But now it's time to get down to business, and I am ready to dive in!
Unfortunately due to my travels, I was not able to get much I.P. done this weekend besides more research and reading from the books I previously mentioned (3 hours). The research is great and really gets me motivated to express my ideas and concerns on about humans and our currently diminishing connection to nature. For example, here is a piece that I had written origninaly in my project proposal for this week (but cut it out because it was unnecessary for the assignment), but I feel that it embodies some the reasoning behind the direction I am heading in:
"Over the past few generations, there has become an exponential increase in the disconnect humans are experiencing with nature. This is important because we has humans, whether aware of this or not, depend on nature for many psychological, emotional, and physical attributes. Through my research, I have found various studies that prove nature to work as a form of therapy, of mental release, and an aid in the healing processes for both physical and emotional injuries. Other studies have shown its benefits in the prevention of and aid to existing childhood development disorders, such as ADD and ADHD. Illnesses such as obesity, especially childhood obesity, are also said to be partial caused by detachment that has become so engrained in our society."
The source I find most useful is Richard Lou's Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-deficit Disorder, a book from Janie.Some other inspirational excerpts from him that helped to form my Project Proposal are:
"Today nature is more of an abstraction than reality,"
Nature embodies "Full use of the senses,"
Nature "clamed me, focused me, and yet excited my senses,"
"nature represents beauty and refuge,"
the view that nature is "therapeutic and restorative is ancient"
Wednesday night, I sat down to write the rest of my project proposal, and well.... went a little over board. After about 2 hours of sorting through ideas and writing, I ended up with over 1000 words describing what I wanted to accomplish, what I am trying to express, how I plan to do it, why I wanted to do it and what inspired me, along with future thoughts on where I can see my piece going over time. Obviously this was wayyyy to much detail and unneeded information for what the assignment was asking for, but at the same time, it was a great way for me to organize my thoughts and ideas into a clear focus so I could better explain them in person.
Thursday during the studio I spent most of my time cutting down and refining my proposal to be clear and concise, which was a slight setback since I was very eager to get started messing around and playing with different materials for work to show next week.
However, on the upside, during the section I had the chance to sit down with Janie, Seth, and a few other fellow students to discuss what directions to head in next. I decided the best thing for me to do is literally start making my objects. Trying variety of forms and models to see which would work best for the structure of my objects which will encapsulate specific environments. I plan to head to Salvation Army and the Reuse center to see which already existing forms I can modify to my needs. I also plan on collecting as many found natural objects as possible and start sorting them into which kind of environment they fit into best.
I am excited to see what I will encounter and produce for next Thursday, and and uplifted to start making things again, letting my mind wander away from the books.
Yay for Fall Break! And let the Candy Corn and Apple Cider warm our tummies!
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