Concentration #3

Artist Statement

Just Keep Swimming

For concentration #3 I knew I wanted to use cloth to make water and do some sort of representation of the ocean and a fish. I made a small yellow fish out of sculpey and poked some holes in it to make scales and painted some red on it's back. I then put the fish inside a cut-in-half water bottle and hot glued them both to the base. Then, I ripped up strips of some old blue t-shirts and glued them in bunches to the base. One of the most fun parts of this project was gathering all the different materials I could use for it. I used strips of cotton, felt, stuffing, netting, paint chips, a sponge, and straw chunks. I tried to make the water look as messy as possible with different material.

In line with my concentration, this project is about the effect of plastic. It represents how plastic is harmful to sea animals and although a fish can't actually be stuck inside a water bottle it shows how it is stuck and confined because of plastic. That's also why I decided to name it Just Keep Swimming. It's ironic because that is usually a positive saying about not giving up, but in this case it is pointing out how the fish can't swim out of the plastic. If you look into the top of the bottle you can see the fish more clearly and it also makes you feel sort of trapped along with the fish because of how small it is in the bottle. I hope someone who is looking at the project also looks into the water bottle. Overall, I like how the finished product looks even though it isn't exactly how I imagined it. I think I could've added more detail to the fish and maybe have it looking up instead of on its stomach. I think I could've also pushed myself a little more to make the project look less like just a craft.