REDUCTIVE MOVES

PLASTER SCULPTURE

INTERMIEDIATE 3-D ART

plaster of paris & carving tools

I just found these great in-progress shots of Rachel's

Abstracted Figure that I posted the other day.

I think it's important to see the process part way thru sometimes.

For me personally,

thinking about and sculpting in a Reductive technique is quite painful.

At least it was in High School and College.

I haven't gone there again as an older adult.

But now that I'm a senior citizen or a mid-lifer

and as Barbara Strauch says in the book The Secret Life of the Middle Aged Brain,

I am much happier and more creative

(which incidentally I am!)

I should give it one more try.

Maybe when I retire

hee hee

ABSTRACTION

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.

TO THE MOON AND BACK RALPH!

MOONBABIES

CERAMICS I

clay, glazes & oxides

Ok,

who remembers the T.V. show from the 60's whose main character was Ralph??

Answer at the end of post.

Hello again my lovelies.

Today's clay assignment is called Moonbabies (tiny abstract figure sculpture).

It is the second assignment for the beginners,

but what I don't tell them is how very difficult it is on many levels.

They just think it's learning to push and pull the clay out.

But oh my,

it's so much more then that.

Because accidents happen.

Like how the arm fell off from the piece below.

Or maybe the head snapped off,

the list is long here.

But what I'm trying to get them to see & accept from the get-go,

is that these can be "happy" accidents

 that will turn your piece into something so much better then you had anticipated.

Not buying it, huh?

Let's see.

I'm guessing that this super cool piece above made by  junior Dustine Amboy

originally had another arm and perhaps a head.

But because these are beginners and they don't get yet how fragile clay can be,

they accidentally break pieces off as the clay dries out, 

or perhaps it broke it as they were still shaping it.

And they had not been taught yet how to reattach clay to clay.

That is in the next lesson learned called Pinch Pots.

But don't you just love this piece without the arm & head?

It reminds me of a piece from antiquity.

And check out the way Dustine stained it with Red Iron Oxide.

Instead of brushing it on and wiping it off with a sponge which was suggested & demoed.,

she bravely brushed it on then put it under the water faucet for who knows why,

and wella!

 What a "happy" accident!!!!

These next two are also missing several body parts,

but who the heck cares,

right??

They are so very perfect just the way they are.

Red Iron Oxide staining on left and Cobalt Blue on right.

Both pieces were made by junior Lina Kim.

Fabulous!

And what do we have here?

Wow, this is a really dynamic human form.

Junior Richard Montes has created so much movement with his piece.

And check out how cool he glazed it.

Loving the White glaze overlapping the Black.

But it was this last one that was my favorite.

This piece is also by Richard,

again he is bringing in a whole lot of movement.

And the glazing is lovely.

Showing off two different views.

I'm delighted to say that I own this wonderful sculpture,

and will be teaching with it in a couple of days.

Thank you Richard for this beautiful gift.

The answer to the question was The Jackie Gleason Show.

PUSH, PULL, PINCH, SMOOTH

MOONBABIES

CERAMICS I

clay & oxides

This is the first serious assignment of the school year.

Create an abstract human figure by only pulling, 

pinching & pushing the clay around from one solid lump.

No allowing of the attaching of arms or legs.

They must be pulled down or outwards.

The kids go in with great trepidation but end up with the most elegant figures and torsos.

Of course they are also graded on craftsmanship & effort,

plus making the form 3-D rather than flat.

As well as trying for an expressive quality.

That's a lot,

but man oh man do they go for it!

What you will notice right off the batt is that we didn't glaze these to finish them off.

We stained them only with oxides.

This fabulous piece above by senior Lauren Kennedy was stained with Cobalt Carbonate.

To stain means to brush on,

 then to wipe off with a wet sponge.

It's up to the kids how much to wipe off,

a little or a lot.

Notice the directional movement of the sponge as senior Eunice Shim wiped her dynamic piece.

Super cool Eunice!

Eunice applied a combo. of Chrome Carbonate with Cobalt,

which gives a turquoise color.

 In this next one by sophomore Olivia Krueger,

she draws on some decorative incised lines for added interest.

She is staining with Red Iron Oxide.

Senior Sarah Oh also used incising on this very shapely torso.

Hard to tell from this pix,

but I think Sarah used Red Iron with Rutile Oxide to stain with.

And these last two expressive figures were done by senior Avanthi Dev,

and junior Renee Lin.

Avanthi is using Cobalt and Renee experimented with some combos.

She started with Cobalt on the head,

overlapped a bit of Chrome thru the bust,

then overlapped the stomach and legs with Rutile.

Pretty darn impressive for their first project of the year.

Looking forward to showing off more.

PLASTIC MAN

Senior Karisma Dev,

one of my top art students of all time,

made this plastic man for an English Project.

I was so impressed with it that I asked if I could take a pix 

before she give it to her teacher for grading.

I'm trying to remember if she told me she used her sister as the actual model

 and wrapped the tape around her,

cut it off her,

then re-tapped it together.

I really like that both sides are different in design,

probably based on the piece of Literature that corresponds with it.

It really grabbed senior Nick Tudor's fancy as he danced around the classroom with it.

And then Karisma came to the rescue.

LOL

IT'S ALL ABOUT RECYCLING...

WOOD ANGELS

BEGINNING 3-D ART

wood scraps, recycled materials, paper collage & wood staining

And these recycled wood figures are a great assignment to put at the end of the year.

This way we get to use up a lot of bits and pieces that are left behind from other projects.

I let the kids pick their subjects:

people, animals, insects;

as long as they are abstracted yet still recognizable.

Senior Sunny Kim made one of my personal favorites above.

Note all the adorable details:

the woodburned kitty faces on the feet,

the wire wings,

the Polymer clay face that has been stained with acrylic paint to bring out the facial details,

two different screws for arms,

the coiled wire spring for the pelvic area,

the list is long.

Another favorite was made by senior Anna Lee.

Two of the requirements were to include text and a bit of woodburning.  

Anna combined them on the inside of this clever and whimsical piece.

And junior Chirag Bisht knocked it out of the park with his cool skateboarding figure.

Clever young man used a wrench for the board which gave his piece so much personality.

And love that plant thingy on the top of the head that curls over.

Fun, fun, fun!!!

Sophomore Shreya Sheth went all out on her piece,

in this interactive caterpillar.

Sadly she ran out of time to get the features on,

but it was still remarkable 

and one of the most popular pieces at our Open House display.

And this cutie belongs to junior Liana Chie.

Notice the recycled paintbrush,

wire, nails, etc.?

Fun piece Liana!

The kids found the most interesting items to recycle like junior Hazel Cruz here.

Her father's broken watch face that she wired into the holes she drilled.

Yeap,

the kids were required to learn how to drill,

saw and sand their wood foundations.

They did this on a preliminary piece first to practice.

Here is Shreya using the drill as she starts the base of her caterpiller piece,

and below is junior A.K. Manivannan having fun with the jigsaw 

as he cuts a curve into his foundation.

Another requirement was to bring in an expressive quality to the piece 

through facial expressions or body language.

Both these pieces here,

top one by senior Adhora Islam,

and bottom by junior William Kim,

were done with the woodburning tool.

Some type of fibery goodness was also a requirement,

along with paper collage and paint staining.

I made these children jump thru a lot of hoops for this assignment,

and they never let me down.

Thank you all for working so hard,

it pays off big time!!!

Meet My Ceramics I Students

 ABSTRACT FIGURE SCULPTURES

"Moonbabies"

Every year I start off my beginning clay students with this assignment because it only involves  pushing and pulling the clay, no added on parts.   And it always amazes me the creativity and expressive quality that they manage to bring into their pieces.

This first one by senior Anne Allen really caught my attention because of the stamped areas that add interest and also the asymmetry of the form.

And check out the super expressive quality of this next one by senior Megan Yeu.  To finish these pieces after bisque firing, I have the kids stain them with oxides.  

And then how cool is this next one made by Cindy Ryoo.  I really like the elongated form.

And look at how much junior Kyung Yi was able to stretch out her clay.  Love it!

Plaster Figurative Sculptures - Student Work

Here is another figurative project done by a different group of kids, my second year 3-d students.  Even though the kids complain the whole way thru this assignment, the end results are so worth it.  And what could they possibly be complaining about you ask?  Days and days of subtractive carving, not being able to see the finished product right off the bat.  Getting full of plaster dust, is the end in sight??  And then that's only the first 1/2 of the assignment.  After the plaster figure dries out, they need to sand it and build their own mounting block.  Like I said, the results are so worth it.  Here we go!

Senior Tiffany Lee starts us off with this crazy, amazing work.  Her figure reminds me so much of the opening of the Dobie Gillis Show in the 1960" that I used to watch everyday after school.  The show opens with a statute of "The Thinker" by Rodin in a park-like setting with Bob Denver (first Dobie then he played Gilligan) sitting in front of it contemplating his kooky life.  Only Tiffany's "Thinker" is more abstract with a much more intense look on his face.  I adore this piece and the simple mount she put it on.  Brilliant Tiff! 

I really love the piece of wood she chose.  Looks kind of like it was a piece of old molding that has been ripped from a wall and knowing me, I probably dug it out of a trash can somewhere before it caught Tiffany's eye.

Now Mr. Z, our Physics teacher, is the proud owner of this work.  He bought it from Tiffany at Open House.

This next piece by senior Sheila San Agustin, was really an innovative work.  I'm loving how she brought in a piece of fabric for a cape with a wonderful silver button to hold it in place.  And then her wood mount was so well thought out.  Check out how she uses those recycled nails!

Then we have another talented senior, Ashley Chowdhury.   Notice the wonderful detail on the rib cage area, the military type shoulder accents, lace skirt, and how she has used the pearls throughout the whole piece.  And can you find the fine shards of glass?  

And when you look closely at both Sheila and Ashley's plaster, you can see that both girls marbled acrylic pigment into the wet plaster before it set up.  I have the kids use old milk cartons to pour their plaster into.  It's their choice it it stays white or if they add color.  

Next is senior Amy Hsu, one of my favorite all-time students, right up there with you Christi Conners  LOL.  Amy went all out with her finishes.  She poured the acrylic paint right over-top her sculpture (takes guts), painted/stained her woodblock, then finished up with glass shards.  Fantastic job kiddo!

And this last one by senior Julia Faith Chanco was everyone's favorite.  We were all drawn to her piece's voluptuous form.  People at Open House were fighting over owning this work, that's how powerful it was.  The very lucky owner is junior Judy Shih  :)  Masterful young Julia!  Miss you mama.