- What was observed?
For my investigation I first observed lighting up some matches and watching them fully burn out, as well as observing the trees in the city parks and studying their branch forms. Another observation I did was people’s faces and hands, the forms, movement, and structure.
- Why (how does it relate to your project)?
It relates to my project because to start off, I used the laser cutting lab to create some Arabic calligraphy cutouts on wood, and during that process the wood was finely burning the wood for the design, which I keenly observed. This connects to the matches I had lit up, as well as observing the trees, for I studied the form of the wood and how the gradient of the wooden colour changed after being lasered, and from the matches how they changed as they burned. Observing people’s faces and hands is something that I become very intrigued by, and this relates to the human form/figure that I am trying to portray in my final piece. The movement and structure of the hands and the facial features contain all these shapes I could incorporate into the project.
- Images of observation (photos, drawings), though please don’t fill your observation
time with taking pictures.
4. What did you notice? What else did you notice?
I noticed the texture of wood, and how it seems to melt when it is getting burnt (from looking at the matches). From the face and hands, the contours of the hands while they moved reminded me of the lines that you see on wood, which was a surprising connection I could make.
- What does that mean/tell you? How do you interpret it?
From observing these particular forms, I was able to make a connection that I didn’t think was there before. The features on the hands seemed similar to the wood, even the colours. I interpret it as something that can play a big role in curating my project.
- What have you learned for your project?
I have learned that calligraphy looks almost ancient on wood, which I really admire because I want to display it in a way that isn’t common or usual in it’s artistic form. Wood has really become a huge asset in my final piece and through further experimenting I hope to produce a work out of my materials and observations.