Introduction
The Shadowbox assignment was definitely one of the most personal projects that I've been given. We were to recreate a choice between our hopes and dreams for the future, a turning point in our past or childhood dream/ memory. Though I took my time when going over my many opportunities, I was immediately drawn to the idea of recreating a dream. After thinking back to all my most memorable dreams, I finally dwindled down the list and was able to get a start on the recreation.
Materials
Wooden box
Plastic greenery
Cardboard scraps
Hot glue and hot glue gun
Craft Sand/ gravel
Acrylic paint and brushes
Creative Process
My goal within this project was to display one of my own dreams inside a box using a variety of tools and mediums to convey a believe dream sequence. I explored my options, I needed to think back and remember all the dreams that impacted me most. I made a list, taking into consideration the building process, the elements, and principles of design and most importantly how I was going to translate these dreams into real life. After my dedicated planning process, I finally settled on a dream. This dream came to me in the form of a real-life storybook, with pages and all (If you can picture it). It began similarly to a fair tale, with costumes, and gardens but then took a sudden chilling turn cause me to wake in terror.
The Grizzly Bear
The three girls walk down a deserted dirt road. They are dressed in their best outfits and enjoying the beautiful day. They approach a huge open field, full of bright green grass. To their surprise, a grizzly bear stands tall in the middle of the field. They begin to worry if they are in fact in danger despite the bear's distance. Reassured that they are safe they continue walking. The girls reach a hedge full of beautiful greenery. The idea of the grizzly bear standing in the distance has slowly dissipated away from their thoughts. As they approach the end of the garden hedge they were taken by a terrifying surprise. Waiting for them around the corner of the hedge, was a massive grizzly bear. The bear stood tall and then slammed its paws onto the ground on all fours. He towered over the girls greatly and let out a loud roar. As the girls stood horrified to the reality of the situation the bear's anger grew. Saliva foamed out of his mouth as he stood feet away from the girls.
Workflow
The first step was finding the perfect box, so naturally, I headed start for the dollar store.I managed to find this beauty, which happened to match my vision to a tee. I planned to present the box with a similar look as a children's storybook and this box was a great start.
To build the base of the contents I cut out cardboard outlines of the main subjects in the dream.
Using acrylic paint with a small brush, i went in and painted the details on the figures shown in the dream.
Following the painting of the subjects I then went on to painting the background of the box, again,with the use of acrylic.
To build the dirt path and grass, hot glue was used to secure the chosen materials.
The hedge greenery is glued onto a thick piece of cardboard leaf by leaf, until desired fullness is achieved.
The summary of the dream was printed and cut into necessary strips of text
Strips of text are glued onto inner boarders of box.
Final Product
After creating the contents of the shadowbox, it was time to assemble all the pieces together by using hot glue to hold them in place, resulting in the final product.
Conclusion
A project like a shadowbox assignment really requires a steady creative thought process. With that in mind, this project allowed me to really think over my possibilities within my design when it came to recreating my vision. I had the opportunity to experiment with using a variety of textures and mediums. I'm extremely happy with the outcome of my dream representation, giving me an interesting portfolio piece.
