Sculptural Methods: Texture Tiles
When developing the idea for my texture tiles I was committed to a bee theme in some way shape or form. Bees are very sentimental to me and I do feel specially connected to them. At this time in my life I've been trying so many new things, moving to a new state, meeting new people, Grad School's new creative challenges. All of these experiences feel like their own journeys. I've been finding my way and doing my best to trust my gifts, talents, and upbringing to keep me on the right path and moving forward always. This piece is representative of the many personal journey's I am currently on. In a song named appropriately "Garden" by SZA the lyrics say "I hope you never find out who I really am, cause you'll never love me". Often, as a mostly introverted personality, I consider the thought of not sharing too much of myself with others out of fear of not being accepted or understood. This piece also reflects the Journey it takes for me to open up and for others to know and explore the "real me". The movie "The Wiz" is very sentimental to me because we've enjoyed it many times as a family growing up."Ease on Down the Road" is the title of the song the characters sing when making their way down the yellow brick road to the Emerald City. Hence the name "Bee-ease on Down the Road".
*Final pictures coming soon*
Artist Inspiration
Choi Jeong Hwa
South Korean Artist & Designer
As an artist, architect, and designer Jeong Hwa spawns’ art from a wide variety of materials. I was drawn to his work because it is exudes brightness and color. Jeong Hwa’s ability to take everyday objects and transform them into inspiring grand-scale art installations is inspiring. “I love that he describes his works as “honoring the beauty of nature”. The beauty of nature is not easy to imitate and he does an amazing job. I really love his series of flower trees. The process of transforming plastic into all of those different flower textures is remarkable to me as an artist new to sculpture. I was greatly inspired by this artist bold color treatments and appreciation for nature to incorporate floral textural elements into my piece.
Flower Tree (‘04) mixed media
Sarah Peters
American Artist and Sculptor
This Artist caught my eye with her work with textures. When first exploring her work I observed the texture created for the hair of her pieces and was amazed by the detail. I eventually came across her piece “The Alphabet Chair”. A sculpture of a chair that can seat about 2 and includes in its make-up every letter of the alphabet. The texture presented on each of these letters is representative of a word the letter starts with.
Alphabet Chair Bronze
Yayoi Kusama
Japanese Contemporary Artist
When exploring Yayoi Kusama’s work I was very intrigued by the shapes colors and patterns used to manifest her flower sculptures. Although there doesn’t appear to be much texture involved in her sculptures the ability to convey movement with such large pieces of fiberglass, I found to be a simple yet fascinating concept.
Flowers that Bloom at Midnight (‘11) fiberglass plastic
Lindsay Pichaske
Although this artist uses lots of different materials when constructing her sculptures or creatures, she still manages to capture the textures of her inspirations so beautifully. She successfully captures the essence of each animal through materials such as wood, stoneware, and clay. I’m hoping to go in a garden/beehive direction for my texture tiles project and I hope to do the same.
I Can Feel the Heart Beating as One(’19)
Red and white earthenware, mason stains, wood
Laurel Roth Hope
American Artist and Sculptor
I found this artist to be interesting and unique because of the different elements involved in her pieces. They appear to be telling a story with lots of sperate elements drawn together that still manage to catch your eye as their own masterpiece. The use of texture in her sculyures also caught my eye.
Manifest Destiny #2 (’17)
Vitreous china, glazes, wood, gold leaf
Thumbnails & Proposal
My original design was very similar including Hexagons, flowers, and bees. However, once I began working with the clay my idea evolved into the final design pictured first above.
Process
Materials:
Sculptey Clay
Pasta Roller
Cutting/Molding tools
I wanted to build on a black base. Using Sculptey Clay, a Hexagon Cookie cutter, and a pasta roller to flatten the clay I was able to create the Hexagon bases.
I used a much smaller hexagon cutter to create the small yellow hexagons and placed them in a circular swirl pattern to create the yellow brick road.
I then used different shades of Gray clay to create the different sized pebbles then aligned them along the yellow road to define the pathway. The weaved pattern on the center door was created using an over and under technique with tiny strips of brown sculpted clay.
I used an unsharpened pencil to create the even smaller hexagons that are nearer to the door.
To create the smaller flowers I used a different mini cutter for every color, added a tiny yellow center, and created a bit of texture on the petals. For the larger flowers I combined colors using the pasta roller, used larger shape cutters and pinched the petals to create a more 3 dimensional look.
The grass was created using different shades of green clay and a tool that squeezed the clay into tiny little noodle shapes that when pulled out created a texture similar to blades of grass.
Once all pieces were combined and placed on the bases they were placed in a small toaster oven, 3 pieces at a time, at 275 degrees, for 35-45 minutes each round.Once cooled each tile became firm to the touch.
Reflection
Working with polymer clay was very new for me but an enjoyably therapeutic process. I really appreciated the adaptability of the clay, especially when it came to playing with colors, mixing and combining. I am pleased with how my piece came out and plan to work with Polymer clay more in the future.
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