The document discusses choosing materials for a final project and provides examples and advice. It emphasizes giving thoughtful consideration to material selection and how materials can enhance themes or messages. Unconventional materials like junk sculptures are encouraged. Optical illusions demonstrate how perspectives can change how objects are seen. Examples of artists using specific materials to add layers of meaning or convey personal experiences are provided. Local sources for inexpensive materials are listed at the end.

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.

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 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. 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