Some progress (by reiko)

I have been working on a rough mock up of my project using part of one of the words, "itte". I cut hundreds of hexagon pieces out of foam core and stacked them to the size I liked. For the final project I would like the hexagon pieces to be made out of wood and there will be different patterns of wallpaper covering the tops of the hexagons. I experimented with the heights of the pieces. I wanted to see what it would look like to have them all the same height (the first 2 letters) and also with varied heights (the last 2 letters). I prefer the varied heights but I'm thinking of doing a more gradual change of heights from left to right. I want the wood pieces to be full blocks without the stacked layers but there is something nice about the look of the layers. These words will be hung on the wall as sculptural pieces without a base.

draft in Photoshop

cut hundreds of hexagons out of foam core

rough mock up

Discussions on Public Art

So this isn't related to settlement per se, but I wanted to share a recent email I got from two elementary school kids, who found my website and decided that I would be a good person to ask about public art for their upcoming project.

It's pretty cool and I just thought this should be shown. It took a while to think of the answers. It was hard because I wanted to talk not just about public sculptures (which is what I think they were looking for) but also about how public art could perhaps be defined as anything that involves the community as parts or a whole - which is stuff we've been thinking about with this project as well.

My answers are below the questions:

Dear Steve Newberry,
We are asking you these questions because we are doing a project about Public-Art at school.
1. What size can a Public-Art sculpture be?
2. What materials can you use to make a Public–Art sculpture?
3. What location can Public-Art be?
4. What color can a Public-Art sculpture be?
5. Can a Public-Art sculpture be any shape or design?

1. Any size. But public art is usually outside and you want it to be noticeable, so it is good if it is not too small. I would say at least bigger than 1 foot x 1 foot x 1 foot.
2. You can use any materials, but because public art is usually outside, it is good to use materials that will last for a long time in any type of weather - so materials like cement, metals, bronze, etc are good.
3. Any location, but public art usually wants to be seen by as many people as possible, so it is often found in busy locations, like in public squares, or in front of buildings.
4. Any color!
5. Yes it can be any shape or design. As long as it is not dangerous for people to be around. For example it would be good if there were no sharp edges in a public art sculpture because people could hurt themselves accidentally.

Paper, Shapes & Text (By Seema)

As soon as I saw this artists' work it reminded me of some of the things Reiko had been talking about for her artwork.

The artist's name is Francisca Prieto and I saw her work on the blog Design Sponge.

She craftily folds the insides of envelopes to create patterns and text. To see more of Francisca's work see her website or check out jaggedart.

Containers Part 2 (by Seema)

Some other artists and their container art.

This stalagmite stalactite wood installation reminds me of some of Aleks' ideas of seeing elements of natural, colony like growths mimicked by artificial "man made" structures. These structures also remind me of tall city buildings. The container aspect of this piece is that it was installed in a truck container for Container Ground at Tokyo Designer Week. You can read about it here from de zeen Design Magazine.

This is an installation by Gayle Chong Kwan. This installation is made from used plastic food containers to create the lost city of Atlantis.

Miwa Koizumi uses plastic PET bottles. She likes the idea of using "liquid containers to make water animals. Contained/containing, trash/not-trash, like the jelly-fish or anemone: Living/non-living". I like it too.


Recyle-art light installation in London, with reused plastic bottles.

hexagonal pixelated cursive (reiko)

I have been working on making cursive fonts out of hexagonal (honeycomb) patterns. Here is part of the alphabet I've created. I like the contrast of using cursive letters in a very rigid pattern. Ideally I would like to make each pixel out of wood pieces that are raised off the base (protruding from the wall). These hexagon pieces could also be translated into buildings of a city. I'm contemplating different heights of the pieces but I'm not sure if that will be successful. I would also like to add wallpaper to the tops of the pieces. In Photoshop, I'm currently experimenting with the format of messages and the scale of the pieces which is proving to be challenging. I don't want the hexagons to be too small but I also have to worry about the total size of the pieces.


Here are few other images that have inspired me while simultaneously making me super envious:

Elisa Strozyk's Wooden Textiles found on www.yatzer.com

Charles Clary's paper sculptures also found on www.yatzer.com

Gorgeous!

Containers Part 1 (by Seema)

I Googled plastic lunch containers...And found this peculiar yet carefully crafted OWL lunch obento from the Blog Slash Food.

A Hint of Things To Come... (by Seema)

I am experimenting with an everyday household item; portable lunch/food containers. The containers we pack leftovers in. Saving parts of meals worth saving for another time. Taking parts of home and comfort to be enjoyed in other places. I like the idea of using common objects to create new shapes and structures.

I was happy to come across artist Régis Mayot from the Museum of Contemporary Craft website titled "Manufractured". I like Mayot's transformation of plastic containers into delicately sculpted skeletal incarnations of their former selves.

Another piece I like by Mayot. I also intend to incorporate the use of light into the installation that I will create with the portable lunch containers.