Title: The Mill
Fandom: August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean
Rating: G
Media:Mixed Media
Notes: A Cornell Box response to the play



For this challenge I tried a new media: a Joseph Cornell Box. Similar to a diorama or a shadow box, this is a "box" type of collage made of found objects and other things to represent a space, an idea, or anything else you want (while not necessarily box-shaped or kept within an actual box).

Mine represents the August Wilson play, Gem of the Ocean. For me, there are a few important elements in this play, and the main one is the mill. The mill represents this industrialized, technological world that is moving forward, while some characters want their world to stay in the same place. At the same time, however, this technology and freedom comes with a different kind of chain. There is one character who, though never seen, is often talked about, and he understands both the promise and the trap of advancing into this industrial age. At the end of the play, the mill is torched, and the smoke fills the sky. At least, we are told it does, but all we see is one little house and the characters within it. The whole time I was reading this play, I wanted to see the mill, wanted to explore the men working for it, wanted to know how it affected the life of this town. I also had a very strong image of the smoke filling the sky at sunset, so I wanted to play with the contrasting orange and blue colors.

I represented Aunt Ester's house with a wooden coaster and a teal tile floor. I also included a flat gold ring and a small bunch of red-orange berries. This house could be viewed through a window with mystical teal markings on it. Around this small house, orange paper, orange tiles, and blue felt raged, as smoke and sunset, flames and earth, life and death. At the top of the box various kinds of chains hang from a single nail, as a reminder.

All of the items were found objects from Scrap, except the berries, which I discovered where we stopped for dinner.

In the end, I was pretty pleased with this project, and I think I want to try a Cornell Box again sometime.