- Description of the project:
Think about your journey that took you from where you were and where you are now. There has been a huge shift in a physical location in which you reside and you are currently familiarizing yourself with a new city, a new campus, and a new classroom. Travel back to where you were living before moving to New York City. Think about the day when you were packing. How long did you have to travel to get here? Where are you now? How does this shift in location impact you physically, emotionally, and psychologically?
For the studio component of Bridge 1, you will create a mixed media assemblage box that visualizes your journey of moving from one place to the other. Collect your personal items, printed photos from your phone, sounds, journals, and personal ephemeras for your assemblage box. You may choose to assemble your materials exterior only, interior only, or both. You need to indicate Point A – From There and Point B – To Here visually or sculpturally. Consider making your visual decisions that would conceptually align with your ideas and personal experience of physical shift.
Scale: 6” x 6” x 6” or 12” x 12” x 12”
- Reflection:
The theme of my assemble box is the shift of my goal for studying through the shift in location. When I was in high school, my goal for studying was to pursue a beautiful GPA so that I could enter an ideal college. However, after becoming a college student there, my goal for studying has changed into gaining more knowledge, as well as both social and professional skills. In other words, as I moved from my hometown to NYC, my studying goal has shifted from a material, outside-world orienting one to a goal more focusing on my inside world and inner abilities.
The closed right part of my box represents the concept of “inner world” or “mind,” while the open left part indicates the concept of “outside.” The eyes are staring at the red sign at the right, since when we are pursuing something, we look at it, literally and metaphorically. I made the left sign black, for this dark color gives us a sense of old, previous or no-longer existing. Also, in order to create the background and atmosphere of a studying environment, I collected and collaged some free newspaper published by The New School I found around the campus.
A step I found difficult while making the box was how to keep the two paper-made signs and eyes standing still with only the support from the wire. Instead of having the wire straightly stab through the middle cardboard, I tried curving the wire, making it stab through the cardboard several times, just like sewing on the board with a metal line. This method successfully strengthens the connection between the cardboard and the wire, so the signs and eyes on the wire can also be stable.
From this box project, I also learned that by looking at a concept’s different features and aspects, there are multiple ways to illustrate it. At first I wanted to use a heart shape to represent the concept of mind and inner, but I was suggested to make my box less-defined. As a result, I then decided to use the box’s feature itself to create a sealed space, which is a more natural solution than drawing or pasting something on it. Besides, I painted the right part red with watercolor, since this color provides people with a feeling of minds, brains, and our inner sides.
After receiving critiques during the class, I realized that if I could also collaged some Chinese words on the left part of my box, the idea of “pass” and “previous” would be stronger and more lively, since I studied in a local high school in Taiwan, where we learned things through traditional Chinese.
