Response Four

I call my project the simple but elegant stool! I feel that the tectonics and the structure of this object gave it this name. I wanted to make something that was simple, but sturdy. So I took a simple box that had a flat surface that one can easily sit on. After making the shape of a box, I started filling in the box with tough cardboard pieces so that it could sit straight and tall. I liked the idea of having a structure that the audience cannot see. I liked that the audience couldn’t see what was keeping this small stool from falling completely apart when someone sat on it. Before this project, I had never associated the construction of a building as an element to the art of the building. I usually always associated the details of the building as the art aspect. I think that I can carry this idea of viewing art to the discipline of art that I study, which is dance.  Eugene-Emmanuel-Viollet-le-Duc said, “Construction is a science; it is also an art. What is meant by saying it is an art is that a builder must have not just knowledge and experience but also a “feel” for building.  I believe I did have a feel for what I wanted the stool to look like and be like.

Speaking of detail, because the stool was so simple, I felt that a little external detail would make it pop. I also wrote on the box, “Sit on Me”! Because of this fun idea, I won the most inviting award! As Miles Van Der Rohe said, “God is in the Details,” and I feel without the subtle details I made, the stool wouldn’t have been as inviting as it was!

To be completely honest, I am not particularly great at executing crafts or engineering cardboard stools but I tried my best to create something that was attainable for me to do, but was also artistically and conceptually interesting. Sometimes all you need is a simple box to make a strong point.