"Beauty doesn't last forever"
Medium: Found Object Date: December 2nd, 2016 Exhibition Text:Through the process of creating this flower dress, I always kept in mind my inspiration. I wanted to create a piece that highly resembled my inspiration but that it also went beyond that. I also wanted to make sure that I incorporated my theme, beauty doesn't last forever. That is one of the reasons why I decided to use flowers. Beauty always ends up fading away, it always stays in the past.
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Meaning of the Art Piece:Flowers have played a huge role in the society, whether they were used to make someone fall in love, as a gift, or even to just create a much more relaxed and vibrant environment. I decided to incorporate flowers in my ephemera piece, not only because it followed the rules of not lasting forever, but also that beauty does not last forever. Beauty was represented by flowers and the dress represented a female body. I wanted to make sure that I incorporated the importance it is for females today to look “beautiful”. People spend thousands and thousands of dollars paying to have the perfect body, perfect face, but is it really worth it? Beauty will eventually fade away, it does not last forever, and all you will be left with is that inner beauty.
Planning:
When I was first presented to the project, I had an idea of what I wanted to use for the project. I knew that something like flowers and food would apply to the concept of it disappearing. I also knew that applying the theme of beauty directly correlated with ephemera and the use of flowers.
Process:
Making of Dress:
Making the dress was one of the hardest parts of the project. I personally don't have any sowing background knowledge, so I didn't know what kind of fabric I could use, or how I was going to put it all together. I was able to but a kit that had templates on how to cut the fabric and the different pieces that were needed.
Attaching flowers:
At first it was a little hard to come up with ideas of how exactly I would do my dress. I'm not really familiar with the use of flowers and fabric, I had to begin with research. I got a few ideas of using fabric glue, or sowing the flowers into the fabric. Due to time and not wanting to risk the flowers drying, I instantly disqualified the sowing option and tried the fabric glue. The fabric glue was taking to long dry, I would be having the same problem as if I would've used the sowing method. After some research and a lot of thinking, I decided that I could use the hot glue gun, it would dry fast enough that I could finish the dress in one day. I then began gluing the flowers one by one. At first I wanted to create an ombre type of style at the skirt part, but after I finished the top, I realized that I wouldn't have enough flowers, that is when I decided to use the leaves of the flowers as well. I used the leaves to cover part of the bottom and to create a belt as well. The belt has a deeper meaning to it, waist belts are widely used to accentuate the waist and make it look smaller. Another thing I did so that the flowers would be sufficient was that I had to make the skirt a lot smaller. This not only made it faster and easier but it also took out the feminine out of it.
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Inspiration:
Experimentation:
For my experimentation, I decided to experiment different methods of gluing or attaching the flowers onto the fabric. At first I went to a retail store to get a set of flowers to experiment with. The first thing I noticed was that the receptacle of the flower was quite large so they wouldn't hold onto the fabric because the flower was to heavy. I then tried the sowing method but it just took to long and I noticed that it would get a lot more difficult when I got to the center of the fabric. I tried the fabric glue but as seen below, wasn't strong enough to hold the flower so the flower fell and fell apart. After my experimentation I had a good idea on what I had to do and use for this to work out.
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ACT Questions:
1.) Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your work.
The relationship between my inspirations and my art work are very obvious. The delicacy in which Grace Cio places the flowers and how her she was able to use the flowers to make a realistic interpretation of the dress. I wanted to incorporate the sensibility that Grace Cio ortrayed with her art.
2.) What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Both artist have the same overall concept of beauty just like mine. The only main difference is that Alphone Mucha used paint, in contrast, Grace Cio and I used flowers that would eventually dry.
3.) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspirations?
I can make the generalization that women really care about how they look, and spend a ton of money to accomplish what they want to look like, eventhough the beauty will eventually fade away and all you will have is your inner beauty.
4.) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme of my research was the fact that beauty doesn't last forever, but the importance of representing beauty with flowers.
5.) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your
research?
I can infer that flower have not only played a major role in todays society, but it has also impacted the ancient times.
The relationship between my inspirations and my art work are very obvious. The delicacy in which Grace Cio places the flowers and how her she was able to use the flowers to make a realistic interpretation of the dress. I wanted to incorporate the sensibility that Grace Cio ortrayed with her art.
2.) What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Both artist have the same overall concept of beauty just like mine. The only main difference is that Alphone Mucha used paint, in contrast, Grace Cio and I used flowers that would eventually dry.
3.) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspirations?
I can make the generalization that women really care about how they look, and spend a ton of money to accomplish what they want to look like, eventhough the beauty will eventually fade away and all you will have is your inner beauty.
4.) What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme of my research was the fact that beauty doesn't last forever, but the importance of representing beauty with flowers.
5.) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your
research?
I can infer that flower have not only played a major role in todays society, but it has also impacted the ancient times.