Cycle

This piece of upcycled Extra brand gum wrappers is about individuality in the unity of natural cycles. The tiny, unique pieces that fit together to make larger shapes also create an inward swirling pattern around a larger central circle, which I think of as life in the center of its workings. Any of the tiny shapes can be picked out and seen for itself, yet all of them work towards a greater picture. There is importance in the individuality of shapes, as each makes sense in its particular place, which no other shape on the canvas could satisfy. Representative of natural processes that make the world work, shapes might represent plants, animals, or individual raindrops in the water cycle, each reflecting light in a slightly different way, as do the placed wrappers, that make up the shape of the river they flow into.

Cycle is a multimedia art project that explores the relation of individual parts of a whole that laid out in a series of circular shapes.

Seascales

I made this piece by glueing chip bags, insides out, onto a canvas, and painting over them with black acrylics, to make an etching surface. I started the etching with a few spaced-out amoebas, the bones to begin filling in with fluctuating waves of lines. The overlaid triangle of scales (each with three layers of laminate) are outlined with silver sharpie, and held together with clear twist ties and brads through hole punches. The order and smooth consistency of the scales contrasts with the background of wild movement and bubbly texture of the chip bags. I made this project outside of school and was experimenting with laminate and chip bag materials, and noticed the look of ocean waves and fish scales after finishing.