Something Inspirational

So today has been a pretty awful day, and I wanted to share something inspirational I found earlier this week. Matthew Bartiks has become my new hero, and probably my favorite sculpturist right now. I loved how he took simple, everyday objects and turned them into something awe-inspiring. Thanks for making my week better Matthew Bartiks!
 


 
 


In case you couldn't tell that was all made of forks!!!!!Mind-blowingly awesome!

Breadth Piece #2

For the home project, I ended up deciding to use both paper and metal wire for my medium. It was really an intriguing process, because I hadn't worked with either of the materials before. Wire by far was the most difficult because it involved a different sort of thinking than clay. You cannot attach separate pieces of wire, so every single fold and bend must be accounted for. I figured out a long piece of wire can go short very quickly. After messing around with the wire for a little bit to get a feel for it. I started on the first part of my abstract sculpture: the roots.

The rest of my sculpture all involved paper. I choose to use pastel colored card stock, to give a more whimsical and childlike feel to the piece. The first part of the paper structure was an Indian head. It took a little while to draw it out on the card stock the same way I liked it in my sketchbook. I attached the two pieces of paper and made into a pocket, where I planned to put the wire inside later. I curled the "headdress" of the head, but later went back to add more dimensions. The eye hole I cut out as a house to further continue the concept of home.

The next step was to create the clouds, and idea I was inspired from one of the examples. This was were I got an opportunity to experiment with the dimensionality of paper. I was having a little bit of trouble keeping the paper 3-D as opposed to 2-D. I tried using folds and slits with an exacto to combine the layers of paper, but I found folding and hot glue to be a better tool. Again like the head, each cloud was formed like a pocket, so that it could easily slip onto the wire support that would come out of the head. Using the hot-glue gun technique, I next made the most important part of my sculpture, the skyscrapers. This was the hardest and most time consuming part because I could not cut the opening of the windows easily without exposing the underlying skyscraper. Again I created a double side pocket to allow for the other buildings and wire to give stable support.

The final putting together of all the individual parts proved to be a little challenging. It was really difficult to put the wire through the eye hole and get the sculpture to stand on its own. I had to do a lot of careful bending and re-arranging of the wire so that no parts of the sculpture sagged. All in all it turned out to be almost exactly how I had planned it out, and I'm content with the results. Also it was a nice change to not do any glazing or finishing of the piece. When it was done it was done.

Reflection

It took a little bit to adjust to the new material, but I didn't really feel that behind, and stayed on target to what I was expecting. The windows were a lot harder than I was expecting them to be. It was a challenging piece to think ahead on, because I had to adjust some of the arrangements of the piece so that it could be self-supporting. I really like how this piece turned out, but am ok without working with the time-consuming paper medium for a while.

Concentration Piece #1

       The time came and went for concentration piece!  I really wanted to incorporate the idea of industry and how much of our life involves industrial products. I just didn't know how to do it. I had to come up with at least 10 piece ideas in order for it to be a concentration, and my thoughts were kinda scattered. I did a lot of brainstorming and finally came up with an idea for my first piece: a steam punk egg.

I started on the wheel with Aluminum Hi-Fire clay, with not much of an idea of how to make an egg shape. Ms. Ferguson, however, did a demo and helped me learn how to make the form. It was really interesting for me, because the clay had to be completely be raised, closed off at the top, and sealed. Here's the part that really blew my mind--After the air had been completely sealed in, you use your hands and use the air inside to form the egg shape. It was really different for me and took a few tries, but I ended up making and trimming(on the wheel) two eggs.

Fun photo of Maria!!!

 

I decided to leave half of the egg in a very natural, organic state and went to work slicing the egg in half. The second half was the more complicated part. I wanted to have it look like it was in the middle of a machine, so therefore needed a lot of gears. I used circular cut-outs and a needle tool for some of the gears, and the other I tried to use gear stencils. The stencils were a little more difficult to use, because the clay would often crack when I tried to pop the gears out. I had some additive and some subtractive elements to make the gears seem more dimensional, and it turned out to be a delicate process. However the piece looked great before going into the kiln.

 

Sorry it's blurry!

Keeping with the theme, I did two separate glaze colors for each side. I put Cloud White on the unembellished part of the egg, and did Palladium on the side with the gears. On the inside, I put Iron Luster. After initial firing one of the small gears had popped off, so I had to glaze that separately. It turned out pretty nice, but I was surprised that the Cloud White turned out to be yellow. Overall it turned out pretty nice.

Reflection
I had a very hard time coming up with a good concentration. I debated between a variety of concentration, from fruit-inspired to a combination of animal parts with industry to an idea of doing a concentration all on eggs. This project was a safe piece, and one that could be used in a few of my ideas. Basically it bought me time some time before I decided on my concentration. Next time I need to spend more time preparing my ideas so that I don't feel like I'm rushing during class. Besides forming the egg, it was not that difficult of a piece for me to make. I'm a little disappointed that Cloud White turned out to be yellow and not the pristine white I was expecting, but it could have been a lot worse.

House Project

This project is not inspired by an artist, but more by the idea of home. Home--a universal place--means different things to different people, and can inspire a variation of feelings. Our mission was to take this very specific shape, and create our own spin on it. We had to choose one or two words we associate with home, and Focusing on lines, the primary visual element had to have a representation of home, and could be in any media.

Our inspiration:
  

THIS ONE IS MY FAVORITE!

 

A few ideas:

Media idea

Media idea

 

A few WORDS I associate with home: unattainable, childlike, wistful, faraway, our roots

Breath Piece #1,

         Finally uploading projects! For our first breadth piece, the Theresa Brooks project, I decided to do my organic piece of of a dimensional leaf. I used Aluminum Hi-Fire clay and started by making a bowl on the wheel. It took a few tries after not working with clay all summer! I then rolled out a slap and carefully cut away to make the shape at the top. 

Fun Photo of Peter!

                             

      Using simple scratch and attach methods, I combined the bowl and slap into one piece, and then I began finalizing the leaf shape. I pressed my fingers into the clay to make it more dimensional before starting my choice of texture. I choose to use a subtractive approach for my texture. Using a needle tool, I carved out holes and did indentations on my leaf shape. I had to be careful when I was punching out the holes because I didn't want to crack the dry clay.

       

After firing, I played around with which glazes to use. I was deciding between a metallic finish or a more organic finish and choose the more natural look. I like the idea of bringing out a blue undertone, and used a blue-gray underglaze in the holes and wiped away the rest. Instead of completely wiping away the glaze, I left a light amount sponged on the entire piece. I topped it off with Holly Green glaze. It came out of the kiln looking fantastic! The colors remind me of the rain forest, and really made it into the "Corroding Leaf" it is now.

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Reflection       

I spend a lot of time outside of class perfecting the look for my piece, because it had lots of details and am really proud of the result. Coming up with the shape and design wasn't very difficult, I think it took less than five minutes, but it did take some time to decide what texture I was doing. I spent a little too much time making a perfect bowl, forgetting that I would be completely reshaping it anyways. I felt I had a good time-line with the clay, I didn't feel that the clay was overly dry or wet when I was forming the holes, but I had to be really careful not to poke myself or crack the clay. Overall this project turned into a piece I ADORE, and got me off the a strong start in AP 3-D!