Sculpture Self-Portrait Part 1

Time to start including artwork in this blog!

I like to explain about the ideas behind each piece, what went into the inspiration, what problems I encountered and why certain things change through the process. That's what's exciting about being an artist :)

But it does get wordy, so feel free to flip through the images and explanations.
Right now I'm working on a self-portrait in my Sculpture class. It will first be sculpted out of clay, and then we will make a silicon mold around our clay model. We'll make two sculptures from this mold, one out of plaster and then one out of a material of our choice.

We begin with the concept idea.



 

"If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." ~John 14:23.

 

I wanted to create an open cavity in the chest to represent the sense of Home I find with God. I haven't settled on what I will use to symbolize this, but I may end up going with a flower that is tightly in a bud. It would be based off of the following poem by Tagore:

 

No, it is not yours to open buds into blossoms.

Shake the bud, strike it; it is beyond your power to make it blossom.

Your touch soils it, you tear its petals to pieces and strew them in the dust.

But no colours appear, and no perfume.

Ah! It is not for you to open the bud into blossom.

He who can open the bud does it so simply.
He gives it a glance, and the life-sap stirs through its veins.
At his breath the flower spreads its wings and flutters in the wind.
Colours flush out like heart-longings, the perfume betrays a sweet secret.
He who can open the bud does it so simply.

You may have noticed the funny, little quark of a smile depicted in the concept drawing. I wanted to get across this sense of restrained joy that is bursting through, like a bud that is slowly opening.

The second part of our assignment was to use historic influences in our sculptures. I chose the Egyptian and the Hellenistic styles, which contrast each other

The Egyptians were known for their solid statues made out of stone- expressionless and enduring forever. The Hellenistic style, however, is much more humanistic. The Hellenists valued truth in their sculptures, catching every wrinkle and sign of old age.

Hellenistic

Egyptian

Here is a progression of the process.


Step 1. The Base

 

We started by adding wire around the base of the sculpture like a skeleton, securing the neck and then wrapping newspaper around the wire. This gives us a solid but pliable base. A traditional bust usually ends at the beginning of the shoulders, but mine will be a bit taller since I want to include the chest cavity.

 

Step 2. Basic Clay Structure

 



 

Now we just add clay to the newspaper base. We will not be firing this clay, so we used a recycled clay that was not very high quality. It still gets the job done though! We let the clay set up and harden for a few days so that it would be sturdy.

 

Step 3. Rough Facial Features

 

 

I'm prone to get attached to details too quickly, so it's important to remember that clay dries quickly. It's best to get the basic forms down first and then go into detail as the clay enters its "plastic" state. That is after the clay has set up a bit, but is still pliable. Never let it get bone dry! *Also, do not become discouraged if your sculpture begins to take on very creepy expressions. She'll mellow out after a while...

 

Step 4. Details!!!

 

Yes, details... this is my favorite part :) Once the basic forms are down and in the correct place, you can begin adding the... details :) Such as hair, ears, and refining the nose, eyes and cheek bones. *Hair does a lot to de-creepify a statue.

 

 

My sculpture was getting dry, so I had to score the scalp with a sharp tool and spray water to remoisten the clay. I used fairly moist, new clay for the hair, and wet my fingers down and ran them along the individual clumps of hair as I attached them to get the look of waves.

 

Final Steps.

 

 

Here she is, mostly finished. I have recently added a flower bud to the chest cavity and refined the neck and shoulder area. The finished clay sculpture will be included in the next post about making a mold.