Weapons of War Series: Machine Gun and Cluster Bomb

Machine gun object made from a plastic drinking bottle, cardboard, masking tape, and painted with enamel paint.

I think it's funny that I have band-aids on both hands. When you paint you get paint on you; when you cook you get burned; when you cut things you end up wearing band-aids.

 

Cluster bomb object made from a balloon, cardboard, and masking tape.

 

Individual cluster bombs made from cardboard and masking tape. Soon to be painted.

Weapons of war are made to kill while death rocks back on his heels and laughs.

 

An Effigy Born From Mud and Blood

An effigy is a representation of a person, especially in the form of sculpture or some other three-dimensional form.

I made this effigy from distressed brown paper bag (from Market of Choice). I soaked it in mud and glue then wadded and unwadded it.

The object is also made of masking tape, oak gall, horse chestnuts, rock, sticks and balloon.

The material that looks like twine is brown paper bag twisted tightly.

I made the object as an extra for my 3-D Design class at Lane Community College. The Instructor is Sculptor Andreas (Andy) Salzman.

 One thing he has stressed is that we own an object and deeply discover the materials with which we work. I think I achieved these things with this object--it was an exciting project!

 

Here is where I started....

 

 

 

 

My Artistic Influences and Heroes: Sculpture

RED GROOMS 

 

                                                                   KIKI SMITH

                                                                CLAES OLDENBERG

Bike Garden 1

Here is the finished maquette of my project. I was supposed to use wire to create an object at least 12 inches high and I was to express form and movement.

The object now sits--with the rest of the students finished work--in the display case in the LCC art building.

I love how an idea can form in one's head (imagination) and then it can be put down on paper (creativity) and manipulated, and finally it can be turned into a 3-dimensional object.
Thought becomes form.
I never get this same sense when I make 2 dimensional work such as a drawing or painting; it is exclusive to sculpture.

The Evolution of a Sculpture: Spider forms and Wheels.

Again, here is my next class assignment for 3 Dimensional Design,

 Line: create a maquette, no less than 18 inches tall, using only line, that exhibits a physical activity. This maquette should define volume and form and be visually dynamic.

I started putting some ideas down on paper last night and continued to develop the idea today. Here is the progression:




I drew this one just before bed, last night. I thought it was too simple, so I wanted to further play with the idea.

 

 
 
 

 

 
 
This was the next one I drew. As you can see the original image is in the center, but I have added other ideas to the composition. I am still not quite happy with what I have done.

 
Now I am getting closer to what I want, even though the original idea has disappeared. I like the wheels but the assignment calls for something dynamic. I wanted to imply dynamic motion with the knobs on the wheels-- showing them at different points on the wheel as if it were all the same wheel turning around. Still the upright poles don't look very dynamic.

Well, this composition is certainly more dynamic and I like the multiple images clustered together. I think that I like this one best. I think it is closer to the requirement of dynamism. I can see them cast from metal and looking a brown and rusty green, surrounded by weeds. For the assignment I will have to make this from wire.

I will keep you posted on how this project evolves. Art is fun and challenging!
 

A Happy Accident in 3-D Design

I am taking a 3 Dimensional Design class from Professor Andreas Salzman at Lane Community College.

For our first assignment Professor Salzman (Andy) dropped brown paper bags on our desks. Then he told us that we needed to use the contents of the bags to create personal icons for ourselves; something that represented us.

The bags held, about 20 wooden matches, two paper clips, a striker for the matches, and two rubber bands. Andy said that we could use glue, tape, sandpaper, and exacto-style blades to create our pieces.

At first I was dumbfounded with no idea what to do. I took a break and went to the cafeteria. I got a candy bar and a Monster energy drink then returned to class to stare at the contents of my bag. Spilled out on my desk they looked like something left over from a bad car crash.

I have never seen myself as a sculptor even though I have, for a long time, admired sculptors such as Henry Moore and Kiki Smith.

Finally, I dived in and began gluing the matches to long strips of brown paper bag. I burned the heads of the matches because, unburnt, the matches had heads the color of green apples. I thought they looked gaudy and artificial.

Next,I made some sort of round fence from the strips, with the paper clips straighted to make poles upon the tops of which I glued pieces of the striker pad.

I didn't like my work.

Then class was over and we had to pack up our stuff and go home. I rolled up my project to fit it into my art box and when I rolled it up, to my surprise, I liked it!

It is what we artists call a "happy accident."

(I am, with this writing, posting photos of the finished work.)

This art piece is more about how I visually explain "us" than how I visually explain "me".

I see us all crowded tightly together, yet we are nameless and faceless; (post-modern alienation and isolation). Also our sensory panels (modes of communication) are turned outward and not towards each other. E.g., the people on the school bus and in the halls of school, texting and staring into their blackberries and iPhones, yet not looking into my eyes or saying a word.

It feels empowering to visually represent what I experience and I am looking forward to growing in the 3 Dimensional medium.