Crayola's Colored Crayons.
UWM Mixed Media March, 2016. Crayola Crayon Sculpture. Exhibition Text:
This piece is representative of a form of branding and an exploration of color theory and repetition of branding. It is made of Crayola crayons and hot glue. My artist inspiration is Andy Warhol and Paul Klee. Process:
I brain stormed of different ways I could accomplish this piece. The first idea I had was to transform something into a form of nature. Taking something we use in every day life to create a tree or flower. So, I tried to make a sculpture out of hot glue. I wanted to make a tree out of the hot glue "globs". I thought that I could build the globs up and build a tree. But the hot glue was so hot that it did not dry fast enough for me to keep building it up and it just flattened out. |
This is Ad Parnassum by Paul Klee. On the right, One of his most well know paintings. He is known for is exploration in color theory and this piece is know for its pointillist style and color. Some of his paintings are known as dream like escapes. He is considered as a surrealist but, I see him more as an illustrator. But these talented artists inspired me to do a mixed media piece wit color. Paul's work with children also inspired me to use that aspect and use Crayola crayons.
As you can see, I have a large amount of crayons, which I do not use very much anymore. My life as an artist has progressed to a point where crayons are pretty much non existent. Which is sad because even though they are just crayons, they used to be a world full of imagination while I was younger. This is another connections to Paul's work with kids. I wanted to make a sculpture out of these crayons to make a memorial to the crayons that used to give me so much joy. Some of these exact crayons have created pictures that my mom will cherish. I started this project with making a base. I used a thin piece of cardboard and painted the front of it white, with white acrylic paint.
|
Getting started is always the hardest part but, after I started it was almost natural. I just wanted to create a tower of crayons in a unique tower. I used hot glue to connect the crayons together. But I could only use hot glue on the wrapper part of the crayons. If I used it directly on the crayon, the crayon would melt.
After I built it up to a pretty tall height, I sprinkled glitter on the base and the tower of crayons. I think it helped fill up the blank white base and give it a bit more character. Also, gave the picture more interesting.
|
I wanted to try to make it as varied as I can. By varied, I mean, diagonals, horizontal, vertical, ect. As I started to build, from the base to about the middle, it was pretty easy. But as I got taller, as gravity does, it started not to hold up as easy. The hot glue held very well. But the string you get from hot glue was a mess and very difficult to get off the piece because it is fragile.
|
Reflection :
I really liked how my project came out. It gave me a new perspective to art. It took my out of my normal comfort zone with art. Limitations I had during this project was the hot glue as the biggest one. It wasn't as clean as I was hoping for. The glue strings were difficult to get off and the hot glue melted the crayons. I tried to use less hot glue so that there was not much string or glue showing. But it did make the tower less stable. I like the glitter added in. I think it really added to the project in a positive way. Over all, I liked this project and how mine turned out. I will be created more things like this in the future.
I really liked how my project came out. It gave me a new perspective to art. It took my out of my normal comfort zone with art. Limitations I had during this project was the hot glue as the biggest one. It wasn't as clean as I was hoping for. The glue strings were difficult to get off and the hot glue melted the crayons. I tried to use less hot glue so that there was not much string or glue showing. But it did make the tower less stable. I like the glitter added in. I think it really added to the project in a positive way. Over all, I liked this project and how mine turned out. I will be created more things like this in the future.