Final Advanced Sculpture Project

Bittersweet! 

I just finished my final project for advanced sculpture. 

I am lucky enough to have a professor that is letting me skip out on the last week of class 

so I can get married. 

I'm not really skipping out, I just had to work double time to catch up. 

Luckily this project was one that worked well with others :)

This project is pretty similar concept wise to the last one. 

Here is my artist statement:

"This piece goes hand in hand with my last project referencing stability. My exploration of stability and instability has lead me to many different explorations in materials and artists. Finding inspiration from Urs Fischers untitled work from 2009 where he cast a piano and piano bench in latex really peaked my interest in latex as a material. Knowing that I can almost completely imitate an object with latex really went well with my recent interest in assumptions. Using this material to cast a common object that we easily understand but taking away the rigid structure unearthed many questions. Leaving the viewer questioning if this limp form can really pass as a chair and support their body weight. By playing with assumptions I have created 2 pieces that work together. This one begging the question because of its unstable material yet it is actually more stable than the previous work, which is questioned because of what you cannot see. "

So, here is the process. 

I started about a week and a half ago. 

I decided I wanted to use an old chair that my parents are letting Reed and I barrow for our living room furniture. I'm pretty sure its outdoor/porch furniture from the '70s. 

So I ordered casting latex and prepped the chair to be painted!

First I took the covers off the cushions and recovered them in plastic so not to ruin them. 

 I then prepped the wooden frame with a clear spray paint to protect it from the latex. 

Finally I started the first layer of latex!

The latex paints on like normal but dries rubbery. 

It is basically the same thing as a latex medical glove, just thicker!

Here is the latex, ordered from The Engineer Guy.

(They are awesome by the way!)

And the chair with about 3 or 4 layers on it. 

Finally after about 6 or 7 layers the latex was thick enough to pull off! 

Todd came in to help me since I had never worked with this before. 

Basically you just stretch it over the chair and cover it in baby powder as you go 

so it doesn't stick to its self. 

The photo on the right is what it looks like once it was pulled completely off! 

Weird right?!

Then, I hung it on another chair in the studio so I could see the form and start sewing it back together. 

(We had to cut it in a few places to get the arms off). 

The image on the left is right side out. Very lumpy and grotesque. 

The image on the right is smoother, and shows all the details from the original chair! 

I worked in the studio for an entire weekend. Literally from about 11 am to 11 pm Friday, Saturday and  half the day sunday. I was gettin real tired of latex. But luckily I had a great friend bring me breakfast and come keep me company. Who knew she was also good at carpentry! 

She helped me TONS with building the armature that would help hold the latex up to show off the chair shape! 

Finally it was finished! After many bloody fingers from sewing and a few tears. 

Critique was AAHHHMAZING :) Everyone really was so confused about how they could sit in it and if they even wanted to try it out. Luckily they did and they also gave me so many awesome suggestions on how to improve it and even how to make a new project based off of this one.

Basically, this chair is awesome! :)

I learned so much from using this material and I really hope I can work up the funds to do it again for another piece!

Here are some of the images from the Gallery. 

This will totally be shown in my senior interview, and possibly in my senior show!! 

These are some detail shots of the stitching, back, and legs. 

And finally, the original and the latex chair! 

What a cute couple :) 

Now that I am done with school I have 5 days until the wedding! Then I will be heading back to the studio as a married woman! WHAT WHAT?!

Advanced Sculpture Prj. 2

This last month has been unbelievable. I have learned so much about myself, my relationships, and myself as an artist. I am so lucky to be taking this summer class, the timing isn't what I call perfect but I wouldn't have given up this opportunity for anything. I've been blessed with a professor that I would like to think is also a friend who is continually pushing me further. 

Todd (my professor) is one of the big reasons why I chose to focus in Sculpture. 

He has such a passion that it is contagious. 

He also sees potential in a student and pushes it to the next level. 

I have learned so much from him that I don't really want to think about next fall when he 

may not be in the department anymore!
(Please Clemson offer him a job! He is an amazing teacher!!) 

Sorry had to do a little plug. 

So all that said this project was a struggle. 

I knew exactly what I wanted to do but I could not come up with a way to execute it. 

I was extremely inspired by Fred Sandback and his 3d line drawings. 

(Here are a few examples, its going to blow your mind). 

Let me explain Sandbacks process. 

Sandback uses yarn and wire to define space. 

A quote that stuck with me was this 

"by defining whats not there he defines what is".

I just think this is a beautiful way to call attention to space. 

So my version of this was to make a chair in the same form. 

I wanted to take the basic ladder back kitchen chair and "draw" it in space with yarn. 

By doing this my plan was to call attention to the assumptions we make about mundane objects while also activating a seemly "unused" space. 

Well this didn't really work out. So then I was thinking of other materials that could be manipulated to draw or form a chair with out functioning like one. 

I started to really investigate hotglue. 

I thought forsure that this would work. Just make molds out of PVC pipe and other materials, pour hot glue in them and then glue all of the pieces together to form a chair! This would then be a "see through" chair that would then challenge our vision, mind, and assumptions of what a chair is. 

Sadly this did not work out. I ended up melting a lot of hotglue in a pot and attempting to pour it in to the PVC pipe. Well I dripped some on my hand before I got to that point and burned myself pretty bad. 

So a friend poured it in to the PVC while I tended to my wound. 

But sadly, the glue was sooo molten hot that it actually melted the PVC pipe. 

After that fiasco I decided I needed another material. 

This is when Todd came to my rescue. 

He pointed out that by doing these things (using hot glue, wire or yarn)  I was dong more of a material study than focusing on the chair and our assumptions with this. 

Thanks to that I got back on track and decided to stick with my original plan. 

Us a chair to call attention to itself and the assumptions and perceptions that go along with it! 

So simple!!

Finally I convinced Reed to let me use one of our kitchen table chairs that we needed to refinish. 

I then proceeded to completely take it apart. 

(Sorry I forgot a before picture, but this is the first process picture!!) 

So I took the chair apart. 

Cut each and every one of the pieces in half (hot dog style). 

And prepared to take the guts out!

I wanted to hollow out the chair so that nothing was left but the shell. 

I was covered in saw dust for about 3 days straight and

 I stayed in the studio for about 10 hours 2 days in a row. 

I used a small router to just slowly take out the middle/guts of each piece

while still leaving the parts to fit the chair back together. 

After 2 long days I finally finished with the router and then had to glue all of the pieces back together. 

I used lots of wood glue and zip ties and let them sit over night!

Then I slowly began to piece the chair back together. 

I used a wooden mallet to just knock the pieces back together  and then added a twine seat for the finished project! 

On critique day I really got to sit back and think about what I had done. 

Why was this considered art?!

I realized that my idea was a lot more conceptual than physical. 

I really could have had the same idea and done nothing to the chair and gotten the same point across.

This hollow chair sat in the gallery with a label that read,

"Just a chair, with no insides." 

Getting the cold read from my peers I was happy to see that many of them questioned whether or not this chair was stable. Only 1 person asked if they could sit, and they asked before doing so that shows a hesitancy that isn't usually there with normal chairs! 

I was very happy with how this piece made the viewer more aware of the assumptions and perceptions of the mundane objects that encompass us daily. 

This chair made the viewer/participant stop and think in a situation that wouldn't usually require it. 

Questioning what the purpose of an unstable chair is and calling to mind why we are so trusting in stability with out really looking any further than the surface. 

PS> sorry that was long but I am just really happy with how this piece turned out and the positive critique I received on monday! This is something that I am really hoping to pursue in the future, so look out I am going to be having a lot more "chair" sculptures!! 

PSS> Only about 9 days until the biggest day of my life! I am so thankful that God has given me a creative passion and a passion to become Reeds life long helper. I can't wait to combine these two for the glory of the Lord!! 

Also, I'm working on posts for the week while I am on the honeymoon. I have one scheduled for the 6th of August so be sure to check back because I wont be posting any updates after August 3rd!!