This week I started creating the plaster molds of the body parts for the dolls.  I have made most of them and will start pressing clay slabs in them to make the ceramic parts. 

This week I finished up creating the life size limbs for my Cognitive Surplus Project and I started creating them into plaster press molds.  I will be assembling them like past dolls with a fabric stuffed body.  I am going to work on getting found objects to put with the dolls like a found chair, maybe scissors, too.

Source Material

1. Sculpting the Figure in Clay - https://www.google.com/books/edition/Sculpting_the_Figure_in_Clay/xWKk7Wlm0UsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover (Links to an external site.)
2. Feminist Disability Studies - https://www.google.com/books/edition/Feminist_Disability_Studies/llOJkIHd3lsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover (Links to an external site.) 
3. Crip Camp Movie  (Netflix) - https://www.netflix.com/watch/81001496?trackId=13752289&tctx=0%2C0%2C4679e0de5550d77e889d637141b8df835fd6c265%3A2efc2c84edaef278bd6fbafd0a8982e0785e4cd1%2C4679e0de5550d77e889d637141b8df835fd6c265%3A2efc2c84edaef278bd6fbafd0a8982e0785e4cd1%2Cunknown%2C (Links to an external site.) 
4. Sculptor's Funeral (Podcast) - http://www.thesculptorsfuneral.com/ (Links to an external site.) 
5. Vanessa German Figurative Work - https://www.bates.edu/news/2020/05/19/vanessa-german-award-winning-visual-and-performing-artist-to-bring-commencement-greetings-to-the-class-of-2020/#:~:text=Widely%20considered%20among%20the%20brightest,rich%20with%20allusion%20and%20symbolism (Links to an external site.). 

I started creating life size limbs to make molds of for this project.  They will have joints that can move.  This way I can continually reproduce limbs and create more figures.  I can work out more ideas for how to pose and how they will exist space.  Below are pictures of the sculpted limbs I started this week as well as sketches of how I think I want to pose them.

This week I finished the ceramic pieces of the Invent Your Own Project.  

This week I finished the details of the larger figure, which I now will make alterations.  I will be cutting it into parts and pinching the edges to create a more rough look.  This will also make room to view the spine through the cracks in the figure.  I also started building the spine this week.  The spine is built out of porcelain, and I would like to find a stone to lightly press some texture into the clay.  

I also was able to visit some local art museums, where I collected some inspiration photos!  I went to the Carnegie Center for Art & History in New Albany, IN and the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, KY.

Local Museum Resources:

This week I have been focusing on the figure, capturing it fairly realistically, and choose the type of clay I will use.  For the body of the sculpture, I've been deciding between adding granite or sawdust to the clay to add a rough, interesting texture.  The surface of skin will relate to the emotional, psychological issues I am discussing about pain.  Combining this with an interesting glaze can support the chronic pain story I am telling though the work that words cannot express.  For example, crawl glaze, crackle, or crater glaze.  These are shown below:

​This week I created a small figure for practice, as well as a canvas to test some of these glaze ideas on a shapely, upright surface.  This figure is around 6 inches tall.  I also have created a bunch of test tiles for the glaze testing.  The real piece I've decided should be closer to life-size.  This will help create a one-on-one relationship with the viewer, I'm hoping to be more relatable.  

Viewer Response Project Prompt:
Audience-Artist Connection
     Connecting with your audience can be an important piece in art that drives home your concept.  It can push your artwork to cause others to feel how you feel.  
      Your task is to create an element in your art that causes the viewer to physically or emotionally react to your work.  This could be expressed through textural, positional, material, colorful elements, or several other variations.  You could think about how a sense of time could affect the human experience.  You could think about how to use the space to force the viewer to feel and see your piece differently.  
Consider
      What is feeling?  A sensation or experience within a person given by an object, event, other being, or circumstance.  It could be emotional, mental, or physical.  Consider this and how they are all interlocking in the human experience when you are creating your work.
        How can you transform your piece to push your viewers to feel something?  What do you want them to feel?  
       How can the visual elements you make connect to those different emotions? How can a viewer response enhance your artistic narrative?

Sketch for Project:​

This project will be displayed hanging rather than on a pedestal to create tension.  Using glaze and clay texture for a visceral response that expresses pain in the body.  Additional materials of wire and thread will be added after firing to further express pain and materiality.

Source Material:

I was accepted into the Indiana University Southeast Post-Baccalaureate program! I will be posting my progress on this blog as I make my way through the year.  I am excited to see what I create and to discover new things through my dolls.  Stay tuned for updates :)