by ·0 Comments

Concept Brief

Title: Urban Forest

by Vanessa Ang

Urban Forest is a sculpture that represents the effects of deforestation. In order to make room for a growing population, countries have cleared out forests, home to thousands of flora and fauna. In contrast with the curved wood, in its raw and organic form, shards of cold, hard steel sticks out. This represents how urbanisation has impeached into nature, taking up the space meant for trees to grow and expand.  Even in Singapore, where NParks is constantly ensuring that the trees in Singapore grow healthily, it is in a controlled environment, and the idea of nature taking full control is no longer one we embrace in this city.

Yet, this sculpture also explores the idea of living in harmony, with a balance of nature and man-made buildings, and aims to let Singaporeans reflect on this idea.

 

Research and Inspiration

 

Process

After trying (and failing) to bend the wooden popsicle sticks with an iron, I resorted to steaming the popsicle sticks on the stove. It was very effective and I managed to bend the sticks quite a bit.

 

Then, I cut off one end of the sticks and used a hot glue gun to stick them on the foam board.

Here’s the mess I created halfway through

 

Concept Development and Inspiration

 

Final Outcome

 

 

by ·0 Comments

For the second project, we were each assigned a word and had to create something that critiqued the concept of that word. The word I received was “Elitism”.

Hence, I did some research and created a powerpoint presentation regarding the concept:

I wanted to focus on elitism in the arts industry. The common opinion of the arts industry is that it is only meant to be enjoyed and appreciated by the elites. However, I wanted to say that this stereotype is superficial and only touches the surface. To illustrate that, I made a tie out of newspaper. I chose a tie as it is a symbol of success. A tie is often worn with a suit and formalises the entire outfit (a suit without a tie can sometimes look casual). A suit and tie is also often the dress code for art events such as an orchestra concert or a gallery opening. Hence, it represents the elites.

I chose to use newspaper as it is a material that can be easily found and is for the masses. This symbolises that beneath the facade of elitism, the arts industry is actually for the masses too.

 

by ·0 Comments

For the first project, we had to create a gift for our clients.

Client’s Name: Clara

Major: Product Design

Likes: Nature, practical gifts, earth tones, sculpting animals out of clay

 

Thus, I created a pen holder that imitates a tree for her to put her sculpting tools. The holder itself is geometrical in form and is very structured, which I used to contrast with the raw and organic form of a tree.