My project for this period is culinary arts. I love to cook but have never really dabbled in the world of baking. Please bare with me through this experience because I am still learning all the skills required to be a successful baker. I will choose at least one recipe a week and post it on this blog. I hope you enjoy my baking and are inspired to bake yourself. 

The first idea that I actual liked was to build a city out of bottles and cans. I would make it look like some kind of futurist thing because of how the inside of a can and bottles can be shiny if light hits them right.

It seemed like a good idea, but when I started to try to work it out, I couldn’t figure out how I wanted to make it work I didn’t know how to organize the different bottles and in the end it just didn’t work out the way I wanted it to.

The next big Idea I got was in the middle of class. There was a bunch of foam and then looking at it made me want to make a table from it. Maybe paint a cool design on it to represent recycling. So I started on that. Then I saw my friend who had extra pieces from what she was working on. As I was looking at them I started thinking about how most big things in America have some kind of mascot. Wendy’s has the Ginger Girl, McDonalds has the clown, Kmart has the light bulb guy. But why doesn’t recycling have an official mascot to stand for it. I mean, there’s just that little symbol thing. “I should make one.” I thought to myself. And so that’s what I’ve been working with so far. I went with the feel of the material I was using and in a way, let the art create itself. I cut out a head and the used my friends extra piece and ended up with a horse bird thing that had headphones.

Right now I’m in the process of painting it, but I think I want to build a setting around it. The reason it’s not done is because I feel as though I need to do a little more with it. There’s something missing from it that I have to have for it to be complete. Also, I ran out of paint in the middle of painting so I need to go buy some more. 

When starting this project I didn’t have a set idea on what I wanted to do. I never had a solid idea on how I wanted to make a project out of recycled material. At first I thought, wow a project made of recycled material this is a good idea. But I didn’t want to add none recycled material to it, I wanted to be made out of all recycled material. After thinking about a few ideas and sketching some ideas out I started coming up with some projects. I didn’t want the projects of projects just to do. I wanted them to be connected to me or relate to me somehow. What I had decided to do was paint over used cardboard boxes and cut and past letters and words from recycled magazines. After cutting out the letters and words I planned on making a poem about our environment and how recycling is a good idea. At first I didn’t have a poem on how to write it so I found a recycling poem that a 4^th grader had made, cited it and used it as part of my project. The world’s greatest artwork wasn’t finished in a day, and neither was mine. But I plan to finish the poem idea and place it on the school wall so that every one can see it.

Another idea I had was similar to the artist we saw at the exhibit. Her name was Aurora Robson. She took her nightmares and made them into her own creations. She took plastic caps, bottles, and string. She cut them and made them look like jellyfish and flowers hanging from the ceiling. My idea was to make the bottle caps and bottles into a collected of flowers. In my head I thought of paining them a light color so the glossy effect from the bottle still showed. I just started this project a few weeks ago and it’s taking me some time to do this project. I hope to also complete this project for the second quarter benchmark as well.

These projects that we are doing is tying into a quote that we are all probably know. Someone else’s trash is another person treasure. The students of advanced art took this quote into consideration without even realizing it. We’re helping our community and giving the thrash/ recycled material a voice. A voice that hopefully will be heard.

     The idea behind this piece of art is the idea of life coming from the strangest of places; this specific example being technology.  It is meant to symbolize that I’ve noticed that even though some people think that technology can bring about the demise & downfall of society, it can also bring us life in various ways. 

     I collected materials that I felt could represent technology: an extension cord, dvds & cds, a mother board, a cd stand, glue, & wire.  I glued each cd & dvd, stacking them onto the cd stand.  Then I cut the extension cord, glued it to the cd stand, & wrapped it with the wire tightly to make it stand up straight. I then glued the motherboard to the top, to make the sculpture look like a flower in a pot.

The project was of importance to me, and using the recycled pieces of technology really made the project good for the environment. It also made sure I showed that life really can come out of the weirdest part of the world. This project showed me that simple things and simple people can make a difference in the world.

When I made this I didn't need a lot of stuff. I got a box from my dad's job and some old boxes from creams and medicine. 

 At first I didn’t know what I wanted to do.  I went through about 10 different ideas. Finally I came up with this idea of making a pyramid out of bottle caps. I thought this was a good idea because I have different things going on in my life. It's important to me that I prioritize them. If I don't then I will be consumed by all the things I have to do. I think that a pyramid is a good way of showing, while using bottle caps.