Single Object Sculpture

Class: ART 111 - Design and Composition

Professor: Erin Beckloff

For this project, I created a sculpture using one object based on the word "radiate." The object I chose to use was aluminum cans, both out of the ease of access to plenty of material and the shine of the printed aluminum.

I knew pretty much right away that I wanted to use aluminum cans, so most of my sketches were based around that material. The word "radiate" represents an outward motion, something that is building upwards with no straight lines or balanced edges. For the final, I ended up following sketch #2 (second from left in the top row of the first image) because it felt the most imbalanced while still visually compelling.

Construction-wise, I embedded a sturdy wire into the wooden base and secured it with hot glue. Then I individually cut each can with an x-acto knife, cleaned up the sharp edges with scissors and files where necessary, and punctured a small hole for the wire to run through in the base. Starting from the bottom, I placed each can, readjusted the wire armature as needed, and secured its position with more hot glue.

Overall, I believe this project was successful, although there are things I would change in the future. Primarily, I would want to look for more diverse cans for energy drinks specifically, as I only realized once I had finished that they lended to the idea of radiant energy. Also, hot glue was not a sturdy enough bond, and the wire armature proved to be too heavy and mobile to support the curving structure of the sculpture for more than a day. I will be revisiting this project in the future to see if I can fix the structural issues and get it to stand solidly upright.