Project 1 - Looking back

I would like to take a little time to reflect on what I learned and how I feel about project 1. The modern idea of gender is very hard for me to discuss. I tend to work from a very historical perspective when I think of gender expression. Initially I began my process by siting down with the book Sex, Gender, and Kinship by Carol R. Ember, Burton Pasternak, and Melvin Ember. I was also heavily influenced by my current readings on the anthropology of death.

 In death people often find themselves only represented by those they left behind. The living preform the rituals of death and this often includes the selection of material goods to be interred with the body. Today in America that typically consists of the selection of grave clothes, but in many cultures the dead have been sent with more than just clothing to the afterlife.

I tried to express this complex relationship in this sculpture but felt that I was overall unsuccessful in my attempt. 

Project 1 Critique - 22 Jan 2015

Project 1- Session 2- 21 January 2015

After a long weekend where I developed a inner ear infection I was able to come back into the shop and work on my project. All chicken wire is now covered in plaster and burlap and I am building up forms. I dont feel like I am actuall going to be able to get this piece polished before critique. 

Project 1 - Session 1- 15 Jan 2015

Today  I built the frame for my piece out of chicken wire and covered the torso with plaster and burlap strips. I also started filling out the form with thick plaster. I have a few sketches of the form that I might add later to this post but they are not very informative as I tend to work directly without planing too much. I am struggling with the positioning of the legs right now and I hop that they will become more dynamic when I cover them in plaster.

Project 1 Inspiration

Inspiration and Thought Process 

For project one I plan on working with the Idea of women as vessels for gendered objects. I am specifically thinking about the North american ideal for "womanhood", something that strikes me as incredibly archaic to the modern woman. A while ago I asked a friend what it meant to be a woman, how, apart from biology, am I different from a man what makes me, or anyone else, a woman? For me I am a woman because that's what other people see me as, it is their expectations of me. For me its nothing I chose, its a combination of brain chemistry and expectations. 

As I have become an adult I find that one of the largest expectations of me is that I become a vessel. Not, this time, for my gender, but rather for life. This project I am focusing on women as vessels and this is some of my inspiration.

I like the balance of this sculpture by Fred Vernon King. I also like the elongated neck, something I used in my own work last semester.

I really like the form in this piece by Richard Weiner, It is full and gently graceful.

Here I apreciate the gesture and the elongation. This sculpture is by Sam Diamond.

Finally I admire the grace and line in this piece by Sara Davies.