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Introduction

PERSONAL STUDY: JELLYFISH Jellyfish - one of the main reasons I think twice before plunging freely into the sea! Having grown up in Cyprus, the sea has always been a part of my life and during the hot summer months I am in it every day. I have always loved the sea but jellyfish have always been a concern of mine, maybe because I have been stung by them so many times! There is nothing worse than trying to cool down in the water and feeling that excruciating pain of a jellyfish's wondering tentacles. Therefore, ever since my first sting, I have always had at the back of my mind the fear of getting stung by a one. From a younger age I often exerted enthusiasm for the unique creature we call the jellyfish. As children always like to do what they are not allowed to do, I always was fascinated by the creature that I knew would hurt me if I touched it. I still would like to pick one up and touch its jelly-like outer texture. I therefore decided to research the jellyfish further and base my Art Unit 3 on it. Few marine creatures are as mysterious and intimidating as the jellyfish - at least for me. ...read more.

Middle

"Scoobies" or "Scoubidous" have been around for years; simple, extruded plastic lace that comes in all sorts of colours. It seems that this children's craze for making bracelets, key rings and knots using these pieces of plastic lace originates from France. It was very popular back in the 1960's and has recently enjoyed a revival worldwide, especially in England and the United States. I could not find any art history to base this idea on as nobody has ever incorporated "Scoobies" into their art before. I may be the first artist to be using them! Figure 6 Figure 7 I ended my second piece by having four silicone hoods with different coloured "Scoobies" hanging from their inside. You can see one of them in Figure 8. Generally I found that plastic worked very well with my idea of jellyfish as they do often remind people of plastic. The amount of times I have mistaken plastic bags in the sea for jellyfish are countless. Figure 8 - one of my four silicone jellyfish for my 2nd minor piece Leaving the plastic scene behind I wanted to experiment more with creating 3-D models of jellyfish to have hanging like my 2nd minor piece. I therefore moved on to Alexander Calder who uses wire for his constructions. ...read more.

Conclusion

I also decided that by adding flashing lights to the piece would give a good impression of the jellyfish's luminous figure in the sea. (See Figure 13) Figure 13 Through my experimentations and my whole Art Unit 3, I came to learn a lot about the creature that has fascinated me from such a young age. These amazingly beautiful creatures merely float around the sea, unaware of their surroundings, just living the moment. They don't think about hunting other animals, or see what is around them. They are simply there, looking totally harmless, but will give you a terrible sting if you attempt to touch them. I have enjoyed my Unit 3 thoroughly as my theme was of great interest to me. I finally had an excuse to research the jellyfish and even have the enjoyment of incorporating it into my Art. Through the help of a number of artists including Gail LeBoff, Alexander Calder and Alberto Burri, I managed to portray my theme exactly how I wanted to. As no well known artist has ever done a piece on the jellyfish I thought it would be hard to base a whole unit on it at first. I liked the challenge however and through the techniques of the above artists, and my imagination of course, I managed to finish my Unit 3 successfully, basing it on a theme that interested me thoroughly. 2219 words ...read more.

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