Plaster Succulent Potter

Description

For my plaster project I wanted to create a succulent potter. I have been obsessed with succulents for a long time now, and thought it would be so fun to incorporate them into this project. The artist I was initially inspired by is one of my favorites, Picasso. During his Cubism, Picasso simplified the female figure, as you can see in the two photos below. The piece I drew the most inspiration from was The Ladies of Avignon. Picasso simplified the female body into triangles, the torso being a triangle with a flat bottom, then opening up again into another triangle. That is how I came across the shapes I used in my mold. The cube-ified female body is the most prominent in the first mold, and as I continued working on the project, it got a bit more skewed due to structure. My final mold was changed to make sure the piece would be structurally sound once poured, meaning all areas were thick enough to support themselves. Working with the design, I ended up scrapping my initial mold, pouring my second mold, not being happy with the results of that pour, and starting over to end up at my final piece. Once I peeled back the mold and revealed my first object I made, I knew I had to start from scratch. The point between the top shape and bottom shape was too narrow, the lines were wonky and not even, and the metal details were broken off at the corners. I learned a lot from having to do it twice, and the process went ,much faster the second time. Having the first object pointed out all the mistakes I made, and made it clear what I had to do. I made each side have the exact same measurements and angles, the two, tall back pieces were one seamless piece, the object was shorter and thicker, and the metal gates were much shorter and farther from the edges. These modifications lead me to the nearly perfect final piece I created. In the end, I was so beyond proud of what I made. I am obsessed with the design. I love that I moved the top shape into the corner, rather than having it in the middle of the base shape like I originally planned. This allowed for larger recessed pots on the lower portion and gave the piece a cool asymmetrical look. The 16 gauge steel wire that I created little fences out of ended up being the perfect thing to cast in place. I didn’t realize how much I loved them until I planted the succulents. Someone during critique mentioned that the “fences” made it seem like the plants were meant to be placed in there, like the object was meant to hold something, and I couldn’t agree more. They also provide a cool contrast between the geometric, man-made, shiny metal and the very lush, organic plants. I love the piece I created and had such a fun time with this project.

Inspiration