The cranes were surprisingly simple to make, though I probably flubbed the last few steps on mine. I only made smaller ones, so it was relatively simple on my end. And, in the end, when we had piled up all the cranes together, and all of the little loops had been sewn in, it was really cool. It was just this massive outpouring of art, and everyone in the class had done exactly the same thing I had done, and though everyone's was a bit different, the cranes I'd made had stopped being mine. I couldn't distinguish them from anyone else's, which is normally a really important part of the artistic process -- to set yourself and your art apart.
Putting them up was a bit more difficult, because it as a larger installation in a busy place, and everyone was sort of doing something different, but the coherence was nice when it was all put together. We laid all the cranes out on the floor in a v-shape and strung fishing line through the little embroidery loops (at least, that's what I think it was), and then it was hung from the lights in the front hall.
A really lovely piece of art came out of this lesson, as well as a demonstration (for the students and by the students) of what we could do if we wanted to. Sometimes, I look at large pieces of art, and deny that I could do that. Because it's so large, and improbable, and who would even appreciate my creation anyways? But we were able to create this bunch of hanging birds in the busiest part of the school at one of the busiest times of the day, and people appreciated it.
In Art 1 we explored the idea that the process and the product were both an equal part of the art. That the process was as beautiful as the product itself. This was also shown in the documentary 'Between the Folds.' But, I suppose in a more literal sense, the process was the creation of the art, everything from the plain paper to the hanging it up. And the product was the arrangement of cranes on the ceiling.
