Introduction
Brutalist style art is a style commonly overlooked and forgotten.
Some disregard it for its bold looks, or its full concrete body. In this project, we looked further into the brutalist style, by making a LEGO sculpture.
Designing/Making
In our designing process, we made a LEGO sculpture. This LEGO sculpture was supposed to be glued down to a piece of wood. We would then glue core-flute to the wooden board, making walls around the LEGO. Then we would pour water in and out to find the volume of the box. Once measured, we would pour half the amount of white, half the amount of pink pinkysil. Hastily but carefully, we would pour the pinkysil into the mould and let it set. Next lesson we would take out the pinkysil mould and take the LEGO out of it. The next few lessons we would pour concrete, creating our mould.
It sounded like it would take time, but be easy enough. Boy was I wrong.
Making the Lego was pretty easy. We made 3 different trials of LEGO and chose the option which we preferred the most. I had re-made my LEGO piece and glued it down to the wood using a hot glue gun. Just as I was about to cut my core-flute out from the sheet, My teacher informed us that a trial piece with overhangs from the LEGO snapped off once the concrete was taken from the mould. She also told us that smaller designs were better as it wastes less pinkysil. This was going great. I redesigned my LEGO model, making it smaller and with only 2 overhangs. I then had to resize my core-flute walls as I had to make it smaller. Once cut out, I made the BIG mistake of loosely taping the core-flute to the wood. This was terrible because it meant that when I tried to measure my volume with water, it immediately poured our through the gaps as masking tape can absorb water. At the time I was oblivious to this fact.
I started to glue around my mould, trying to seal any obvious gaps with glue. I went over to a station to pour water and, the water leaked out from every single side of the mould. I still didn’t understand that the masking tape was absorbing water. I poured out the water and went back to the hot glue station to continue to absolutely cake (or what I thought would be enough) the outside of my mould with glue. I continued back to that station for probably the next few lessons. At the end of those lessons, it looked less like something on a board, and more like a glue covered thing. After many failed attempts, it was still leaking around the glue covered edges. The thing about Pinkysil is it’s very viscous (thick), and water is runny, so even if I did add Pinkysil, it would probably stay in the mould.
I decided to just pour once I truly looked at the amount of glue around my structure (around 6 hot glue gun sticks). We had to be quick when mixing/pouring because it can set quite fast.
The next lesson, I “enjoyed” the hassle of taking the mould out of my glue monstrosity. This was tough as the amount of glue really sealed the walls together. I just managed to take it out using fingernails and muscles. That lesson, I poured concrete into my mould and let it set for the rest of the lesson. I somehow took it out next time without breaking it! I continued to pour concrete until getting to write this reflection.
Capabilities
Problem solving:
I had to use problem solving in this project. Without problem solving, I wouldn’t have be able to solve the mystery water leaks that randomly appear, or learn that making tape is a big no-no for mould making. Without problem solving, I probably would not have been able to adjust the wall sizes as well. Problem solving played a big part in this project and I wouldn’t have been able to complete the project without it.
Collaborative:
I used collaboration skills in this project as I had to get help and help others. In this project, I did have quite a bit of trouble with the hot glue gun sealing. Without help from a friend, I wouldn’t have gotten to the stage I did. They knew and saw all the little holes the water was pouring from and played a big part in doing my mould. Some others also came for help for the exact same reason or taking out their mould, measurements for the walls, or pinysil pouring. I think that everyone used collaboration skills in this project.
Creativity:
Creative skills had to be used in this project. Creativity had to be used for making the LEGO sculpture. Without creativity, the LEGO sculpture would probably just look like a big block of concrete and who would want to look at that? Creativity made mine, and others’ sculptures interesting and unique. Without creatiivity, this project would have been boring and plain.
Conclusion
I think that this project was ok. Compared to last year this project was quite boring as I prefer drawing and painting compared to making moulds. I also prefer making clay figures or even making a more interesting and complex mould. The LEGO was a bit boring to make a sculpture of as it’s just bricks with small cylinders at the top. Last year we did paintings of cake which I find more interesting. This project might have been a bit boring, but was better then other things.