Lost Childhood Object

    For this project, I was given the challenge of recreating an object that I had never seen before or had any level of experience with. My assigned object was a Polly Pocket Pool Party set, which according to the description I was given, is a sort of doll set composed of two characters, a blue pool, and a purple slide that they could use to get into the pool. This is clearly something that had deep sentimental value to my partner, who could vividly remember the details and how they would slide the characters down into the pool. I made an attempt to gather as much information about this object as I could, in hopes of getting some idea of what it looked like, as this would be an art piece that they would have an emotional investment in. 

    The concept itself was not much of a problem. It was only moderately complex, but I was confident that I had a close enough idea of what it looked like that I could put something together. The issue lied in making this item with the materials I had on hand. With almost no resources in the way of raw art supplies at my disposal just from around my house, I had to be especially creative with what I used to construct the object. With the original toy likely being made of plastic, I had to take a different approach to its construction in order to fit my constraints. My goal was to make it functional more than anything, and so if nothing else I wanted to make sure that the "dolls" would be able to slide down the slide into the pool, no matter how compromised the source material was. I essentially resorted to digging through what would have been thrown away items and attaching them together in such a way that my recreated tin-foil "dolls" would be able to slide into the "pool." I managed to find items that would match the color scheme of the pool and the slide, and create something that at the very least conceptually resembled the desired object. 

    In this way I realized that the art is not necessarily in the actual object with this assignment, but in the functionality of it, and the memory tied up with it. This was also apparent in the object that was created for me, although this object was much more accurate in material composition than the project I made. The item recreated for me was a sort of stuffed animal, resembling a small dog with a specific coloration. Seeing the color scheme be so spot on, and the general idea that existed in my mind embodied through the work of the hands of another person, was insightful into what actually made the project something that had deeper intrinsic value given that memories attached to it. It is difficult to find an art piece with as much personal association for the individual viewer as this one.