Rough Draft

Dear Daimaru,
I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with you over the last two weeks. I was always moving, trying to find a deeper meaning within you from all the various angles. I do have some experience with art and attempting to find inner meaning within art. However, I do not have much experience with your type of art. When I first met you, I was very intrigued by you. I gave you the nickname, “whimsical circle,” because that’s what first popped into my head when I had seen you for the very first time. However, when I was able to go home and research you, I found your name means “great circle.” Sadly, this was about all I could find out about you. It is very hard to find information about you on the internet, something that is very surprising at this day in age. We have had our share of time together and have gotten to know each other fairly well. I want to take the time with you today to talk about my interpretation of the argument you make and what it means to me and others who decide to spend time with you.

As we have bonded over the last couple of weeks, I have become comfortable enough with you to call you Daimaru. This, however is not your true name. Your creator, your father, Michael Todd, gave you the name Daimaru XV. This does indeed mean that you have at least 14 additional siblings. Glad I’m not you. You were created in 1981 and you now call the Sculpture Garden of the Sheldon Museum of Art home. Your creator, Michael Todd, was born here in Nebraska, which could be why you were brought back here to live. His fascination with Japanese calligraphy is greatly reflected in you. He has created many great works throughout his career, you of course being one of the best. He wisely chose to make you out of lacquered steel. This was a very considerate of him, considering he was simply thinking of how to make you withstand the harshness of the environmental conditions. However, the steel he created you out of has taken a bit of a beating through the thirty some years you have been out in the environment, but you still stand strong and unfailing. Mike definitely knew what he was doing when he created you.

When I first saw you the day we were all out and about picking sculptures to befriend, I first referred to you as “the whimsical circle.” This nickname of mine is quite appropriate, I believe, because you are quite quirky and unusual for a circle. Your upper half appears to be almost a perfect circle, but then you go to utter chaos towards your bottom half. You are a fairly large sculpture. You expand about 11 feet both ways, quite impressive I must say.
You have weathered a bit throughout the years. While at first you had the original metal tone that steel naturally takes, the weather did to you what weather has a tendency to do to metal. You have now taken on a darker, more copperish tone due to the rusting that has occurred. Don’t worry though, I think the rusting adds a little something to your deeper meaning.

The first thing I really noticed about you was your bottom portion. Your visual hierarchy is definitely reversed if you think about it, because the first thing everyone looks at is your bottom half. You have a lot of things going on down there! There is quite a bit of repetition of shapes throughout your lower portion. There is only one shape that you only have one of, and that is your most organic element. There are plenty of rectangular, circular, and wavy shapes that are repeated two or three times throughout your “body.” The organic shape, that vaguely reminds me of a pool of water, is the only one of its kind throughout you. This truly intrigued me, therefore I came over to find out more about you and figure out why this was.

One day when I was spending some quality time with you, some lady who was taking children around on tours referred to you as a “circle of life.” This description was something I found particularly insightful and, as I pondered it, completely true. Mike’s intention was to demonstrate associations with the universe and imposing harmony on chaos through you, and I believe he accomplished this with great ease. You do symbolize a “circle of life” in my eyes. The way you are all smooth and almost perfect along your top portion and then go to complete and utter chaos towards your bottom half is very symbolic to me about how life is fore most people. Even when things are going smooth and the way we want to in life, there is still something that gets thrown in that changes all the plans and throws a dent into life. I find that very inspiring about you. You make me ponder about your true inner meaning.

I thoroughly enjoyed your company over the last couple weeks. I feel like we got to know each other very well. You raised many questions within me about what exactly Mike was trying to accomplish when he created you. Although I know I don’t have you figured out to the fullest, I do believe I have part of your deeper meaning figured out. You challenged me and I appreciate it greatly. Thank you for the challenge. I’ll treasure the time we spent together for quite some time.

Your friend,
Jamie

WP3: Statement of Purpose

In these modern times, art can be just about whatever we want it to be. Many people see abstract art as pieces of garbage that a five year old could do, while others see abstract art as exquisite works that can never be outdone. Art is primarily in the eye of the beholder. Sculptures are no different. Some people could pass a sculpture and think that it’s just this large circular object that isn’t quite a perfect circle, while another person could see it and try to analyze the deeper meaning beyond the exterior appearance of the work of art.

As I analyze Daimaru XV by Michael Todd, I need to be direct and efficient with my writing. I need to convey my message in the clearest way possible. Because this project is unlike the previous two projects I have done, I need to find a way to convey all the ideas and meanings that my sculpture represents. By accomplishing this mission, I hope to give people a better understanding of Daimaru XV and of art in general. I want to demonstrate to my audience the argument created within the sculpture Daimaru XV. The argument this sculpture portrays is demonstrated through aesthetic and rhetorical elements that appeal to both pathos and logos, through the title of the sculpture and through the elements in which the sculpture was placed. I want to enlighten my audience on how the sculpture is demonstrating the various ideas the sculptor intended it to demonstrate.

My audience will primarily be my teacher and my classmates, but also various people walking by as they see us perform our readings. I know my main audience fairly well and am aware that they will also be doing projects similar to mine, so they will be expecting certain things from my presentation. My primary audience has the same knowledge and terminology that I do, therefore this will contribute to how they criticize my performance and overall reading.

I will also have a secondary audience of various internet bloggers and searchers who happen to come across my blog either by blogging or through a random search engine. This audience won’t have the background knowledge that I have, therefore I need to take this into mind and create an essay that will appeal to this audience as well. I need to appeal to this audience and also inform them of the ideas that my sculpture is trying to portray.

Art is a major part of the world around us. It communicates to us in ways that verbal communication cannot satisfy. The major goal of my essay/letter is to help others better understand the message being relayed by the sculpture Daimaru XV. If I am not successful in demonstrating this argument, the audience will not be able to fully understand and appreciate Michael Todd’s sculpture. The audience will have the ultimate decision in whether I am successful or not, however. If I am successful, then the audience will leave my performance or essay with a better understanding of the underlying meaning within Daimaru XV and other art in general. If I am not successful, then the audience will leave without gaining the knowledge and understanding I had hoped they’d gain.

Historical Analysis

Michael Todd’s sculpture Daimaru XV was created out of steel in 1981. The sculpture is located on the west side of the Sheldon Art Gallery on the UNL campus. The sculpture appears to be somewhat of a whimsical circle, as I have taken to calling it. The title Daimaru is Japanese for “great circle.” The sculpture is a reflection of Todd’s apparent obsession with Japanese calligraphy (sheldonartgallery.org). Todd holds many meanings with the sculpture, “including associations with the universe and the idea of imposing harmony on chaos.” Daimaru XV consists of both geometric and organic elements. These elements are ones that can appear in abstract paintings. This connection would make sense, considering Todd was inspired by painting and was constantly “trying to paint with steel” (books.google.com).

The material that this sculpture was made of is steel. This has a lot to do with the overall appearance of the sculpture. Most of Todd’s sculptures were made with this media. He also began to make a majority of his sculptures with the intentions of placing them outdoors. The elements of the outdoors drastically affect the overall appearance of the sculptures.

The steel sculpture was probably more of a metal or silver color when it was first created and placed outdoors. Now that it has been outdoors for almost 30 years, it has rusted because of the weather. This oxidation has changed how a person views the sculpture. It now looks much older than it really is, and could possibly look like it may fall apart due to its age. However, the sculpture is quite strong and still quite young. The weather aged it, but as it aged, it added some depth and reality to the sculpture. Everything ages and that is reflected within the sculpture because of the weather. It goes along well with the overall theme that Todd associates with the sculpture and the universe and imposing harmony on chaos. The additional stress from the weather could be added chaos to the sculpture.

Works Cited

http://books.google.com/books?id=bs3rFfPLdOEC&pg=PA168&lpg=PA168&dq=Daimaru+XV&source=bl&ots=TIfagPJn4Q&sig=IH94yjhgcGhb6nMeXyE9A9GPV4M&hl=en&ei=BAbNS9ezIoLK8wSGj8mzDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Daimaru%20XV&f=false

http://www.sheldonartgallery.org/photos/graphics/sculpturebrochure.pdf

WP3: Pre-Write 3

As I spent more time with my sculpture during class today, I realized there were a lot of things I didn’t notice my first two times with the sculpture. One of the major things I missed was the various textures within the sculpture. I did touch base on them a little bit in my last post, but after today I realized I missed a lot of textures. One of the textures I missed was part of one of the smaller pieces of the sculpture. It had a very distinct ridged texture to it. There was also two parts that had two different kinds of separations to them, which created two very different textures. All the various textures added to the depth and the overall appearance of the sculpture.

Another interesting thing I found out about the sculpture is how it works as a frame of some sort. I was positioned at a different angle today when I was analyzing the sculpture and realized that it created a wonderful frame of the campus beyond it. This is something that would really appeal to viewers because it adds more to the sculpture.

One more thing about this sculpture that is really appealing is all the various looks it can take on. There are so many different ways to look at this sculptures and each way changes the meaning of it and can alter your interpretation immensely. If you look at the sculpture from the west the sculpture takes on the original appearance of a giant ring structure, but if you take a look from the south, you are then looking through a cylinder part of the sculpture and you get a completely different view on how the sculpture is to be interpreted.

Something I hadn’t thought about before was how the weather affected the overall look of the sculpture. When the sun is shining on it, the sculpture shines quite brightly and you can see the true bronze color of the sculpture. However, when the sun is hidden, the sculpture takes on a darker tone and you can see more of the black spots from the welding and you see the added depth from the natural shadows as well. This is something I hadn’t taken time to consider until today when I saw it in both lights.

WP3: Cursory Analysis

“Daimaru XV” is a sculpture made of lacquered steel. It was sculpted in 1981 by Michael Todd. The name Daimaru translates into “great circle.” As I looked at the sculpture, my attention is almost instantly focused towards the lower half of the sculpture. This is where all the “action” of the sculpture is. The majority of Todd’s works are inspired by paintings. He has been quoted saying he is “trying to paint with steel.”

This sculpture is very interesting to look at. There is a major, thin rod curved into the shape of a circle for the upper portion of the sculpture. Then, at the bottom, things begin to get a little hectic with various objects that protrude from the base of the sculpture, but continue to complete the “circle” that was being attempted. This is what all of the focus is usually shifted towards the bottom portion of this sculpture.

The sculpture was bronze in color for the most part, but there are some parts of the metal that take on a black tone from being welded. This contrast in colors creates even more depth to the sculpture. When the natural sunlight hits this sculpture, the colors really stand out and draw your attention to the various objects sticking out at the bottom even more than usual.

The most interesting part of this sculpture is that it is created of various miniature “sculptures.” There are some pieces that create the bottom that look like they could also be symbolizing some things. Some pieces of metal bear an interesting resemblance to various objects you’d find in life and nature. There is one piece of metal that sticks out and has many separations and is kind of coiled. As I looked at this particular object of the sculpture, a snake came to my mind. Although I don’t really believe this was the intention of the sculptor, it was an interesting find within the sculpture. Things like that object gave me more to look at and think about when I was viewing this sculpture.

There is definitely visual hierarchy within this sculpture. The main, thin rod is what captures the viewer’s eye for the first time, but as soon as you begin to follow the rod, you find the disorganized bottom portion of the sculpture. This visual hierarchy almost gives the sculpture actual movement. As I look at the sculpture in this way, I can see the sculpture rolling away and all these objects flying out of the circle. The visual hierarchy creates this movement within the piece.

There are various textures found within the sculpture as well. The majority of the sculpture is smooth, as you would imagine metal to be. However, other parts of the sculpture have a rippled effect to them, almost like the ripples and waves of water. Another part of the sculpture has separations in it, which gives it an interesting dashed feeling to it. There are also some parts of the sculpture that don’t appear to be sanded, so it gives it kind of a pokey feeling to it.