IP Weekly Progress -- #2

What I did:

Sunday -- Came into the studio for 2 hours to brainstorm ideas and look for inspiration photos of animals

Monday -- 2 hours dedicated to scanning and composing concept ideas.

Tuesday- Spent an extra 30 minutes at the Fine Art library picking out some books: Tibetan Art, Northwestern Indians Symbolism, and South Korean art. Spent another 30 minutes in the studio to review through my library books as well as some digital books I found: Animal Sketching by Alexander Calder and Animal Sculpture by William Winans. Afterwards, went to the Museum of Natural History to sketch animals for about 1 ½ hours.

Thursday – 2 1/2 hours dedicated to reflecting on my recent work and considering new techniques after speaking to Hannah. Researched the process of papermaking for paper pulp sculptures and possible recipes of combining cotton + paper pulp. I looked through my books some more during this time as well.

What I accomplished/discovered/encountered:

After speaking to Hannah today, I think I really want to go large. Whether it’s 2D or 3D, big is the answer for me. There is something to making larger pieces that will probably be much more rewarding in the long run and this would be the time to do it. The context of my sculptures are still a little vague, but I believe that adding an educational aspect is the missing link that I’ve been looking for all along. Perhaps I’ll consider making a huge pop up book suggested by my partner Chelsea or make large installations of unique/unknown/extinct animals to show actual scale of them compared to the human body. I am going to try developing my idea of human and animal relationships and re-establish a lost connection and bring back a childish sense of wonder.

What also sparked my idea was today’s Penny Stamps lecture with Francois Delaroziere. His work is influenced by nature and life. His mechanical animals all have attributes that make them distinct and recognize it’s audience. The spider, which I first thought of as creepy was actually a creature with a nurturing personality. It’s legs caressed the crowd and acknowledged the waves of people surrounding it – it was a touching scene when Francois showed a film of the spider extending it’s legs into the crowd to touch and that is probably one of the moments that drew me in the most.

What I think I should do next:

I definitely need to try an experiment with paper pulp and see how successful/frustrating the process might be. I have some plaster and rubber molds that I can test once I seek advice from some experienced paper makers and find a good recipe. I need to also start selecting a group of animals I find enticing and study them. I’d like to do a few pieces with at least 5 animals, made of my own design or real.