The document provides guidance for students choosing materials for their final project. It encourages students to take time considering their options, as some materials may be difficult for inexperienced users but exploring new things is worthwhile. The material chosen should enhance any theme or message in the project. Examples show how common objects can be seen differently and how materials can add layers of meaning, such as sentiment or conveying an idea. Local recycling centers and thrift stores offer inexpensive material options.

1. Final Project – Choosing
Your Material

2. Give Yourself Enough Time to Decide
• The Final Project allows you to choose any
material, which can be overwhelming, but it’s
important to give this choice lots of thought…
• Some materials might be difficult to work
with if you’re unfamiliar with them, but don’t
let that scare you from trying something new!
• If your final project has a certain theme,
subject, or message, how can your choice of
material be used to make that theme,
subject, or message even stronger and more
clear to your viewers?

3. Seeing Old Objects as Something New
• We’re surrounded by so
many objects everyday,
how can we see
something common in a
different light? As
something new?

4. Optical Illusions – Changing Perspectives
• This optical illusion shows us that even though this
animal looks like a rabbit at first, if we look at it
from a different angle, it can also be a duck. Give
yourself enough time to look at different
materials and their many possibilities, because
different ideas might pop up over time as you
allow yourself to see things from different
perspectives.

5. Optical Illusions – Continued

6. Junk Sculptures
• We have come a long way from
when fine art had to be made
from oil paints and polished
marble.
• We live in a time with A LOT of
artistic freedom, and objects
that were once considered too
“unrefined” are now free for the
choosing! This does not have to
be an expensive project at all.

7. Materials Can Add an Extra Layer of Meaning
Artworks (and ogres) are like onions.. They can
have layers of meaning. Some artists choose
specific materials that add that extra layer of
meaning to their art. The extra meaning can
be personal (add sentimental value) or
something that helps to get a message across to
the viewer.

8. David Hammons – “Bliz-aard Ball Sale”
• This New York artist sold snowballs of different
sizes on the streets during a snow storm. His
message: Art should not be a materialistic
business. It’s about the ideas and the creativity.

9. Do-Ho Suh – “Some/One”
• Do-Ho Suh created this robe sculpture out of
unnamed dog tags. He had spent 2 years
serving in the South Korean military and felt
stifled and overwhelmed by the pressure to
conform. This sculpture can be seen as a
personal expression of that time in his life.

10. Allison Warden – “The Place of the Future-
Ancient”
• Allison Warden created this polar
bear out of plastic zip-ties. She is
a well-known environmentalist
who created several sculptures of
endangered animals out of the
types of materials that are killing
them and polluting their
environments.

11. Remember the Design Principles
• Principles of Design Graphic Organizer

12. Local Places to Find Cheap Materials
• Trash for Teaching – Gardena (a place to buy very cheap materials
in bulk!)
• Grateful Hearts – Los Alamitos
• Goodwill - Cypress
• Savers - Anaheim