CHINA PROJECT: The GREAT WALL

During the summer of 2008, I took a three week trip with a group of teachers sponsored by SIT. Each participant had to complete a project upon his/her return to promote better understanding of the Asian culture. When I applied for the trip, I indicated that I would do an educational PowerPoint presentation and present it to students and/or outside groups. It was not until our flight home that I approached our leader, Bruce, and told him that there was no way I could do the presentation … both the students and I would be bored to death. Instead, I would do a series of sculptures reflecting the things I had seen and experienced. My project included five pieces, photos of the trip, a bulletin board, and souvenirs. I was allowed to exhibit the project in the foyer of the school for a couple of weeks and to meet with several classes to discuss the project. Later, I installed the work at the Vermont Asian Center in West Brattleboro for a show and discussion during Gallery Walk.

The China Project: The Great Wall

My goal for each of the pieces for the project was to introduce aspects of the Chinese experience in a way that would stimulate thought and questions by the students. With The Great Wall, I wanted to play with the idea of walls in general and whether they exist to keep something or someone in or keep them out.

I used some old barnboard for the base of the sculpture and smashed some smaller pieces for extending the sides. Using the irregular background pattern and by stacking pieces to vary the planes I hoped to give the effect of mountainous terrain. I further elevated the plane using smaller pieces of driftwood and flat, rounded stones for further layering. I broke the stone that I had brought back from China into smaller pieces and used it to fashion a serpentine wall across the piece. On the lower side of the wall, I used driftwood sticks placed vertically to represent the peoples of China amassed behind the wall. The question is again to protect them from invaders or to keep them in and ignorant of the outside world. Above the wall, I lined the smaller pieces with a glue that dries in yellowish bubbled fashion and gives the appearance of clouds and mist across the mountainous terrain.

I was lucky to be in China just before the Olympics. In the upper left hand portion of the wall sculpture, I place five rings (representing the Olympic rings) made from sliced beef bones. I included this to stimulate discussion of the impact of the Olympics on the country and the preparations that were being made to host the event.

Finally, I tucked a small imprint of a dog’s paw on the lower right hand side. From this, we initiated discussion about, what you eat in foreign environments that seems strange to us and what we eat that would seem strange there.