This past Thursday we had our first project critique. As mentioned in previous post our group decided to build what is called the Bender. We chose this particular object because of the various shapes it held. Such as: squares, circles, rectangles, ovals and other odd shapes. Our group collaborated and planned well and divided the work into three parts. Yet, we didn't realize that choosing the Bender would be such a challenge. Megan worked on the pull and the shapes combined with it, Kayla worked on the circular shapes on top of the bender, while I worked on the stand. 

We used all sorts of methods such as rolling, cutting, folding, taping and stacking. For my part of the project, I mainly folded, taped and stacked. I spent a very long time trying to perfect the stand. In the beginning I was concerned with the tape and how it was placed, trying to use as little as possible. I didn't realize how time consuming building a large portion of the bender would take. I spent an extra five hours out of class to work on the stand and putting the combined work together. I was able to make the base stand freely, but once the top and bottom parts of the bender were taped together my stand would not hold it. At this point, running out of time I used a lot more tape and it no longer looked "neat" like it had before. I also added a brace underneath the stand to give the upper part of the stand a stronger base to hold the circles and pull. Time went by and eventually I was able to get the entire bender to stand independently. 

The following day, I walked into class and saw Megan with a distraught look and I thought "Uh-oh". I walked over to the Bender that we had all put so much time and effort into, to see that it had collapsed on the floor. At that point I was speechless and very upset. We both just stared at it for awhile. All that time and effort for this...ugh. Megan and I tried adding more tape, yet it didn't work. We really hope that it just sagged naturally and someone didn't go into the classroom and knock it over... 

We carried what we thought our "pitiful project" downstairs to met up with Kayla the remainder of the class. Again, we were so upset you could see it on our faces. I felt even more upset because I thought that it was my fault that our project wasn't successful. I saw my professor and shouted "It was standing at one point and I have photos to prove it!". He replied "It's okay, I believe you...I think it looks better this way anyway, it's much more interesting". I didn't get it at first. I thought the whole point of the project was to build a replica with rosin paper and masking tape. He briefly explained to us that it's much more aesthetically pleasing to the eye...but being so caught up in the thought that "It failed", it didn't quite click until the class critiqued our project. 

Eventually, it was our group's turn to be critiqued the class stood in silence. Many were pondering about what to say about our "project". You could tell that not everyone was very fond of it. Although the critique started off a bit bumpy it ended up being a very good critique. Classmates mentioned how they liked the contrast between the neat and lightly taped top and the messy heavily taped bottom part of the bender. We also discussed how and why the bender is much more interesting on the floor rather than standing in a linear form. It leads the eye from the end of the bender all the way to the end of the pull. It was unlike any of the other projects, not just because it fell over, but because it seems as if there was more to look at, more to think about. The class agreed that even though it had fallen, it was still successful for the fact that it still has it's original form...which turns out was the whole point of the project. We also agreed that getting the bender to stand freely would be impossible with the given materials, no matter what we did. It was because of the large amount of negative space in the stand. Since there is so much, there is no way that we could get the stand to support the upper part of the bender without compromising the original form. 

Overall, I felt much better after the critique and understood what my professor was trying to tell us before we started. I learned a few techniques from the other groups that I could use in the future, which I most likely will. If I could go back and do things differently I wouldn't. If anything I would have a different mind set than I did while working on the project. That way, I wouldn't look at the final product as a failure, but rather, a success.