Project 1: Clay Self-Portrait
Yes. Our first project, in basic sculpture, was to sculpt a bust of ourselves out of clay. Seems pretty basic, right? Riiiight... Many late nights were spent in the sculpture lab, wrestling with this thing. Ha, one saturday I worked on it for a good two hours. I had the nose, and the eyes just about where they needed to be. The following monday, my professor took a knife to it and completely destroyed two hours of work in two seconds. BUT he was right, and I was grateful in the end that he fixed it when he did. All in all, I discovered a new, fun art medium I hope to use again.
The process:
The Final:
Project 2: Abstract Plaster
Carving plaster made me feel like a "real-life sculptor!" I mean, this is what Michaelangelo, Phideas, Myron, and all those ancient Greek and Roman sculptors did. Carving with hammer and chisel, muscling through their artwork. This was a very different medium to work with than clay. Carving is not forgiving. If you chisel off something on accident, you have to work around it and find a new way to make your piece work. For this reason, I was so happy we didn't have to replicate our faces with plaster. Our abstract carvings were much less exact. Through several sketches, I finally decided on the idea I liked, and ran with it. The proportions changed quite a bit when I realized the plaster could break if I had such thin and thick areas. This is the out come:
The process:
The Final:
Project 3: Found Object
Alright. To be honest, one of my least favorite forms of art is Found Object art. Granted, I have seen some really cool pieces of found art, but it's not something I'd just go try out. Unless I was assigned to in a class, of course, then I would really have no choice but try to make something out of some things. I struggled with this project the most out of any in this class. I finally decided to, instead of creating something beautiful or just "nice to look at," I'd go for a message or metaphor. I must have gone to the DI (Deseret Industries) at least six times and bought all types of "stuff" to somehow conglomorate all together. After starting and failing twice, my last try finally succeeded.
I took the idea of a water bucket. When it overflows, all that is spilled is wasted. I feel, in our country as a whole, we as consumers are really excessive and overspend on "junk" (especially compared to other countries.)
The Final:
Project 4: Large-scale Outdoor Sculpture
Our final project of the class was to build a ten foot (or taller) sculpture to be installed outside. We not only needed to think about the aesthetics and concept of this project but it's durability and how well it would survive the elements. Two other girls worked on this project. It was the most time consuming, outlandish project I have done thusfar in college, but one of the most rewarding projects as well. I remember working on it 14 hours straight one saturday. We stayed up until 4 in the morning, out in the FREEZING cold weather, on our hands and knees in the parking lot assembling this beast. Finally we finished it, and what a sweet feeling that was! All of our hard work paid off, and we were able to enjoy our sculpture out in front of the art department for a full week (before we had to completely destroy it and throw it in the dumpster HAHA.) May I present, the Giant Rubiks Cube:
The process:
The Final:
Basic sculpture was a great time in my college career. It was nice to be able to focus solely on that class, and be able to really learn and enjoy creating these pieces. Plus, it was a GREAT break away from the computer!
