Learning is a treasure

This week i have been grasping new techniques in the areas of 3D studies and photoshop. I have learned how to create a 3 dimensional structures from simple paper straws. It is a craft of its own, as such a variety of objects can be created from paper straws. Creating these new forms encouraged me to research the topic of paper straws which proved to be quite interesting. I also learned the highly attractive technique of finger knitting. I thought this technique would be useful in my project as it holds similar form to chains, ie locks. Also my reason for learning the paper straw craft was for creating screws which are obviously in the interior of locks.
Heres a few of the outstanding works produced by artists that work with straws:

Brooklyn artist Annie Boyden Varnot creates breathtaking sculptures with cut plastic straws and other common plastic items. Her aim is to study how these inorganic items affect our daily lives, and how we in turn affect them.

I love the movement in her work and find them to be highly attractive. I also adore the way light shines through her pieces creating patterns of light on the surface they are placed on. There is great mobility found in her work.

Scott Jarvie is another artist that works with plastic straws and the like. He produced the Clutch Chair, made of 10,000 drinking straws which is an exploratory piece which is a comment on the effects of our disposable society. He also created  the Clutch Light, which again groups thousands of plastic drinking straws into a new configuration.



During this week i got the chance to attend a photoshop tutorial which attained me greater knowledge in the area. I chose to attend this class as i wanted have a deeper knowledge of creating graphical images. One highly interesting technique i learned in Adobe photoshop was the clone stamp tool which allows you to select an area of an image and drag it. This is great for showing movement and motion.

Overall this week allowed to me to attain a great depth of knowledge in two diverse areas.

-Theresa