Momma and her Ducklings

I chose to do a duck for my paper maché project as a second year art
student in sculpture. I chose to do a duck because ducks symbolize
freedom and adaptability. At this time, me and my family had finally
found the freedom to do to what we needed to do and we had to adapt
to our new lives. So I started my sculpture by balling up paper and
taping it together. Once I created the shape I needed for my duck’s
body and neck, I added the head on. As I added the head, I realized it
needed a beak and that plain paper wasn't going to cut it. I decided
to use foam board to create my beak. After I cut out the shape and
taped it onto my duck, I found that the beak wasn’t going to stay up by
itself. So my next step was adding wire around the beak and head to
keep the beak straight out how I needed it to be. I then had to tape some
paper around the beak and head to make the shape flow better. Next, I
added the tail feathers by cutting out teardrops of paper and cutting out
little pieces from the side to make them look like feathers. I then repeated
this many times to make my feathers stronger and look more full. Next, I put
paper maché around all of the body, neck, head, and tail feathers. The tail
feathers were one of the hardest parts to paper maché. After I finished the
body, I had to make the duck’s legs and webbed feet which was the hardest
part of this whole project. I began by making a single wire armature. Then, I
wrapped more wire around the legs to make them strong and sturdy enough
to hold up my heavy duck. I repeated this process to make the second leg
and made sure they were the same size. I then had to wrap paper and tape
around them to smooth them over a little. I then paper machéd around the
legs and feet. The webbed feet was another one of the hardest parts to
paper maché. After both pieces were dry, I had to attach the legs to the body.
I began by sticking holes into my body. Next I had to put my legs up into my
body and glue. As I was doing this, I had to be sure that they were the same
length do the duck the would stand correctly. After I made my first duck, I
decided to make two ducklings to go with her. I repeated the same process to
make my ducklings, only smaller than the big duck. After each duck was dry
and hard, I had to paint. I painted the baby ducks a dull yellow and the momma
duck white. I painted the feet, legs, and beak a light pinkish color on all three
ducks. After everything was painted, I felt that the ducks needed something else.
I decided to put a shiny paint over top of the body, neck, head, and tail feathers.
Putting the shiny paint on all of my ducks really unified and brought my piece
together. I found a piece of wood to put them on and painted it black. As I tried
to stand them up, they wouldn’t stand right. So as I positioned them on the wood,
I had to put them underneath and on top of each other to let them support each
other. After I glued each of the feet to the board, I felt that it still needed something
else. It needed to set up higher. So I took another chunk of wood and glued it
underneath the first piece to give the base height. I was finally done. If I were to of
done anything different, I would’ve made my legs in a different way to make sure all
of my ducks stood well.

Elephant

As a second year sculptor, I created an elephant out of clay. Elephants
represent strength, power, and wisdom. Through struggles in our life,
we find our true characteristics and we find these traits in ourselves. I also have
found elephants very interesting in how they protect each other and
always help each other when they can. This is why I chose to do a
elephant. When I started with my elephant, I started by shaping the
body of the elephant. Next, I added all four legs by scoring and using
water. After the legs were attached, it was pretty heavy so I decided to
go ahead and hollow it out since it would be easier then than later on in
my project. I then added the head and had to do a little extra shaping to
the head. Next, I added the ears by scoring and using some slip.
Lastly, I added a tail and tusks and put very subtle details into the
clay such as toes and creases in its skin. It took it about 4 days to
completely dry out. It then got fired in the kiln and had to sit and cool.
Next was painting. I started with a solid grey base coat. I then used dry
brush to apply a brown and tan-grey color on top to give it a unique texture.
I finished it by painting the tusks a light tan color as well as painting the
toes the same color. Painting the toes and tusks the same color unified the
piece nicely. If I had to do anything differently, I would have attached the tail
more from the underneath while it was hanging straight down the make it
more sturdy.

Diggin' the 4 of Us

This sculpture is very special to me because it represents my family. Our assignment was a mixed media sculpture. I decided to use two types of wire, wood, and glue. I like wire sculptures because you can see through them while still seeing what they make up and what they represent. I decided to have this sculpture relate to volleyball since me and my two sisters play and my mom coaches us. I started by making a 2D person out of wire. I then made 3 more exactly like it but different heights to represent each person. Next, I added numbers on each of mine and my sisters’ upper halves. I then added the word “MOM” to my mom’s upper half. I then added pants and shoes with laces to each of us with a thinner wire. Next, I made a net. I then made a very abstract volleyball. In putting all of these pieces together, I found a piece of wood for the base and painted it black. I placed the net in the back. I had to drill holes through the wood and glue the net’s poles down into the holes. I then placed the four of us in the front and back to give my piece some volume instead of them being in a boring straight line. I then placed my volleyball in the most open spot on the piece of wood and glued everything down. I feel that my piece is very unified and flows well. The wire drags your eye around throughout the whole piece. I also believe that the way the people, net, and ball were placed on the wood created balance in the sculpture. If I were to have done something differently, I would have of played around with my people before i made the first one to figure out a good way to make them stronger and more sturdy instead of having to remake them throughout the process because they weren’t sturdy enough.

Midnight Seahorse

My seahorse was one of my first sculptures I ever made. Seahorses are very calm and patient creatures. That’s why I chose to do a seahorse. It was a learning piece for me. I am a perfectionist so making art was a hard concept for me to grasp. In creating this piece, I began to try new things and be creative which made creating all of my other pieces much easier. The seahorse is made out paper maché. First, I had to ball up paper and tape it together. Then, I put multiple layers of paper with glue on top of the tape to smooth it out. After it dried, I painted it. I put a base coat of black on it first. Then I painted blue over top of the black mostly on one side. Then I painted purple on the belly side. I used dry brush on the middle of the seahorse to blend the colors. I painted a yellow-gold on the eyes and then added the same yellow-gold on each of the points to unify it. I then glued sand on a base and glued my seahorse onto that base. If I were to do it again, I would put plaster over it before I painted it in order to smooth it over more.