Bri - Small World

 

1/26/26 - Project Ideas and Inspo.

Tara Donovan: Found Object Installations - Multiples

Donovan's work transforms everyday mass-produced objects like styrofoam cups, paper plates, and duct tape into large abstract installations. The forms of her installations have natural qualities, highlighting the duality between the material's artificiality and the organic movement they follow. 

I am drawn to Donovan's work because of her ability to transform everyday objects in a shocking way, once the viewer realizes what the materials are. I also like her organic forms and how they play with light, sometimes having light sources hidden within the body of the sculptures. 

Shiela Kicks: Soft Yarn Installations

Hick's installations redefine textiles by manipulating how they are traditionally woven, changing them from flat rugs and tapestries to mountains of soft "stones" and cascading ropes. Color is a major element in her work, often using bright, vibrant hues to create her installations.

I am drawn to Hick's work because of her use of line, multiples, and color. Her balls of yarn often look so soft and plush that there is a desire to jump inside them and curl up within the pile. Her installations have a theme of play to them, often resembling forms that evoke our inner child. My favorite installations are her ropes of yarn that often look like they are flowing through the ceiling and onto the floor like a waterfall of color. 

Chiharu Shiota: Found Object and Web Installations

Chiharu is a Japanese artist who makes installation pieces that dominate a large space. All of her sculptures use some type of fiber or rope with some found objects or other materials. There is a repeated pattern of boats within her pieces, but she also has a plethora of other objects entwined in her installations. Her pieces are inspired by personal experience as well as emotion, creating a redefined concept of memory and consciousness. She does this by literally engulfing objects in her large thread structures, which makes them feel more ethereal and clouded.

I adore Chiharu's works because of how large and impressive they are. I think she is the artist I want to focus on the most for inspiration. Her installations are so large and dominating despite only being made of yarn. The web-like forms she uses, combined with the large size of the installations, evoke feelings of entanglement as if the viewer could be tangled with the pieces if they get too close. I am drawn to her use of line, especially when she uses it to wrap around other found objects. 

My ideas:

The following images are of my miniature gallery. It is a box that already had a viewing port cut out of it, so I only have to manipulate the inside. I'm thinking of changing the bottom of the box to mask where the flaps of the opening were glued to it, and I like the idea of making a little wooden frame around the opening to help emphasize the hole and encourage people to look through it. The style of the box also looks like a miniature gallery, with a design on the interior of the lid that looks like a fancy ceiling one might find in a real gallery. 

The box is 8" wide, 6.5" long, and 3" tall, so I will have to work around having a shorter ceiling by elongating my miniatures horizontally.

The opening is 6.5" wide and 1.5" tall, which is a good size to see all of the interior of the box from.

Idea 1: This first sketch is inspired by Tara Donovan's work. For this idea, I was thinking of making some organic abstract sculptures cast from paper or made from mass-produced objects like straws to allow for holes going into the body of the form. Then the interiors of the installations would have lights to help light the "gallery" while also playing with the shadows cast upon the walls.

The provided sketch is just one idea of what I could do for this idea. I think making maquettes for these installation pieces, rather than sketches, would be better for me to visualize what I want to do if I continue with this idea.

Idea 2: This second idea combines my styles and themes of my BFA with the installation techniques of Chiharu Shiota. Her work is inspired by her personal experiences or emotions, which are expanded into universal human concerns like life, death, and relationships. I want to take inspiration from her themes of connected relationships and visual topics of entanglement and merge them with my animal subject matter. My sketches portray the continued usage of my wolves and ravens to portray human feelings, specifically that of worry. 

This top sketch portrays branches either made of wire wrapped in yarn or found outside with string on the ends that are attached to parts of a wolf trying to pull it in different directions. I like the idea of the branches curling back toward the walls of the box so they look as if they are actually pulling the wolf. As I was working on my BFA, I noticed a constant theme of having a wolf be a focal point or continuous character within each sculpture, which has made me realize that the wolf has become a depiction of myself. This first idea uses this depiction to continue to display my feelings and frustrations with relationships and how others used to have more control over my life than I did. 

(I do wonder if this idea would be better suited to my larger installation in the Other gallery?) 

This middle sketch utilizes both a wolf and a raven tangled in a string that looks like they are being dragged away from each other. Each has a paw or leg outstretched towards the other as if looking for help and desperation to not be separated. The themes of this idea represent the separation of people through external forces that many people experience in their lives. The animals are so close yet so far from touching eachother which creates a visual tension combined with the physical tension of the taught yarn. This is the idea I am leaning toward the most for the small world project. 

This third sketch is inspired by Shiota's woven pieces that are more net-like. I am unsure of what themes I would be talking about with this idea, but I was drawn to the idea of having multiple of these nets with birds stuck, hanging within them. The birds would still represent people, but I'm unsure of what human element this piece would be talking about.

Bri, this is a strong and well-developed post. Your artist research is thoughtful and well articulated, and it’s clear you understand why these artists work the way they do, not just what their work looks like. The connections you’re making between repetition, line, entanglement, and emotional weight are appropriate and productive for installation thinking.

Your found object choice is also a good one. The box already functions as a miniature gallery, and the existing viewing port is an advantage rather than a limitation. The scale, proportions, and low ceiling are clear constraints, and you’re thinking correctly about how those constraints will shape what can happen inside the space.

As you move forward, the most important next step is choosing one direction and committing to it.

Regarding your ideas:

• Idea 1 (Donovan-inspired abstract forms)
  This idea works well with the scale of the box and your interest in light and shadow. Focusing on mass-produced or cast elements could allow the space to read as a miniature gallery environment rather than a narrative scene. If you pursue this, keep the number of forms limited and let repetition, material, and lighting do most of the work.

• Idea 2 (Shiota-inspired entanglement with wolves and ravens)
  This direction is emotionally strong and clearly connected to your ongoing body of work. The middle sketch—where the wolf and raven are nearly touching but pulled apart—feels the most resolved conceptually and reads well at a small scale. If you pursue this, focus on tension, line, and restraint rather than adding multiple figures or narrative details. This idea is well suited to the small world project, as long as the emphasis remains on spatial entanglement rather than illustration.

• Idea 3 (net-like forms with birds)
  This is visually interesting but currently the least defined conceptually. I would encourage you to set this idea aside for now unless the theme becomes clearer and more focused.

Overall, your strongest option for the small world installation appears to be the middle sketch from Idea 2. It aligns well with Chiharu Shiota’s use of line and entanglement, fits the scale of the box, and allows your animal imagery to function symbolically without overcrowding the space.

As you refine your chosen idea, keep asking:

• What is the dominant material action in this space?

• How does tension, proximity, and line define the “room”?

• What can be simplified so the emotional core stays clear?

This is a very promising start. The next step is narrowing, simplifying, and pushing one idea forward with confidence rather than continuing to explore multiple directions at once.