Project # 1: Play

Our first project was to be on the subject of play that I believe we were able to interpret in any way we chose. I decided to pick an area I had always loved. As a child I spent much of my free time out of doors in all seasons reacting with and to nature. Whether ice skating in the Winter, finding new emerging plants in Spring, playing with my dolls and cars under shrubs to keep cool in the Summer, or jumping in the leaves in the Fall, I played sometimes quietly, many times loudly with friends, but so much of our time in the fresh air. When I had children and after they were grown had grandchildren and later sitting for young children we spent as much time outside as well playing and talking about nature and everything involved with it. I also had a small business making grapevine wreaths and baskets that kept me the woods and fields too. It was easy to know the subject of my "Play" project, nature. Something came to me one morning during my awake but not able to go back to sleep time, a nest! Since I could make a wreath with my eyes shut and as I seem to  save everything, there were plenty of found objects to "fill" the nest To make this nest somewhat contemporary since we are working to know the hows and whys of todays artists, I decided to give the nest a light coat of white paint and to fill it with an assortment of bright and neon colored feather dusters and various spikey and smooth balls made of rubber also in wonderful hues. The nest was now complete and full of its new inhabitants ready to make its debut in Concepts Studio!

Critique: What fun to see all the projects in one place and find out what form the critique would take. We learn so much from others no matter what their age and as we toured the room looking at all the pieces and later during the discussion, I realized something I would have done with my piece. Primarily make the sculpture interactive, the balls and the dusters being colorful and looking as though they would be fun to touch would have engaged the audience in a playful experience that would offer tactile and visual enjoyment.

Critique for fellow teammates:

Steve: Your play house with furniture was immediately clear to me and I was impressed with the attention to detail you used. I like the all natural look of the project and only wonder if there might have been something a bit humorous or wry in there to give it a little jolt of attention. Good job.

Jessie: the origami pieces you made were so nice and a neat way to play. I think I might have given them a punch of color by using the patterned origami papers or even bright hued card stock Fun idea, I love playing around with origami.

Ty: It is fun to see all the different ways that people play, and your wrestlers were so realistic in the picture except for the objects in the background. that was one of the things we talked about in class as you know. I think one other aspect I would have covered is the way the wrestlers were presented in the classroom itself. It would have been appealing to have found a way to either have them in a more dynamic pose as they were "on the ground" or to have a way to stand them up with arms raised in readiness or in another dynamic pose.