The site: Bunche Hall
I was intrigued by the possibilites offered by the basically broad rectangular pillars at Bunche. Additionally, this location has significance as a sort of gateway to our little section of north campus and is an area that experiences much foot traffic.
I wanted the design to span 3 of the pillars. To map it out, I estimated distances and set up a grid system in Illustrator, in which the height of each rectangle is 2 feet; knowing the height of the total design was important because of the limitations of physical reach.
Using circles, I estimated the total perimeter of fish shape. Other calculations revealed how much width of line increased across the distance. These estimated measurements turned out surprisingly accurate. :-)
How many goldfish?
Figuring about 70 goldfish crackers in one foot of line, then multiplying by approximate perimeter, I found that this would require about 4000 goldfish. A while later I realized that differing line widths meant different numbers of goldfish, but my error wouldn't be off by more than 1000 goldfish.
Each large goldfish carton contains approximately 1760 crackers...so I figured I wouldn't need more than 3 cartons.
Unfortunately, gravity works vertically, and you can't just glue the goldfish to the wall. So, I glued several thousand goldfish to strips of tracing paper. Notice how there are three widths: 4 goldfish, 6 goldfish, and 7 goldfish, for each of the three pillar distances.
I made a "drawing" of the shape out of blue tape on the pillars before putting up the goldfish.
The goldfish strips were affixed to the wall using Scotch tape.
