Alice Xiao
Untitled
Class of: 2029
Major: Communication Design BFA
Medium: Laser cut craft plywood
Faculty: Robert Hickman
Prompt: Create an unique structure
In this project, I was required to create a unique structure, so I began by designing a pentagon-shaped form. Professor Hickman encouraged us to base our structures on our majors. Since my major is Communication Design, I decided to create a lantern that represents and spreads Chinese culture. I chose to use craft plywood and cut the structure in the laser lab because this method allowed me to work precisely and better visualize the structure before continuing with further development.
Initially, I planned for all five sides of the lantern to be covered with Chinese-style paintings. However, I realized that leaving parts of the structure hollow could create interesting light and shadow effects. This led me to change the structure from a pentagon to a hexagon so that three sides could remain hollow while the other three could be covered with rice paper featuring traditional Chinese paintings.
I designed the lantern in Adobe Illustrator, creating three framed sides to hold my artwork and three hollow sides incorporating traditional Chinese elements. After cutting all the frames in the laser lab, I realized that the lantern was too short to meet the 12-inch height requirement in the rubric. To solve this, I added a second layer beneath the original structure. For this lower layer, I designed all sides to feature mythical creatures from Chinese folklore, which not only increased the height but also strengthened the cultural theme of the lantern.