For this project, my initial inclination was to make a cabinet of curiosity that follows the Svankmajer article: Creating a cabinet displaying all my collected oddities.
I collect all kinds of different things: movies, books, vinyl records, board games, coffee mugs, old government weather maps, post cards, weird clay and glass figurines, horror merchandise, Doctor Who merchandise, Marvel comics and merch, and crystals and stones. I could go on….
I like the idea of combining all this weird stuff together. I especially like the different categories Svankmajer talks about: Naturalia, Exotica, Scientica, etc.
However, to make the assignment more manageable, I decided to make a “Cabinet of Horror.”
Image 1: Photo from my creative journal
Image 1 shows my initial sketch for my cabinet in my creative journal. The first page shows the front of the cabinet, with doors that open. The second page is the inside of the cabinet. The shapes show where my photos will be placed (I’m taking photos of some of the horror items I have collected) and I’ll have flaps that uncover the items, like an advent calendar or like the museum card passed around in class.
Image 2: Actual-size plans for cabinet [Front]
Image 3: Actual-size plans for cabinet [Inside]
So, for the plans, I taped 4 11×17 sheets together; 2 for the front of the cabinet, 2 for the inside. Then, with a ruler, I decided where all my images were going.
Next, I will get sturdy poster board and attach the photos of my items and use other poster board or construction paper to make the flaps. Image 4 is a collage of all the items in the cabinet.
Figure 4: Horror items to be included in “Cabinet of Horrors”
Final Result:
Figure 5: Front of Cabinet
Figure 6: Inside of Cabinet
Note: Not sure this is worthy of being called “a work of art in itself,” as the assignment description requires. It is a representation of a collection, though.