BackboneClay and Found Object
20cm 2016 This clay piece symbolizes a woman's body and all the times women are told to stand up and "act like a man". Women are strong, they have their own backbone. This piece was inspired by the Venus of Willendorf, which was a fertility idol, and the meaning was twisted with my piece in that having children isn't always a woman's first choice. The piece also symbolizes the oversexualization of random body parts on a woman such as their back or shoulders. |
Planning
Sculpting is my least favorite medium of art. So, when I heard that we had to do a project that was exclusively sculpting with clay, I was mildly dismayed. However, I knew that I had to practice doing work in each medium so I could become a better, more well rounded artist. I pushed on and tried to find a theme or idea as a jumping off point. Because I knew my final piece would definitely not turn out as great as I would have hoped, I attempted to narrow my topic search to something that has deep meaning to me. I find myself very connected with women's bodies and victimization because it happens to every woman in her life at one point or another. I wanted to create a piece that embodied the frustration felt every day by women like me because our bodies are going to be itemized no matter how much we cover up or how much we reveal. We are going to be categorized and it's terrible but it's a thing that happens.
I wanted to use the Venus of Willendorf as my artistic inspiration because of the minimalistic detail as well as the body shape. Archaeologists agree that this piece was most likely used as either a self portrait of women or as a piece in a fertility ritual in the Paleolithic Period. The emphasized womanly features such as a large bust and wide, round hips lead me to believe that the Venus was a caricature of a fertility goddess. I enjoy polytheism and this idea appealed to me; if there was a goddess for fertility, could there be goddesses for other things such as confidence, stride, conviction? After this, I decided that I wanted to create a figure for my own goddess, for what I envisioned a goddess of confidence would look like.
In the end product, I knew I wanted to include other materials such as bone or wood to emphasize my point. I have a large collection of vertebrae and jaws from small omnivores, so in the final stages of my piece I want to create the illusion that there are jaws snapping around the figure, but she is protected because she has the backbone of that animal. |
Process
I started out with a rectangular block of clay. My goddess was going to be a subtractive piece, because based on the sketches that I had made I had thought that this would be the best option going forward. The first thing that I did to the block was create a bust shape and use the excess clay coming off to shape two shoulders that made arms that didn't go any further than the bust. I also wanted to start shaping the body, so I made the piece more like an hourglass figure to make her hips wide. After that, I started hollowing the piece out in order to get more clay and make things a little easier for myself. With the hollow figure, it was much easier to bend and move around the clay to my liking, so I was able to make the hips wider and the waist tighter.
I kept working and realized how much the shoulders were just hanging off the sides like lumps of, quite literally, wet clay. I took off the shoulders from the piece because I had to hollow them out anyway and they were small so it would have been easier to just make them an additive piece. I flattened out pieces of clay and formed them into hollow cylinders, then I scored the main piece and attached the cylinders to the body to make hollow arms. Although this did make my final piece seem chunkier, I felt as though it looked better than it did before. Finally, before I went on spring break, I did the final smoothing of the piece and made a small hole in the middle of the top of the neck in order to make a string for the backbone I was planning to add. After making sure the piece had thin enough walls to go through the kiln, but thick enough to support itself, I let the piece dry out and it was fired over ten days later.
I kept working and realized how much the shoulders were just hanging off the sides like lumps of, quite literally, wet clay. I took off the shoulders from the piece because I had to hollow them out anyway and they were small so it would have been easier to just make them an additive piece. I flattened out pieces of clay and formed them into hollow cylinders, then I scored the main piece and attached the cylinders to the body to make hollow arms. Although this did make my final piece seem chunkier, I felt as though it looked better than it did before. Finally, before I went on spring break, I did the final smoothing of the piece and made a small hole in the middle of the top of the neck in order to make a string for the backbone I was planning to add. After making sure the piece had thin enough walls to go through the kiln, but thick enough to support itself, I let the piece dry out and it was fired over ten days later.
Once the greenware had become bisqueware, I wanted to glaze my piece because it looked really lumpy and unpleasant. I looked online to see what the brands my school had looked like once they were fired, and I went with a jade colored body with a metallic gold inside. I used a jade glaze because jade is a precious gem but before it is finished as a gemstone it looks almost like a mossy rock. I relate this to what I want my piece to symbolize because although women are strong foundations on their own (the rock), lots of people step over them and use them to get what they want (the moss), whether that be political or social standing or sexual gratification. The saturated gold glaze on the inside can be connected to the same mechanic as a geode. While the outside can look like just a rock, on the inside, there is a beautiful sight if you get it to reveal that.
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I believe this symbolizes trust, and can be connected to any interaction between two people. However, I choose to believe that it can symbolize a relationship with at least one of the members being a woman. As more and more things are done to build trust in the relationship, it gives the relationship a backbone and a foundation. Eventually the hard shell preventing full trust breaks and reveals the happiest part of someone.
Once I was done glazing, I left the piece to be fired. The final product did not come out until the next week, and the inside did not look at all like how I thought it would. For example, I used a "saturated gold" color on the inside and it turned out almost a midnight black.
Once I was done glazing, I left the piece to be fired. The final product did not come out until the next week, and the inside did not look at all like how I thought it would. For example, I used a "saturated gold" color on the inside and it turned out almost a midnight black.
Reflection
My final product turned out a bit lumpier than I hoped it would. Since sculpture is my least favorite medium, especially clay, I did not have the motivation to do exactly what I wanted to do, I slacked somewhat on my project. While my project obviously has symbolism behind it, I found that initial reactions to it from other people were more on an "ew, are those bones?" standpoint instead of a "Wow, I can tell that's meaningful to the creator". It's upsetting to me that people won't look past a medium just because they find it gross. But, my project is finished, and I'm very proud of myself that I was able to overcome my hatred of sculpture and create an object that visually looks appealing as well as adheres to what my focus was going to be.