For the introductory project with the wooden joinery sculpture, I didn’t have a concept in mind going into it; choosing to rather test my hands at working with wood for the first time and understanding its behaviour.
The final sculpture didn’t turn out better or worse than I had anticipated, primarily due to the lack of expectations I had going into it. What I did notice however, during the critiques and presentations that painting wood with acrylic paint or spray paint was not appealing to me. That was carried through when it came to the final wooden body extension project.
Knowing my feelings towards that form of wood surfacing, I had to pick a concept and starting point that was in line with that. The overarching theme of body extensions naturally brought about puppets to me. Not the traditional wooden puppets that are seen in Europe though, the puppets that I’m referencing were the Wayang Puppets of Indonesia. Its a form of shadow puppet were the figures are still painted beautifully but the main message is translated through the intricate carving of the wooden puppets.
I started the actual wood working by looking for scrap bits of wood. I was hitting a wall with how to surface them, when I accidentally dropped one of them on the floor and a layer of wood chipped away to reveal a diff colour and texture. Lady luck was on my side. I spent more hours I would have liked simply chiseling away at the various bits of wood. I then drew rounded forms based on the random sizes that the scrap wood came from and cut them out.
The joinery bit was another hurdle for me, I wanted the work to be dynamic and the wooden joinery methods I had encountered earlier were all proper joints that would not have allowed for any movement in my pieces. Therefore, I opted to pull inspiration from the string puppets and joined the various pieces with climbing rope. They were passed through the wood with holes made with a hand drill.
I am incredibly satisfied and happy with how the final piece turned out and from the reception I received from the my peers and Todd, it seemed that they felt the same way. What I do love most is that I can already see so many ways for me to develop the work even further. It was a phenomenal way for me to wrap up the semester.
