Can Project: Fish

This project was particularly challenging for me, mainly because i re-evaluated my idea so often.  I initially had tried to work with the cans pretty abstractly, twirling and curling the metal, but nothing seemed fluid or natural. I then decided to cut vertical openings along cans, intending to weave the metal i had cut out back into the can horizontally. Once again, my idea fell short of what I had visualized, so instead I crushed down the tops and bottoms of the cans to create whimsical lantern-like shapes. I then scalloped the edges of  the leftover scrap strips, joined two together to create a "light", and suspended them with wire in the center of the lantern shapes. It was around this point that I began appreciating cans as a material: at first I was frustrated by their jagged edges and inflexible tops, and I was confused how some soda brands manufactured stiffer cans than others,  but I began to realize that the thin metal was actually extremely versatile because of their color and lightness. I was very guided by color in this project - much of my decision making was based on which of the pleasingly tacky, bright metallic colors could be contrasted to make the biggest "pop!". Then, three nights before the project was due and I was beginning to construct the wire apparatus that would allow them to hang like lanterns over an open space, I re-evaluated my idea once again. I had cut a can in half and fringed it, almost like a hula skirt. This scrap piece had been floating around my other finished pieces, but I realized by attaching it to the ends of my lanterns, I could create whimsical, boxy little fish.



I was so happy with what I ended up with, regardless of how difficult it was to attach the pieces, that I spent a night converting all my lanterns to fish, complete with little glowing "hearts" in their center. I hung them in no particular order from a hoop of wire, so they would float in a way reminiscent of a school of lackadaisical fish.




I decided to hang my fish in a shower stall, to give people an amusing suprise when they opened the curtain in their towels. I left my door open to the hall while it was up, and heard several "did you see the fish?!" and "Oh my gosh whose is that? I love them".  The response was what I expected from a project so colorful and pleasantly unexpected.