Soap Carving- It's All About Time

Observation- Soap Carving of the Panda

8 Ways of Changing the Soap

I really wanted to make my changes relevant to the figure that I carved.  Therefore, I decided to have each change be inspired by something that is causing Pandas to become endangered.

Step One

One reason Pandas are endangered is because they have naturally low reproduction rates.  To convey this I first covered the panda in numbers that represent dates of the month.

Step Two

Pandas can only mate for 3 days out of the whole year!  If they don't find a mate for those days then they are out of luck for the whole year; which is why their reproductive rates are so low.  To convey this I put 3 red numbers on the panda. 

Step Three

Pandas depend on their lush habitat because they eat up to 84lbs of bamboo a day.  To represent this I stuck twigs and leaves into the figure.

Step Four

One disadvantage that comes with depending so much on one food source is that the species of bamboo could run out or die.  Or the habitat could be destroyed resulting in lost homes and food sources for the pandas.  I represented this by cutting and burning the plants on the panda.

Step Five

Next I melted the soap in the oven.

Step Six

I smeared the melted soap onto a map to represent the amount of area that the Pandas are able to live in.

Step Seven

Next, I added pushpins around the perimeter and going into the area of the soap.  These pushpins are made to represent humans encroaching on the Panda's natural forests.  Humans going into these territories results in habitat loss for the Pandas and severely limits their home area.

Step Eight

Lastly, I disassembled mousetraps and glued them onto the map and the soap.  This is supposed to represent the number of pandas that die each year from getting caught in the traps that hunters put out in the forests.

Sketchbook Drawings:

Response to "On Longing" Sentances

I think that what Susan Stewart says about the "capacity of objects to serve as traces of authentic experience" is very interesting.  Why do we need souvieneres to be proof that we have done something or have gone somewhere?  Are we scared that people will not believe us when we tell them of what we have done?  In some ways, do we treat the objects more authentically than the people that we show them to?  Why do we have the conception that objects cannot lie?  A person could feesbly buy a kimono off of Ebay, but then tell all of his friends that he bought it when he traveled to Japan.  However, few people would doubt his statement because 'he has an object to prove it'.  In a different situation, if he was just speaking of his travels more people may doubt the legitimacy of his claims.  Why would we sooner believe an object over a friend?  Does our cultures santity around objects and materialistic goods discredit human relationships and trust?

Memento Artist Statement: A Tribute to Grandpa

In class we talked about how mementos are physical memories of somewhere we've been or someone we've met.  A few weeks ago, my grandpa died and I thought that making a memento that represents my memory of him would not only help me through the grieving process, but I could also send this memento to my grandma so that she would have a physical remembrance of her husband.  My grandma and grandpa live on a farm, and for years my grandpa ran the small farm that provided enough food and livestock to feed everyone in the families.  My grandpa raised about ten cattle every couple years or so in order to send meat to the whole family.  Some of my fondest memories with my grandpa are walking out to the barn with him to feed the cows in the morning.  The barn was a tall old building, and the light streaming in from the windows lit up all of the dust in the air.  The hot and thick smell of hay filled the barn, and the floor was completely obscured with hay.  For my memento I enlarged the ovular shape of the cow nose and covered it with raffia that to me, represented the texture of hay.  The small knots on the sides and back of the form are meant to combine the hay texture with the color and form of dried roses.  Dried roses remind me of the withered or dead flowers that might be present a week or so after a funeral or in a old vase.  I chose to combine these aspects to represent my Grandpa when he was alive (in the barn), and when he is now dead (roses as remembrance).  Finally, I made the base of the piece out of stacked balsa wood, to represent the height and old wood of the barn.  The materials that I used for this project were: Balsa wood, raffia, and ink.