Fishing for myth, gathering ideas and collectible found objects, my creative energy lights up a story with layers of paper and drawing with Exacto blades to cut out a tale of 'The Big One That Got Away'.
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| 3 Sets of Fairy Lights to turn on top and bottom lightbox. |
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| The top lightbox Fisherman Wishes is raised up off the bottom lightbox by gold painted wine corks. Fairy lights are turned off. |
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| The bottom lightbox, 'Careful for what you wish' is sitting on gold painted wine cork legs. The fairy lights are turned OFF. |
Do we dare to wish when the warnings speak of wisdom?... 'be careful for what you wish'
I have survived some of my wishes that came true and wisdom now has a caveat; only let it come true if it brings me joy!
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| Close-up view of the fish stabile. |
READ MORE about this inventive artist who birthed the delightful art of balance, Alexander Calder.
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| Height 24" x Width 12" x Depth 6" |
'The Fish Myth' lightbox construction and design went through many phases of failures that ultimately became discoveries. To finish this paper sculpture & stabile took me over a year to complete and find solutions for some of the construction.
To set off creative sparks, I like to push boundaries, learn new techniques, fuse art with craft, while telling a story. I really like the new discovery of using light in my paper sculpture to germinate a surreal curiosity for the viewer.
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| The large black bead holds the wire stabile & the pink glass bits give support to the bead. The stabile can be removed when packed for travel or storage by taking out the nail and undoing the wire. |
My big challenge was to incorporate the stabile into the top lightbox. It had to dangle freely without tipping over the double-decker lightbox while still able to catch light breezes. The wire resembling the fishing pole had to be wedged tightly into the bead with the little nail. The stabile can still be removed later if it needs to be packed into storage. To further stabilize the stabile & bead, I wedged selected pink glass chips to build up the overall strength around the bead.
TO TURN ON THE LIGHT: Go to the backside of the lightboxes where the fairy light switches are glued & taped. They do require a delicate touch with a fingernail to switch on & off. The 2 batteries for each plastic switch will offer about a 3-hour light show and is relatively easy to replace the two batteries in each white plastic unit. This sculpture has a total of 6 'button' batteries ad would order in bulk for the best deal.
What I love about the 'fairy lights' is their freedom to display my paper sculptures on any stable surface without the cumbersome trailing cord to the socket.
NOTE: This is art not a lamp. It is intended to spark wonder of 'oohah' when the lightbox is turned on in the dark. Must keep away from children's hands as it is made of paper and foam core.
The materials used to create,' The Fish Myth', double-decker paper lightbox and fish stabile:
- decorative thick paper with gold leaf embellishment.
- wine corks painted for legs
- thick gauge & thin gauge wire
- E600 Glue (for objects)
- Scotch Quick-Drying Glue (for paper)
- broken pink glass
- beads
- fishing lure
- fishing barrel swivels
- clear plastic
- braided cord
- decorative tape
- foam-core (for 2 box construction)
- 3 strings of battery fairy lights
- exacto knife
- wire cutters
Taking a break from painting, I like to build, craft and use found objects to go deep into the creative flow without too many expectations for the final art piece. There is always a creative gem I learn from every project and yet not all ideas ultimately succeed the way I had WISHED.
'The Fish Myth' was both a struggle and pleasure with the end result I can be happy with as it has inspired me to design more sculptural lightboxes!
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| Primal Roots & The Perfect Day |
Looking forward to creating more sculptural lightboxes fusing story, craft, and art!
May your world light up!
Minaz
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