So our theme is loss and desire. That's it. Go make a sculpture.
I had NEVER made a sculpture of any sorts before in my life. I mean, when I thought of sculpture, I thought of extravagant marble statues and ornate clay designs and other challenging techniques I felt as though I could never do right here, right now, at age 17 with 3 years of "formal" art training under my belt. What could I possibly do?
Luckily, Coach gave us some starting ideas. He taught us the basics of tape casting, paper mache, and plaster casting so I didn't feel quite so much like a fish out of water, but then left us on our own. Still admittedly without much direction, I began to cast my torso and shoulders in an "extended-bust" style, and was happy with the result. Tape casting is surprisingly simple, and so much fun! It was especially exciting as the art hallway began to fill up with various tape-cast figures, arms and legs and heads and everything in between. Matt even wore my tape-cast torso proudly as a hat.
My favorite part of my tape casting process had to be casting my sister's head to put on my body. I kind of like that the final figure is a combination of the two of us (she is my favorite person in the world after all), but making her wear a swim cap while wrapping her head in tape was quite the unique experience!
I had NEVER made a sculpture of any sorts before in my life. I mean, when I thought of sculpture, I thought of extravagant marble statues and ornate clay designs and other challenging techniques I felt as though I could never do right here, right now, at age 17 with 3 years of "formal" art training under my belt. What could I possibly do?
Luckily, Coach gave us some starting ideas. He taught us the basics of tape casting, paper mache, and plaster casting so I didn't feel quite so much like a fish out of water, but then left us on our own. Still admittedly without much direction, I began to cast my torso and shoulders in an "extended-bust" style, and was happy with the result. Tape casting is surprisingly simple, and so much fun! It was especially exciting as the art hallway began to fill up with various tape-cast figures, arms and legs and heads and everything in between. Matt even wore my tape-cast torso proudly as a hat.
My favorite part of my tape casting process had to be casting my sister's head to put on my body. I kind of like that the final figure is a combination of the two of us (she is my favorite person in the world after all), but making her wear a swim cap while wrapping her head in tape was quite the unique experience!
Upon finishing, Meg proudly announced, "Virginia look, we're TWINNING!" and held up her own tape cast head.
However, I wanted to differentiate my sculpture from the world of tape cast figures that crowded the art hallway, and so I decided to paper mache over the tape cast bust and shoulders. Beginning to form a more solid idea, I decided I wanted a more organic, natural look, picturing a brown base and developing what would eventually become my main focus-- seeds. I ended up paper macheing the bust with PAPER TOWELS, they were the absolute perfect color! It's sometimes interesting what unconventional materials truly make a piece look put together. To cover the brown paper mache base, I wanted to cover the entire figure with seeds. I'll talk more about the purpose of these when I eventually finish the final sculpture, but I was somewhat inspired by the bird feeders I'd always grown up seeing outside my window, as well as one of my most vivid memories of all time, the tall sunflowers my sister and I used to grow every year that would rise taller than our garage roof. I promise this all has to do with loss and desire, but you'll just have to be patient!
In other news, sticking sunflower seeds (I also picked up some red lima beans, pinto beans, and split peas from the grocery store to add color as well as continue with my organic theme) all over a giant paper mache bust is definitely a challenge, and a messy one at that. I ended up glopping layers and layers of glue onto my figure, then sticking seeds into the puddles hoping that they would stay put. I'm excited to say most did, although if I've learned anything from this project so far, it's that seeds are the new glitter, you find them EVERYWHERE! However, I'm really excited about how this project is turning out, and I can't wait to see what happens!
In other news, sticking sunflower seeds (I also picked up some red lima beans, pinto beans, and split peas from the grocery store to add color as well as continue with my organic theme) all over a giant paper mache bust is definitely a challenge, and a messy one at that. I ended up glopping layers and layers of glue onto my figure, then sticking seeds into the puddles hoping that they would stay put. I'm excited to say most did, although if I've learned anything from this project so far, it's that seeds are the new glitter, you find them EVERYWHERE! However, I'm really excited about how this project is turning out, and I can't wait to see what happens!