Form Project

Envision | Express

Restate your intentions for this project--how did you combine abstracting the figure with an outside influence?  

• I chose to combine the image of sitting legs with spherical objects as well as spring forms. The springs were the inspiration for the the cylindrical shape, while the rounded knees were inspired by the spheres. I came up with the idea for spheres when we did them in Geometry class. I tried hard to work with my images while I sculpted to really evoke the ides and inspirations that I drew from.

Develop Craft |Engage and Persist

How did you push yourself to gain a better understanding of the physical properties of the plaster? 

• To push myself and to gain a better understand the physical properties of the plaster, I used a variety of tools that each had different effects on the plaster. At times i wetted the plaster, and once I even re-mixed the plaster to ADD back to my work. Notably, my plaster was much older than everyone else's (by months), so it was much drier and more brittle when i began. This created a new and exciting challenge.

In what ways did you come to better control the various tools you employed?

• I attempted to understand how each tool worked, in order to use it as productively as possible. This helped me refine and sculpt my work at a greater rate of speed, which later gave me more time to sand and refine the textural features of my work.

Stretch and Explore

In what ways did your intentions change over the course of your project?  What opportunities or occurrences led to these changes?

• My work was going well at first, but about midway through large chunks randomly chipped off of the base and came close to ruining the entire goal of the rectangular plane shape of the back. When I remade plaster to fill in a hole that had been drilled accidently during a class demonstration, I used that same plaster to rebuild the back of my sculpture. This "second chance" really helped to achieve my goal of a smooth, near "perfect" box on which the legs are sitting.

What were some of the specific formal areas you focused on to realize your piece? how did you employ form, gesture, texture to reinforce your intentions?

• I focused a lot on texture and abstraction. For the texture, i made sure to spend almost 3 days sanding and refining my work. Although my work may not be as abstract as some, the legs really drew from my inspiration of springs and spheres.