Prayer- Artist Statement

My project has a more serious feel to it; it is about prayer and having a feeling of hope: praying hands with a rosary hung down over the hands. The idea was the first thing that came into my mind.  It was a lot easier thinking of this project than the projects in the past. I have a strong faith and when I came up with the idea it just stuck. The most challenging part was to sculpt the hands. Hands would seem as though they would be pretty easy to make although when you put two together you have to almost mirror them. There were two ways that I was thinking of doing them, with actual mass and with implied mass. The contrast of the actual mass that makes up the cross and the implied mass that makes up the hands looks unique and different.  I resolved the challenges by playing with the wire a lot. I re-sculpted the hands multiple times and then finally started to like what I was making. I like the cross the best about my sculpture. I think that the cross is the topping to the sculpture and makes it special. I like the actual mass of the cross and the way that it’s sculpted.  It is the more heavy part of the sculpture and stands out the most opposed to the hands which is implied mass and has a lighter feeling.  The sense of faith and prayer really comes across when you look at the praying hands with the cross, which is what I was trying to convey. I also like how it is hung on the wall as it is coming out from the wall, which makes you create your own image in your mind. It is different in everyone’s eyes, which is what I like.  I wanted to convey the abstract piece to my sculpture, but for some they might not think about was trying to make or have the emotions come across. It could be a good thing or a bad thing. The hardest part was making the hands be the way I wanted because the wire didn’t exactly move how I wanted it to. The easiest part was getting the idea in my head because it just came to me and I already knew what I wanted to do, which in the past was the most challenging part. If there was something that I could change about my project I would maybe do an animal or make it more of an actual mass sculpture because I liked how my cross turned out with actual mass.

My growth over this semester

•    What has this class been about for you?
This class has been about expanding my knowledge about sculpture and thinking in different ways. Sculpture has helped me grow in my ideas and I have learned to keep expanding on m ideas. 

    •    How did we begin the semester?
I thought I was going to come into this class knowing a lot from drawing and adv. drawing, but sculpture is a different way of thinking than drawing. You can draw your ideas out, but putting it into an actual form is more of a challenge. I think that the class started out well! it was a very fun class and I enjoyed the tactile part of sculpture.

    •    How has your definition of sculpture changed over the course of the semester?
My definition hasn't really changed over the course of the semester. It has in the sense about sculptures and being more organic. The famous sculpture artist Andy Goldsworthy makes sculptures out of the things that he finds in nature, and I never thought of sculpture to be in the organic form the way that he makes it. It has evolved more in the sense that it can really be anything you make it to be.

    •    How has your definition of art changed over the semester?
My definition of art hasn't changed over the semester. I think art comes in all ways, shapes and forms.

    •    What were your favorite assignments and why?  Give specific examples.
My favorite assignment was the paper project. I liked this project because I liked the fact that we couldn't use any adhesives. It make you have to think outside the box and be creative. I liked my flower piece, and thought it represented me because of the colors and the tissue paper. I love working with tissue paper, and it reminded me of my final project last year which I loved.

    •    What were the most challenging types of assignments and why?  Give specific examples.
The Plastic car model I was given was the most challenging but also the project that expanded my brain the most. The project was hard because coming up with an idea took me forever.  I had like 5 different ideas and tons of little pieces I wasn't sure which idea to use. When I finally came up with the idea to do a tree, I didn't like how it looked, so my idea kept developing and changing and improving. I learned that the hardest projects, also are the ones that push you the most to think beyond your limits, and thats how you grow.  Coming up with ideas are usually the hardest part for me because I usually have a lot of ideas and just don't know how to put it into only one structure.


    •    What do you see as your sculptural and artistic strengths?  Why, again, please be specific.
My Strengths are thinking up ideas that are normally different than other peoples. I think I have a different way of thinking and that it helps me when it comes to sculpture. I have a tendency to think of an idea, then later in the day see something and think of something different or something to add or do. I think that is what has happened with my sculpture idea this year is they have kept adding on or creating yet re creating what I have made. For example the plastic tree.

    •    What do you see as areas of your sculpting skills that you would like to work on and why?  And, yes, please be specific.
I would like to just improve on my sculpture skills in general. I would like to keep working on it so that my work looks more clean in a sense. I am a "free" type of artist I would say,  I go with the flow, but I want to improve on my skills so my sculpture looks more tight and clean in a way.


    •    How did you come up with your ideas for our various projects?  Did this change over the course of the semester?
It was different for every project. For the wire sculpture the idea just came to me, as opposed to the tree project where I had many ideas and had to keep adding on to my idea or choose one or change it which made it different. For the Greg Mortenson project my idea kept changing and adding and thinking of things to add on. I think that My ideas just changed through out the day of thinks that I would try to come up with and put into it or take out or change. I found a lot of inspiration in nature and just by going throughout the day.

    •    What were the most challenging aspects of Sculpture for you this semester? Why
The most challenging aspects of sculpture this year has been sculpting. It is different than drawing where you can erase and change or just start over. Sculpting is a different feel where you have to keep working with it to make it how you want it. I think that I don't have much patience which makes things more difficult because I can get frustrated easily.

    •    How did you resolve those challenges?
I think I just didn't give up, and when I started to get frustrated I tried something else then went back to it or found different solutions to do something. For my wire Sculpture I kept getting frustrated with the hands so I just took more wire and started over, and it ended up working out better! It started to be refreshing!

    •    What have been the most successful aspects of Sculpture for you this semester?  Why?
Sculpture has helped me to think if different ways. It has helped me to develop my ideas and think in different ways than I did in drawing. Sculpting has been good for me personally because I am a very tactile person, and I like to touch materials and feel them and so I think that has been a really great part for me. I think that my most successful project would probably be the flower project because it represents me the most. If I could make a whole wall or garden out of paper flowers i would do it sometime.

    •    If there was something that you could change about any of your pieces or your process this semester, what would it be?  Why would you change it?
If there was something that I could change it would probably be the wire sculpture idea. The idea just came to me and stuck, I didn't really think of many possible ideas for the project because I just liked the first idea that came to me. I think I would have done a different project if I was told to come up with more ideas instead of just think of the idea right there and go with it.

    •    What things do you think I should take into consideration when grading your semester’s growth and work?  Why?
I have grown a lot this semester, in my thinking, and in my knowledge of sculpture. This class
has really helped me to think outside the box and it has been really cool to keep pushing my ideas and keep growing in that sense. The process of development has been extraordinary throughout the whole semester. I learned a great deal on every project and kept adding and developing my ideas as I went along, and i think that is what sculpture is about. This class has made me grow a lot and I really enjoyed taking it this year!

First Definiton of Sculpture

My definition of sculpture is something that you can create with dimension. It can be abstract or just visual eye candy. When I first thought of sculpture I thought of the famous sculpture the thinker by Rodin. As I continued my research I learned that sculpture can be anything that you want it to be really, as long as it has dimension.

Inspiring Artists

There are many artists that are inspiring to me. I found different sculpture artists to be inspiring to me while doing research for each project! For the paper project I found Jen Starks work inspiring for the paper project because her work has a lot to do with color and dimension which I find appealing.

 The other artist I find very interesting is Andy Goldsworthy. His art is different because he makes up beautiful pieces of art and makes it out of random things he finds in nature or notices patters and makes into amazing sculptures. At stone hill sculpture museum in NY a lot of his work was displayed and I found it to be amazing! here are some photos of his work...

  

Van Goah's Starry Night inspired me for my Tree project. I did the idea with the stars and the sky with metallic and tried to make the patter look like it was moving. I ended up cutting up the top of the cardboard, but it still looked cool at the beginning!

The other artist who inspired me is my 2nd cousion Mona. She is an artist from Brooklyn and does a lot to do with prayer and religion in her work. My idea came to me originally but when I was looking at her Facebook artist page, I started to get more ideas

Rodain was my original artist that I thought about. I have been to this sculpture garden a couple times in Paris. He was my first artist that came to mind and that inspired me.

 

Other Artists I found for Inspiration were Karen Wimsey, who had the Newspaper Sculpture made out of a flower.

and Simon Shurburt, who made a house out of paper and folding!

Greg Mortenson Project

The Greg Mortenson is a collaboration of idea into one big abstract idea. After listening to the three cups of tea author Greg Mortenson, we used his inspiration to come up with a project idea that represented a message that he was trying to send out. The five ideas that we all came up with were a bird, a swing, a bridge, a shield, and a bench. The process started out with coming up with ideas, then taking the final ideas of everyone and putting them together to make a big piece. After making one big piece, we choose which one we thought was best which turned out to be Rheas idea! The final project is an abstract bird with a curve in the side that represents part of the bridge or bench and it stands tall like a  shield, and is going to be hung like a swing. This idea is abstract but looks very cool as the final project! The class worked very hard to put everything together and it turned out to be so awesome!

The Prayer

The final project was the wire sculpture. We were given as much wire as we needed to make any kind of wire sculpture that had to involve motion and emotion. The concept incorporated actual mass vs. Implied mass.  I thought that it turned out well! I have a strong faith and the idea came to me pretty easy. I enjoyed doing this project and even made a little side project...

We started out playing with pipe cleaners to create out designs then went to the actual wire. The pipe cleaners were a little bit more of a challenge because they weren't as sturdy but got a good feel of what the actual project was going to look like! Here is a picture of the pipe cleaner version...

 

Then I went on to making the actual project! this was a little bit more difficult to create then to come up with the idea because shortly I found out wire kind of hurts your hands! After I worked with it, and re-worked with it I love the way it turned out!

Above is the first time I did it, then re worked it, made it stronger by re-doing one of the hands and also made the cross better with actual mass and making it larger. I think that the cross looks a lot better the second time I did it! It has actual mass as well as implied mass and I think that gives it a great effect!!! Here is my artist statement!...

Plastic--> Organic

The plastic model project!! This is the second project we did. We were assigned a plastic model, I was assigned a car, and had to use the pieces to make something organic or of nature. I ended up making a tree with a tire swing :) Here This is my Artist Statement...

                                                            The Plastic Tree

My Model Project is about nature and organic materials. I took a model of a plastic car and used the pieces to create a tree. I used materials from nature such as bark and leaves from a bush to make the realness of it and to make it have a more natural effect. I came up with my idea by playing with the car pieces and drawing different sketches of ideas that I liked. The idea of a tree was my favorite, and when I think of nature, trees are the first thing that comes to mind. Coming up with my idea was challenging at first until I started playing with the idea. Cutting the cardboard was also challenging because it was thick didn’t seem to want to cut. I resolved my challenges by continuing to cut, and just push through it. The idea was solved by how it kept developing as I went along. I think that the most successful part of my project is that it met all the parameters and how natural it looks. I love how the colors of the tree came out and with the parts of the car as the branches. I also like how I used the tire as a tire swing to add a unique effect. I think that the hardest part was the gluing on the bark with a hot glue gun because I kept burning my fingers. The easiest part was painting because it was enjoyable and fun! If there was something that I would change about my project it would probably be to make leaves out of a different material to add on!