Throughout this semester I have found my love for sculpture and I have enjoyed a lot of the pieces I have made but by far this is definitely my favorite piece I’ve made. This piece took a significant amount of time and many steps. Through every step I learned a lot and enjoyed the process a great deal.
The first step of this project was to make a torso out of clay. The class could choose whether they made a male or a female torso. I chose to make a female torso, as did the others in my class. We were each given a significant amount of clay to work with and each ended with different sized torsos with vastly different proportions. I decided I wanted mine to have a curvier form with a distinct stomach and it looked like she was kneeling.
After we finished our torsos we had to let them dry and then we were going to use plaster to make a mold of the torsos. The plaster was poured in two halves so we could separate it. After the plaster dried we were supposed to open them and then clear the clay out of them. When we split mine apart we got a surprise that both I and my professor really liked.
When we split my mold apart we saw that part of the clay broke apart from each other creating a distinct heart were the womb/stomach was. This wasn’t something I had planned to happen but after seeing it both I and my professor really liked it and decided to go with it. Instead of clearing the clay out of the plaster we decided to make a mold of the mold. One side was placed so the torso was depicted right side up and the other was placed so the torso was depicted upside down.
After the plaster was cast, separated, and left to fully dry I used an exacto knife to carve the edges and make everything clean and smooth. Once that was completed I dusted it off and painted it. I painted it a base coat of black and then took a different color paint to make it look like bronze.
I wanted to use the paint to make it look like bronze but still make the torso and heart very distinct. I put this second paint on the heart pretty thickly. On the torso I went incredibly light with the paint and then on the rest of the piece around the torso I put more on but not as much as I put on the heart. After the piece was painted my professor and I discussed making a frame or a stand for it. Ultimately we decided that it looked really interest with a framed stand.
I used wood to make the frame and stand then I painted it. I really enjoy painting and mixing different colors to contrast and compliment each other so I was very happy to be able to add that to this piece. For the frame I painted it red and then added white and gray swirls on top of the red. For the stand I painted it a purply-maroon and then added white, gray, orange, blue, and green swirls on it.
This piece took quite a lot of time and effort but every moment of it was quite enjoyable. I am very proud of this piece and am so excited to have it on the display in the Insalaco gallery starting this Thursday for the Sculpture class. I hope to continue making a lot more pieces like this as I continue as an artist.