Tokens Response

I think this article is really sad, to think of so many kids/babies being abandoned and unwanted. I like the idea of the tokens given to the children although it is an imperfect system. The whole thing reminded me of Orphan Annie where she was left with half a locket on the doorstep of an orphanage. Turns out that the "caretaker" Ms. Hannigan had it the whole time!

My Furniture Should Be Sold In Stores

So here it is! FINALLY!
Okay I've been updating all along but let's go over the facts one more time.

Design Reasoning:
Bed: I made the bed super high because in the beginning of The Metamorphosis Kafka says that Gregor falls off the bed. In my mind I picture Gregor as a medium sized bug so a fall from a bed would be far for a bug of his size. As I have said in class I am constantly at war with myself as to how his room should look. Before he turned into a bug he had normal furniture just like everybody else, but I still can't help feeling that since he is a bug, the place where he lives would be dirty, again despite the fact that his sister cleans his room. To convey the dirtiest I sensed I made the pillow a splotchy brown and the blanket an ugly mold-like looking black.

Drawers: I originally had the draws horizontal on the ground because it reminded me of bugs also being low to the ground, but after more consideration it felt better upright to match the height of the bed. Besides since Gregor is a bug everything would have looked bigger/taller to him from the ground.

Bug: Even though Kafka doesn't say what type of bug Gregor is, I always pictured him as a cockroach. I found instructions online how to make a origami cicada and then added legs. I left Gregor's legs a little soft because in the beginning he couldn't figure out how to use them and support himself. Also when flipped over the remaining paper tabs leave a cool breastplate looking piece that I felt really tied in the bug theme.

I made my bug last night and started painting it this morning. Later than expected, but still came out pretty good if I do say so myself. The body was an origami design for a cicada I found online and I added the legs myself using the tabs method from my previous pieces. I mixed the orange and brown inks to create the perfect cockroach color. A crumpled up piece of orange brown paper gave my bug a headpiece.



Here's Gregor chillin on his bed!

Looks kinda creepy if you ask me. But that's another aspect of the story so that's why it works!

3AM CRAZINESS!

So I don't know what possessed me, but last night I got home at 11:30pm and proceeded to make a million boxes trying to put together a chest of drawers. I literally worked on it for 3.5 hours until 3am and dreamed about folding paper that night.







I ended up with this. I thought it would be cool if the dresser was low to the ground like a bug is. I painted the boxes to look like wood because that is usually what dresser's are made of. Just because Gregor turned into a bug doesn't mean all of his furniture changed.






And this is what I have altogether so far. Got to get working on the frame, which will hopefully get done today and then the bug tomorrow.

I finished my mattress pad and box spring yesterday and I'm pretty happy about how they turned out. They are a little higher than I anticipated, but still stable.

I used these paper tabs to secure the folded edges and tighten the paper. The insides of both the mattress and box spring are filled with other crumpled paper.

Pillow Painting

Starting painting my paper pillow yesterday. I made it a muddy brown texture. Even though Grete cleaned Gregor's room all the time I still picture it as being dirty just because he is a bug and bugs are found in the dirt.

Balsa Wood Sculptures
Dangerous

I was reminded of a pit of spikes, like in the movies, the circles are what would happen if someone fell onto the spikes. It's creepy I know, but it's what I thought of.









Memorial

I put a piece of artwork on a flat wood piece. I don't always think of memorials as being a tribute to a person or an event. When I think of memorial I think of something on display, in this case like a piece of art.





Voyeurism

It started off as mirrors, how society always want to look at themselves in the mirror, we can't seem to help ourselves. I taped them together and it became more of a looking device and I found myself wanting to turn it around and around looking through all the holes.




Determined

I was thinking about the houses on the Cape Cod sand cliffs. They are these big old houses that cling to the edge of the cliff drop day after day. I always think they are going to fall down, but every year I come back and those crumbly old houses are still there hanging on. Never giving up.

Metamorphosis Vocabulary

Superfluous- being more than is sufficient or required

Plaintive- expressing sorrow or melancholy

Conception- a notion;idea

Convex- having a surface that is curved or rounded outward

Execrate- to detest utterly;abhor

Metamorphasis Notes

Kiersten Post

Metamorphosis Notes

• ·      Brown belly, transformed into an insect
• ·      Legs pitifully thin compared to the rest of his bulk
• ·      Mother wakes him to catch the train, knocks on wooden door
• ·      His shell is hard it won’t hurt if he falls out of the bed onto the carpet (soft)
• ·      Chief clerk comes to check on Gregor, patent leather shoes
• ·      The family thinks he is ill, they cannot understand his speech
• ·      He thinks his own words are clear
• ·      Everyone sees him, SHOCKED!, even scared of him
• ·      Still wants to go to work, must provide for the family
• ·      Father drives him back into his room, can barely get through the white door
• ·      Food draws him out, white bread, didn’t like the milk which used to be his favorite drink
• ·      Slept under sofa because it felt more comfortable
• ·      Sister brought him food he liked, old food
• ·      Listens to the family discuss what they are going to do
• ·      Losing his vision, looks outside to see gray sky and gray land
• ·      It has been a month since he changed when he realizes how repulsive he must look when his sister comes to clean the room
• ·      His mother wants to see him, but it is another month before she does.
• ·      Moving furniture out so he can have more room to crawl
• ·      Mother asks if it could be a sign they think he’ll be a bug forever, that they are giving up hope
• ·      Sees his dad who has changed, smart blue uniform with gold buttons, his black eyes darted, tangled white hair, gold monogram
• ·      Enormous size of his shoe soles
• ·      His father throws things at him, small red apples
• ·      He got his, but lived, incident reminded his father that Gregor was family, not just a bug, so the bedroom door stayed open
• ·      Shifts between anger that they ignore him and sympathy
• ·      Gregor stops eating
• ·      Family rented to lodgers who saw Gregor, they decide to leave
• ·      Grete says Gregor must go
• ·      Gregor dies from his apple injury
• ·      Father told the lodgers to leave
• ·      Family enjoys the freedom of not having to take of Gregor