Cube Sculptures

Within a day or two after my first post on box sculptures, I was on the phone with my friends Chris and Laura, both visual designers and educators.

Chris used the word cube instead of box and immediately my mind went back to my sophomore year where she taught analytical drawing that started with the cube. But more powerful, the word freed me of function — a box being a container, but the cube being form. A cube can be manipulated, its dimensional geometry explored and reformed. It's sculptural. A cube could still evolve to be a container if I chose — where and how it opens to enter and hold (containers are a theme I've wanted to investigate in some of my work). I began by sketching cubes, geometric shapes and openings, then moved on to arranging 3"x3" chipboard squares to create cube-like forms.

Then I spoke with my other friend Laura and she suggested, "why don't you apply your drawings instead of the paper?" I nearly died it was so simple and clear. I chose my recent India tile sketches because they are expressive and have their own underlying structure, and found that the cube with a one-paneled opening worked best to compliment these particular drawings.

I thank Chris and Laura for their thoughtful engagement and insight into my process. It's been wonderfully freeing, and I really like the results! See more here. 

Box Sculptures

Handcrafted cards, boxes, folders, frames, bags – these are the things that I’ve had in my mind to do. They are all vessels, containers for holding thoughts, keepsakes, images, and gifts. I had just finished a collection of collage cards and was ready to take on boxes.

I didn’t want to limit my approach with an eye towards just craft, something I think of as more functional and beautiful, but to widen my approach to seeing them as objects of art, something to investigate for its own sake regardless of aesthetics and practicalities. My friend Kathryn, who I meet once a month for an art exchange, called them box sculptures when I started to describe my idea. I think that word, “box sculpture” allowed me the freedom to converge my notions of craft and art, or in fact let go.

This is the first one and like most first sketches it isn’t at all close to what I had in mind. I started with a template of a standard small box and covered it with squares and strips of found and decorative papers. I’m not at ease working in 3D. The glue I used is not strong enough, the box is fragile and it doesn't close. I thought of lining the whole inside with the same paper but it was too intense, so I changed mid-course and now the result looks odd. It’s not very “sculptural.” I doubt there’s any sort of convergence of art and craft in this, but I did try to let go of preconceptions. 

It is kind of eclectic-looking. I didn’t hold back on how I arranged the paper collage. I enjoyed the process. It took me forever to make (starting with cutting the squares and strips of paper). But in the end I like it. It’s the beginning of a new direction. Now I can start on another one and am excited to see what happens.