Jaclyn Becker

July 18, 2022

Final Project Proposal: Intertwined Memories

Form
For my final project I will be making an installation of paper ivy to take over my parents’

kitchen and on the paper ivy will be written memories, lists, scripture that relate to my

childhood. I will write on the paper as well as recruit my mom and sister to help me write on the

paper to mass produce the paper ivy vines that I will make to take over the kitchen

Concept

My piece is all about experiences and nostalgia. I chose ivy to take over the kitchen

because my mom used to have ivy décor all over the house when I was growing up. The ivy

serves as a nod to my mother but also to capture written memories that will intertwine and take

over the kitchen. I chose to use my mother’s kitchen for my location for this installation because

this is the same kitchen growing up that had all the ivy décor in the first place. The main viewers

of this piece are my family, and they are actively engaged in the making of the piece by writing

down their own memories from our childhood onto the paper that will be cut into the ivy leaf

shapes. Other viewers such as classmates that will view this work on our discussion board I hope

will be drawn into the ivy take over and be curious to what is written on the leaves. The leaves

will be almost illegible since the leaves will be cut from the written paper and you will only be

getting a portion of the text at the time. I also plan to have audio playing from home videos in the

background of the installation so that you can hear my siblings and I playing as you view the ivy

memories. I hope my viewers think about their own childhood and what memories have stuck

with them and why.

 Materials/Method

I will be mass producing paper ivy that will be glued to a green wire to look like a vine

and that can be bent and placed around the dishes and cabinets in the kitchen. I plan to first use

green copy paper and write on the paper using gel pens or sharpies of memories of childhood and

then I will use a Cricut machine to cut ivy leaves of various sizes out of the paper. Once the

leaves are cut, I will glue them with hot glue on to the green wire and I will repeat this process to

make a large quantity of these vines of paper ivy. I will also obtain home videos to play the audio

in the background.

Location

I plan on installing this piece in my parents’ kitchen which is the same kitchen that my

mother decorated with ivy growing up. I want to use this location because it is the actual location

where some of my childhood memories are made and there is a natural connection to my mother

in the kitchen since she was the primary cook in our family as a stay-at-home mom for most of

our childhood.

The kitchen is approximately 6x8ft of space to fill

 References

I have been inspired by Song Dong’s installation Waste Not. His piece captures

collections from his mother and his childhood and he has these collections displayed for viewers

to walk through and experience. My work is like Dong’s work in that it is honoring my mother

and memories from my childhood, but instead of actual objects displayed I will be using the ivy

motif and the written text on the leaves.

Song Dong’s Waste Not

Ivy wallpaper just like what used to be in my mother’s kitchen

 Budget

My budget is roughly 50 dollars. I was able to buy a large ream of green paper, white gel

pens, and green wire off Amazon which was around 24 dollars. I am assuming that I will need to

make a second order of these materials which will then be 50 dollars, but I will know more after

I start producing and can see how many leaves I can get out of my ream of paper.

Timeline

I am planning on starting the process of prototyping leaves this week so that way I will

have 3 weeks to complete my installation and document my work. During these 3 weeks I will

also be having my mom and siblings help writing on the paper to mass produce more paper. The

Cricut should be able to help me cut leaves out quickly since I will not need to cut them by hand.

I am guessing that assembling the leaves on the wire will be the most time-consuming part.