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ChristopherSacry

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And finally, the end.

The last time I remember flying a kit was 1975 with my mother.  I actually have a six foot wingspan Wright Brothers plane style kit built in my basement but have yet to fly it.  

I selected a simple diamond shaped kite.  It took all of an two hours to assemble it.  The plans for this and so many more kites are all over the internet.  It used forty eight inch round dowels that I cut down to forty inches, 3-mil trash bag plastic, clear packing tape, and a couple pieces of electrical tape.  I filed a shallow groove in the mast for the cross bar to sit so it would not slide, and taped them together with the electrical tape.  The mast also got a small groove filed into a spot a little lower than the cross bar for the second string.  I didn't want the string sliding up and down the mast and a groove was perfect for keeping it in place.  The sticks were on the back side of the kite so they would not be visible.  An awl was used to poke small holes for the string to slide through for attaching to the sticks.  This prevented any tearing of the plastic under hard winds.  The packing tape was used along all edges and to hold the sticks at the corners of the kite.  Very simple and very effective.  It all worked.

One thing I did in choosing the wood was to visit two different lumber yards near me and check their selection of dowels.  One sold wood from China, the other sold wood from the USA.  I chose the USA wood with the thought that is should be more fresh or new and still have some bend in it before it would break.  Judging from the winds I saw pulling my kit up up and away, it was a good call.  I honestly expected those sticks to break, but they didn't.

I let out all one thousand feet of string.  It was up at about a thirty-five to forty degree angle at a thousand feet out.  It was beautiful.  Took right off with no problems.  I had a tail for it as well and I'm sure that helped steady it in flight.

Three times during flight the wind slowed and it dipped to the ground.  All of those times it came back up with another gust of wind and a little helpful pulling of the string.  The fourth and final time it came down it landed in a tree and got tangled.  I jumped two fences and crossed the softball field rolling in the string until I got to the tree.  I pulled at it from every angle I could get, even from the top of the bleachers of the ball field, all with no luck.  I finally pulled so hard that I heard the mast break.  Another good tug finally broke the string and she was to stay in that tree forever…  Maybe the returning leaves will hide her away and I'll find her still there come Fall.  

We shall see.
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We were paired in twos and each group drew a word.  That word was the basis for the project.  Our word was Alignment.  

Each student was given six sticks, three feet long of squared 1/4 inch dowel and we were to build something that represented our given word.  

Our first thoughts were surprisingly similar.  We both suggested objects with multiple sides that could use the planes created by their sides to align with each other.  This was a good start and we ran with it.  We took our time on building the pieces and actually only built one main piece each, but that was all that was needed.  As the project went on we could see how even a single piece could be used to show alignment with every object around us.  At the end I was able to create even another object that was basically the opposite of the first we created.  This third object used individual lines instead of creating planes.  All three objects were then placed a short distance from each other and aligned with each other and various visible objects around the display area.  I was going to be a smart-ass and say that we had even aligned them with a constellation in the sky… but I let that drop.

One thing that disappointed me about this project was working in a group environment again.  I really dislike group work.  The abilities to understand and employ the tactics raised by the instructions are never seen for the individuals, they are only seen together as the sum of the whole.  If I compromise with a partner so we can both build something together, then my ideas are just never seen.  How can I be properly graded on that?  I don't believe I can, so I am not a fan of group projects.
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I hope I'm not getting these out of order.  I don't think I am...

This project dealt with Location.  That is, the where you would locate an art project.  This was more a paperwork/model/designing the whole thing project more than actually building the art object.  It was nice because it was a side of art that we really have not been introduced to before this point.  We were to dream up a project, find a place for it (the middle of a park, a gallery, inside our home…) that we would like to mount it, and come up with the ideas for funding and paperwork required to get permissions to host the project there.  This could be a permanent exhibit or a temporary exhibit. 

My first thought was about all the large art objects I see in front of buildings and on school campuses, the type that are permanent.  I went through a few thought patterns with this type of object but later realized it just wasn't any fun for me.  I then thought of a temporary project and that's when things started to get fun.  The old adage "The More The Merrier" came to mind and the rest fell into place fairly quick.

I wanted a project that people could have fun with.  I wanted something temporary that could be looked forward to again and again.  Winter time in Michigan was perfect for it.  It would be a snow project.

I wanted small pieces that could be placed around the area of a small town that could be used to build small and large structures.  A simple shape of a cube fit the bill.  The project could come to life with hundreds of small cubes approximately 3x3 inches squared.  These could be used together for making anything in just about any size.

A side thought to this project was to get the senior class of the local High School to help build and place them around the town, mostly down the main drag where they would be visible.  This effectively showed a similar aspect of the project but in human form- Temporary.  The project would only last until the snow melted (if they were not destroyed by kids/adults first).  By engaging the local school seniors to help, it would also be their one last mark on their society before they left to join the world and the adult class.  Childhood is temporary.

I didn't expect everyone to "get this" right away, but to me it makes perfect sense.  Art is not always made for everybody. 
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This is Part-II of II

Here we used the drawings from the previous project and switched them between students.  Unless you were paying attention during the first part of this, you really might not know what the drawings you were just given started as.  A few people saw and remembered that I had used a very old camera for my drawings, but none of them got my drawings for this project.  The student who did get my drawings eventually came up and asked me what I had drawn the 2-D from.  Without thinking I told him it was a camera.  The instant I said it I knew I shouldn't have, but it was to late.

The drawings I received, for me, were very easy to tell what it was from.  The problem I saw was that, unlike one solid object, the drawings I received were made from three parts that were chained together, so, every time they moved it to make a new drawing, everything changed.

Now the point.  The purpose of this project was to create a 3-D object from the 2-D drawings.  Knowing what they started out as did not make any difference to the project so I dismissed it from my thoughts.  We were given a lot of artistic license here but the basic objective was always there - if you can see it in the 2-D drawing, you should at a some point be able to see it in the 3-D creations.  This means at a some point, all the sides and angles should at once be visible in the newly created object.  Things like depth were pretty much left up to us, and just about everyone used that very well.  I could see the depth in the image I wanted to create, it was natural to the structure.  
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2-Dimensional representation.  An interesting project.  Here we were to take any item we liked and draw it in a 2-dimensional form.  That means drawing the outside shape of it on paper and filling in the rest - no detailed drawings.  This was an individual project that went fairly quick.  We turned our object to many different angles and made many drawings from all of these angles.  Really not a lot to say about it.  Once you saw what had to be done it was just a matter of drawing lines to represent open and closed space.

This project became a Part-I of II.
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The Final Project - The Kite by ChristopherSacry, journal

The Fifth Project - The Wood Shop by ChristopherSacry, journal

The Fourth Project by ChristopherSacry, journal

The Third Project by ChristopherSacry, journal

The Second Project by ChristopherSacry, journal