May 3, 2012

26 Steps to Creating A Bottle Cap Installation


Todays additions!
My 26 Steps to creating a Bottle Cap Installation

1.We collected bottle caps to make a bottle cap mural.
2. Had a baby.
3. Played with baby.
4. Decided I had no interest in screwing down a thousand bottle caps.
5.  Cuddled baby.
6. Bottle caps piles grew and grew.
7. Saw the movieWasteland for my Graduate class (when I was cuddling my baby) about the art of Victor Muniz.
8. Got inspired to make art from trash.
9. Art from trash= art from bottle caps
10. Thought of doing a mandala project.
11. On second thought, NO too abstract!
12. Thought some more.
13. Remembered seeing Buddhist Monks making mandalas and then blowing them away.
14. Had an Aha Moment!
15. Temporary art!
16. Does art have to hang on a wall? We'll make it on the floor!
17. We'll make it ONE DAY! No preplanning. Start at the center and create a RADIAL DESIGN!
18. We'll sweep it away when it's done.
19. Radial design!
20. Performance art!
21. We'll film the entire process in time lapse.
22. Put music to it.
23. Watch it as a school during part of field day!
24. Now what to do with all the caps.
25. Bring them into the art room.
26. Create more temporary art with EVERY class!











THE SPACE! Pretty cool space right!

The beginning in case you missed it!


9 comments:

Mr. E said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!!! Did you do the time lapse thing? That would be neat to see!!!! :) You can always send your caps to me!! ha ha I was also thinking about gluing caps to the end of pencils..and using them as stampers to do a large pointilism picture...hmmm

Christie - Fine Lines said...

FABulous solution! LOVE IT!!!!

Unknown said...

I did the time lapse thing! Only problem is it has the kids in it! If my district publishes it on their public website I don't see a reason I can't link it. . . I just don't feel comfortable putting it on youtube if you know what I mean. I think that is a fabulous idea to do pointilism. It also reminds me of aboriginal work.

Christi THANKS!

Phyl said...

This whole thing is totally cool. What a great way to explain installation art: DO IT!!! You should intro the kids to the "happenings" of the 60's (or was it 70's?) and to Sandy Skoglund who photographs her awesome installations and the photos become art too.

Like Mr. E, I would totally love to see the time lapse. Your school administration and board should be thrilled with this event - was it a challenge to schedule it w/teachers etc? I know I gave up doing Pinwheels for Peace after a three years due to a lack of assistance/cooperation.

GREAT JOB, Erica, and I'm glad you got all the cuddling time in too!

Lisa said...

Brilliant! Now I want to share the photos of this art installation whenever I assign Waste Land. Your project is a fabulous extension of Nuniz's idea: it transforms both trash and consciousness. The temporal quality is haunting, too--very similar, as you say, to the monks sand mandalas: Focus; create beauty; blow it away. Fabulous.

Painting With Brains said...

Love this!! I've been collecting bottle caps with my kids all year long. I wish we could do a temporary work like you guys- I love your creativity! They must've loved this!

Lori Decoite said...

great idea Erica!! love the temp. instalation pc!!

Paula Cohen said...

BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kim Bass said...

This is great. Our school is celebrating our 20th Anniversary so we adopted a new mascot. My fifth grade students created a 4ft by 4ft replica of our new logo. The entire student body brought in bottle caps, so I had thousands left over in all colors. I couldn't bare to throw them out so they are sorted by color in my closet waiting on a project idea. This would work great and could be done on large or small scale with any grade. Thanks for sharing!