Paper Project Reflection

1) My group came up with idea that our overall theme would be "Greek myths". The myths that we each chose were the myth of Pandora's box, Medusa, Echo and Narcissus, and finally, the myth that I chose for my box was the myth of Aphrodite's birth. My concept for the project was that I wanted to recreate the famous painting of Aphrodite's birth but add my own flare to the image. I added flowers to where Aphrodite was stepping onto land because that was an element of the myth that I found particularly intriguing that was not incorporated into the original painting. I also wanted to add a more whimsical and comedic flare to it which I did by adding a tongue coming out from the giant clams mouth as Aphrodite stepped onto land from it.

2) Near the end of the project, I began to notice that the rest of my group was somehow incorporating old book pages in their boxes. I therefore wanted to incorporate the book pages into mine somehow that was original and creative so that it would make our overall final project flow more. I also wanted to create some sort of a border for around my box so I came up with the idea of covering the entire outside and border of my box with the pages from the old book. The end result was very successful because it not only tied my box in with the rest of our project, but it made my box more aesthetically pleasing as well.

3) My thought process in creating my final box started out with my desire to recreate the famous painting of Aphrodite's birth as she rose from the sea in a giant clam. I drew out a sketch of my interpretation of the painting and included flowers where Aphrodite stepped onto land because it was one of the most interesting parts of the myth to me. Once I had a sketch of my goal for the project I sort of just dived in. I began experimenting with making different patterns in In Design. I tried to keep the original colors from the painting, but the patterns I created were much more modern in style. Finally when I had all of the different patterns created, I was able to pick and chose what patterns I would use for what parts of the box I was creating. Finally I decided to incorporate a tongue for the clam that would stick out which added a more whimsical or comedic aspect the scene.

4) A challenge that I had during the process of creating this project was that when I went to attach the Aphrodite that I had created, it would not stay upright. I tried various different tactics in order to make it stay upright such as making a stand and using a thicker material, but nothing worked. Finally, Josh gave me the idea to anchor the Aphrodite to the back of the box so that it would not be seen from the front of the box, but still hold the Aphrodite upright. This plan worked and my project ended up exactly as I had wanted.

5) If I were able to do something differently for the project, I would have maybe not rushed on Thursday in finishing the project by covering the outside of my box in old book pages. I thought at the time that the project was due on Friday and I knew that I was not going to be in Art class on Friday so I went very quickly on Thursday in order to finish, but I think it would have turned out slightly more clean if I were to have not rushed in completing my box. However, in the end, I am extremely happy with how my project turned out. It flowed with the theme of the group, the design was true to my personal style as well as being pleasing to everyone else, and I completed it by the due date that was originally set.

For our project my group and I have decided to create boxes that depict some of the Greek myths that interest us in particular. The myths that we have chosen are, the myth of Narcissus, the myth of Medusa, the myth of BLANK, and the myth of Aphrodite. We hope to show their mythical stories through each of our own personal artistic styles using paper in a 3D way.

The first Greek myth that our group will cover is the story of Narcissus. Summer will be the one who will create the art piece that will represent this Greek myth. The story of Narcissus is that he was an extremely handsome man who turns every woman away and gets cursed to fall in love with himself. Summer will create the art for this myth. The myth of Medusa is about an extremely beautiful girl who is extremely vain and Athena strips her of her beauty and makes it so that every man who looks at her turns to stone. Milan will be the one who will represent this myth in her art. They story of Pandora’s box is about Pandora being set to get married with a box given to her by her father. She is told not to open it, but does and accidentally releases all of the bad things into the world. Maira will create her art piece on this story and the legend of Aphrodite is about how she rose from the ocean and emerged from a clam and all of the men who see her fall in love with her because she is so beautiful. This will be the myth that I will represent in my art piece I will create.

For my art piece, I hope to create my interpretation of the famous painting of Aphrodite being born from a clam from the ocean. I would also like to include in the scene, Aphrodite stepping out of the giant clam and onto the land and to have flowers springing up beneath her foot. This was an element of her myth that is not shown in the real painting that I would like to include because it was one of the elements that I found particularly intriguing. I would also like to create a few of the fish paper sculptures to include in the ocean background and use a real shell that I would purchase for Aphrodite to emerge from.

Finally, I will try to incorporate intricate “doodles” such as the examples above into the pattern of as much items I create as I can.