part of the other piece I made
Being one of the smallest components, This aspect was difficult for me because I wasn't sure how big I wanted it to be or how I would make it given the amount of detail. I made the decision to utilize thinner cardboard throughout this step since, as I previously mentioned, it was simpler to bend. When I had done building these components of the broom, I used a glue gun to attach them to the cylinder component I had previously created.
This is the comparison between the original broom and the sculpture
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Reflection
When I took a final look at my sculpture, I did wish I could have hot-glued some of the components more effectively because you could still see the hot-glued components. I believe I could have used better tools and assembled the cardboard for this sculpture more skillfully. Some of the sections of this project didn't seem too nice because I didn't have a range of tools I could have used. Finding colored cardboard was one thing I should have done but didn't because I didn't have enough of it, which is why the broom doesn't exactly resemble the real one. To match the original, I wanted to add more color. I thought I did a good job on this final product, but if I were to create it again, I would be very careful about where I glue, using better materials and find more boxes that have the same colors of the original object. The biggest challenge I acquired during the process of making this piece was finding the right cardboard and gluing the cardboard together. During the process of making this project some of the cardboard I used wouldn't bend properly nor would glue together. Every time I would hot glue the cardboard it wouldn't stick together and it would just fall apart. My favorite part of making this piece was making the bottom part of the broom since it brought back many happy memories of making the actual bottom version of the broom when I was younger and my least favorite part was when I had to make the stick part of the broom since it took a while for it to stick together and it took many ties to hot glue together since it would always fall apart. What I want my audience to get from this project is what is something that is culturally valuable to you like something that is significant to you from your culture.
Critique
Similarities:
- Both of these sculptures were increased in size (the original object is much smaller then the sculpture version - Both sculpture original objects are cleaning supplies - Both the sculptures used similar colors like red and have similar elements of art - Both made use of the art element of texture and form - For the piece I had to construct it by outlining each component from the actual object and using some math to be able to get an accurate measurements, which is similar to what Claes did - For Claes he also made some calculations on how big he was going to make the object and I did the same for my sculpture |
Differences:
- My sculpture is made out of cardboard, but Claes sculpture isn't - My sculpture has less use of color, the color I used were mostly brown while Claes used a variety of colors - The sculpture I made is a long broom stick while Claes is a broom with dustpan - Claes emphasizes more of how each component he made from his sculpture would balance, he took in elements such as Line, form, space, shape, color, volume and value - For my sculpture I emphasized more of the texture, form, and shape since they were the main components I focused on more to make this piece |
Connection to ACT question
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
The relationship of cause and effect between my inspirations was the texture and detail of the sculpture, and the impact it had on my artwork was the texture and form. In order to accurately reflect my artwork, I needed to define every little element of it.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author's general perspective on my topic was centered on culture, specifically how this sculpture relates to culture and what it means to different people.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I've discovered that many artists take inspiration and ideas from just an ordinary everyday object and product that they use and I also learned that the idea of people, ideas, and culture doesn’t always have to be ethnicity or race, culture can come from the environment your in and what you experience in your everyday life.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The culture was the main concept and focus of my inspirational research. Considering how little people know about my culture, I wanted to express it and show more of it to people.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Since this artwork primarily centers on the concept of culture, I drew conclusions about it while reading my research.
The relationship of cause and effect between my inspirations was the texture and detail of the sculpture, and the impact it had on my artwork was the texture and form. In order to accurately reflect my artwork, I needed to define every little element of it.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author's general perspective on my topic was centered on culture, specifically how this sculpture relates to culture and what it means to different people.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I've discovered that many artists take inspiration and ideas from just an ordinary everyday object and product that they use and I also learned that the idea of people, ideas, and culture doesn’t always have to be ethnicity or race, culture can come from the environment your in and what you experience in your everyday life.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The culture was the main concept and focus of my inspirational research. Considering how little people know about my culture, I wanted to express it and show more of it to people.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Since this artwork primarily centers on the concept of culture, I drew conclusions about it while reading my research.
Citation
Citation in MLA format
“Plantoir.” Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation, dsmpublicartfoundation.org/public-artwork/plantoir/.
“Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen: Exhibitions & Projects: Big Sweep.” Oldenburgvanbruggen.com, oldenburgvanbruggen.com/largescaleprojects/bigsweep.htm.
“Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen: Exhibitions & Projects: Big Sweep.” Oldenburgvanbruggen.com, oldenburgvanbruggen.com/largescaleprojects/bigsweep.htm.