Make It
How can using recycled or repurposed materials add meaning to this artwork?
Yuji Honbori
Yūji Honbori, a sculptor based in Kobe, Japan, has long been interested in using discarded materials to create his artworks. Some of his earlier sculptures were made from old wood from demolished houses, as well as from a Shinto shrine. In 2004 he began experimenting with discarded fruit and vegetable boxes from his local grocery store and became fascinated with the delicate, see-through quality of cardboard when viewed along its corrugated edges.
© Andrey Bold.
Most recently, Honbori has produced large-scale works based on famous Buddhist sculptures in Japanese temples. He feels a strong connection between recycled cardboard and Buddhist notions of ephemerality—that all that exists is impermanent, and nothing lasts. This is one of the most fundamental teachings in Buddhist tradition. Understanding and embracing this painful, inescapable truth is fundamental to the Buddhist path to enlightenment.
Honbori begins his process by drawing an outline on paper of the sculpture he is re-creating. Then, he traces the outline onto cardboard and cuts individual pieces of cardboard into desired shapes. A single one of his large-scale sculptures can be made up of thousands of individual pieces glued together. Watch this video to get a glimpse into the artist’s process. This particular sculpture in Mia’s collection depicts eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara (or Kannon in Japanese), an important bodhisattva personifying infinite compassion, and is based on a well-known sculpture made in the 700s, now owned by the Shōrin-ji temple in Nara. If you look at Honbori’s sculptures straight on, you can see the way he has glued together the individual sheets of cardboard, a departure from traditional methods that come to mind when we think of sculpting in clay, metal, or stone.
Honbori’s practice raises interesting questions about art’s contribution to consumption and waste and more generally about sustainability and the health of our planet. While industrial and technological revolutions have promoted the “take-make-dispose” model of production and economic growth, how can we be more mindful of our use of materials and wasteful practices? How can we find more opportunities to repurpose, recycle, and biodegrade the things we use? How do art and the creative practices of artists fit into that conversation? Honbori’s art provides us with the opportunity to reflect on the life cycles of material objects in art and in daily life.
Try It!
Check the recycling bins at home and school to gather a collection of cardboard. Learners can work independently to create their own small sculptures, or work in groups and teams to create a larger sculpture. Follow Honbori’s method of drawing an outline of the profile of a 3D object, tracing it onto cardboard, and then cutting out the shape. What kinds of sculptures can you make? A sawtooth utility blade (like those used for carving pumpkins), safety box cutter, or hobby knife can be effective alternatives to knives and scissors. Hot glue works best, but glue sticks can work well too if the sculpture is laid horizontally for gluing, then stood vertically once the glue is dry.
Time: 30 min. or up to 2 class periods
Materials: Cardboard; a sawtooth utility blade (like those used for carving pumpkins), safety box cutter, or hobby knife; hot glue gun, craft glue, or glue stick.
Guiding Questions:
How does this process differ from traditional methods of sculpting and carving?What kinds of critical thinking and planning are required in order to create your sculptural forms?
Do It!
Take the opportunity to explore ways to create 3D objects by computer. 3D printing makes solid, three-dimensional objects from a digital file. A typical 3D printer works like an inkjet printer, but instead of ink it extrudes a thin layer of plastic, building up the object layer by layer. Like Honbori’s process, the 3D printer turns a 3D CAD (computer-aided-design) drawing into cross-sectional layers that sit one on top of another.
If you’re looking for a way for your students to learn more about 3D printing and try it for themselves, Tinkercad is a free, kid-friendly platform for creating models for 3D printing online. If your classroom or your school doesn’t have its own 3D printer, try neighborhood and community resources like local libraries and maker spaces that have ones for public use.
The Minneapolis Institute of Art has free, downloadable 3D models of different artworks from its Asian art collection for you to explore and use on Sketchfab, an online platform that lets you publish and find 3D models online.
Time: 1 to 3 class periods
Materials: Computer-aided design (CAD) software, 3D print file, 3D printer
Guiding Questions:
In what ways does Honbori’s process of creating a sculpture layer by layer resemble 3D printing?
Make It Yours!
Design Challenge
Get inspired by Yuji Honbori’s repurposing of discarded materials and investigate and improve upon the ways materials are used, reused, and disposed of in your school or local community. Follow the design-thinking process below as outlined in this lesson, “What is the connection between design-thinking and art?”
Time: 3 or more class periods
Design-Thinking Process
- 1
Empathize: Explore Yuji Honbori’s background and work using the information and links in this lesson. Discuss what motivates him to use “garbage” or recyclable materials to create. How does this motivation stem from the artist’s community and cultural background?
- 2
Connect: Research and make an assessment of material consumption and waste-disposal methods at your school. Or you can choose to look into waste management (waste disposal and recycling) in your city. Gain an understanding of how these systems operate and how they intersect with your daily lives. Identify a list of problems in the system and form teams based on shared interest in a specific problem to solve.
- 3
Ideate: Brainstorm potential design solutions to the problem you identified. As a team, determine which idea you will pursue (either sketching or 3D construction).
- 4
Prototype: Make a rough prototype. Use repurposed, reusable, or recycled materials to create your prototype.
- 5
Test: Share your creation with peers—how you created it and why. If you were to do this again, what would you do differently, and why? Solicit constructive feedback from peers; from their perspectives, what worked well, what made this idea compelling, and what could have been improved?