Final Project for VIS 111 Structure of Art
Final Project Proposal: I think I'm going to build a house. An unconventional home.
I'm going to build a porch with two rocking chairs & 2 glasses of lemonade, out of popsicle sticks
and doll house furniture. The idea is a monument to nostalgia, dreams, peace, and friendship --
a place where one fine day, we can sit together and watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean as we
sip our lemonades. One day, the world would be so safe, so peaceful, and so free of prejudice,
mass genocide, hate, greed, and malice that we can all sit on our porches at the end of the day and
enjoy the company of a good friend. That is my concept & dream -- that the world we live in would
one day be so good. It will be a monument of hope -- I'm not interested in controversy. It's just about peace and
friendship -- idealistic, but genuine. The actual monument would be placed on type of an isolated, rocky
hill with a smooth, grassy top. The grassy hilltop will be surrounded by a forest, so that the porch is
obscure. The porch will face the ocean, for that perfect sunset. That way, the porch represents a
goal to reach, a lot of time and energy to get to, but well worth the effort for that gorgeous sunset; for
that metaphor of burning fear and anguish setting into a placid night & sea.
Audience: Geared towards the under 50 years old generations sense of nostalgia for things past. The doorframe
but lack of house represents the future. This is the house we will build, not the houses of war and
suffering that we have built. It is geared towards a U.S. audience for their understanding and relation -- but
no real experience -- relating to perfect summers, perfect sunsets, and perfect lemonade on wooden
porches.
Execution: Who would have thought it would be so hard to find popsicle sticks/tongue depressors/wooden craft sticks?!?
Six stores later -- I'm the proud owner of 1000. I had originally planned to buy dollhouse furniture:
2 rocking chairs and a table, but since I couldn't find them, I built them. I plan for the scale of the real
monument to be the same as it would be if it were a real porch -- the doorframe would be 8 ft. high, and the
porch about 12 ft. wide.
Conclusion: I'm really pleased with the way the model worked out, and surprised at how well the
rocking chairs came together. I think the simplicity of the raw wood really helps create the synecdochical relationship
between the porch and peace/friendships. The simplicity of the human heart and soul attracts peace. There
is simplicity in all the ideas a porch evokes through all its synecdochial relationships.
Photographic Process:
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xiv.
