Foam and Plaster Sculpture

 

Artist Statement

    When beginning my process for this project, I sketched out what would resemble a sun dial. Using this initial idea, I gathered my materials and immediately started to cut out the shapes I wanted from a white foam block. From there, I sanded the foam to further reinforce the shapes, then applied three coats of paster, letting each coat dry in between. Once I had my foam pieces covered and dry, I had begun to play with the composition and eventually strayed from my initial sketch. 

    During the process of assembly, I treated my foam and plaster pieces as if they were building blocks—this act of “play” eventually led me to my final design that looks nothing like my original sketch, besides each individual piece being the same. I have found that my designs are always very blunt and after deciding on my final composition, I used various grit sandpaper to achieve a smooth finish on the plaster. 

    Because of this resemblance of building blocks, the process in which I created this sculpture felt very child-like to me. With acrylic paint, I decided to color each separate piece a solid primary color--colors that I feel resemble childhood play and learning. Pieced together using dowels, the final version of my sculpture is very geometric and gives off a feeling of child-like nostalgia.