What's Going on in the Classroom: Plaster Sculptures

I really wanted to give my foundations students a subtractive sculpture experience this year. So we did a little research on Henry Moore and specifically talked about abstract art with an emphasis on how to show an emotion. Students then carved these plaster beauties below. For my first time through this project, I think it turned out okay!

A Peak Inside my Portfolio: Figurative Sculpture *UPDATE*

Sculpture Class is over! Last night was our final critique. It went fine and I can officially say I'm done. One more class and a thesis until I get that Master's Degree! Now if you remember from my last post, my figurative sculpture suffered some damage in the kiln. I did decide to use Kintsugi to repair it and I love it!  But before that, here's the final image of my subtractive sculpture:

Turned out just great! Now moving on to the 'happy accident' piece... After some serious epoxy use, both to repair my piece (as best as I could) and secure the posts for weaving, here's what my piece looked like:

The I used acrylic paint and water to create a stain for the piece. I used brown, black, red and brilliant yellow straight out of the tube, watered down, and layered over the clay. Then I covered the entire piece in a wash of black, watered-down acrylic. The places where there were missing pieces, you can see I left un-painted. That's where the Kintsugi comes in.

If you click on Kintsugi, you will head on over to a webpage with some wonderful info about the art form. However, briefly, it is a way of taking broken pieces of pottery and putting them back together to create a new and possibly more beautiful piece. I just used some gold leaf and gold paint, nothing like the actual gold resin used by professionals. Regardless, I still think it turned out pretty nicely. The weaving looks great as well!

A Peak Inside my Portfolio- Additive Sculpture Update

Alright friends, this piece is a beast! I cannot seem to finish it and even though I've spent hours and hours on it, there still seems to be more to do! I've completed the construction and now I'm on to finishing the surface. I coated the entire piece in plaster which took forever! I had to make small batches and continually rinse out my container. Lots of trips to the sink! I used a fork and my fingers for the application. As you can see, the piece is taller than me so it took a long time to cover the entire surface area.

After the piece was completely covered, I moved into the painting stage of finishing the work. I'm using a matte black acrylic paint. Doing a small area at a time, I paint it and then wipe off a good portion of the paint using a sponge The process is slow (again!) not to mention it is tearing up my hands and the sponges. But, what I'm left with is an amazing texture and finish! I love it! The black paint remains in all the grooves and cervices but comes off of the higher areas so the white can show through. This gives the piece the grungy, gritty look that I was hoping for. I'm about half way done and have high hopes to finish it next week (although that has been my plan for the last two weeks so we'll see...) Stay tuned for finished product pictures!

A Peak Inside my Portfolio: Social Issues Additive Sculpture

This semester, I'm taking a sculpture course as part of earning my Master's degree. I'm liking the course, but it is challenging for me, especially in the realm of construction. This first piece is a additive sculpture constructed of wood, dry wall compound and wire. It's not finished, it's taking so long to put it all together correctly!

The assignment was to create a sculpture that addressed a social issue. I chose to have my piece discuss the idea of our freedoms in this country and how, for some people, more 'freedom' actually means less freedom.

These are just in-process pictures, more to come soon!

Creating a wire loom for my metal wire weaving

Starting to do the weaving!

The structure of my sculpture complete!

What's Going on in the Classroom: Completed Found Object Sculptures

Just an update, here are many of our completed found object sculptures. They turned out great!