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.

TRASH TO TREASUES

PLASTER SCULPTURE

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

plaster, empty milk carton, pigment if desired

Meet Helen Park,

one of my top art students this year.

She is bravely taking two classes with me in her senior year,

Beginning 2-D and Intermediate 3-D.

She is a joy to teach because she is a quick study;

she takes to everything like a duck to water,

just like I mentioned in the learning to knit a scarf sampler post a week or so ago.

Mixing plaster is like cooking to me,

I never measure anything.

I eyeball how much I need,

how it looks and what it feels like.

But with plaster I refrain from tasting it.

hee hee

The poor kids are flying by the set of their pants after my demo.

wondering how much they should use.

ha ha

So I have them do a tester first in a tiny milk carton.

And that's what Helen is sculpting here over the trash can,

cuz it's really messy.

Her prelim was a success,

just the right amount of plaster to water,

because like I told you,

she is an attentive audience.

And this beauty below is her final piece.

She wanted to capture a swimmer doing the backstroke.

What do you think?

Notice the slight change in the camera angle?

 It really makes it look like the figure is guiding thru the water.

Her wood mounting is wonderful as well.

I really get a sense of peace and solitude as I look at her sculpture.

Makes me actually want to get in the water and give it a try.

It's been awhile.

Just lovely Helen.

And your piece is being put on display tomorrow for the Accreditation team to see

 when they get here in a couple of days.

I'm so proud to be able to show it off!

FINALLY MOUNTED

PLASTER SCULPTURE

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

plaster, milk cartoons, carving tools, wood scraps, dowels, paint & wood burning tools

This have been a long time in the making.

My 2nd year crafts kids began carving them in first quarter,

then let them dry out so they could be sanded and mounted.

The results were worth the wait.

Below is a group shot of all but senior Hazel Cruz's.

(hers came in late because she was absent and missed this photo op)

But let's first take a look at the kids getting started,

and the messes they made  :)

Above they are mixing their plaster. 

Some have chosen to pour in acrylic paint to marble into the liquid before it sets up.

These are all my cuties in the class.

In the first shot way above we have senior Will Kim center,

senior Antoniette Jabat left, 

and junior Shreya Sheth right. 

Sitting around the tables are happy campers from left front to right front,

Shreya,

 senior Kristine Luong,

 junior Jacqueline Yu ,

Antoniette,

senior Liana Chie,

 and senior Amber Wu.

And I couldn't resist taking this photo of Hazel & Antoniette.

Adorable!

These are the individual works.

We start with Hazel's.

So many things to love about Hazel's piece.

First of all her figure form.

Crisp, clean, angular & interesting.

And then her mount.

More angles to compliment form,

lots of interesting woodburned marks, 

the height and importance of the triple stacked mount,

 & the carefully place glass shards.

And then if you look closely below,

you will see she dusted chalk over top the wood for a look of snowfall.

Masterful Hazel. 

Will Kim is the artist on this next fun piece.

I love how he mounted it,

so very creative with the bamboo sticks and grasses.

I also like how he thought to suspend the figure with two poles instead of one.

This next one is the work of Amber Wu.

Very formally balanced and lovely.

Shreya Sheth enjoys pushing the envelop.

She did that herre in several ways.

Two abstract figures instead of one.

Using glass instead of poles to suspend them with.

And giving us a dramatic painted effect on her wood.

Brilliant piece Shreya.

And then there is the work of Liana Chie.

She will spend hours and hours on a piece getting it just right.

Notice how she has even decorated the cool off centered pole?

And the sensitive colors she has used along with the lovely pearls, 

shells and glass shards.

Very pretty Liana!

I wish I had a different angled photo of this next one by Kristine Luong.

And then a close up of her mount.

She stained the wood so beautifully

 and then she has taken real rose petals and glued them down.

Really sensory and appealing.

What a voluptuous figure Jacqueline Yu has sculpted.

And then she has accented the form and mount with glitter to tie them together.

Beautifully done.

And Antoniette has floated her form on a billowy cloud of fluff.

Angelic,

just like Antoniette  :)

It was wonderful sharing these,

I hope you enjoyed seeing what they'e been working on.

WHAT'S UP IN ROOM 18?

PLASTER SCULPTURE

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

plaster of paris, empty milk cartons, acrylic paint, carving tools, wood

Here's senior Kaili Hamada,

 not really sure if she likes the feel of the plaster thickening on her arm as she mixes her brew.

then above we have kili and senior bianca Tolentino carving away at their abstract figure sculptures.

It's a very messy process so I have the kids work outside my door.

And below senior Daphne Chiang uses her sweatshirt (clever girl)

to keep the sawdust out of her sinuses as she sands her wooden mount for her sculpture.

The finished works are creative and varied, 

and I'm so pleased with the results.

The kids put their hearts into this very difficult reductive sculpting process.

This year the girls asked if we could open up the requirements a bit so that they had a choice

 between sculpting an abstract figure or a non-objective work.

Absolutely. 

Both are challenging and require the use of critical problem solving.

Besides sculpting in plaster they also had to mount their pieces on wood.

Above is Kaili's finished work,

and below we have Bianca's piece,

both girls choosing to do an abstract figure.

What's so impressive to me is how differently they all turned out,

 and really showcase their individual personalities.

Daphne challenged herself with the non-objective choice

which I personally feel is a bit more difficult.

She thought so too.

But I think she did a great job,

and the mounting is extraordinary.

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.

Plaster Sculpture - Student Work

This is an Intermediate 3-d assignment that just keeps getting better every year.  You can click on Plaster Sculptures on the right side bar to see examples from the past couple of years.  These pieces above belong to the entire group, but I want you to see some close ups too.

This first one is the work of junior Kevin Tang.  I've been working with Kev since the 7th grade and he is highly creative in all his art works.  You can see he has worked to a theme of "Love, Hate and Broken Dreams".

This next one above was made by senior Pauline Yang.  I asked the kids to try to bring in some expressive quality into their work, and I feel that Pauline was very successful at this.  The kids were also supposed to mount their sculptures on a wooden base.  I really  like how besides the paint staining, Pauline also chose to do some wood burning as a decorative surface design.

Below Ingrid Huang has done a wonderful job as well with the assignment.  I really like the arm on the hip so that she has a pierced area.  This is very difficult to do in plaster without it breaking.

9th grader Karisma Dev has gone all out with her piece by drizzling paint over top the plaster, staining her wood in a very cool stripped pattern, and then stacking other pieces of wood so that they spiral around the figure.  Brilliant design and tremendous effort!!

Here is senior Andrea De Leon carving away her plaster.  I have the kids mix the wet plaster and pour the liquid into an empty milk carton container.  They are allowed to swirl acrylic paint into the liquid plaster to get a marbelized efffect before the plaster dryes, or they can do more then swirl it, they can completely mix it into the plaster so it becomes a solid color.  Most of the kids choose to swirl.

One of my favorites was done by senior Elsie Aguilar.  First off, I love her abstracted figure form with that tiny waist and the large hips, so Rubenesque.  And then the way she mounted it on a staircase, what great presentation with the added silk flowers and collaged text on the backside.  What a treat!

Senior Johanna Paz did the stunning sculpture above.  I really like how she off-centered it and also included a bit of wood burning in her mount.  Of course the glass shards add to the drama and interest.

This next one above was created by junior Nida Fatima.  What a gentle, loving piece Nida, just like you.  I really like that lovely shade of turquoise you chose for your wood block, and then bringing in the glass shards in the same tones.  Well done.

Below we have senior Borah Lim's very expressive work.  Love the unusal angle she mounted it at, and also the color of her wood mount.  Wonderful work kiddo.

This last piece was done by junior Rita Labib.  We've seen so many of her works this year.  This piece is another great example of the creativity this young woman brings to me on a daily basis.  One day Rita asked me if she could try laying down a large pool of elmer's glue on a piece of parchmant paper to see how it would dry.  Then she thought,, what would happen if she swirled acrylic paint in it before it dried.  Well, she ended up with this slightly thick plastic piece of coolness.  I asked her what she was going to do with it, and she said she wasn't sure yet.  During the mounting of her plaster figure, she figured it out.  She cut it up and used it for the tail fin on her sculpture.  Who knew??