PLASTER SCULPTURE
INTERMEDIATE 2-D ART
milk carton, plaster of Paris, carving tools, sand paper, wood block, paint
For many of my Intermediate students this is probably their least favorite assignment.
Carving away or Reductive Sculpture is extremely challenging,
and depending on which materiel you use,
may break half way thru and not be fixable.
Using clay is the easiest reductive method but we used plaster.
This year I'm going to first have the kids do a mini piece in clay to be able to see their boundaries
before carving into the plaster.
Every year the kids get to choose their subject matter.
It's usually a choice between Abstraction or Non-Objective.
If they choose to abstract then it's usually a figure sculpture.
Senior Rachel Kann chose the last.
If you look back thru the blog over the years and put into the search engine Abstract Figures,
or Plaster Sculptures,
you will see that Rachel has put in far more detail then the others
like waves in the hair, arms & legs.
Rachel was very frustrated about losing an arm and leg
as she was carving,
but I told her it was fine the way it was,
like a piece from antiquity.
She has also chosen a dynamic pose rather then a static one,
which makes sculpting even more difficult.
She might be the first one to do this as well.
All of us really loved her wood base too.
It came out so like-like.
I believe she painted it with multiple layers using a sponge.
And then of course using a toothbrush with paint to spray those fine dots over.
I have attempted this ... trying to create by subtraction in three dimensions. It is not for the faint of heart and I congratulate Rachel for finding this evocative form within a block of chalky white anonymity
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you Liz, I had to do this in college and it was so very difficult. My mother used mine as a doorstop for years in her home. Ha ha It was a big heavy blob of ugly.
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